Stephen A. Smith Defends Lane Kiffin Departing Ole Miss For LSU Football Job

LSU Tigers head coach Lane Kiffin made an unprecedented move on Sunday afternoon after officially departing the Ole Miss Rebels amid a College Football Playoff run.

A historic decision that has social media swirling, No. 7 Ole Miss (11-1, 7-1 SEC) is College Football Playoff bound, but Kiffin will not be the head coach after departing for Baton Rouge.

“After a lot of prayer and time spent with family, I made the difficult decision to accept the head coaching position at LSU,” Kiffin said in a statement.

“I was hoping to complete a historic six season run with this year’s team by leading Ole Miss through the playoffs, capitalizing on the team’s incredible success and their commitment to finish strong, and investing everything into a playoff run with guardrails in place to protect the program in any areas of concern.

“My request to do so was denied by Keith Carter despite the team also asking him to allow me to keep coaching them so they could better maintain their high level of performance. Unfortunately, that means Friday’s Egg Bowl was my last game coaching the Rebels.”

BREAKING: It’s official. Lane Kiffin will depart Oxford to become the next head coach of the #LSU Tigers.

Two planes are en route to pick up Kiffin and his family to bring them down to the Bayou State.

LSU has a new leader with all eyes on the Tigers moving forward. pic.twitter.com/v0Obs52ZZK
— Zack Nagy (@znagy20) November 30, 2025

Now, LSU's new head coach has social media swirling with the national media weighing in with their thoughts on the move.

ESPN's Stephen A. Smith and Cam Newton chimed in on Kiffin's decision during a Monday episode of First Take.

Stephen A. Smith's Take:

“This is ridiculous. Y’all just kill me with this stuff. Lane Kiffin took a better job,” Smith said. “… I am not here to be some kind of damn apologist for Lane Kiffin under any other circumstances, but in this particular situation, to act like he’s committed a crime—you all are in Oxford, Mississippi, OK? And you are booing this brother out of town after he’s won 74% of his games?

“After he’s spent the last four years being a top-four program in terms of wins in the entire college football landscape? Only Ohio State, Oregon and Georgia have been better. This is what he brought. You were nothing before him. The last time you won anything of relevance was when John F. Kennedy was president.”

“He gets a $5 million raise to go to a blue-blood program, OK, that ain’t in Oxford, Mississippi, and we’re having a problem with this?” Smith said. “Y’all got to be kidding me. You really, really need to stop. I’m serious. Not this one. All that other stuff about Lane Kiffin, fine. This one right here, y’all are being ridiculous.”

LSU Tigers Football. — Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin answers questions from the press after a college football game between Mississippi State and Ole Miss at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville, Miss., on Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. Ole Miss defeated Mississippi State 38-19 in the Egg Bowl. | Ayrton Breckenridge/Clarion Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Cam Newton Weighs In:

“So this is the perspective that I need to get everybody who has been following this issue or this particular situation. What Lane Kiffin did, was in the best interest of Lane Kiffin,” Newton said on First Take.

“I don’t have an issue with that, but this is what I have an issue (with). When a kid transfers or goes into the transfer portal. Now we’re looking at that kid to say, ‘Oh, why is he going to different schools? Why is he doing this?’ Well, coaches have been going into the transfer portal since the beginning of time. Ole Miss, Lane Kiffin, LSU, is in essence, the same thing we all have to do: what’s best for our careers?

“Lane Kiffin in this dynamic and not being able to coach the team is a little different than what another coach is dealing with as well. It’s insider trading. It’s tampering.

"You have an opportunity to lure not only players, but staff members and key members that you will necessarily strip, and I mean strip, an organization, a school for everything that they have, and now you turn into an instant foe overnight.”

More LSU News:

Kirk Herbstreit, Nick Saban Evaluate Lane Kiffin's Decision Amid LSU Football Push

Lane Kiffin 'Trending Toward Ending Up at LSU' As Tigers Pursue Coveted Head Coach

No. 1 Wide Receiver in Louisiana, LSU Football Commit Remains Locked in With Tigers

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