Ole Miss-Lane Kiffin divorce takes another dramatic turn as athletic director seemingly backs players’ dispute
Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter disputed several claims former head coach Lane Kiffin made about his tumultuous departure for LSU.
On Wednesday, Carter delivered his first public comments since Kiffin was named the next head coach of the Tigers. Carter’s comments seemed to be in line with offensive lineman Brycen Sanders’ and other players’ responses to Kiffin’s account of the events leading up to his exit.
One of Carter’s sticking points centered on when Kiffin was told he would be barred from coaching Ole Miss in a potential College Football Playoff.
“A lot of things publicly that I’m not sure are totally accurate,” Carter told SuperTalk Mississippi.
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Carter clarified that Kiffin and his representative were given several weeks’ notice that coaching the Rebels in any potential playoff games was effectively a nonstarter.
COACH WHO LEFT OLE MISS TO JOIN LANE KIFFIN AT LSU WILL FINISH SEASON WITH REBELS
If Ole Miss were to have an opportunity to compete for the program’s first-ever SEC championship, Carter suggested he would have been open to further discussions about the possibility of Kiffin coaching in Atlanta.
“It was very clear that coaching in the postseason was not going to be an option for Coach Kiffin several weeks ago,” Carter told host Richard Cross.
In a farewell message, Kiffin wrote that he asked to “complete a historic six-season run with this year’s team by leading Ole Miss through the playoffs,” but Carter denied it “despite the team also asking him to allow me to keep coaching.”
Sanders quickly disputed Kiffin’s account, quoting his X post. “‘Despite the team asking me to keep coaching;’. I think everyone that was in that room would disagree,” Sanders posted. It should be noted Sanders misquoted Kiffin.
Other Ole Miss players also chimed in.
“Let em’ know. Every single person,” fellow offensive lineman Jayden Williams said in response to Sanders’ post.
Carter added that Kiffin told him Saturday evening he would take the job at LSU. Ole Miss later prompted defensive coordinator Pete Golding to head coach.
Fox News Digital’s Ryan Morik contributed to this report.
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