The Lane Kiffin saga has been well-documented, but there’s plenty of he-said we-said with respect to what went down in his final days with the Ole Miss Rebels.

Mark Schlabach of ESPN dove into what went down in those waning moments between Kiffin and his former Rebels program as he left to take the job with the LSU Tigers. First, the courtship with the Florida Gators began in November, when Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin reportedly interviewed Kiffin early in the month to try to poach the most desired SEC candidate. Kiffin wanted to go to Florida when they hired Billy Napier; allegedly, his off-field behavior made Napier a less risky hire. That was thought to be the one that got away and a favorite landing spot for Kiffin.

Then LSU fired Brian Kelly on Oct. 26. Things changed. Kiffin reportedly was “turned off” by Stricklin’s involvement with the Gators. So naturally, he zeroed in on the place where the Louisiana governor directly involved himself in a chaotic mess. However, the promotion of LSU administrator Verge Ausberry to athletic director enticed Kiffin towards the opening. The Tigers met with Kiffin in mid-November.

Oh, and then Florida State came into the mix, apparently, with athletic director Michael Alford coveting Kiffin and trying to lure him in the shadows. They still hadn’t fired Mike Norvell. The $54 million buyout was clearly an issue, as Norvell remains employed. But that clearly wasn’t the program that would cause Kiffin to leave Ole Miss in a messy disastrous manner. The Tigers were back in the driver’s seat. But the Rebels weren’t out of the race just yet.

Schlabach reports that Kiffin met with Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter and chancellor Glenn Boyce a week before the Egg Bowl, as pressure mounted, and fans were in disarray with Kiffin’s family visiting Baton Rouge. The duo wanted to assure Kiffin that they could offer the same revenue sharing and NIL resources as Florida and LSU. But Kiffin refused to commit, thinking it wasn’t even fair to force him to do so in the middle of the regular season.

Despite Kiffin claiming to be surprised, it was clear in the meeting that he would not be allowed to coach in the College Football Playoff if he took a job elsewhere in the SEC. But he remained through the team’s Egg Bowl win. Then Saturday changed everything. Kiffin met with Carter around 6 p.m. ET to break the news that he was taking the LSU job, but that he wanted to continue on through the CFP with the Rebels.

That obviously wasn’t going to happen. So, according to Ole Miss sources to ESPN, Kiffin threatened to take his entire offensive staff and leave his former team high and dry. Selfless.

Because the CFP run would turn into an infomercial for the Tigers. There are obvious concerns of Kiffin poaching players to an interconference rival. With the transfer portal not opening until Jan. 2, that left too much time to allow that. So a team meeting was scheduled for Sunday morning to break the news.

That morning meeting time was pushed four hours back to 2 p.m. ET, as it wasn’t clear what assistants would leave with Kiffin. Ole Miss also wanted to have an interim coach ready, who they’d eventually hire permanently in Pete Golding. Remember the players that actually formulate the Rebels team? They have a voice too – and they used it.

Kiffin didn’t read the pulse of his players right and encouraged Carter to meet with the team’s leadership council. The players told Carter they were tired of the drama with Kiffin, and were only concerned with which position coaches were staying. Those players have since voiced those opinions on X. Kiffin was already escorted from the Manning Center prior to the players meeting with Ole Miss officials.

An Ole Miss graduate who stood at the airport fence where Kiffin was escorted spoke with ESPN and echoed what seems to be a universal sentiment.

"He's taken it from us," graduate Taylor Cauthen said. "He made it all about him. I think he wakes up every morning, looks at himself in the mirror, and tells himself he loves him. I think that's who he cares about most. I think he cares about himself more than anything on this earth, including his family."

Then Kiffin pulled up, climbed the stairs, and didn’t even turn around to wave goodbye to the fans that supported him for years. And now his saga continues at LSU. Hopefully the drama is all worth the payoff.