Ole Miss and Lane Kiffin make it official with contract extension

Nov 29, 2022 - 9:53 PM

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Ole Miss football has coach Lane Kiffin locked into a new contract for the foreseeable future, the university announced Tuesday afternoon.

Sports Illustrated reporter Ross Dellenger tweeted out some of the details of the new agreement, which was not disclosed immediately by Ole Miss. If true, Kiffin would become one of the highest paid coaches in college football.

In three years, Kiffin’s teams have compiled a 23-12 record including a 5-5 season restricted by COVID that was SEC-only competition capped off with an Outback Bowl win. In year two, quarterback Matt Corral and a loaded offense led the Rebels to a 10-3 season making history with the first ten win regular season for the program.

Ole Miss (8-4, 4-4 SEC) is bowl eligible for the third straight season and may end up in Tampa at the ReliaQuest Bowl or in Nashville for the Music City Bowl. In my opinion, there has not been a three year stretch of success quite like this in many years in Oxford save Hugh Freeze’s NCAA sanctioned riddled Music City Bowl, Peach Bowl and Sugar Bowl run.

The age of Name, Image and Likeness has changed how the NCAA operates and made Ole Miss more relevant coming off the probation years under Matt Luke. Kiffin’s dynamic ability to bring in talented players and rebrand the national image of the program is why he is getting paid $750,000 per game to coach the Rebels. He has raised the profile of the program, and whether fans agree or not, players want to come play for him and in Oxford.

Now for fan expectations, it’s likely there will be some wailing and gnashing of teeth if any of the next few seasons are not as successful as the past three. It’s called the success tax, which other beat writers may call the Kiffin tax, but let’s be honest here, he is not the first coach to win in a program at a higher level than normal and get courted to other schools.

Kiffin is here to continue to raise expectations for Ole Miss, and if he can somehow figure out a way to get the Rebels to Atlanta one of these years, he’ll go down as one of the best to ever do the job in Oxford. Long way to go before that can become a reality, but the fact that it could be a reality is why Ole Miss made such a huge investment in him and his staff.