BREAKING: LSU Football set to name Lane Kiffin as head coach

On Sunday, LSU Football is set to name Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin as the 35th head coach in program history, sources tell The Bengal Tiger and On3.

Kiffin, who had been the top target for the LSU search committee since Kelly was fired in late-October, has agreed to terms to become the next head coach of the Tigers, multiple sources tell On3 and The Bengal Tiger’s Shea Dixon.

The expectations are Kiffin is expected to hold his first press conference at LSU on Monday, sources added. A time for the press conference is still to be determined.

Kiffin informed the Ole Miss team of his decision to accept the head coaching job in Baton Rouge during a 1 p.m. meeting in Oxford.

Following the meeting, players told reporters that defensive coordinator Pete Golding was the new head coach.

Whether that means Golding is steering the ship through the CFB Playoff or beyond, it means Kiffin’s time as Ole Miss head coach has officially ended.

Kiffin coached in Friday’s Egg Bowl against Mississippi State, leading the Rebels to a win and an 11-1 regular season finish.

Kiffin will not coach the Rebels in the CFB Playoff, and LSU had plans in place to fly Kiffin, his family, and others – including coaches – to Baton Rouge on Sunday to begin his tenure as the head coach of the Tigers.

Those planes are set to arrive in the Magnolia State shortly after 2 p.m., then return to Baton Rouge with – presumably – the program’s new coach, his family, and potential new staff additions all on board. On Monday, Kiffin’s first LSU press conference remains on the schedule.

With LSU pulling Kiffin from Ole Miss, and beating out Florida along the way, LSU Athletics Director Verge Ausberry and the search committee were about to both land Kiffin and have the hire announced before the high school Early Signing Period on Dec. 3 – let alone the NCAA Transfer Portal window in January.

The timing of the hire became even more notable given Ole Miss finished 11-1 and is headed to the playoffs, but the lure of becoming the head coach at LSU was strong enough to pull Kiffin away as the Rebels move through the remainder of the program’s historic season without Kiffin as the team’s head coach.

Kiffin, who spent six seasons at Ole Miss, with the lone blemish on his final season being a loss to Georgia, replaces Kelly after the longtime Notre Dame head coach was fired during his fourth season with the program.

Kelly finished with a 34-14 record across his 48 games in Baton Rouge. Kiffin has put together a 55-19 record during his six seasons in Oxford.

Prior to Kiffin’s arrival in 2020, the Rebels had just three 10-win seasons since 1971. He immediately took the program to new heights, guiding Ole Miss to double-digit wins in three of the past four seasons.

Now 50 years old, Kiffin’s first head coaching job came in 2007 when Al Davis hired the 31-year old son of coaching legend Monte Kiffin to take over as head coach of the Raiders. After a 5-15 start, Davis fired Kiffin.

From there, his journey to becoming one of college football’s most well-known coaches began.

After being named the Tennessee head coach in 2009, Kiffin spent 2010-13 as head coach at Southern Cal. After a 10-2 finish in his second season with the Trojans, USC finished 7-6 overall in 2012. Following a 3-2 start in 2013, he was fired during his fourth year with the program.

Alabama head coach Nick Saban, who led LSU into the program’s glory days when he was hired as the program’s head coach in 2000, added Kiffin to his staff in 2014.

In his role as offensive coordinator under Saban, Kiffin spent three seasons at Alabama, which included a National Championship in 2015.

He left Tuscaloosa in 2016 to become the head coach at Florida Atlantic. In his first season, Kiffin led FAU to an 11-3 finish and 8-0 record in Conference USA. Following a 5-7 finish the following season, Kiffin’s third and final year in Boca Raton saw the Owls finish 10-3 with another first-place CUSA finish.

That’s when Ole Miss came calling. In 2020, the Rebels named Kiffin head coach after Matt Luke spent three seasons running the program in Oxford. Luke didn’t have a winning record in his three years as head coach, and after Kiffin’s first season brought a 5-5 finish, he went on to win at least 10 games in three of the next four seasons.

Kiffin has Ole Miss sitting at 10-1 on the season with only a road trip to Starkville for the Egg Bowl remaining, which has put the program in position to make the CFB Playoff for the first time.

When LSU fired Kelly, and Florida fired Billy Napier, the Tigers and Gators both made Kiffin the top target in each program’s coaching search.

Now, the waiting game to find out which program landed the coaching carousel’s most-coveted name is over.

Lane Kiffin is the 35th head coach in the history of the LSU Football program.

Stay tuned to The Bengal Tiger for more on this breaking news.

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