Loyalty, Leverage, & SEC Football
What the Lane Kiffin saga teaches us about performance, sustainability, & leadership
Leadership transitions are always emotional.
The truth about a culture is best revealed when the ground shifts suddenly. This week, Ole Miss found itself in exactly that moment when Lane Kiffin chose to leave Oxford for LSU.
But while headlines focused on Kiffin’s decision, Ole Miss had their own business to handle. Their handling of this moment is something every business, team, or leader can learn from — because transitions aren’t just sports stories. They’re human stories. Cultural stories. Systems stories.
And whether you run a Fortune 500 company or a 12-person startup, the principles are the same.
What Ole Miss Taught Us:
They Responded, Not Reacted
When a high-profile leader leaves, the default reaction is panic:
confusion from inside
speculation from outside
emotional decision-making at the top
Ole Miss didn’t fall into that trap. They responded. Calmly. Decisively. Publicly.
They acknowledged the departure, confirmed the facts, and communicated direction immediately. No drama. No ambiguity. No vacuum for rumors to fill.
Strong organizations take control of the narrative before chaos does.
They Showed Their Culture Was Built on Systems, Not Stars
A common trap some organizations fall into is they view their top leader as the savior. They build everything around one personality — the “hero leader.”
Sometimes that works… until it doesn’t.
Ole Miss avoided that trap.
The moment Kiffin left, the university acted on a plan that had clearly been considered long before: elevate Pete Golding and maintain continuity. A resilient culture survives change because it’s structured to.
They Protected Their Identity, Not Their Ego
Ole Miss is in the midst of the greatest run in program history. And their head coach just left for a conference rival.
When a leader leaves at the height of success, it’s easy for an organization to take it personally:
“He abandoned us.” “After everything we built?” “How could he do this now?”
Emotional ego-driven reactions destroy cultures. Ole Miss chose maturity. They focused on the legacy, not on the loss. On securing the future, not defending pride.
Leadership is never about punishing someone for leaving. It’s about empowering those who choose to stay.
They Moved Quickly to Reduce Uncertainty
The real enemy here wasn't the departure; it was the uncertainty. Kiffin's courtship from LSU (and Florida) dragged out and became a spectacle, in part because the coach was trying to have his cake and eat it, too. Ole Miss has a chance to play for a national championship, and Kiffin didn't want to walk away from that opportunity. He wanted to play out the string, then jump ship. Ole Miss wasn't having it.
Players, recruits, staff, fans, donors… they all needed clarity. Ole Miss understood that. And speed is a form of compassion in moments of transition. By locking in a new leader quickly, they:
stabilized morale
preserved momentum
protected their recruiting class
signaled confidence
showed they were prepared, not scrambling
Speed doesn’t mean rushing. Speed means readiness. Transition plans should exist before transitions happen.
They Modeled the Future of Leadership
We often romanticize leadership as loyalty above all. But the modern leadership era is different. People change roles. Leaders pursue new challenges. Talent is fluid and chapters end--even successful ones.
Ole Miss demonstrated that organizational health isn’t measured by whether leaders stay. It’s measured by how gracefully you handle it when they leave. Resilience is a culture, not a person.
The Lesson for All of Us
At some point, your Lane Kiffin moment will come:
a star performer leaves
a senior executive gets poached
a founder steps aside
a high-impact leader chooses growth over comfort
You can’t prevent transitions, but you can prepare for them. The organizations that rise above the emotional noise are the ones that:
build depth
build systems
build culture
build identity
and build for longevity
What Lane Kiffin Taught Us:
Walk in With Eyes Wide Open
Under Kiffin, LSU will likely take on his personality: brash, confident, offensively-oriented, and unafraid to provide a sound bite whenever given an opportunity.
Kiffin will likely be successful at LSU. He is, by all accounts, a good football coach. He will recruit talented players, they will score lots of points, and they will win football games.
He will also put himself first. Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior, and he has proven that time and time again. Odds are also high that the relationship with Kiffin and LSU will end in acrimony, eventually.
So, if he starts talking to a recruit about LSU's offensive scheme, how it can translate to the NFL, or how many games they've won since he arrived, you should listen. If he puts his arm around you and starts telling you how the players always come first, how your boy will be like a son to him, and that LSU is his forever home, take it with a grain of salt.
Winning Cures Most Ailments
If LSU wins enough, both sides will likely be satisfied with the arrangement. To some extent, this drama was a function of the current landscape of big time college football. Everyone, technically, played by the rules. Even if it feels icky. The important thing to recognize here is what you're signing up for. You don't need to sign a lifetime contract. You don't need to hire the kind of guy that you'd want your daughter to marry. What you do need to do is: decide what your priorities are, what your identity is, and what you're willing to compromise on along the way.
Once the emotion subsides, both sides probably look back on it and are glad they did it. Ole Miss gave Kiffin an opportunity resurrect his career. He, in turn, gave them the best run in program history. He didn't walk away from a sinking ship--he left a thriving program he helped build. That alone takes courage. The easy decision would be to parlay outside interest into a more lucrative contract and stay put. He didn't do that. He wanted something else.
If the performance doesn't meet expectations, LSU will eventually move on. If an opportunity he deems more appealing comes along, Kiffin has proven he will as well. So, no, there isn't any real loyalty. And yes, in some ways, that's a little sad for those of us who still like to romanticize what sports can be. But as a friend once told me, the game in between the lines is still as beautiful as ever. It's the other stuff that is the problem. For better and for worse, there always seems to be plenty of "other stuff" with Lane Kiffin.
Suffice it to say, I'll be watching next fall when LSU plays in Oxford.