Six months later, LSU AD Verge Ausberry admits Ole Miss got the Lane Kiffin situation right
Wait, common sense would have prevailed if the LSU administration was put in the same position by Lane Kiffin, or any other coach for that matter?
Over the past five months, the story around Kiffin bolting from Ole Miss two weeks before the Rebels would start their quest for a College Football Playoff title has centered around, in Kiffin's mind, the thought that he wanted to coach the Rebels while also being the head coach at LSU.
In reality, none of that made sense, no matter how you sliced the cake. Ole Miss Athletic Director Keith Carter was not going to allow Kiffin to become a walking billboard for a rival team, while at the same time having an open door to take players with him to Baton Rouge.
You can agree or disagree with the mindset of Rebels' AD Keith Carter, but once Kiffin told him on the Saturday following the Egg Bowl that he was not signing a new contract with Ole Miss and taking the LSU job, the conversation around him staying in Oxford for the CFP was over.
Matter of fact, it was over a month earlier. Carter had already made it a point of emphasis that if Kiffin were to leave, he was not coaching Ole Miss in the postseason.
So, any type of revisionist history is just that: a screenwriter trying to rewrite the ending.
As we reported numerous times during this whole debacle, the Ole Miss administration was not oblivious to what was transpiring outside its building. Whether that was Florida officials flying into Oxford for a visit during a bye-week, or Kiffin engaging with LSU officials in different manners over the final few weeks of the Rebels' regular season.
But, lost in the actual reality of the situation was this mindset from some across college football that Kiffin should’ve been afforded the opportunity to coach Ole Miss in the college football playoff. Whether it was Nick Saban, some within the ESPN organization, or LSU fans trying to continue poking the bear, the constant opinions were never ending.
Mind you, this would’ve been a horrible decision on the part of Ole Miss, given that the storyline would not center on the historic season unfolding, but more so towards Lane Kiffin entering each game as the head coach at two different SEC schools.
Honestly, the fact that we're still having this conversation five months later is baffling, but Lane has done himself zero favors over the past few months in terms of public relations, most recently with his take on how difficult it was to recruit at times in Oxford with past racial tensions still supposedly rearing its head.
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But, that's just Lane being Lane, doing everything he can to keep the conversation on him, which I can't say is surprising in the least.
Thankfully, we finally have common sense coming out of Baton Rouge, in the form of LSU Athletic Director Verge Ausberry.
Should Lane have been allowed to coach Ole Miss during the playoff run, despite already taking the LSU job a week before the postseason was set to begin?
Let's switch it around, shall we.
If LSU would’ve had Lane Kiffin as its head coach, and a rival school hired him during the Tigers' playoff run, would the Tigers administration have allowed their head coach to roam the sidelines during the CFP while also being the head coach at an opposing school?
"I’d probably be like, ‘Nah, we ain’t doing that. No,’" Verge Ausberry told USA TODAY Sports. "But, that hand wasn’t dealt."
Wait, so after all of the wild opinions that arose from Kiffin accepting the LSU job, while still lobbying to coach Ole Miss in the CFP, the LSU athletic director would’ve told the head coach to get on out of town?
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"If I’m Ole Miss, I probably would’ve made the same decision," Verge Ausberry said. "I know LSU would’ve made the same decision. I don’t blame anybody."
Well, would you look at that.
The LSU athletic director is a smart man, who understands the situation Ole Miss was put in at that time, because more than likely there could come a time when he has to deal with the same type of situation, heaven forbid for his own mental sanity.
But, we can now move on to more important matters, like what is about to happen with the salary cap that came about from the House settlement. Or, the ongoing battle between conferences not named the SEC and the fight for CFP expansion.
It's shaping up to be a hostile few months across college athletics, and it has nothing to do with what transpired in Baton Rouge last December.