Urban Meyer reacts to how Lane Kiffin's move from Ole Miss to LSU played out

The decision for Lane Kiffin on whether or not to leave Ole Miss turned into an epic saga that will go down in SEC lore. With the dust now settling, analysts, fans, and experts around the country are just trying to make sense of what happened.

By now, the story has been reported in depth. Kiffin made the decision to leave for LSU but wanted to continue coaching Ole Miss in the College Football Playoff. The administration there decided that it couldn’t allow that to happen, and the two sides ended up in a standoff.

One coach who progressed from one job to another several times during his career is Urban Meyer. During an appearance on The Herd, he addressed the Lane Kiffin situation and how everything played out.

“It’s unprecedented,” Urban Meyer said. “I actually was texting back and forth with Lane. They let me when I left Utah and went to Florida, they let me come back and coach in the BCS bowl game. First time a non-BCS school made it. I met with the players, they were good enough to say come on back. This is a whole different animal. He’s going to an in-conference rival, and he’s walked out on players that gave him everything they got. So, I’m torn.”

Prior to Kiffin’s ultimate decision, many speculated that if he left Ole Miss, it would be for an easier path to a national championship. Meyer certainly seems to think, with the benefit of hindsight and what he knows about Kiffin, that this was the case.

“I was saying he was gonna stay for that reason,” Meyer said. “That you can’t — Lane Kiffin’s not gonna make a decision for money. I don’t know him that well, but I know him well enough. He’s more competitive than he is worried about money. In his heart, he must think it’s going to be an easier path or a better path to win a national title. That’s the only thing I can think of to be able to walk away.”

When Ole Miss decided that Kiffin couldn’t coach the Playoff, things quickly got ugly. That included Kiffin reportedly attempting to poach the Ole Miss staff ahead of the Playoff. They would do that by setting an ultimatum, in effect, asking that his assistants leave for LSU immediately or risk not having a job there at all.

“I don’t think he even met with the players. I heard the AD won’t let him. They just had the best season in the history of Ole Miss. That team is prepared to go make a run deep into the Playoff, and he’s gone. When I saw that happen, my heart hurt for those players,” Meyer said. “And a bunch of coaches got on that plane.”

Now, Ole Miss needs to go into the College Football Playoff with a cloud over the team. Lane Kiffin, meanwhile, enters an LSU program where there will be national championship expectations.