Lane Kiffin on being held out of Ole Miss Sunday meeting: 'I totally understand, I don't necessarily agree'

Lane Kiffin addressed why he wasn’t at the Ole Miss players meeting Sunday when it was announced he was leaving to take the job at LSU. In an interview with Marty Smith of ESPN, Kiffin claimed that Rebels athletic director Keith Carter told him he could not attend the meeting.

Not only did Ole Miss announce that Kiffin was leaving at the meeting, but it also promoted defensive coordinator Pete Golding as his replacement. Kiffin added that he understood the decision from Carter, even if he didn’t agree.

“You know, again, I totally respect Keith’s decision,” the coach said. “Yeah, he asked me not to come into the meeting and said I can’t come, which I totally understand. I don’t know that I necessarily agree with that, we were trying to find a way to make this work and coach the team and give the team the best chance to win. But I also, he’s got a job to do and, like he said, he has to live here.

“Like he said, maybe all the national people understand why he should maybe let me coach, but he has to live here and it’s a little different when you’re the AD. So totally respect that, and Keith has been amazing to us over the six years.”

Lane Kiffin spent the past six seasons building Ole Miss into a playoff contender, and this would have been the first year he got the chance to lead his team into the CFP. But given the fact that he would be leaving once the season concluded regardless, the Rebels decided not to give him that chance.

That combined with being denied the opportunity to give a proper goodbye to his team is something that doesn’t sit right with Kiffin. It stings to go out on such sour terms with a place that meant so much to his career, but the coach still hopes them to achieve success without him.

“At the end of the day that’s his decision and I totally respect that,” Kiffin said. “I understand that decision. So I just totally wished the team the best of luck. Wish that I was coaching them, but understand it was a very challenging position for him and the chancellor to be in, and totally respect that. So just really hope they play really well and go win the national championship.”