Tommy Tuberville claims Lane Kiffin left Ole Miss 'in a pine box like I did'

Tommy Tuberville compared his infamous exit from Ole Miss to the recent departure of Lane Kiffin. Now a US senator, Tuberville previously coached the Rebels from 1995-98.

While addressing rumors that he was set to leave for the job at Auburn, Tuberville said on his radio show in 1998 that “they’ll have to carry me out of here in a pine box,” seemingly confirming his commitment to the Rebels. But two days later, he had accepted to the Auburn job and earned the eternal hatred of Ole Miss faithful.

Kiffin had a similarly contentious exit, though he didn’t quite lead on the fans in the same way that Tuberville did. Still, that didn’t stop Tuberville from making the connection.

“He left in a pine box like I did,” the former coach said according to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo! Sports.

Kiffin weighed his decision all the way up until the end of the regular season, coaching the Rebels through the Egg Bowl to an 11-1 record. He announced his intention to leave to coach at LSU on Sunday.

Despite expressing his desire to continue coaching Ole Miss through the College Football Playoff, Kiffin was denied the opportunity by athletic director Keith Carter. Instead, the Rebels named defensive coordinator Pete Golding as Kiffin’s replacement the same day that the coach left for Baton Rouge.

Ole Miss is ready to move on immediately and clearly didn’t want Kiffin’s name attached to a potential national championship if he wasn’t sticking around. Their journey through the CFP without their coach will definitely be one of the biggest stoylines of this postseason.

As for Tommy Tuberville, things worked out pretty well for him after his decision to leave Ole Miss. He went 85-40 across 10 seasons at Auburn, winning an SEC Championship in 2004 as Auburn finished 13-0 and won the Sugar Bowl. Despite the undefeated record, they were not invited to the BCS Championship.

Kiffin will hope that even greater success follows him to Baton Rouge, which will be the fifth stop of his college head coaching career. At his introductory press conference, he admitted the sour exit from Oxford got to hi a bit, until he got off the plane and saw his new home.

“Even on the plane down here, you’re kind of like ‘Man, we made this decision, but God I really —’ you know?” Kiffin said. “We landed last night and when I saw the board there and I saw the leadership and I felt the power of this place. Then we get out of the car and there’s the fans, just all of them out there at the airport. Then the cars drive by as you’re going to the office and you drive by Tiger Stadium and it’s lit up and you’re like, ‘I absolutely made the right decision.’ And it all went away.”