Man, there’s preparing for the next big game, then there’s preparing for what sounds like an active divorce proceeding.
But what about Weis and those five other assistants who’ve signed contracts to coach at LSU next season?
“Their focus is on Georgia-Ole Miss football,” Chambliss said. “Their obligations for next year are next year.”
Except, of course, when the six of them hold separate recruiting meetings at night, some which unfold at Weis’ own home and include, perhaps, conversations about pursuing current Ole Miss players to come to Baton Rouge.
“It’s very strange,” Weis acknowledged. “You spend the whole day grinding together with the game plan, and at night, you’ve got to go to opposite sides [of the building]. At nighttime, we go take care of recruiting meetings on our own. It’s a crazy deal.”
For some, this is unnerving. The trust factor is a real thing.
In fact, new Ole Miss assistants hired by coach Pete Golding, or those staying on staff next year, will intentionally sit in during individual meetings with players led by some of the six LSU-bound assistants “just to make sure there’s no tampering,” says one school official.
“We got to get the FBI in here to bug the phones,” says one Ole Miss administrative staff member with a laugh.
He’s only half-joking.
If you’ve got the time, this is worth a read.
Couldn’t Ole Miss just opt out of the CFP and let Notre Dame go, instead? This has got to be rough on the kids, to say the least.
Why was it a great idea to tell lane he couldn’t finish the season again?
But of course Sumrall doing it was like different and stuff because you know, things and whatever…
I know there were hurt fee fees, but picking among two bad choices letting laner continue still seems to me to be the lesser one.
But for some, lane wasn’t even supposed to publicly say he wanted to coach the team….
What?
C’mon Derek, you know from time immemorial, coaches at “small schools” going to big schools have generally been allowed to finish their seasons, while coaches going from “big schools” to other “big schools” have not. The only reasons it has been *so controversial* now is because the media needs red meat plus the existence of The Portal (TM)…..
Noting that things happen doesn’t mean those things make any damn sense.
Because Lane made it about Lane and not about Ole Miss. If he wanted to coach in the playoff, he should have said, “I’m not leaving for LSU,” but he couldn’t do it. Also, it was Ole Miss’s second biggest rival. This would have been like Vince Dooley accepting the Auburn job in 1980 and wanting to coach the Sugar Bowl against Notre Dame.
He was a total jackass about the whole thing. I hope he falls flat on his face in Baton Rouge, and, honestly, the right thing to do would to not be in the building tomorrow night. Of course, it’s all about him, so he’ll be there to get his face on the screen at every opportunity wearing purple and gold.
I’m NOT talking about Lane’s decision making or personality or habit of being annoying in every way. I’m talking about OM’s decision making and noting that OM knew what they were getting.
Finally, who hasn’t left OM for a better job if they’ve won there?
You’d think they get that they are a stepping stone program. One which has an opportunity to change their rep and faced two less than ideal roads.
One gave them a better chance to win there tournament and one reduced those chances.
Haven’t seen one person make the point that this team is in better hands tomorrow because Pete Golding is in charge.
Its all just : lanes an ass!!
We ALL knew that. SOME of us signed up that guy to coach their football team.
Derek, why should Ole Miss allow a coach who is walking out the door to one of their rivals dictate the terms of how he can work for both entities at the same time? Your perspective is we should be grateful that he wants to stay and coach because, after all, we’re Ole Miss.
Agree to disagree. By the way, I don’t think Ole Miss is without fault here as well, but I also don’t think they should have stood by and let him do whatever he wanted.
The question for OM was:
What’s best for the 2025 team right now?
I say they failed the test. All I get in response is empathy. No logic. No facts. No Pete coaches circles around Lane and Pete should have been the coach LSU hired.
Just “I get why OM had a pity party.”
Me too.
The question is:
Did the OM decision makers help their football team?
Turning the question to any other thing is missing the point.
You didn’t answer my question. If you’re the Ole Miss AD or chancellor, do you allow Kiffin to dictate the terms on which he would have been allowed to coach in the playoff after he decided to take another job? No one knows other than people in the room if Ole Miss or Kiffin (and his representative) negotiated in good faith on the terms of his departure.
“ The question for OM was:
What’s best for the 2025 team right now?”
If that’s the question the AD was asking, he should be fired. The decision has to be made primarily with an eye on the future. If you have an option that allows you to still compete in 2025, then you do it. But you don’t blow up 2026 on for the sake of a longshot chance in a tournament starting with a game against a team that already beat you and looks a lot better since then.
I wouldn’t have made the decision based on whether I felt I was being “dictated to.”
I would have made the decision based on what was in the best interest of the current team first and the program overall second.
I wouldn’t cut my nose off to spite my face because Lane is a dick. Had he made unreasonable demands beyond simply finishing out the season I would have retorted publicly precisely what those demands were and voiced a preference to have allowed him to continue in spite of his choice to go to lsu, but for x, y and z reasons I could not do that leading me to believe that Lane didn’t really want to coach this team, he just wanted people to think he did.
If that has happened and I missed it, I recant everything Ive said on the matter.
He’s never left a job on good terms why expect Ole Miss would go differently. He’s nuked every bridge he’s stood on when leaving.
LSU has had a mass player exit of portal announcements. Wonder whose players he plans to poach to fill out his new team.
To be fair, the USC AD nuked that bridge for him.
You Sir are also correct. It could also be said Pawwwl pushed the start the count down button that morning going on a Kiffin should be fired rant. That resulted in just that outcome on the runway. Love listening when Kiffen reminds Paul he’s the one who got him fired.
OM hired him. They paid for the ticket. Finish the ride.
I just don’t get what they’ve gained by saying “no thanks.”
And I really don’t get the idea that Lane saying he wanted to finish was “out of line.”
Put yourself in their shoes…imagine if somehow Florida hired Kirby away from UGA. Would you want Kirby still in the building in Athens knowing that his parallel goal to winning playoff games was to convince as many of our players as possible to transfer to Gainesville?
Moreover, it’s a major rival. We all know that Ole Miss is an inferior program to LSU, but letting Lane treat them like a mid-major on the way out tells everyone that even Ole Miss acknowledges their inferiority.
Its happening anyway. Lane has 6 future lsu coaches in Oxford now.
Why would it be worse if one more of them were Lane?
Because he’d be in charge of the building. As noted in the article, Golding has new coaches sitting in meetings with current players
and the LSU guys. If you think Kiffin would be a man of enough integrity to keep those protocols in place I’ve got some oceanfront property in Arizona to see you. And if you’ll buy that, I’ll throw the Golden Gate in for free.
The second they lose all that is out the window. Hell if they ran the table its out the window on Jan 20.
The illusion of control is strong in people. But its just that. An illusion.
And besides, if you’re OM and you think you’ll be back with the current roster you’re insane. This is your shot. Probably won’t come again.
This program has never made it to Atlanta ffs.
You and I know this is likely the high water mark for Ole Miss. For them to implicitly acknowledge that by mortgaging the future on this game (and potentially two more) is a whole different thing.
And, let’s be real here. This isn’t a national title contender. I think they’re happy to be in this grossly expanded playoff and nationally relevant for the first time since the SEC let black peopme on the field. Even they don’t think letting Lane stay would make a national title very likely.
Not allowing Lane to coach against Tulane prevents Kiffen from winning a playoff game. Something he’s never done and that’s the best revenge Ole Miss could do. Now Pete Golding and Ole Miss have for now done something Lane Kiffen has never done.
True … that’s the petty side of this. As an outsider, that’s rich to watch.
Hopefully, the discord is to our advantage. Come out and push them in the gut & be done. Will fold like a wet suit
Hopefully we punch them in the gut. 😉 But yeah, we need to start strong and jump on them. The Ole Miss players will be highly motivated but any adversity could break them.
Imagine if the LSU schedule is just a little tougher than Joey’s used to and he strings together 3 four loss seasons in a row with no CFP appearances? They’ll never find the body in Lake Ponchatrain.
I’ll believe laner is successful in BR when I see it.
I think he lacks the maturity to win at a place like that.
We’ll see.
Personally I think there is a lot of Jeremy Pruitt in him. Good/great coordinator.
Lacks the adulting required for being a HC in a fish bowl environment.
If he makes it tho, next stop is Tuscaloosa.
Disagreed with you above, but agree with you here – his schtick will age rapidly in Red Stick….
If he does his pre-season presser with a Cajun accent it’s over.
Meanwhile, The Laner apparently tweeted out a pic from 6:48 last night from an LSU meeting room where the Ginger Ninja is prominently featured (and I assume other dual-staff members as well)… Some say it demonstrates the Janusian nature of the staff(s), but the truly paranoid believe The Laner is helping them gameplan for the Sugar Bowl….
Question:
As a Georgia fan do you wish Laner was calling plays tomorrow night OR are you glad he isn’t?
That should answer the question about OM’s call on Laner.
My answer is: i’m glad lane isn’t on the sideline.
I think his playcalling advantage over Weis is secondary to the drama brought by his presence. The kids who are actually planning to stay in Oxford would resent him, and the ones that were planning on leaving with him would
have their attention split.
I was worried that him leaving may cause the Ole Miss team to band together and play over their heads, but it seems like between the ones that are silent about their plans to follow him to BR and the LSU coaches that are still there, that dynamic is not in play.
To the premise of your question, though, Georgia fans have zero concern for the long-term health of the Ole Miss program. The only way your question is relevant is if the only concern for Ole Miss is whether or not they win THIS Sugar Bowl. I guess if you think college football all is going to be over early on Friday morning it would have been a no-brainer to keep Lane around for this game.
Yeah, no drama at all the way OM drew it up….
I just think they had a better chance in this tournament with continuity than without it.
I think OM decided to be babies and pout like ND rather than put on their big girl panties and try and make history as best they could.
To be clear I don’t think they were faced with one good and one bad choice. I think they were faced with bad choice and worst choice and went with the later.
And the Lane shouldn’t have said he wanted to coach them is really a head scratcher.
I certainly don’t think there’s anything wrong with Lane saying he wanted to keep coaching. Likewise, nor do I think there is anything wrong with Ole Miss saying “thanks, but you just told us you’d rather be somewhere else so we’re going to let you go ahead and get started with your new job. Good luck to you.”
Its not a moral question.
Its a question of which choice was in their own best interest.
Being sympathetic to OM’s fee fees is one thing. Agreeing with their logic is another.
I agree with their logic. I think letting Lane stay made them less likely to win the whole thing, though the chances were slim either way.
Where
I’m not sure I agree with them is in letting Weis et al stick around. We may find out in hindsight that was a dumb mistake for this game and the next one.
My biggest take away from this whole saga is Jimmy Sexton is an even better agent than I originally thought. That MF’er structured Lane’s Ole Miss contract such that he is still receiving bonuses for Ole Miss winning playoff games he isn’t even coaching. How in the hell did he pull that off? That is some masterful shit right there.
*structured Lane’s LSU contract….
And its pretty easy – you tell the new employer, “this is the comp my guy is going to be foregoing if you hire him, so you have to make him whole….” That LSU was foolish enough to fall for it – particularly after the Governor pounded his chest about dumb contracts – is the amazing part. I give LSU 2 or 3 years and they will be in Auburn/Florida levels of dumpster fire…..
Is Ole Miss or LSU paying these playoff win bonuses?
According to reports (I have not seen the contract(s)), LSU is paying the bonuses.
Presumably, Ole Miss should not have any further contractual obligations to Kiffin, since he’s the party that terminated the existing contract.
He’s not getting paid for those games by Ole Miss. he’s getting paid for them by LSU. It’s akin to telling a potential new employer “hey, I’ve got a bonus due in January if I stay, I need you to account for that in this hiring package.”
Jimmy Sexton is a Jedi Master, or Wizard. Take your pick.
Maybe, but I think it’s more like P. T. Barnum in that Sexton knows that ADs are suckers and that there is one born every minute.
Yep, keep the circus running and keep the money flowing!
Or Voldemort because he’s definitely a dark wizard to ADs.
All I know is Ole Miss fans have their built in excuse for losing to us. If, Lane…
Metchie and Williams, Marvin Harrison, Jr., Lane Kiffin. We need to build a new wing in Butts-Mehre to honor these men of distinction.
What’s the SEC equivalent of the missing-man formation? Maybe the Redcoats could take the field at halftime and leave the horn section on the sideline to commemorate those opposing players who have fallen in the line of duty, which of course only happens to them…
Trust is…wavering? Why is there any trust at all?
CIA guy: ‘Hey, what should we do about these six double agents?’
Other CIA guy: ‘I don’t know, man. My trust in them is wavering.’
Someone gets it.
As my dad said:
“I don’t trust no one but my momma and I keep a close eye on her too.”
Or as my dad used to say it all fishermen are liars except me and you. Here lately I’m wondering about you too.
And if you think you can control what’s happening back at the house while you’re out fishing, you’ve lost your damn mind.
Best not to worry about it until you have to worry about it. The moment you think you’ve got control, you sir are cooked.
You control who you look at in the mirror in the morning… as best you can and that ain’t always easy. Controlling any other person?
You’re delusional if you think you can do that.
Derek, When you think you are right you would argue with a freaking fencepost…….LOL…… We love you..
Timinsav
Just makes me think of this:
Well, that didn’t work…
https://youtu.be/J6VjPM5CeWs?si=ISdfWNdhnl9bWmDp
My thoughts go another movie from the same film makers which fittingly takes place in Mississippi:
https://youtu.be/gOaCD_JNgkA?si=U8yhu21T-UGe4_r1
I think Pappy would have had the good sense to keep the Laner around… Homer Stokes and even Pappy’s own advisors would go in a different direction.
They, Ole Piss, will play like their hairs on fire. I expect it to be another barn burner.
Didn’t Saban allow Kirby to be his DC through the championship game after Kirby accepted the Georgia job? And, didn’t that go well for everyone involved?
Except for recruiting board photo-gate!
For those who don’t know or recall Bammers accused Kirby of leaving with photos of “the big board” and showed recruits that Bama had certain players valued above others to sway the decisions of those who were alleged yo be shown as second/third choices. True or not, I don’t know.
Well, I seem to remember Alabama won the championship. The rest is just college football, lol.
Which I think goes to your point, what’s best for ‘25 ole miss.
Coordinators/assistants leaving have generally always been different than head coaches leaving….
The real compounders here are The Portal (TM) and the extension of the season (significantly) beyond January 1. I see Dan Lanning banging about ending the season on January 1 again (as was traditionally the case). I wish we could have the Rose and Sugar be the permanent semis (Orange, Cotton, Fiesta and Peach would have to move back and be permanent quarters) on New Years Day and then end the season a week later. Having the quarterfinals on New Years Day just drags things out too much IMO….
Yeah, but Kirby ain’t Lane.