Would it be shocking to learn that Ole Miss officials had someone with FBI ties help check its football facility in the days following Lane Kiffin’s departure for LSU?
Sure, if college athletics were operating in anything resembling normal times.
But with former NFL players now finding paths back to college football and Congress debating legislation that could limit coaches from leaving during a season, almost nothing feels too absurd anymore.
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Walker Jones, the executive director of Ole Miss’ NIL collective, recently appeared on the “Assorted Crackers” podcast — yes, that is the name — to discuss the madness surrounding Kiffin’s exit for LSU.
Trinidad Chambliss of the Ole Miss Rebels celebrates on stage with teammates after the College Football Playoff quarterfinal game against the Georgia Bulldogs at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, La., on Jan. 1, 2026. (CFP/Getty Images)
During a conversation about coaches who were contractually tied to both Ole Miss and LSU, Jones revealed an unreported detail from the days leading up to the Rebels’ College Football Playoff appearance without Kiffin.
Technically, the FBI was involved.
“We actually had the FBI come through and walk the building for bugs and for everything,” Walker Jones told ‘Assorted Crackers‘”. “We knew kind of what was in Baton Rouge, and we knew how they operated. I remember getting on my knees and looking underneath the desk, like checking for, ‘Is there some sort of bug in my office?'”
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So, did Ole Miss bring in federal agents to sweep its facility for listening devices, straight out of a Jason Bourne movie?
Well, not exactly. But, yes there was a search.
Pete Golding did not deny that the FBI conducted a sweep
.
On Monday, while Kiffin was fielding questions in Baton Rouge about LSU adding former NFL players to its roster, the questions in Oxford were a bit different.
What exactly happened with that FBI search of the Ole Miss football facility?
Head coach Pete Golding did not deny that a sweep occurred, though he offered an explanation that made far more sense than the image of agents descending on the Manning Center with bug detectors.
“Any bowl game, playoff system, obviously you’re gonna up security,” Golding told reporters. I’m not sure there was a hiring process of here we go with the FBI. I do think we probably have a current player whose dad just so happens to work for the FBI and that lives in town. There was no measure to go ‘oh my gosh, come in from that standpoint’.
“Obviously any time you get into that playoff system and you got guys going from this building to other places (LSU), you want to make sure it’s secure for your players. The video access, everything else you’re doing regardless where you’re at….No, there was no hiring process of ‘let’s get the FBI in here, holy cow, they start looking around’. It wasn’t anything like that.”
Head coach Pete Golding of the Ole Miss Rebels looks on in the first half against the Miami Hurricanes during the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the VRBO Fiesta Bowl at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., on Jan. 8, 2026. (Getty Images)
When Kiffin left Ole Miss for LSU, he took multiple assistants with him to Baton Rouge. During the chaotic stretch before Ole Miss played Tulane in the College Football Playoff, some coaches were traveling back and forth between Baton Rouge and Oxford.
Kiffin was also expected to target multiple Ole Miss players once the Rebels’ season ended, including Kewan Lacy and Trinidad Chambliss.
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Add in the growing paranoia across college athletics about practice footage and other team materials being illegally accessed through video databases, and it is not hard to understand why Ole Miss took extra precautions.
Shouldn’t be surprised by any of the shenanigans involving Ole Miss and LSU
One of the most chaotic times in recent college athletics memory will one day turn into a movie that will have the feel of a spy-thriller directed by Michael Bay.
Just days before the season begins, coaches are explaining why former NFL players belong back on college rosters. The NCAA is spending what feels like every day in a courtroom. Congress is still being asked to fix a system that has become nearly impossible to govern.
And on Sept. 19, 2025, Ole Miss and LSU will meet in Oxford in a game that already feels destined to become one of the most entertaining weekends of the season.
Head coach Lane Kiffin of the LSU Tigers speaks during a press conference at the LSU Football Practice Facility in Baton Rouge, La., on Feb. 4, 2026. (Gus Stark/LSU/University Images)
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Between talk of “basket-weaving” classes at Ole Miss, Kiffin’s recruiting comments, eligibility lawsuits, Texas Tech’s Brendan Sorsby saga and endless congressional debates, college football needs actual games back in a hurry.
Still, who doesn’t enjoy a good FBI story in college athletics?
Well, perhaps Will Wade — or the folks at Michigan.
