New $91 million SEC football coach faces public backlash from former players

Ole Miss Rebels defender Suntarine Perkins (4) celebrates with teammates | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

On the heels of a dramatic weekend off the football field, Lane Kiffin is the brand-new LSU head coach. Official word came this past weekend that Kiffin would take the open LSU position, and he released a statement on the final day of November, bidding farewell and announcing his intention to head to LSU. Now, that goodbye message is catching flak from his own Rebels.

To recap quickly, Lane Kiffin is currently letting the ink dry on a seven-year contract from the Tigers worth about $91 million in total. It plans to pay Kiffin $13 million annually, making him the second-highest paid coach in college football. That's a nice little raise over the $9 million he was making to coach the Rebels, also a figure competitive with many of the best in the nation.

But since that farewell post was uploaded to social media, though, some of Lane Kiffin's now-former players from Ole Miss have responded to it online, and not in a positive manner. On Tuesday evening a few days after it was first posted, current Ole Miss offensive lineman Brycen Sanders took issue with the particular line that Kiffin claimed the team asked him to keep coaching.

"My request to do so was denied by Keith Carter despite the team asking him to allow me to keep coaching them so they could better maintain their high level of performance," Kiffin wrote in his statement.

Sanders quote-tweeted the post and fired back, saying that, "I think everyone that was in that room would disagree." Rebel linebacker Suntarine Perkins also chimed in Tuesday night a few minutes after Sanders and shared a similar sentiment.

"Despite the team asking me to keep coaching". I think everyone that was in that room would disagree https://t.co/p4g4qDR9XF

— Brycen Sanders (@BrycenSanders1) December 3, 2025

That was not the message you said in the meeting room. Everybody that was in there can vouch on this . https://t.co/tssQmvGgQ3

— suntarine perkins (@suntarine) December 3, 2025

"That was not the message you said in the meeting room," Perkins said, also in a quote-tweet of the original Lane Kiffin goodbye post. "Everybody that was in there can vouch on this," he added. Clearly, that's two members of the Ole Miss locker room who are calling out some snake behavior from their recently departed head football coach. Take a look at that Kiffin message below:

Full Lane Kiffin farewell message

"After a lot of prayer and time spent with family, I made the difficult decision to accept the head coaching position at LSU."

"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.

"While I am looking forward to a new start with a unique opportunity at LSU, I will forever cherish the incredible six years I spent at Ole Miss and will be rooting hard for the team to complete their mission and bring a championship to Oxford.