OXFORD -- Lane Kiffin looked out the door of Ole Miss' halftime meeting room toward the playing field of Vaught-Hemingway Stadium Tuesday.

Just 19 days earlier, Kiffin had walked off that field after congratulating his friend, Mississippi State coach Mike Leach.

Leach's Bulldogs defeated Kiffin's Rebels that Thanksgiving night, 24-22, sending Kiffin to the same meeting room to answer questions about his future, Auburn and more. What Kiffin didn't know then -- what no one could have known -- was he had just watched Leach walk off a football field for the final time.

"You'd never have thought it was his last game," Kiffin said.

Leach died Monday night at the age of 61 after suffering a cardiac event on Sunday.

Kiffin and Leach were "very close," Kiffin said Tuesday, calling the former Texas Tech and Washington State coach "an awesome person."

"There aren't too many people that, when you meet them, no matter who you are, are like Mike Leach, where you remember meeting them," Kiffin said.

Kiffin and Leach arrived in Mississippi together in December 2019 and coached three seasons in the Magnolia State on opposite sides of a bitter rivalry. Their friendship, however, never changed.

"We didn't call and say, 'How are we going to do this thing?'" Kiffin said. "If you know our personalities, you could've guessed how it would be. We weren't going to fall into this, 'Now, we're going to change and dislike each other.'"

Kiffin recalled his first Southeastern Conference head coaches' meeting after taking the Ole Miss job. One coach told Kiffin he couldn't ride in the elevator with him because "if our fans see me get off with you, they'll be mad."

"That's not our personalities," Kiffin said.

Kiffin always enjoyed talking to Leach before their meetings, whether it be when they were competing in the Pac 12 or in the SEC.

"Every conversation I'd always say to myself or to a coach that played for him or coached with him and say, 'Somehow we started over here and we got over here,'" Kiffin said.

Kiffin referred to the current transfer portal environment as "crazy," Tuesday, noting there is so much going on.

Kiffin was entertaining official visitors Tuesday while his team prepared to meet Texas Tech in the Dec. 28 TaxAct Texas Bowl. At the same time, players on his team were taking official visits elsewhere and Kiffin was preparing to fly out on a recruiting trip.

"It's not really ideal," Kiffin said. "We're trying to manage it as best we can."

Kiffin said he advocates letting portal players sign some sort of promissory document, noting that as it is, schools are recruiting them until school starts in January.

"That's a long time for a lot of people chasing a lot of people around," Kiffin said.

Kiffin said NIL comes up with every portal player and most every high school prospect. The portal is more competitive this year as well, he said.

Kiffin said roster retention is "extremely challenging," noting that some players simply want more attention or more money while others want more playing time.

"Now you have all kinds of people going in," Kiffin said. "You have more better players going in the portal because they want to make more money. The portal initially was people were going in because they weren't playing enough or the system or coaching changes. Now you have a lot of kids going in that are very happy where they're at. We talk to them and say, 'Why did you go in?' They want to make more money. You can't fault them. How many NFL players wouldn't opt in to free agency if they had the choice every year?"

Kiffin said his team has had no opt-outs of the bowl game, "which is awesome." Kiffin said a couple of players had conversations about opting out but as of now, they're all choosing to play in Houston.