LSU Director of Athletics Sets the Record Straight on Timing of Hiring Lane Kiffin

The LSU athletic department continues to defend the timing of hiring head football coach Lane Kiffin.

Dec 1, 2025; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; LSU new head coach Lane Kiffin, left, and LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry greet each other at South Stadium Club at Tiger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images | Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

The LSU Tigers football program has been in the limelight of the college football world all offseason. There's a good reason for that. After the regular season this past season, the athletic department made the decision to reel in head coach Lane Kiffin from Ole Miss.

Kiffin's departure from the Rebels just before the team was set to make its first College Football Playoff appearance divided fans throughout the country. Should Kiffin have stayed with his program, or did he have to leave before the playoffs to secure his new job in Baton Rouge?

Tigers athletic director Verge Ausberry recently spoke with Jacques Doucet about the department's timing of the hiring of Coach Kiffin. To Ausberry, it was a no-brainer.

What Verge Ausberry Said About Lane Kiffin's Hire

Dec 1, 2025; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; LSU president Wade Rousse, left, LSU new head coach Lane Kiffin and LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry stand together at South Stadium Club at Tiger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images | Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

“I always tell people if we wouldn’t have hired Lane Kiffin, somebody else would’ve hired Lane Kiffin,” Ausberry revealed in his conversation.

The Tigers' athletic director is right. Kiffin was the hottest name in the college football coaching carousel last season. There is a world where Kiffin isn't at LSU, and maybe would have taken his coaching talents to Gainesville to coach the Florida Gators.

Ausberry went further with his comments, saying that the college football calendar is really to blame for the timing of Kiffin's hiring.

“That’s the way the calendar works. It wasn’t an LSU thing. It was the calendar. Don’t knock Lane Kiffin for what happened."

Dec 1, 2025; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; LSU new head coach Lane Kiffin speaks at South Stadium Club at Tiger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images | Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

There were a lot of variables in this situation. For starters, a head coach had never left a team competing in the CFP before last season. But on the other side, why would Kiffin wait until the Rebels' postseason run was over just to be behind in recruiting and in the transfer portal?

Kiffin has become a larger than life personality in college sports. No coach is more in tune with college football fan bases than Kiffin on social media. To me, the conversations surrounding the so-called "Kiffin Rule" are hilarious.

Coaches have been living for jobs before the official end of their team's season, far before Kiffin ever did it. But because the new Tigers head coach did it to a team with a shot at a national championship, other people want to get involved in college sports.

Kiffin did nothing wrong, and the LSU athletic department did nothing wrong in the timing of this hire. It's all sour grapes from folks who, I dare say, are jealous of what is being built in Baton Rouge.

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