You’d have to be under a rock lately not to notice the roll that the Ole Miss Rebels football team and head coach Lane Kiffin have been on lately. The road to being one of the best coaches in the SEC wasn’t easy for Kiffin. Before becoming the transfer portal king, before it was coming up roses at Ole Miss on a national stage, Lane Kiffin had humble beginnings in division one college football.
Humble beginnings at Fresno State
He started his career at Fresno State in the 1997-98 season as an assistant. Then, the Fresno State Bulldogs were not on anybody’s radar for much of anything. In fact, that season, they ended the regular season at 6-6.
By the year 2000, Lane Kiffin had tested the waters of the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars as a defensive quality control coordinator under head coach Tom Coughlin. His next NFL test and probably his biggest coaching test came when he was brought on by late Raiders owner (then in Oakland), Al Davis in January 2007. At 31, he was the youngest head coach in NFL history at the time.
Tumultuous times in the Bay
His very short tenure with the Raiders was doomed from the start. He didn’t see eye-to-eye with Davis at the beginning of his journey and according to multiple sources, the two disagreed on selecting former LSU Tigers quarterback, JaMarcus Russell as the number one draft pick in the NFL Draft that year. Kiffin went an abysmal 5-15 with Russell at quarterback.
After that rocky first season, Al Davis attempted to force out of Kiffin, but it didn’t happen. Entering the 2008 season, the Raiders started the season 1-3. Kiffin was then let go by Al Davis. It was said that Davis called Kiffin a “liar” and that he brought “disgrace” to the Raiders organization. If there was ever a messy dismissal in NFL history, it was this one. It was put a stain on that of Lane Kiffin’s coaching career. Kiffin later filed a grievance against the Raiders by saying that he was unjustifiably fired without cause. In the long and short of things, a third party ruled in favor of the Raiders and needlessly to say, Kiffin knew he needed to be elsewhere to continue his transformative journey.
A Rocky Time at Rocky Top
In 2008, Lane Kiffin journeyed to Knoxville, to coach at the University of Tennessee. He took the Volunteers from being 5-7 to 7-6 in his first season. His time at Old Rocky Top did become a bit controversial. Kiffin bolted Knoxville in mid-2010 during recruiting season to take over Pete Carroll’s job as the USC Trojans head coach, which Lane Kiffin at the time called his “dream job”. Fans and students weren’t too thrilled with Lane Kiffin’s departure. Police had to escort him home at 4 a.m. after his departure was announced.
It does rain in Southern California
He hoped his time at USC would bring much success for him and the Trojans, but he didn’t fare much better. He got to the Trojans job during a time when they were banned on probation and lost several scholarships because of a “lack of institutional control” during the Pete Carroll years. Kiffin’s best year with the Trojans was in 2010, when the Trojans went 10-2. The honeymoon didn’t last long at USC, Kiffin was fired on an airport tarmac after a USC loss. This was perhaps the lowest point of Kiffin’s career.
On to Tuscaloosa
Many in the coaching ranks left Kiffin for dead but a call from Nick Saban, who was then Alabama’s head coach, changed everything. From 2014-2016, he was the offensive coordinator. During his stint there, he and Coach Saban often butted heads about the offensive execution of the Crimson Tide but managed to win a national championship in 2015 before he left Tuscaloosa.
To this day, Kiffin still thanks Saban for saving his coaching career.
Light at the end of the tunnel
Lane Kiffin’s next chance at success as a head coach began at Florida Atlantic from 2017-2019. While there, Kiffin led the Owls to two Conference USA Championships.
By the end of the 2019 season, Kiffin once again found himself being named one of the hottest coaches in college football and many took notice, including Ole Miss.
Finding a home in Oxford
In the Covid-ridden 2020 season, Lane Kiffin arrived in Oxford and hasn’t looked back since. The Rebels, for the first time in their school’s history, are on the verge of making the College Football Playoff and with any luck, the SEC Championship game. If one were to question how Kiffin arrived at this pinnacle in his career, he would simply give all the credit to his family, specifically, his late father, Monte, and his children, daughters Landry and Persley, and his son, Knox. Lane Kiffin recently has said, in many interviews that he wouldn’t be where he is without the love and support of his family. His biggest joys as a coach and a father have come in Oxford and being part of the Ole Miss community.
Oct 28, 2023; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Mississippi Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin (left) and his son Knox Kiffin during warm ups prior to a game against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports
Although there have been some humbling moments throughout his career, it’s safe to say that Lane Kiffin has found his home in Oxford.
