Lane Kiffin "would not have predicted" a few years ago he would be coaching in Mississippi

The Lane Kiffin – Ole Miss saga has had many chapters, twist and turns through the less than four years he has been the head football coach. The most recent chapter occurred nearly six months ago involving the head coaching job at Auburn.

How that chapter started, transpired and ended has been well-documented but Kiffin is still reflecting and continues to have lingering thoughts about it. The second ESPN story in less than a month came out on Tuesday with Kiffin discussing further about then-open Auburn job and him eventually staying in Oxford.

Following Tuesday’s practice in the final week of spring drills Kiffin expounded his last few years and ending up as the head coach at Ole Miss.

“I would not have thought 10 years ago or even a few years ago that I would be the head coach in the state of Mississippi and that I would be choosing to stay,” Kiffin said. “I’m very real in our interviews. …and I wouldn’t say that. I would not have predicted that, no. Not just here. When you came here you made a decision to come here over, at least another premiere offer, one and now you’ve had some since you’ve been here and decided to stay. It just shows you can’t predict the future.”

Kiffin is entering his fourth season at Ole Miss and once the Arkansas game is completed on October 7 it will be his longest tenured head coaching job of his career.

The job jumping either by choice, or by firing on an airport tarmac, is a professional character trait that has followed Kiffin and become part of his narrative.

Over the last year there have been events in Kiffin’s personal life that are hinting at him making Oxford a long-term investment.

One being Kiffin’s oldest daughter, Landry, moving to Oxford and enrolling in Oxford High School. She also got accepted and will attend Ole Miss this fall. Last month Kiffin revealed his other daughter, McKenzie Lola, is also moving to Oxford.

Kiffin’s son Knox, who was in attendance at Tuesday’s practice, is around Oxford constantly.

“There’s not a day (that) don’t go by that I’m not grateful for Oxford, for Ole Miss,” Kiffin said. “Especially with Landry here, as you know, and her friends at the house and her decision to move here and now her decision to go to Ole Miss. As you get older you’re never going to be able to replace that time with your children. To have her here and go through senior year.

“It’s personal, but I remember being at neighbor’s prom (event) a year a go because he asked me to come over and take pictures and take that big picture of everybody and (I’m) going, ‘Man, I don’t get to see my own first child’s prom.’ Pretty neat to spin forward one year later, because she ends up moving that next week, to be over there and take pictures and see here there is really neat.”

The comments comes eight months after the Ole Miss coach opened up about making the move to Oxford and what it has meant.

Last August Kiffin offered up the line of thought that he needed Oxford and Ole Miss more than the city and university needed him. Probably more of a 50-50 two way street than he made it seem but there was a rare moment of Kiffin being genuine.

Of course those comments came months after a historic 10-win regular season and a berth to a New Year’s Six bowl in the Sugar Bowl.

Fresh off a season with a 7-0 start and a 1-5 finish is not lost on Kiffin and the perception of him but his feelings about his family’s new home of a year ago are still there.

“That (article is) just a reminder, and I said it before, (but) probably was better line at the time because we’d won 10 games. But saying that I needed Oxford and Ole Miss much more than they needed me, I think people thought that was neat when I said it. But now they might be saying, ‘Oh, now we don’t need you,’ after the bowl game. Like I said, there’s not a day goes by that I’m not appreciative of my opportunity here and the support here.”