MORE: Ole Miss fun again | Media reactions to Kiffin hire
OXFORD | Keith Carter will bring Lane Kiffin to Ole Miss sometime this weekend, capping off a frenetic but deliberate week of a coaching search that flipped fan morale from checked out to exuberant and moved most all university stakeholders in the same direction.
Carter relieved Matt Luke of his duties six days ago in what he admitted was a difficult day personally. It wasn’t what he expected, but apathy and the lack of wins in a scoreboard business prompted change. Just more than a week into his full-time tenure as athletic director, Carter was tasked with his first major search, entering the fray behind two other SEC schools (Missouri and Arkansas) and sharing a similar candidate pool as Florida State.
The former Ole Miss basketball player and university athletics foundation head executed efficiently, casting a considerable net and knowing when to decisively move forward to avoid a situation like Arkansas, which one source described to me as a “complete meltdown,” or Missouri, which has seemingly started over multiple times through its process.
The Kiffin buzz gained steam throughout the week and reached a fever pitch as an agreement occurred on Friday. It’s not hyperbolic to say Kiffin is the most popular hire in modern Ole Miss football history, as the Rebels grabbed national headlines immediately and are handing the program to a considerable football surname who was previously the head coach of Tennessee, USC and the Oakland Raiders, as well as an offensive coordinator at Alabama and the last three seasons with Florida Atlantic as head coach.
Carter, who assisted Ross Bjork with the basketball search that led to Kermit Davis, made a difficult decision with baseball coach Mike Bianco’s contract in June as an interim athletics director and has quickly gained overwhelming support from the fan base with his football moves.
He effectively massaged high-level Ole Miss influencers’ reservations and concerns about Kiffin and gained the support of the overall fan base, which for the first time in a long while feels like it has a collective voice and some momentum as a football program. No one went so far as to attempt to block the hire, but Carter navigated some differences of opinion with aplomb, using his prior relationships and assertive decision making to calm the waters in a way that had been a struggle in past Ole Miss decisions.
Carter had Kiffin on his initial list, but multiple sources have said throughout the process Ole Miss was initially enamored with Memphis coach Mike Norvell and wanted to use search firm Ventura Partners to be thorough with the candidate pool. As the week moved forward, Norvell’s name picked up steam with Florida State, and the Seminoles surged ahead as the likely destination for Norvell entering this weekend of championship games.
Carter, according to sources, read the tea leaves accurately and moved strongly to Kiffin by the middle of the week. Conversations regarding his background and acumen increased on Tuesday, and Carter spoke with Kiffin for the first time remotely on Wednesday. From there things moved quickly, as Carter and agent Jimmy Sexton flew to Boca Raton, Florida, Thursday afternoon, allowing a three-hour interview to take place. At least one fan took pictures of Sexton and Carter leaving Wilson Air Center in Memphis late Thursday night.
A source close to Kiffin said he felt it was a “home run,” and by Friday leaks began to trickle out regarding Kiffin’s intentions to leave FAU for Ole Miss following today's Conference USA title game.
Carter, according to sources, also met with, at least, Charlotte head coach Will Healy and Appalachian State head coach Eliah Drinkwitz. Football industry insiders rave about Healy, but at 34 years old and with no Power Five experience, that was too risky for the Rebels’ current situation. Drinkwitz, according to a source, was the likely next option had things gone awry with Kiffin. Billy Napier was linked as a major candidate for much of the week, but sources say that was inaccurate, as Napier didn’t engage in advance of ULL’s Sun Belt title game.
In the end, Carter did two things that have not always been common with Ole Miss. He made the bold move, punting a mostly risk-averse history for a dynamic hire and certainly a hire that will sell tickets, bring the majority of supporters back into the stadium and steal more than its share of headlines with SEC and national media.
“We want a program builder who can galvanize and help unite Rebel nation,” Carter said five days ago, and he has that in spades with Kiffin.
He also has his coach with some time to regroup recruiting prior to the early signing period. By moving on Kiffin, Carter made sure he got one of his top two choices and wasn’t left with the rest of his list had Arkansas shown the ability to steal him away instead of combusting from the inside. Arkansas, with a head start, could have locked down Kiffin before Ole Miss was even in the market, but the Razorbacks’ in-fighting caused a chasm.
And, unlike two years ago when chancellor involvement affected the search significantly, embattled university head Glenn Boyce, per sources, left Carter to all decisions and was supportive throughout the process.
Ole Miss, with Carter at the lead, acted like an SEC West program this week. Instead of NCAA scar tissue or bowl bans or general malaise, the Rebels’ program is quickly transformed into one perceived to be on the rise and again suited for high-level recruiting.
A text I received Saturday morning likened Kiffin’s arrival in Oxford to Alabama moving away from its eye on the past and fully committing to its future with Nick Saban in 2007. And regardless of Kiffin’s success, it does feel like that level of watershed moment.
Whatever happens, Ole Miss took that step forward, with decisiveness and confidence. And without the worry or the fear that has paralyzed some past decisions. For the first time in a long while, Ole Miss is all aboard.
