As Ole Miss football’s incredible College Football Playoff run continues, the Lane Kiffin drama drags on as well.
The No. 6-seeded Rebels are set to take on No. 10 Miami in the College Football Playoff CFP Fiesta Bowl semifinal on Thursday, Jan. 8, from State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Kiffin will not be with Ole Miss for the third consecutive playoff game after taking the LSU head coaching job.
However, Kiffin still casts a very large shadow over the Ole Miss program. While Charlie Weiss Jr. will continue to be the offensive coordinator for the Rebels against the Hurricanes in the semifinals, it was not certain that it would be the case following Ole Miss’ win over Georgia.
Weiss – along with other assistants on staff – are headed to LSU to join Kiffin’s staff with the Tigers. Weiss and running backs coach Kevin Smith will be the only assistant coaches to continue with Ole Miss for the CFP semifinal. Joe Cox (tight ends coach), George McDonald (wide receivers coach), Dane Stevens (quarterbacks) and Sawyer Jordan (slot receivers) are not with the Rebels for the game.
ACC Network analyst and former national champion coach Jimbo Fisher called out Kiffin for his ‘selfish’ decision.
‘It’s selfish. That’s what it is. It’s stupid,’ Fisher said on Wednesday, Jan. 7, during an ACCN broadcast previewing the Ole Miss-Miami game.
‘He wanted to coach (Ole Miss) and thought he didn’t get his way. Everybody get on the plane with me, or you don’t have a job.’ All right? And he makes them all go. Then he gets down there and takes a PR hit because it looks bad that you really don’t care about the kids. Then he says, ‘OK, you can go back.’’
Fisher also added that he did not believe Kiffin thought the Rebels would pull off the upset vs. the Bulldogs last week. However, Trinidad Chambliss led Ole Miss to a 39-34 comeback win over Georgia to keep the season alive.
‘Here’s where he screwed up,’ Fisher said. ‘He thought they were gonna lose to Georgia. The portal thing was all over with, and it was going to be all over with. He said, ‘I’ll look like a hero.’ Now he’s got egg on his face because the real Lane came back out. And if those guys were allowed to coach a first game, they should be allowed to coach – because those kids are doing something that you get one time in your life to do. That team and those guys: One time.
‘And as a coach? Listen, I know – I’ve left a job; I get that. But if you took them on and said they’re never coming back, that’s fine. You set the rules of the game. You don’t change the rules in the middle of the game. And as a coach, it’s hurting the kids, and it pisses me off.’
Fisher coached at Florida State from 2010 through 2017, leading the Seminoles to a national championship in 2013. He, of course, left Tallahassee, Florida, for the Texas A&M job in 2017, leaving the program with hard feelings at the time.