Welcome to Decision Day 2025.
Much like election days, we don’t know when we’ll know, but we know we’ll know what Lane Kiffin’s decision is at some point Saturday.
No overnight decision was made and Saturday was the day Ole Miss athletics director Keith Carter said an announcement was expected.
So, let’s recap where things stand.
Rebels headed to playoffs
With a 38-19 win against Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl, Ole Miss locked up a spot in the College Football Playoff. The Rebels also have a shot at playing in the SEC Championship game after Texas beat Texas A&M (they’ll need Auburn to beat Alabama on Saturday night).
Back when the coaching carousel began spinning more than a month ago, my thought was that if Ole Miss makes the playoffs, Kiffin won’t leave. That feeling has changed somewhat over the last week, but there’s a part of me that finds it hard to believe a coach would leave a playoff team for another.
There’s no guarantee Kiffin would make the playoffs at LSU. Brian Kelly didn’t and it cost him the job. Kiffin has a team in the playoffs right now.
Timeline
No press conferences have been scheduled for Saturday in Oxford and there likely won’t be one. So, we’re back to watching for white smoke emanating from the Manning Center.
ESPN’s Marty Smith reported Friday night that an announcement should be expected later in the day Saturday.
“I’m told the decision here will come tomorrow, but is expected to come later in the day,” Smith said in a halftime report. “Tonight, he’s over in Tupelo at his son Knox’s state semifinal high school football game. So, the thought is that meeting will happen later in the day tomorrow and we should have a resolution to this sometime tomorrow evening.”
What’s real, what’s not
There will be a lot of “reports” flying around today. Be smart. Just because some posts something on social media or message board doesn’t mean anything.
The big news will come from a national media person or outlet, like On3’s Chris Low or Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger. Those are two to watch for today.
But other media are worth noting when they report stuff, like this.
Is Kiffin lining up staff at LSU?
ProFootballTalk founder Mike Florio reported late Friday that Kiffin is “lining up his coaching staff at LSU.”
“It’s the kind of tidbit that quickly can spread on the coaching-industry grapevine, as folks agree to join someone’s staff — and as they decline the opportunity to do so,” Florio writes. “This isn’t a report that Kiffin is leaving. We’ll leave that one to whoever gets the spoon-fed scoop. But it’s true that, as of Friday night, Kiffin is putting the pieces in place in the event he makes the leap to LSU.”
Florio has great sources for NFL news and is usually correct in what he reports.
He’s not reporting Kiffin is leaving for LSU, but if Kiffin is setting up his LSU coaching staff to the point an NFL reporter hears about it…well, you know the old saying.
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
