Skip to main content
Join Now
Team Avatar
Ole Miss

Lane Kiffin expands on why he needed Ole Miss and Oxford more than they needed him

On3 imageby:Sam Gillenwater•08/29/22•

samdg_33

On3 image
Kevin C. Cox | Getty Images

Lane Kiffin has lived in a lot of places during his coaching career. Just in the last 14 seasons since getting his first head coaching job, he has spent time in Knoxville, Los Angeles, Tuscaloosa, Boca Raton and now Oxford, Mississippi. Even with all those homes and experiences at each spot, though, he says Ole Miss has been different.

Kiffin spoke on that difference during his press conference today. He had said he needed the school and city more than they needed him and he explained how he wasn’t expecting that to be the case when he arrived.

CLICK HERE to subscribe for FREE to the On3 YouTube channel

“I just think maybe that statement might not surprise people just when I thought of it the other day,” said Kiffin. “I don’t know if I would have said that in the beginning just from living in the different cities that I’ve lived in.”

Kiffin started his tenure at Ole Miss the last two seasons with a 15-8 record. 2021 was a significant step up with one of the program’s best seasons at 10-3. Kiffin’s offense has translated immediately in the Rebel’s program. That success should keep him in his new home for the forseeable future after signing an extension last December.

While the wins have been great, Kiffin says the personal moments at Ole Miss have been the separator. Having his daughter, dog, and the people around him there have made it a place full of cherishable memories.

“With Landry moving here, Juice and everything, and just how people are here? It’s been really awesome for me,” Kiffin said. “It has been a part of a lot of changes that have taken place personally that I just think didn’t happen in these two years by chance. I think a lot of it had to do with coming here.”

Lane Kiffin has made more than his fair share of stops as a football coach. At 47, he is at an age where Oxford is a place he could see himself spending time at. With him locked in until 2025, he’ll have even more time to settle in and continue to call Oxford home.