Impact of Coaching Changes on College Football Playoff Schedule

The new College Football Playoff (CFP) format has stirred up a fair bit of debate, especially when it comes to coaching hires overlapping with the postseason. Lane Kiffin’s exit from Ole Miss has thrown gasoline on the fire, creating a controversy that’s hard to ignore.

Let’s dig into how Kiffin’s move has shaken Ole Miss. We’ll also see how it stacks up against other recent coaching changes across college football.

The College Football Playoff Expansion and Its Consequences

The CFP expanding to 12 teams was supposed to crank up the excitement and competition. Sure, that’s happened, but there’s a catch—coaching changes during the postseason have gotten way more common.

This shift has made non-playoff bowl games feel almost pointless sometimes, as both players and coaches bail out early.

The Coaching Carousel

Coaches leaving before the season wraps up isn’t exactly new. We saw it back in the BCS days, too.

But with the CFP expansion, it’s gotten even more noticeable. Kiffin’s decision to leave Ole Miss for LSU before the playoff run ended? That really rattled the team.

Lane Kiffin: The Enigma at the Forefront

Kiffin’s right in the eye of the storm this season. Over 20% of Division I FBS schools are getting new head coaches for 2026, but it’s the Ole Miss-LSU drama that’s hogging headlines.

Pete Golding, Ole Miss’s current head coach, has tried to downplay it. He points out that plenty of teams lose coordinators to other jobs during the playoffs.

Comparing Ole Miss to Other Schools

Golding likes to compare Ole Miss’s situation to Oregon’s. Oregon lost both offensive and defensive coordinators to head coaching gigs at Kentucky and Cal.

Unlike Kiffin, though, those Oregon coaches didn’t leave their staff hanging during the playoffs. Kiffin, on the other hand, made Ole Miss position coaches leave before the postseason was done. That really shook things up.

The Impact on Ole Miss

Kiffin’s exit hit Ole Miss hard. Fans saw it as a flat-out betrayal, especially since he jumped ship to a fierce rival.

It’s not something you see every day, and it only added fuel to the fire. Forcing position coaches out before the playoffs? That just made things worse.

The Role of the Media

The media’s been all over the Kiffin saga, ramping up the drama. Other schools have had coaching shake-ups, but Ole Miss seems to be under the microscope.

Some folks feel Ole Miss is getting singled out, but honestly, the way Kiffin left makes it hard to look away.

The new College Football Playoff format has really shaken things up for college football. Expansion means more competition, sure, but it’s also brought some headaches nobody quite expected.

One big issue? Coaching changes are popping up more often right in the middle of the postseason. Lane Kiffin leaving Ole Miss is a good example—suddenly, everyone’s talking about how there aren’t clear rules or enough honest conversations between coaches, players, and fans.

If you’re curious and want to dig deeper, check out the full article on The DM Online.