OXFORD – Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Tuesday he was not given an “ultimatum” to make a decision about his future amid reported interest from Florida and LSU for their head coaching vacancies. The Athletic reported Monday that Kiffin was given a deadline of until the Egg Bowl on Nov. 28.
“That’s absolutely not true. There’s been no ultimatum, anything like that at all. So, I don’t know where that came from, like a lot of stuff that comes out there,” Kiffin said. “Like I said man, we’re having a blast. I love it here.”
The Gators fired head coach Billy Napier on Oct. 19, while the Tigers fired head coach Brian Kelly on Oct. 26. According to Wilson Alexander of The Advocate, LSU “arranged for a private plane to pick up several of Kiffin’s family members Monday morning in Oxford … and they flew to Baton Rouge to tour the city.” Per On3, Kiffin’s family was in Gainesville, Florida on Sunday.
Ole Miss (10-1, 6-1) is currently ranked No. 7 in the College Football Playoff rankings and is ranked No. 5 in the latest AP Poll. With their win over Florida on Saturday, the Rebels secured a third straight double-digit win season for the first time in program history. Kiffin is in his sixth season at Ole Miss and has a 54-19 record with the Rebels. He has accounted for four of the program’s 11 double-digit win seasons.
Following Saturday’s win over the Gators, Kiffin was asked if he anticipated being the Rebels’ coach next season. As has been the case when his name has previously come up in coaching searches, Kiffin declined to answer, saying it would be “disrespectful to our players and how well they played today” and that, “We have a lot of things going here, doing really well. And I love it here.”
“I’m focused on winning,” Kiffin told McAfee. “Because, now what I’ve learned in college football, we have a little group chat with Sark (Steve Sarkisian) and Kirby (Smart) and a couple guys, and we came up with this: you lose one, you’re out of the top 10. You lose two, you’re out of the top 25. You lose three, you get fired. So, we’re focused on our job of trying to get to 1-0 every week because that’s the profession we’re in now.”
The Rebels have a bye this week before playing at Mississippi State next Friday at 11 a.m. The game will be broadcast on ABC.
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