Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin discusses Grove Bowl Games
What Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin said about the Rebels’ Grove Bowl Games
OXFORD ― Ole Miss football has fattened up against the ACC since Lane Kiffin’s arrival five season ago. The same can be said for the coach’s bank account.
The Rebels are 3-0 against the ACC under Kiffin, claiming one win in each of the past three campaigns.
Each of those victories has earned Kiffin an additional $100,000 in bonus compensation, according to documents obtained by the Clarion Ledger.
He’ll have a chance to make it $400,000 total when the Rebels travel to play Wake Forest on Sept. 14 (5:30 p.m. CT, The CW).
The bonuses come from a clause in Kiffin’s contract that entitles him to $100,000 for each regular-season victory he records against a power conference opponent from outside the SEC. And because the SEC obligates its members to schedule at least one power conference foe in nonconference play annually, Kiffin gets at least one opportunity to collect each year.
For the most part, the Rebels have played middling ACC opposition. They beat a 6-7 Louisville team 43-24 in Atlanta in 2021. Ole Miss followed that up with a 42-0 road demolition of 5-7 Georgia Tech in 2022, and beat the Yellow Jackets at home 48-23 last season, when Brent Key’s team went 7-6.
Wake Forest was 4-8 last year, and the sportsbooks have set a preseason win total of 4.5 for 2024.
Kiffin has used SEC wins to add to his paycheck, too. Since he first signed on before the 2020 season, he has received $150,000 for each SEC win after the fourth conference win of the season. In other words, if Ole Miss wins more than four SEC games in any season, Kiffin gets $150,000 for each additional SEC win.
The Rebels have twice finished with more than four SEC victories under Kiffin. That bonus clause entitled him to $300,000 for winning six SEC games in 2021. When they won six conference games again in 2023, he received an additional $300,000.
Kiffin earned at least $800,000 in bonuses from Ole Miss during the 2023 season, adding to a base compensation of $8.75 million.
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David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.
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