Head coach Lane Kiffin continues to do things not seen at Ole Miss in decades.
The Rebels (10-3) just cemented their second-straight 10-win season, the third double-digit winning season for the program in four years and 10th in program history.
Ole Miss won a combined 15 games the previous three seasons prior to Kiffin’s hiring in December 2019. The Rebels hadn’t won more than six games in a season since 2015 and had lost three of their last four to arch-rival Mississippi State. Minus the shortened COVID-19 season in 2020, Ole Miss has gone 39-13 under Kiffin. The 2023 season was the first 11-win season in program history and, with their dominant 52-20 Gator Bowl win over Duke, the Rebels have secured a third top-25 finish in the AP Poll in four years for the first time since three-straight occurrences from 1969-71.
That sort of history doesn’t happen without the collaboration of many, Kiffin said following the Gator Bowl. The Manning Center underwent a $45.7 million renovation that was finished prior to the 2023 season, and Ole Miss has been on the cutting edge of NIL innovations and has routinely attracted top talent through the transfer portal.
“I think it says a lot. I think it says a lot, too, because the SEC is so competitive now, and you’ve got even newer teams in the SEC since way back — probably four have come in, just two in the last year,” Kiffin said. “It just says a lot about these players in this era to do that. It says a lot about the commitment from the chancellor, from (athletics director) Keith (Carter) when they hired us, and then continual commitment throughout that process, not just ‘Here’s the job,’ but then we needed things. We needed things with facilities. We needed things with staff budget to be able to get coaches like we have and be able to get a (defensive coordinator) Pete Golding to come. They’ve given us everything we’ve ever asked for.”
The history being built in Oxford is not lost on players who helped build its current foundation, either.
“I think coach Kiffin is a hell of a coach, and I think he does everything in his power to make Ole Miss a good football program. And he has, he’s done that,” wide receiver Jordan Watkins said. “I think over the years to come, guys will want to come here just because, like you said, 10 wins in the last two seasons, I think that draws guys’ attention. Like I said, he’s a great coach, and he has a way with players. I think Ole Miss will be on the rise for many, many years.”
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