Kiffin earns $250,000 playoff bonus from former team as Ole Miss advances in CFP
Ole Miss routs Tulane 41-10; payout tied to Lane Kiffin's departure for LSU and could reach $1 million with a national title run
Lane Kiffin collected a $250,000 playoff bonus from his former program, Ole Miss, after the Rebels rolled to a 41-10 victory over Tulane in the first round of the College Football Playoff. The payout is part of the terms surrounding his departure to take the LSU job, with Ole Miss set to cover playoff bonuses if the Rebels continued to win.
Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, who was dealing with an injury, accounted for three touchdowns in the win—two rushing scores and one passing touchdown—as the Rebels advanced. Kiffin publicly congratulated Ole Miss and Pete Golding on the victory, posting his message on X to acknowledge the coaching staff and players who guided the team in this round of the playoff.
Under the deal reported by CBS Sports, the payout could grow to as much as $1 million if Ole Miss goes on to win the national championship. The arrangement links Kiffin’s former program’s postseason success to his move to LSU, a relationship that remains in effect as Ole Miss proceeds in the playoff.
Pete Golding earned his first win as Ole Miss’ head coach in this game, with defensive coordinator Bryan Brown praising Golding’s leadership and his ability to rally the locker room. Brown described Golding as having a strong presence and contagious energy that has energized the team on both sides of the ball.
Kiffin’s move to LSU was consummated on Dec. 1, 2025, placing an unusual incentive structure around Ole Miss’s playoff run. The current setup ties Kiffin’s former program to the ongoing postseason pursuit, illustrating how coaching changes can create downstream financial implications across programs in college football.
As Ole Miss continues its playoff push, the $250,000 payout—potentially rising to $1 million with a championship run—highlights the layered nature of modern coaching contracts and buyout arrangements, where bonus clauses can extend beyond a coach’s tenure and into the successor program’s success. This dynamic adds another layer to the postseason narrative as teams evaluate the economic and competitive ripple effects of coaching transitions.
As Ole Miss moves forward, attention will likely remain on how the playoff field unfolds and whether Kiffin’s former team can sustain the momentum, while LSU watches the broader implications of the bonus structure tied to Ole Miss’s postseason success. The transfer of energy from the sideline to the league-wide conversation around coaching contracts is a reminder that in college football, financial incentives often travel with a coach as much as they do with a program.
