After weeks of suspense and speculation, Lane Kiffin finally donned the LSU hat. But in the wake of his departure, his locker room comments at Ole Miss still make headlines. The former Rebels HC claimed that players begged him to stay throughout the playoffs. However, players swiftly refuted those claims. Now, AD Keith Carter has confirmed the same.

“I let them (players) kind of tweet out what they want to tweet out and give information that they want to give,” AD Carter said on SuperTalk Mississippi. “But I don’t think the way he (Kiffin) portrayed that meeting was accurate.

“There was a lot of push back to him leaving. It was really one of those things where these guys knew they needed coaches to coach the game.”

The AD confirmed what the players were feeling. On Sunday, Oxford was tense. After the Egg Bowl victory, the 50-year-old head coach had yet to make a decision. He was supposed to disclose his decision that morning at 9 a.m. However, it was delayed to 1 p.m., owing to Kiffin’s alleged threats. According to reports, Kiffin threatened to poach Ole Miss staff and players if denied the opportunity to coach through the playoffs.

However, it’s worth noting that Kiffin shared on Dec 1 that he has been denied the opportunity to lead Ole Miss in the postseason. However, AD Carter shared that Kiffin was already aware of that.

“I think that both the coach and his representation knew several weeks ago that the coaching in the playoffs was not going to be an option if he was not the Ole Miss head coach.”

However, the SEC title game remained a wrinkle in that scheme. If Alabama had lost to Auburn in the Iron Bowl, Ole Miss would have headed to the title game. That detail was yet to be sorted out.

“That (Iron Bowl result) threw a little wrinkle in it. Not to say he would have coached in that game, but with the shorter time period, maybe (it was) the only little nuance to it.”

As Carter put it, Kiffin was aware of Ole Miss’s stance on his staying on the sidelines during the playoffs. Yet his farewell message painted an entirely different narrative.

“Not the message you said,” Rebels call out Lane Kiffin’s lies

For obvious reasons, the Rebels officials denied Kiffin’s request to coach Ole Miss in the postseason. Next, Kiffin took to X, announcing his farewell. However, his choice of words prompted his former locker room to call out his lies.

“Despite the team also asking him (Carter) to allow me to keep coaching,” Kiffin penned his farewell message.

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While he claims that his players wanted him to stay, LB Suntarine Perkins (and other players) quickly took it to X, denying his statements.

“That was not the message you said in the meeting room. Everybody that was in there can vouch on this,” Perkins wrote.

Although Sunday felt heavier due to the anticipation, tensions had been simmering over for a while now. The “We want Kiffin” sentiment eventually turned into strings of frustration when Kiffin kept beating around the bush.

“There are a lot of guys in that locker room who are not happy to be part of the Lane Kiffin circus,” Fox Sports’ Aaron Torre shared on X. “Nor do I blame them.”

With playoff hopes at stake and possibly a national championship, naturally, the Rebels did not want him to go. But the way Kiffin portrayed the narrative did not sit well with Oxford.