The Lane Kiffin saga is reaching a head on Friday, with University of Mississippi AD Keith Carter meeting with the Ole Miss Rebels head football coach to get clarity on where he's coaching next year ahead of next Friday's Egg Bowl.
Many are wondering who the mastermind is behind this chaos, which is presumably driving the price up between Ole Miss and the LSU Tigers, the more chaotic things get.
ESPN's Peter Burns believes it's Kiffin's super agent, Jimmy Sexton. Yahoo Sports' Dan Wolken believes it's Kiffin.
Both of them win over this confusion. There's only so long people will be seeking the truth about who's responsible until the narrative shifts to Kiffin either staying in Oxford, Mississippi, or going to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Not to mention, there will never be down-and-dirty reporting on what Sexton does behind the scenes because he has many of the top reporters needing his people for sources.
The college football coaching market has become too big to fail because of Sexton. He helped Curt Cignetti single-handedly transform it with a $93 million contract, which features a $15 million buyout, to remain the Indiana Hoosiers' head football coach.
Jimmy Sexton negotiated several Auburn football coach's buyouts
Sexton has haunted Auburn Tiger fans with his negotiation tactics. Because of Sexton, AU had to pay a $15.8 million Hugh Freeze buyout and a $21.4 million Gus Malzahn buyout.
While neither was the worst hire of the last three, Freeze cost eight figures for zero winning seasons, and Malzahn's underperformance in trench recruiting left AU's cupboard bare when Bryan Harsin took over during the COVID-19 pandemic, when recruiting was limited.
Jon Sumrall, of note, is not a Sexton client. He may end up being a cheap option, much cheaper than whatever Kiffin is about to cost Ole Miss or, more likely, LSU, in 2026 and beyond.