Former Ole Miss Head Coach Lane Kiffin Cashes In On Team’s College Football Playoff Win
College football breakups are usually messy. There are hurt feelings, burning jerseys in parking lots, and long-winded notes posted to Twitter. But when Lane Kiffin left Ole Miss for LSU this November, he didn’t just leave with a massive $91 million contract—he left with perhaps the most bizarre “alimony” clause in sports history.
Usually, when you leave your job for a competitor, you don’t get a bonus when your old team crushes it. But Kiffin isn’t your average coach, and this is not your average season.
The Most Complicated Relationship Status In the SEC
Here is the situation: Kiffin is currently the head coach of the LSU Tigers. However, due to a unique clause in his new contract, LSU agreed to pay him the same College Football Playoff bonuses he would have earned had he stayed at Ole Miss.
It sounds like fiction, but the ink is dry. While Kiffin is busy setting up his new office in Baton Rouge, his bank account is still rooting for the Rebels in Oxford. It’s the ultimate “I hope you’re happy” move—except his happiness is directly tied to his replacement, Pete Golding, winning football games.
Kiffin Cashes In From the Couch
The awkwardness reached a fever pitch this past weekend. While Kiffin was presumably watching from home, since Ole Miss AD Keith Carter denied his request to coach the team through the playoffs, the Rebels were busy dismantling Tulane 41-10 in the CFP first round.
For most ex-coaches, seeing your former squad thrive without you stings a little. It bruises the ego. But for Kiffin, that blowout win was a six-figure direct deposit.
By clinching a spot in the bracket, Kiffin had already secured $150,000. With the Rebels’ victory over Tulane and their advancement to the quarterfinals, that payout bumped up to $250,000. That’s a quarter of a million dollars for watching a game on TV—a rate that beats even the most lucrative broadcasting gigs.
High Stakes and Awkward Cheering
The weirdness is only going to ramp up from here. Ole Miss is now set to face Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day. If the Rebels manage to pull off an upset and keep advancing, Kiffin keeps getting paid. If they somehow run the table and win the National Championship, that bonus tops out at a cool $1 million.
Imagine the scene: The LSU head coach, sitting in his new Louisiana living room, screaming “Hotty Toddy” at his television because a Georgia loss buys him a new vacation home.
The Business Of Being Lane Kiffin
Love him or hate him, you have to respect the hustle. In a sport defined by loyalty and rivalry, Kiffin has managed to blur the lines in the most lucrative way possible. He secured a massive raise, a fresh start at a powerhouse program, and he’s still reaping the rewards of the team he built but abandoned.
So, while Ole Miss fans might have complicated feelings about their former coach, Kiffin likely has no hard feelings at all. After all, every touchdown the Rebels score makes his buyout at LSU look like pocket change.
