After one of the most dramatic exits in recent college football memory saw Lane Kiffin leaving Mississippi for LSU — one of the most dramatic athletic departments in the country — both sides will look to settle the noise with an introductory press conference Dec. 1.
Quieting the outside noise won’t be easy. The Kiffin-Mississippi divorce was messy and held the college football world’s attention for weeks. The dust had hardly settled from LSU’s firing of Brian Kelly before the rumor mill around Kiffin started to churn again, and the Rebels’ 2025 season suddenly became a backdrop for the Kiffin sideshow. It culminated Sunday, Nov. 30, when Kiffin officially departed Mississippi to take the LSU coaching job, with his reported ultimatums and threats to finish out the season going unheeded.
Now, Kiffin enters Baton Rouge as one of the most reviled figures by one fanbase since… Lane Kiffin. When he left the Tennessee Vols to take the job at USC in 2010. The college football world has changed a lot since then, of course, and Kiffin will enter a recruiting hotbed in Louisiana. With all of that in mind, he’s hoping this stint goes better than it did with the Trojans, where he was fired in 2013 before rehabbing his coaching reputation as a coordinator at Alabama and a head coach at FAU and Mississippi.
Here are the highlights from Kiffin’s introductory press conference at LSU.
Lane Kiffin press conference live updates
This section will be updated.
Lane Kiffin concludes press conference photo
Kiffin’s press conference concludes with press taking photos of him, president Wade Rousse and athletic director Verge Ausberry.
Lane Kiffin says he talked to Ed Orgeron
Kiffin says he talked to former LSU coach Ed Orgeron after arriving in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Kiffin says Orgeron told him LSU is the best job in America, and Kiffin also gave an Orgeron-esque ‘Go Tigers’ to the crowd in attendance.
Lane Kiffin says he doesn’t know his contract at LSU
Kiffin says he made his decision to be at LSU not because of money. He notes he’s unsure of the details of his new contract, although he jokes it’s likely a great deal.
Kiffin also says he’s more focused on how players can be compensated at LSU.
Lane Kiffin says Frank Wilson will remain interim coach
Frank Wilson will remain LSU’s interim coach in the Tigers’ bowl game, Kiffin confirms.
Lane Kiffin shares advice from Pete Carroll, Nick Saban
Kiffin says Pete Carroll, one of his mentors and the current Las Vegas Raiders head coach, said Kiffin’s dad, Monte Kiffin, would tell Kiffin to take the job.
Kiffin then jokes about former Alabama coach Nick Saban, saying he can’t quite share what Saban told him due to his affiliation with ‘another place in this conference.’
Lane Kiffin says his family had four options
Kiffin says his family basically had to think about four different places on where he’d coach in 2026. The former Mississippi coach also saw substantial interest from Florida.
Lane Kiffin says leaving Mississippi was ‘extremely difficult’
Kiffin says the last six years at Mississippi were the best six years of his life and said leaving the program was ‘extremely difficult.’
‘We tried every single thing possible to continue to coach the team through the playoffs,’ he said. ‘In the end, that was their decision, and we totally respect that.’
Verge Ausberry says Kiffin fits LSU culture
LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry says it was clear from the beginning that Kiffin was the man for LSU’s coaching vacancy.
“As a former player, and an administrator for 30 years, we knew we had to get someone who knew our culture,’ Ausberry said. ‘We knew that was Lane Kiffin.’
Verge Ausberry takes the stage
LSU president Wade Rousse gives a few remarks before introducing LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry, who hired Kiffin, to the lectern.
Kiffin will speak after Ausberry.
Lane Kiffin press conference livestream
Here’s the livestream of Kiffin’s introductory press conference at LSU: