Mississippi's AD prepares again to keep Lane Kiffin with big coaching jobs available

Audio By Carbonatix

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi's athletic director might go pretty far to keep Lane Kiffin away from Florida, LSU or any other high-profile college football job opening.

But Keith Carter seems done attending hot yoga class with his coach.

“He didn’t go this week," Kiffin said with a grin during his weekly press conference. "He went in for the first time against Georgia but he says he’s not going now because we lost.”

Both men have other priorities, anyway.

Kiffin and the No. 7 Rebels (7-1, 4-1 SEC) host South Carolina (3-5, 1-5 SEC) on Saturday to continue their chase for a conference title and a berth in the College Football Playoff.

For Carter, it’s the annual contract negotiation process as he tries again to turn away suitors for Kiffin.

Kiffin has a six-year contract that has already been extended twice since 2022 and is scheduled for another renewal in early December that stretches into the next decade. Kiffin is set to make $9 million this season, 10th-highest in the country, and Carter has repeatedly said Ole Miss will do what it takes financially to keep Kiffin in Oxford.

Carter said earlier this month he'd already been talking with Kiffin's agent, Jimmy Sexton, and would "be proactive with working out a deal with Lane and Jimmy.”

Carter grew up in the small town of Perryville, Arkansas, the son of a banker who emphasized that personal relationships were as critical to success as the accompanying finances. Carter remembered the life lesson while building his athletic reputation.

Carter became an All-SEC and honorable mention All-American guard at Ole Miss in the late 1990s, playing on three NCAA Tournament teams. After a professional career in Italy, Carter joined the athletic department in 2009 and became the athletic director in 2019, approximately the same time Ole Miss named a new chancellor, Dr. Glenn Boyce.

Kiffin's hiring in 2020 was the first of several shrewd hires but was criticized at the time. Kiffin’s best success as a head coach had been a pair of Conference USA titles at Florida Atlantic.

Kiffin had missed out on openings at Power Five schools after high-profile exits from the NFL's Oakland Raiders, Southern Cal and Alabama. He had a reputation as an offensive savant but was candid regarding the need for changes in his personal life.

Carter identified with Kiffin personally, especially regarding overlooked talent and rejection. Growing up in Arkansas, Carter was bypassed as a recruit by the talent-laded Razorbacks and joined a struggling Ole Miss basketball program, lifting them to a pair of SEC division titles, national rankings and NCAA Tournament play.

Since the Kiffin hire, Carter has shored up his program by repeating the script in the hire of men’s basketball coach Chris Beard, who left Texas after charges of domestic violence. The charges were dropped shortly afterward and an exonerated Beard rewarded Carter by leading the Rebels to a Sweet 16 NCAA Tournament appearance last season.

Carter emphasizes advantages offered at Ole Miss, such as first-class facilities and a friendly fan base. His son, Knox, is the quarterback of the Oxford High Chargers, coached by Chris Cutcliffe, the son of former Ole Miss head coach David Cutcliffe, whose reputation as a quarterback “whisperer” includes Peyton and Eli Manning.

The lifestyle pace of Oxford is slower than most major college towns. The daily media demands are less and the smaller group of sports writers have personable relationships with Kiffin, especially compared with other SEC schools. Kiffin’s eccentricities, such as an extensive social media presence, are not just tolerated, but embraced and celebrated by Ole Miss fans.

When asked if Kiffin, Carter and Boyce have an atypical relationship among staff members, Kiffin quickly agreed.

“Dr. Boyce and Keith have been amazing. They’ve done everything they can to help us win and I’ve been very appreciative of them as my two bosses and my friends. They’ve been amazing people for me to be around and I consider them really good friends.”

Good enough that Kiffin understands if Carter won't join him for hot yoga sessions anymore.

“It’s not about who is the best in there,” Kiffin said. “But maybe we liked getting Keith in there and watching him struggle.”

___

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football.