Ole Miss AD Keith Carter calls out Lane Kiffin over inaccurate claims of departure from Rebels

There’s been plenty of back-and-forth about how things unfolded in Lane Kiffin‘s departure from Ole Miss for LSU. One hotly debated point was whether the team asked Kiffin to coach it through the playoffs.

Kiffin made that claim when he departed by releasing a note on social media. But players fairly immediately disputed it.

Add athletics director Keith Carter to the chorus of folks stating that version of reality was, well, inaccurate. Carter chimed in on an interview with SuperTalk Mississippi.

“Yeah, there’s been a lot of things he’s said publicly that I’m not sure are totally accurate,” Carter said. “I think that both coach and his representation knew several weeks ago that coaching in the playoffs was not going to be an option if he was not the Ole Miss head coach.”

That some were allowed to frame it as Kiffin being forced out of the Ole Miss job does a disservice to the Rebels. That was always the plan discussed should he take another job, Carter said.

Kiffin did not, as he claimed, learn the day of his team meeting that he would not be allowed to continue forward with Ole Miss. So says Carter.

“No, that’s not accurate. That’s not accurate,” Carter said. “The only thing that was a little bit of a wrinkle in it was the fact that if Auburn had beaten Alabama we were going to play in the SEC Championship. That threw a little wrinkle in it.

“Not to say he would have coached in that game, but with the shorter time period that was maybe the only little nuance to it. But absolutely it was very clear that coaching in the postseason was not going to be an option for coach Kiffin a few weeks ago.”

His Ole Miss players have also responded publicly to Kiffin’s departure. Defensive tackle Jon Seaton released a viral TikTok video mocking Kiffin’s exit.

Meanwhile, two others disputed that the team had asked Kiffin to stay and coach the team through the playoffs. They reached out on Twitter.

“‘Despite the team asking me to keep coaching,’” wrote offensive lineman Brycen Sanders on Twitter. “I think everyone that was in that room would disagree.”

Further disputes of that Kiffin narrative arrived on Wednesday evening out of Ole Miss. Added defensive star Suntarine Perkins, a little after Sanders:

“That was not the message you said in the meeting room,” Perkins wrote. “Everybody that was in there can vouch on this.”