Kiffin’s Coaching Fiasco Epitomizes College Football’s Decline

It’s not an exaggeration to say that college football (and college sports in general) has become a hot mess in recent years. What was once a sport devoted to brotherhood, tradition, and community has slowly devolved into one frequented by greed, selfishness, and self-aggrandizement.

And there’s nothing that epitomizes that reality quite like the recent controversy involving head coach Lane Kiffin.

This past weekend, Kiffin — who had coached the Ole Miss Rebels since 2020 — announced that he is leaving his post right before the 2025 playoff season to take the head coaching job at LSU. While the Rebels are all but guaranteed a spot in the postseason, Kiffin disclosed that he will not be sticking around to finish the job he started and lead his (now former) 11-1 team to a potential national championship.

“This was a very challenging, difficult day,” Kiffin said during a Sunday interview. “We went through a lot last night with [Ole Miss athletic director] Keith Carter trying to figure out a way to make this playoff run work and be able to coach the team. And at the end of the day, that’s his decision and I totally respect that. I understand that decision.”

“I just totally wish the team the best of luck, wish that I was coaching. … I just hope they play really well and go win the national championship,” he added.

According to ESPN, Kiffin’s contract with LSU is reportedly for a seven-year deal, in which he is guaranteed an “annual starting salary of $13 million.” This reported contract — which also includes “the potential for bonuses” — “would make Kiffin one of the highest-paid coaches in college football.”

Kiffin’s departure from Ole Miss was by no means shocking. Rumblings about his potential interest in the head coaching jobs at LSU and Florida have been reported for several weeks.

But that doesn’t make his decision any less outrageous.

While it’s understandable for coaches to want to aim for bigger and better jobs, to willingly abandon your team during the season — right before the playoffs, no less — is flat out wrong. What kind of message does it send to the Ole Miss players who poured out their blood and sweat for Kiffin, only for him to turn his back on them when they need him most?

Kiffin can point fingers at Carter for not reportedly allowing him to coach the rest of the season all he wants. But it’s the man he sees in the mirror every day who made the ultimate decision to leave Oxford for Baton Rouge when and how he did.

While understandably maddening, Kiffin’s abandonment of decency in favor of dollars isn’t a new phenomenon. As previously alluded to, it’s become a feature of the decay that’s infected the entire collegiate athletic apparatus.

Under the current transfer portal system, the ink players sign to a piece of paper committing themselves to play for a certain school has become as meaningless as a politician’s word.

Don’t think you’re getting enough reps at school A? No problem! You can now transfer to school B. And if that doesn’t work out, you can keep abandoning your school and teammates every year until you find the college that treats you like the superstar you think you are.

Newer rules allowing college players to make money off their name, image, and likeness (NIL) have further compounded this type of unethical behavior.

Consider the case of quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who, after failing to score a better NIL deal while at Tennessee, reportedly skipped practice and did not respond to attempts at contact from teammates and coaches before entering the transfer portal. (Funny enough, Iamaleava reportedly ended up making less at his new school, UCLA, than he did at Tennessee.)

Add on top schools’ incessant, money-driven conference switching and overzealous focus on lucrative TV contracts, and what fans are left with is a system that prioritizes egotism and making a buck over tradition and common decency.

College sports used to be an arena where well-minded coaches shaped young, developing minds into capable and character-driven individuals. It was a cultural center point in which these athletes would learn the importance of camaraderie and discipline while receiving the support of the people and communities around them.

Unfortunately, this is largely no longer the case.

Lane Kiffin is certainly the villain in his own story. But he’s one of many in a sport and system that have completely lost touch with what made them great in the first place.

Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood