There is no bigger mystery remaining in the 2025 college football season than Lane Kiffin.
Let’s be clear: Not the Ole Miss Rebels a team. They’re a College Football Playoff lock if they take care of business in the Egg Bowl next week. The questions all ping-pong around their coach, who is embroiled in a love triangle between Ole Miss, LSU and Florida that’s captured the attention of the college football world and even dragged multiple politicians into the discourse — and maybe even recruitment — of college football’s hottest coaching candidate.
Kiffin, 50, has largely attempted to deflect questions about his future. But his actions say far more. He’s sent his family to visit Gainesville and Baton Rouge. He’s trolled on social media. It’s a zany, shock-and-awe strategy that’s part Kiffin and part of a maximum leverage play by CAA super agent Jimmy Sexton.
Industry sources expect whoever signs Kiffin next will give him a contract valued at least at $12 million annually, which would make him one of the sport’s highest-paid coaches despite never reaching the playoff.
It’s a saga worthy of a daytime soap opera treatment, and it’s not expected to end anytime soon despite the fact Kiffin has told those close to him he wants to avoid the distractions of 2022 — during his flirtation with Auburn — that caused a 7-0 Rebels team to stumble at 1-3 down the stretch.
Can Ole Miss avoid the same fate this year with the Egg Bowl coming up fast? What will Kiffin do? CBS Sports has the latest on all the Kiffin-related happenings below.