Lane Kiffin could top LeBron as the ultimate sports traitor by leaving Ole Miss

As a sports fan, there's no worse feeling than the feeling of betrayal, whether it's by a star player or a coach. Oftentimes, you land a star player or a coach and think they'll spend the rest of their career with your team, but that isn't always the case. With the Transfer Portal, you always expect players to leave, but with a head coach when you're one of the top schools in the Country, you never expect your coach to leave.

Until Lane Kiffin announces that he's staying or leaving Ole Miss, he's leaving everything up for speculation. It's been widely reported that there's an extension on Lane Kiffin's desk from Ole Miss, but after his family visited Gainesville and Baton Rouge with the Florida and LSU jobs open, as he's seen as the top target.

For a program like Ole Miss, you feel as if your coach shouldn't ever get poached, as you check most of the boxes every coach wants. Lane Kiffin leaving Ole Miss for Florida or LSU would be seen as a massive betrayal, as he'd be leaving one SEC job for another when all three are arguably equal.

While Ole Miss fans may feel betrayed if Lane Kiffin decides to move from Ole Miss to another SEC school maybe they shouldn't be. After all, Lane Kiffin is the same coach who abandoned Tennessee after one season, in a move that caused riots in Knoxville.

Lane Kiffin leaving Ole Miss would rival LeBron leaving Cleveland

The closest comparison to the betrayal of Lane Kiffin leaving Ole Miss would be the betrayal of LeBron James leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat. LeBron was the savior that Cleveland needed, and while he later fulfilled the prophecy, in the moment, it was gutting for the city as they would've done anything to keep him.

Lane Kiffin arrived at Ole Miss as a beacon of hope after the failed Houston Nutt era, Hugh Freeze's stunning exit, and the disastrous Matt Luke era. Right now, Lane Kiffin is one of the most beloved coaches in the sport, but that wasn't the case before this run at Ole Miss after his fallout with Nick Saban, his firings at USC and the Raiders, and his exit from Tennessee.

While Lane Kiffin could've had success elsewhere, he's said it himself, he needed Ole Miss more than they needed him.

Ole Miss took a massive gamble hiring Lane Kiffin even after he showed that he could be a winning head coach in his 3 seasons at FAU. If Kiffin repays Ole Miss by leaving right as he's become the coach they thought he would be, it would be the ultimate slap in the face to the Rebels.

The argument many will make is that the ceiling at LSU or Florida is much higher than it is at Ole Miss. The flaw in that argument is the fact that Lane Kiffin determines the ceiling, not Florida, LSU, or Ole Miss. The Gators have never made the College Football Playoff, LSU hasn't made it since the magical run in 2019, but Ole Miss is going to make the Playoff this year.

The Rebels reportedly gave Lane Kiffin an ultimatum, which he denied, but they certainly want an answer as soon as possible. If Lane Kiffin is walking away from a program that's on the horizon of a College Football Playoff, it'll be disrespectful to the program, and they'll have every right to be angry at him.

If you're Lane Kiffin, there shouldn't be a decision to make. One program has given you everything you could ask for, and they did it at a time when he wasn't the most attractive candidate. When you take a job like LSU or Florida, the pressure starts instantly, whereas at Ole Miss, you'll likely have a statue when it's all said and done.