Lou Holtz jabs Lane Kiffin, offers advice ahead of Ole Miss decision

The Lane Kiffin saga, as he decides whether to stay at Ole Miss or move on to a new job, is continuing and has now caught the attention of everyone in the college football world. That includes legendary head coach Lou Holtz, who recently shared some advice ahead of his decision.

Holtz recently made an appearance at the Orlando Touchdown Club. There, he recounted a story about getting approached about the Florida State job and how he handled it. In the process, he took an interesting jab at Kiffin, who he has known since he was a small child.

“I coached at Arkansas and the Florida State job opened up,” Lou Holtz said. “And it was the athletic director and the head football coach. And they approached me with four weeks to go in the season. They wanted me to make a commitment. I said, ‘That’s not fair to our players.’ You follow that rule. Do what’s right. That wasn’t right to our players. That’s the thing that bothers me about Lane Kiffin. I’ve known Lake Kiffin since he was 2 years old. He was wild as hell then.”

Lou Holtz would, obviously, not take the Florida State job. Instead, he stayed with Arkansas until leaving for Minnesota in 1984 and Notre Dame in 1986. So, he has plenty of experience leaving for new jobs. He also had Monte Kiffin on his staff before Lane’s father earned his own head coaching opportunity at NC State.

Amid all of that, Holtz feels qualified to offer some advice. That’s follow your heart and do the right thing. That way, you can live life without regret.

“His father, Monte Kiffin, was a great defensive coach that coached for me at Arkansas. I loved Monte. But it’s like anything else, it’s all about other people. So, if Florida State wanted me to make a decision with four weeks to go in the season. I said, ‘That’s not fair to our athletes. You can’t do that.’ And the president said, ‘You can come to Florida now, or you can come when you retire, but you’re gonna end up in Florida.’ He was absolutely right, but it’s like anything else. Follow your heart. Do the right thing, not what’s convenient. Not what you want to do. What’s the right thing to do? Because you’ll never have to look back. You’ll never have to second guess anything you do,” Holtz said.

“I made a lot of mistakes in my life. We all do. But you can’t go through life with a feeling of defeat. You just make amends. You move on, and you don’t look back. The good Lord put eyes in the front of your head, rather than the back so you can see where you’re going, rather than where you’ve been. So, just have fun and enjoy life.”

It would appear that the decision for Lane Kiffin is coming down to three options. He could stay at Ole Miss. He could also leave, and if he were to do that Kiffin would then choose between Florida and LSU. That decision is expected to come on the Saturday after the Egg Bowl. However, what he ends up doing remains a guess to most people.