Ole Miss assistant coaches going to LSU: Why Lane Kiffin's departing staff stayed to coach in CFP games

Ole Miss assistant coaches going to LSU: Why Lane Kiffin's departing staff stayed to coach in CFP games originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Breakups can be messy, and that holds true even in college football. Lane Kiffin decided to take his talents and coaching staff to Baton Rouge as LSU’s new head coach, leaving Ole Miss after a six-year stint.

The decision played out very publicly and grew messier by the day. When the dust settled, Kiffin had taken a new job, and Ole Miss, focusing on its future, decided not to allow him to coach the Rebels in the 2025 College Football Playoff.

Other head coaches in the postseason who have accepted new jobs are usually permitted to remain with their current team before moving on. Kiffin is not, and has already turned his full attention to coaching the Tigers in 2026.

Ole Miss will go through the postseason with a semblance of Kiffin still there. His former defensive coordinator, Pete Golding, was named the outright head coach, not interim. In agreement with Ole Miss, Kiffin also decided that the coaches he was taking from the Rebels to LSU would be allowed to return and coach the team through the playoffs.

Here’s more on why the coaching staff that left Ole Miss for LSU with Lane Kiffin has returned to coach the Rebels through the 2025 College Football Playoff.

MORE: When does LSU play Ole Miss in 2026?

Who are the Ole Miss coaches going to LSU?

Here are the five LSU coaches who are heading back to Ole Miss to coach the Rebels through the 2025 CFP. 

Charlie Weis Jr., Offensive Coordinator

Weis Jr. is the son of former head coach Charlie Weis, known for his tenure at Notre Dame from 2005 to 2009 and at Kansas from 2012 to 2014. Weis Jr., 32, has been involved in collegiate coaching since 2011.

He first teamed up with Lane Kiffin at Florida Atlantic in 2018, serving as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. The two spent two seasons together before Kiffin moved to Ole Miss and Weis Jr. went to South Florida. He spent two seasons with the Bulls before reuniting with Kiffin in Oxford ahead of the 2022 season.

Now, Weis Jr. will head to Baton Rouge to become the offensive coordinator at LSU alongside Kiffin.

Joe Cox, Co-Offensive Coordinator, Tight Ends Coach

Cox played quarterback at Georgia from 2005 to 2009. After a pro career didn't happen, he turned to coaching, first getting started in high school coaching in 2014, and then moving up to the collegiate level in 2015 at Colorado State. 

He's bounced around the southeast, largely as a tight ends or wide receivers coach, but landed at Ole Miss in 2024. 

George McDonald, Wide Receivers Coach

McDonald played wide receiver for Illinois from 1994 to 1998. After a two-year hiatus from football he became a graduate assistant at Ball State. McDonald has some experience at the pro-level, spending two years as the Cleveland Browns wide receivers coach from 2009 to 2010. 

He quickly returned to the college ranks and bounced around the ACC before returning to his alma mater as the wide receivers coach in 2021. After the 2023 season, Kiffin hired him as the wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator at Ole Miss. 

Nick Savage, Head Strength Coach

Savage got his Bachelor's degree in exercise science in 2013 from Youngstown State. He interned at Bowling Green and Ohio State in 2013 and 2014. Savage was a graduate assistant strength coach at Toledo in 2014. He then served as the assistant strength coach at Mississippi State for two seasons before taking over as the head strength coach in 2016. After four years with the Bulldogs, he moved to Kiffin's staff at Ole Miss. 

Dane Stevens, Quarterbacks Coach

Stevens has spent most of his coaching career on the offensive side of the ball. He has experience as an offensive quality control analyst at USC before coming to Kiffin's staff at Ole Miss as an assistant quarterbacks coach. He left to become the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at West Georgia, but returned to Kiffin's staff at Ole Miss after one year. 

MORE: Where Lane Kiffin ranks among highest-paid college football coaches

Lane Kiffin LSU coaching staff

*denotes coach is coming over from Ole Miss with Kiffin.

MORE: Why did Lane Kiffin leave Ole Miss for LSU?

Why wasn't Lane Kiffin allowed to coach Ole Miss?

The public will likely never officially know what was said between Kiffin, the team, and school representatives. All that is known as that, amongst the fallout from his decision to leave for LSU, is the stipulation that Ole Miss is turning its focus to the future and did not want him to coach in the College Football Playoff. 

Ole Miss AD Keith Carter reportedly didn't like the idea of Kiffin actively recruiting for LSU and building a staff for the Tigers, while also serving as the head coach for Ole Miss through the playoff. Given that the two programs are rivals, Carter believed there was a conflict of interest. 

MORE: Who are the best recruits that Kiffin has gotten for LSU?

Who is Ole Miss' interim coach?

The Rebels do not have an interim head coach. Following Kiffin’s decision to leave, the school promoted former defensive coordinator Pete Golding to be the team’s permanent head coach, without an interim designation.

The first-round College Football Playoff matchup against No. 11 Tulane will be the first game in which he serves as head coach.