LSU Offer for Lane Kiffin Takes Major Turn on Saturday

By Jordan SiglerShareNewsweek is a Trust Project member

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin has a week to make a decision about his future for 2026 before Rebels athletic director Keith Carter announces the program's plan before the postseason.

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No. 6 Ole Miss is set to travel to play Mississippi State on Friday in the "Egg Bowl" to finish the regular season. The next day, Carter plans to make an announcement on Kiffin's future.

In the meantime, Florida and LSU are trying to lure Kiffin away from Oxford. On Friday night, reports surfaced that Ole Miss, Florida and LSU were ready to offer the highly coveted head coach $90 million.

Lane Kiffin of the Mississippi Rebels reacts after a penalty against the Florida Gators

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The Tigers appear ready to outbid their SEC rivals.

Per Brandon Marcello of CBS Sports, LSU is preparing an offer that "could" be worth $8 million more than the going price on Friday night.

"Source: LSU is preparing a deal that could be worth more than $98 million to lure Lane Kiffin to Baton Rouge," Marcello posted on X.

The deal is reportedly expected to be for seven years and would include a promise to invest competitively in NIL funding. That deal would make Kiffin the highest-paid coach in college football.

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The reported offer comes weeks after Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry suggested the state would not allow LSU to overpay the next head coach after the fallout of the Brian Kelly failure. The Tigers have not finalized Kelly's (nearly $54 million) buyout, and Landry was concerned that taxpayers would have to pay for the buyout.

“We are not going down a failed path,” Landry said. “I want to tell you something. This is a pattern. The guy that’s here now that wrote that contract (former LSU athletic director Scott Woodward) cost Texas A&M $70-something million. Right now, we’ve got a $53 million liability. We are not doing that again...

"I’m not gonna be picking the next coach. But I can promise you, we’re going to pick a coach and we’re going to make sure that that coach is successful and we’re going to make sure that he’s compensated properly and we’re going to put metrics on it because I’m tired of rewarding failure in this country and then leaving the taxpayers to foot the bill.”

Per Marcello, LSU will have to work around state laws to pay Kiffin $98 million. The base salary is expected to be capped at around $3 million. The rest of the salary would be paid from "outside sources" and via "easy-to-achieve" incentive bonuses.

The metric in terms of salary only seems to be growing as the Nov. 29 deadline nears. It'll be interesting to see if Florida and Ole Miss are willing to match a $98 million offer.

For more on the NCAA, head to Newsweek Sports.

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