Lane Kiffin’s record-setting success at Ole Miss, coupled with Auburn’s virtually public pursuit of its SEC Western Division rival head coach late in 2022, has culminated in a groundbreaking contract for Kiffin.
In short, as long as Kiffin is Ole Miss’s head coach on the last day of 2023, he’ll earn $9 million atop the Rebels’ program.
His 2023 base pay is $8.75 million, but there’s also an automatic $250k bonus to be paid, regardless of on-field record, as long as Kiffin is still the head coach at year’s end.
Based on 2022's public coaching salaries, Kiffin would rank in the top-8 of the sport in the coming year.
In fact, with a similar retention bonus in the pact for 2024, Kiffin will earn $36 million minus any additional incentives to continue as the Ole Miss head coach for the next four football seasons.
The deal, which FootballScoop and other outlets had reported on in late-November, has numerous retention bonuses, a litany of inducements for on-field performance and up to six-figure payouts for coaching honors and the program’s Academic Progress Report (APR) standing.
In one of the more unique elements, Kiffin can begin earning $150,000 for each win against a Southeastern Conference opponent once the Rebels have secured four wins against SEC foes.
So, for example, though the Rebels were just 4-4 in SEC play this past fall, Kiffin would have netted an additional $300,000 in 2021 if his pact had included a similar bonus structure; Kiffin that season led Ole Miss to its first-ever 10-win regular-season and a 6-2 ledger in SEC play.
Kiffin, represented by CAA, has received lucrative extensions after each of his past two seasons at Ole Miss, when during one stretch Kiffin led the Rebels to a 17-3 mark in 20 games spanning the 2021-22 seasons.
Under this new pact, Kiffin also would have pocketed extra money each of the past two years with a new non-conference opponent incentive clause in the deal; any regular-season win against a Power-5 foe is worth $100,000 to Kiffin moving forward. The Rebels defeated Atlantic Coast Conference residents Louisville and Georgia Tech, both games in Atlanta, in each of the previous two seasons.
If Ole Miss breaks through to the College Football Playoff with Kiffin under the terms of his new deal, Kiffin would receive a minimum $500,000 and up to $1 million for the CFP title.