Lane Kiffin’s turbulent departure from Ole Miss to become LSU’s new coach has drawn the ire of many, including Hall of Fame coach Bill Cowher.
Cowher and the rest of the “NFL Today” crew took time out of their Week 13 coverage to address Kiffin’s controversial exit. They reacted to his comments that he asked — and was denied — the chance to coach Ole Miss during its upcoming College Football Playoff run. Kiffin also allegedly gave his former coaches at Ole Miss an ultimatum to either leave with him this past weekend or lose the opportunity to join his new staff at LSU.
“I would say, why would you even ask that question?” Cowher said in response to Kiffin’s request to continue coaching Ole Miss for the remainder of its season. “Why would an AD let a coach — who made a decision that he wanted to go to LSU and not stay at Ole Miss — coach my players and use my coaches and tell them for the next month why they should be joining him at LSU. Totally understand. I would just say, ‘Thank you Lane, and goodbye.'”
Cowher also offered his two cents to any player who choose to play for Kiffin in the future.
“Just understand one thing: it’s not about the program, it’s about Lane Kiffin,” Cowher said. “Because he doesn’t care about the players that he just went through a season with, a special season. Players he’s had for four years with an opportunity to go to the playoffs. He’s decided to only leave them, which I get. Okay, you want to do that, but now you take offensive coaches with you and destroy the program. Deplete the program and the dreams of these young men who you said that you want to be there and you want to do it with, but if I can’t do it, I’m not going to let you do you it yourself.”
Cowher made it clear that he doesn’t have an issue with Kiffin pursuing another opportunity. It’s the way that he left that bothers Cowher and many other people for that matter.
“If you go, then go and wish them nothing but the best,” Cowher said. “Don’t disrupt that program. Don’t take any of those coaches. Let them stay there and let them finish the job that you left because you didn’t want to finish it, because you decided you want to go somewhere else. That’s fine. But don’t take everybody else with you and try to destroy that program.
“A football program is not just about the head coach. It’s about the assistants. It’s about the organization. It’s about everybody else. Administrative staff that sat there and supported you all those years, all those alumni that sat there gave you money for NIL, it’s about them too. You’ve left them. And so it isn’t just about you, Lane Kiffin.”
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