Pat McAfee sticks up for Ole Miss as rumors heat up on Lane Kiffin

ESPN’s Pat McAfee stood up for Ole Miss as the Lane Kiffin rumors heated up going into the weekend. Ole Miss has the Egg Bowl left on its schedule before an expected College Football Playoff berth.

But as it stands, Ole Miss looks like a team that can make a run while its own coach is being heavily pursued by LSU and Florida. If all things are equal, and they seem to be based on the latest numbers reported by On3, each institution is prepared to offer Kiffin a $13 million a year salary while committing around $25 million to roster construction.

Is that enough to keep Kiffin in Oxford? McAfee went to bat for the Rebel fans as the Gator and Tiger faithful are chomping at the bit.

“If he was to leave, basically every one of the good players, (fans are) thinking in their mind, they’re hopping in the transfer portal with him,” McAfee said on College GameDay. “So not only are they going to lose the head coach or the team, they’re also going to lose all their good players in this entirety. So I think all Ole Miss fans want is just to hear that he’s going to be back. And all LSU people want, or Florida people want, is like, is this guy going to be here for the transfer portal? He’s the king of the transfer portal, that’s in the middle of the playoffs. Quite a quagmire for all of this. 

“But I would like to say if Lane Kiffin is listening, which we might get a call from him here in a matter of moments, it feels like that’s the case. You’re allowed to be happy and content, brother. You’re allowed to be at a place and have massive success. You’re allowed to build a place from scratch. You’re allowed to become a GOAT at a place.” 

Kiffin is 54-19 at Ole Miss and 115-53 overall as a head coach. Being at Ole Miss has been his longest tenure (six seasons). It could be longer if he doesn’t jump at the chance to coach Florida or LSU.

“I think there’s a feeling amongst a lot of coaches like, ‘Hey, you got to get to this job. You got to get to this job.’ Rich Rod went to Michigan. He’s back at West Virginia. If he would have never left, that guy probably has the entire university named after him,” McAfee said. “So it’s like, there’s so many different decisions that are made, and obviously there’s big money involved, but it’s like Lane Kiffin is the only one that’s going to know what hell he wants to do. And I don’t think he has a clue at this point, but I would like to stick up for Ole Miss. 

“That place is awesome. They got a lot of great players who can play another year. Lane has done a fantastic job. I guess the recruiting is a little bit different … He’s got 6am yoga, non negotiable. He goes every single day. Then, I think he plays pickleball … And after watching his documentary, it’s like you’re allowed to be happy, dude.”