Criticism surrounds controversial coach’s inability to get the Rebels to the College Football Playoff.

PublishedMay 25, 2025 3:15 PM EDT•UpdatedMay 25, 2025 3:15 PM EDT

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We’ve reached the point of the college football offseason where anonymous polls are being published, and it appears Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss Rebels have rubbed some folks the wrong way.

Kiffin has done a remarkable job at Ole Miss since taking over in 2020, having won 10 or more games in three of the last four seasons with an overall record of 44-18. Consistent winning has been big for the program, but Kiffin has also been an incredibly important piece in building a legitimate culture in Oxford and has made the Rebels more relevant than they ever have been.

Lane Kiffin Opens Up About His Sobriety, Credits His Children For Making Him ‘Best Version’ Of Himself

The controversial Kiffin, who turned 50 earlier this month, was among the first Power Four coaches to go all in with the transfer portal, adapting to the modern game and candidly speaking about NIL. However, he has yet to make the College Football Playoff.

Lane Kiffin isn’t beloved by all. (Credit: Jeff Blake-Imagn Images)

With the Rebels re-tooling their depth chart yet again this offseason and filling the void left by first-round NFL Draft pick Jaxson Dart, a couple of coaches around the league have taken the situation as a moment to throw shade Ole Miss’ way, via Athlon Sports’ anonymous poll.

“The first program in the league that went all-in on portal players to take them to a playoff bid went bust,” a coach said. “Now what? [Austin] Simmons is talented but unpolished, and it’s going to take some time to develop him.”

Ole Miss lost one too many games a season ago to miss out on the CFP. The Rebels’ early home loss to Kentucky was the biggest resume destroyer, but another coach circled the defeat at Florida late in the season as the biggest red flag.

“They’re one of the best programs in the country at evaluating the portal, and they’ve done a very good job integrating that talent and winning right away, but this is still an inconsistent program,” another SEC coach said. “The loss at Florida last year is an example of why Kiffin isn’t considered an elite coach.”

The term “inconsistent” seems a bit harsh given that Ole Miss has had back-to-back seasons with double-digit win totals, including a program-record 11 in 2023. But until Kiffin can get the Rebels to play for an SEC title in Atlanta or a ticket to the CFP, the critiques will continue to flow.

College sports are in a weird place these days.

It’s hard to keep up with all the media reports and chatter about the NCAA, ongoing conference realignment, NIL, potential revenue-sharing, a future CEO and so on and so forth.

Much remains in flux. One thing that is clear is that collegiate athletics, as I knew them when I was a student at Syracuse University from 1996 to 2000, is toast. Assuming a federal judge approves the House settlement, and that hadn’t transpired as of this past Friday heading into the Memorial Day holiday weekend, the Syracuse Orange and its peers nationwide will be able to start directly paying their athletes for the use of their name, image and likeness.

If revenue-sharing does occur beginning with the 2025-26 sports season, there are some things to monitor as it pertains to SU Athletics and other athletics departments across the country.

Keep tabs on these potential themes related to Syracuse Orange Athletics.

One thing to monitor. Could SU Athletics end up cutting staff in the future due to upcoming revenue-sharing? In recent days, a report came out that Oklahoma’s athletics department would lay off 15 people “due to the looming realities of starting to share revenue with athletes.”

That’s unfortunate. But this is where we are. If athletics departments elect to set aside millions of dollars every year to pay their players, that could force these departments to cut overhead, resulting in layoffs. I hope this doesn’t transpire at SU Athletics, but I’ll be keeping a watchful eye.

To be fair, SU Athletics earlier this year made a new hire, bringing on board veteran sports executive Kevin Morgan as the department’s first general manager and chief revenue officer.

A few weeks ago, Kentucky’s board of trustees approved the school’s athletics department converting to a limited-liability company called Champions Blue LLC.

On May 22, Vanderbilt announced that it had hired long-time hospitality industry executive Markus Schreyer as CEO of that school’s newly created Vanderbilt Enterprises, which will focus on, among other things, “enhancing Vanderbilt Athletics resources, support for student-athletes and the fan experience.”

Big Blue Nation was up to its ears in anxiety ahead of a Sweet 16 matchup with the Tennessee Volunteers. In the hours before the NCAA Tournament game in Indianapolis, we received a welcome distraction. Tulane forward Kam Williams announced he was transferring to Kentucky.

A transfer portal commitment? While they’re still in the middle of the season? That’s weird.

Mark Pope picked up that commitment two weeks into the NCAA Tournament. The Kentucky baseball team hasn’t even been selected for this year’s NCAA Baseball Tournament, and Nick Mingione already has a commitment.

Right-handed pitcher Burkley Bounds announced this weekend that he’s transferring to Kentucky. Bounds entered the transfer portal earlier this week after EKU fired head coach Walt Jones. Bounds is a Lexington native who played high school baseball at Lex Cath with a couple of future Bat Cats, Owen Jenkins and Jack Sams.

As a true freshman in the spring of 2025, Bounds appeared in 18 games and earned two starts, winning both. He had an ERA of 4.17 and his opponents batted .244, leading the Colonels in both statistical categories. In 41 innings, he had 39 strikeouts and gave up 38 hits. It’s clear this Kentucky kid has a bright future.

Kentucky baseball just had its most successful two-year run in school history, following up a Regional Title with a College World Series appearance. Much of that success was built on the backs of productive transfer portal players. Nick Mingione isn’t waiting around to learn the postseason fate of this team before he begins building next year’s roster, which should feature a significant amount of returners following a rebuild year.

Today, conference tournaments will conclude before the NCAA reveals its top eight seeds for this year’s tournament. Kentucky will have to wait until Monday’s selection show at Noon. The Bat Cats are currently projected to be on the right side of the bubble as a No. 3 seed.

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