Lane Kiffin‘s switch from Ole Miss Football to LSU Football wasn’t the smoothest transition.
He signed his multi-million dollar contract with the Tigers in a critical time for the Rebels. During their first college football playoff appearance.
After Kiffin committed to the rival school in Baton Rouge, Ole Miss’s Athletic Director Keith Carter did not allow him to continue coaching the Rebels for their debut CFP. The same would have applied if he were with the Tigers.
Ausberry’s Agrees
As LSU Football let go of former head coach Brian Kelly last fall, Athletic Director Scott Woodward also parted ways with the University. Their replacements? Kiffin as head coach and Verge Ausberry as athletic director.
Before his official title, Ausberry was in charge of the search for a football coach while he was the interim AD. He’s the one who welcomed Kiffin across state lines. Now, he’s backing up where Kififn came from.
Ausberry tells USA Today Sports that if he were in Carter’s shoes last December, he would have pulled the same strings about Kiffin coaching the Rebels during the playoffs.
“I’d probably be like, ‘Nah, we ain’t doing that. No,’” he said in the interview. “But, that hand wasn’t dealt… If I’m Ole Miss, I probably would’ve made the same decision,” Ausberry said. “I know LSU would’ve made the same decision. I don’t blame anybody.”
So if Kiffin was leaving LSU during the berth of their first college playoffs, Ausberry would show him the door and end the conversation there. Not because he would want to strip Kiffin of his first appearance coaching a CFP, but to make a point about how he is handling his new position.
Ausberry now takes over at what seems to be the Olympic village of collegiate sports. Woodward brought great success to Baton Rouge, and Ausberry hopes to do the same. That comes with tough decisions and putting your foot down, even if it doesn’t always make your hires happy.
New School, Same Goal
Clearly, Kiffin’s hopes to finally coach in a CFP were irrelevant last season. He sided with the enemy. He was no longer welcome in Oxford, even if he could lead the team to their first football National Championship title.
But just because he was sent packing before the postseason, his dreams weren’t crushed. If he wants to check off a CFP appearance from his bucket list, the time is now. At LSU.
With his roster renovation during the offseason, adding top-ranked athletes and a new coaching staff, it seems like he’s got his eye on the prize this fall.
LSU might not be at the top of the list for the postseason projection, but Kiffin could change that, proving all of college football wrong.
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