Did Ole Miss Players Want Lane Kiffin for CFP Run? Final Votes Reportedly Revealed

A majority of members from Ole Miss' player leadership council were in favor of keeping head coach Lane Kiffin through the College Football Playoff, according to The Athletic's Christopher Kamrani and Joe Rexrode.

Kamrani and Rexrode reported the vote was 9-3.

In a statement first addressing his exit, Kiffin said he hoped to stay with the Rebels until the season fully concluded: "My request to do so was denied by [athletic director] Keith Carter despite the team also asking him to allow me to keep coaching them so they could better maintain their high level of performance."

Kiffin echoed that idea during his introductory press conference at LSU.

However, offensive linemen Brycen Sanders and Jayden Williams along with linebacker Suntarine Perkins all publicly pushed back on the assertion:

Kamrani and Rexrode's report paints a better picture of what unfolded behind the scenes in Oxford.

The attitudes within the locker room toward Kiffin weren't unanimous, but there were clearly some negative feelings toward him. The vote of the leadership group may not be reflective of how the entire roster felt, either.

In an interview with SuperTalk Mississippi (via ESPN's Adam Rittenberg), Carter said Kiffin's efforts to stay after accepting the LSU job were futile because that wasn't the arrangement the two parties had mapped out.

"It was very clear that coaching in the postseason was not going to be an option for Coach Kiffin several weeks ago," he said.

Carter also addressed the team meeting in question.

"I don't think the way he portrayed that meeting was accurate," he said. "There was a lot of pushback to him leaving. ... Begging for him to stay is certainly an overstatement, and our players are starting to show what really happened in that meeting."

The inevitability of Kiffin going to LSU might be exaggerated.

Kamrani and Rexrode cited multiple sources who said he was "genuinely felt torn on the decision."

"One source briefed on the discussions said Kiffin came very close to signing an Ole Miss extension two days before the Egg Bowl," per The Athletic. "Ole Miss was able to match any dollar amount offered by LSU or Florida when it came to Kiffin's contract. He said as much publicly after taking the Tigers' gig."

Kiffin ultimately bolted for the Tigers, a direct rival to Ole Miss in the SEC, and he was forced to live with the consequences. If he wanted to guide the Rebels through their CFP run badly enough, there was a straightforward solution to ensure that would happen.