Ole Mess

Charlie Weis Jr.’s sudden return to call plays for Ole Miss in the College Football Playoff—after leaving Oxford with Lane Kiffin to join LSU—creates a bizarre and self-inflicted credibility problem for the Rebels. Ole Miss made a very public point of blocking Kiffin from coaching the team in the postseason, framing it as a matter of program control, continuity, and keeping outside influence away from the players. Yet somehow the offensive coordinator who left with Kiffin is being welcomed back to run the show? It’s a confusing contradiction that exposes the cracks in Ole Miss’s internal logic.

On the field, this decision essentially confirms what observers suspected: Ole Miss is lost offensively without the Kiffin–Weis brain trust. Allowing Weis Jr. to step back in is effectively an admission that the current staff cannot operate the offense at a playoff level. Off the field, the optics are arguably worse. Weis Jr. returning gives Kiffin indirect influence over the team—whether through shared language, concepts, tendencies, or simple communication with his former lieutenant. If the school’s priority was distancing itself from Kiffin, this completely undermines that stance.

The move raises legitimate questions about leadership, alignment, and internal conflict. Players know who built the offense they run. Coaches know how closely Kiffin and Weis Jr. operate. Bringing back one but banning the other invites tension, second-guessing, and mixed loyalties inside the building. In trying to control the narrative, Ole Miss instead signaled panic—and compromised the integrity of its own decision-making.