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By Nelson Espinal
Contributing Sports Reporter
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Lane Kiffin has officially announced that he will take the opening at LSU and leave Ole Miss, which is set to make the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history.
Kiffin had a contract extension from Ole Miss, which would make him among the highest-paid coaches, along with an increase in his NIL budget at the school.
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The coach has instead opted to join LSU, which also had a similar offer on the table.
He wanted to coach Ole Miss during the playoffs and help finish a historic season for the program, but they have instead named defensive coordinator Pete Golding the coach, without the interim tag.
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Kiffin also had an offer from Florida, though they left the picture quite early in the decision-making process after it became clear it was down to LSU or Ole Miss.
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Ole Miss set a deadline for Kiffin to announce following the Egg Bowl on Saturday. It was reported that a decision might come Saturday night, but it never did — the news instead arrived on Sunday morning.
On social media, Kiffin explained his decision and announced his future.
"After a lot of prayer and time spent with family, I made the difficult decision to accept the head coaching position at LSU," Kiffin wrote in a post on X.
"I was hoping to complete a historic six season run with this year's team by leading Ole Miss through the playoffs, capitalizing on the team's incredible success and their commitment to finish strong, and investing everything into a playoff run with guardrails in place to protect the program in any areas of concern.
"My request to do so was denied by Keith Carter despite the team also asking him to allow me to keep coaching them so they could better maintain their high level of performance. Unfortunately, that means Friday's Egg Bowl was my last game coaching the Rebels.
"While I am looking forward to a new start with a unique opportunity at LSU, I will forever cherish the incredible six years I spent at Ole Miss and will be rooting hard for the team to complete their mission and bring a championship to Oxford."
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