LSU needed a steady hand who could bring back the Tigers to their old glory after the firing of Brian Kelly. That’s where LSU AD Verge Ausberry found Lane Kiffin. Now, as LSU heads into the 2026 season with Kiffin on a $91 million deal, the Tigers are being talked about as a potential Playoff contender again. But according to Ausberry, the battle to land Kiffin was never just about throwing the most money on the table.

“We didn’t pay any more money than anybody else,” said Verge Ausberry during his June 30 appearance on In the Bayou With Tyrann Mathieu. “Lane’s contract would have been the same if it were Florida, Florida State, Auburn, or staying at [Ole] Miss.”

He stressed that LSU wasn’t simply winning a bidding war, because Kiffin could have found similar money elsewhere. When LSU offered Kiffin, he had just led Ole Miss to its first-ever playoff appearance in 2025. On paper, plenty of programs looked like options. In reality, Ausberry says the outcome that truly worried him was Kiffin deciding to stay put at Ole Miss.

“It wasn’t like he was gonna get a lot more money than he was getting at Ole Miss. It was like he built a home at Ole Miss. You know, that was his place. They were doing well, and he matured at Ole Miss. He changed his life at Ole Miss.”

“And that was a part behind my head all the time, like, you know, if I thought we’d lose him, it probably would be that he’d stay at Ole Miss.”

That is where Ausberry turned into a salesman. For Kiffin, LSU presented a chance not just to reach the playoff, but to compete for titles year after year while giving his family a new home in Baton Rouge.

“I said, you know, I’m got to try to persuade him, you know, why this will be the place for him. You know, tying players like you all and playing national championships. That was the important part that we sold for him: that here you can win that national championship, not just get to the playoffs, but you continually be in the playoffs every year. So, that’s the part that I had to sell lying on,” said the LSU AD.

Beating Ole Miss fans’ love and the school’s preference for Kiffin was tough for LSU. Ole Miss was ready to give it all to retain the coach. But offering Kiffin a path to winning a national title in Baton Rouge helped the Tigers. Now those same promises shape the expectations around Kiffin. If LSU struggles to live up to the national‑title talk, that nine‑figure gamble will only invite more questions about his future.

However, the coach is confident about LSU’s success, saying, “I don’t know how fast it’s going to happen, but we’re going to win a national championship.” Odds makers still peg LSU closer to an eight‑ or nine‑win team this year, so Kiffin’s promise will be tested long before the Tigers look like the perennial Playoff power Ausberry sold during that hiring pitch.