Booger McFarland believes Lane Kiffin should get a chance to coach in the College Football Playoff even if he decides to bolt Mississippi to take the LSU job.
Kiffin could make his decision whether to stay at Ole Miss or move on to LSU as early as Saturday after completing an 11-1 regular season with the Running’ Rebels with a 38-19 road win Friday over rival Mississippi State in the annual Egg Bowl.
Ole Miss currently is ranked No.7 in the CFP, and McFarland — an ABC/ESPN analyst and an LSU alum — oddly said it would be “a travesty” if Kiffin would not be permitted to coach his current squad in the 12-team national championship tournament if he decides to leave Oxford for Baton Rouge.
“You should always finish what you start,” McFarland said on the air Friday night. “This program was started back in the spring. These kids have gone through summer, gone through two-a-days and all that, and now you get to a point where Ole Miss is in the playoff. That’s a fact right now.
“If Lane decides to leave, he should be allowed to finish what he started. The only way that you don’t allow him to do that is if there’s personal feelings that get involved, because if you’re Ole Miss, then you’re upset that he left.”
That’s not typically how it’s done in college sports,
“But understand it, what message are you sending to the kids that, ‘Hey, I got us here. I helped get us here, and now you’re not going to allow me because of a personal decision, because you don’t like my decision. I can’t finish what I started?” McFarland added. “I can’t speak for the Ole Miss AD, but here’s what I’ll say: I think it will be a travesty, that if Lane does decide to leave, that he’s not allowed to finish the job. I think the kids would want him to.
“I think if you’re Ole Miss, why would you not? The only reason I can think of…is because of personal feelings.”
The Kiffin rumors have been part of a crazy few days at Ole Miss, which also featured the coach claiming that quarterback Trinidad Chambliss had his jersey stolen before Friday’s game by Mississippi State fans and a bench-clearing brawl between the teams during the second quarter.
The 50-year-old Kiffin has coached at Ole Miss since 2020, posting a record of 54-19 and reaching a bowl game in each of his six seasons.
LSU (7-4) initially fired Brian Kelly in late October but officially sent him a termination letter earlier this week, stipulating he will be paid his full $54 million buyout over a six-year period.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
