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Lane Kiffin

Lane Kiffin was fired by the Raiders and USC, rebuilt his name under Nick Saban, and left Ole Miss for a seven-year, $91 million deal at LSU.

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Lane Kiffin
Lane Kiffin in a gray suit and pink tie at a 2018 media event

Photo: Bobak Ha'Eri, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP.

Monte Kiffin's Son at Fresno State

Lane Kiffin grew up in a coaching family. His father, Monte Kiffin, was a longtime NFL defensive coordinator who invented the Tampa 2 defense that helped the Tampa Bay Buccaneers win Super Bowl XXXVII. His mother, Robin, worked to keep family life normal through the frequent moves, ESPN reported. Monte died on July 11, 2024, and Robin died 11 months later.

Kiffin played quarterback at Fresno State, mostly as a backup, and LSU lists him as a 1998 graduate. He started coaching as an assistant there, then worked at Colorado State and spent the 2000 season as a defensive quality control assistant with the Jacksonville Jaguars. In 2001 Pete Carroll brought him to USC, where he coached tight ends and receivers before becoming offensive coordinator. The Trojans went 23-3 in his two seasons in that job, 2005 and 2006, with Matt Leinart and John David Booty at quarterback.

Al Davis and the Oakland Raiders

Raiders owner Al Davis hired Kiffin in January 2007. He was 31, which made him the youngest head coach in the NFL's modern era, and he signed a three-year deal worth about $6 million, the Associated Press reported. The Raiders went 4-12 in his first season, and the relationship with Davis broke down in public.

Davis fired him on September 30, 2008, after a 1-3 start, for a final record of 5-15. At a long news conference Davis said: "It hurts because I picked the guy. I picked the wrong guy." The Raiders said the firing was for cause, which meant they intended not to pay the rest of the contract.

Fourteen Months in Knoxville

Tennessee signed Kiffin to a memorandum of understanding on November 30, 2008, and introduced him the next day as the successor to the fired Phillip Fulmer, according to the University of Tennessee Libraries' Volopedia. His father joined his staff. The 2009 season brought a string of secondary NCAA violations and a 7-6 record.

On January 12, 2010, less than a month before national signing day, he resigned to take the USC job, calling it his "dream job." Under his contract, leaving after one season meant Tennessee was owed $800,000, paid over three years.

USC Sanctions and the Tarmac Firing

Kiffin replaced Carroll at a program under severe NCAA sanctions. USC was banned from the postseason in his first two seasons and lost 30 scholarships over three years. Even so, the 2011 team went 10-2 and finished sixth in the final AP poll. The next year USC started as the preseason No. 1 and finished 7-6.

In September 2013, after a 62-41 loss at Arizona State, athletic director Pat Haden fired him shortly after the team got back to Los Angeles. The scene gave the "tarmac" firing its name. His record at USC was 28-15.

Three Years Under Nick Saban at Alabama

Kiffin spent 2014 to 2016 as Alabama's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Alabama won the SEC in each of those three seasons, reached the College Football Playoff every year, and won the national title for the 2015 season. He was a finalist for the Broyles Award in 2014, given to the country's best assistant coach, and in 2015 he coached quarterback Jake Coker, who went 14-0 as a starter, and running back Derrick Henry, who rushed for 2,219 yards and won the Heisman Trophy.

Florida Atlantic and Two Conference USA Titles

Florida Atlantic hired him as head coach for 2017. The Owls went 11-3 and won Conference USA in his first season, slipped to 5-7 in 2018, and won the conference again in 2019. He left with a 26-13 record.

Six Seasons in Oxford

Ole Miss hired him in December 2019. The school released a term sheet showing a four-year contract with $16.2 million in base salary, the longest deal Mississippi law allowed, starting at $3.9 million for 2020, the Oxford Eagle reported. In December 2021 Ole Miss gave him a new contract that averaged about $7.5 million a year, sources told ESPN. By the time he left, his salary there was $9 million a year under a later extension, according to Yahoo Sports.

His teams went 55-19 over six seasons, with four double-digit win totals, and the 2025 team was the first in school history to win 11 regular season games. He became known for rebuilding rosters through the transfer portal. Looking back on his earlier jobs in an interview with ESPN, he said of his mistakes: "I call them self-inflicted wounds." He also said, "I'm really trying to make it not about me."

The Seven-Year LSU Contract

Kiffin left for LSU on November 30, 2025, with Ole Miss heading to the College Football Playoff. Ole Miss promoted defensive coordinator Pete Golding and did not let Kiffin coach the Rebels in the postseason.

LSU's deal, reported by CBS Sports from records obtained by The Advocate, runs seven years and is worth $91 million, or $13 million a year before incentives. That was a $4 million annual raise over his Ole Miss pay, Yahoo Sports noted. The bonuses include $3 million for a national championship, $2 million for reaching the title game, $1 million for an SEC championship, $750,000 for a playoff appearance, and $100,000 for a bowl game. One escalator raises his pay to make him the highest-paid coach in the country if LSU wins a national title. LSU also agreed to honor the postseason bonuses from his Ole Miss contract.

If LSU fires him without cause, it owes him 80 percent of the remaining contract, paid monthly, with no offset if he takes another job.

His first return to Oxford came on September 19, 2026. Ole Miss won 32-24, LSU's first loss of the season, leaving the Tigers 0-1 in SEC play and dropping them from No. 7 to No. 10 in the AP poll, the LSU student newspaper reported.

Salary Instead of a Net Worth Figure

This article does not give a net worth figure. Kiffin's salaries are public, but his taxes, spending, investments, and the terms of his 2016 divorce are not, and no Forbes or Bloomberg estimate exists. The reliable number is his pay: $13 million a year at LSU, before bonuses.

Layla Kiffin and Three Children

Kiffin and his wife, Layla, announced their divorce on February 28, 2016. "We will maintain an amicable relationship with respect for each other as we raise these three wonderful children," Kiffin said in a statement reported by Fox Sports.

Sources

Filed Under Topics

#Sports#College Football#LSU#Ole Miss#Coaches

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