Ole Miss football steals recruiter from Lane Kiffin, LSU

The 2025 Ole Miss season was great on the field. The Rebels finished 11-1 and got a spot in the College Football Playoff. However, their season showed cracks off the field with Lane Kiffin leaving for the LSU job before Ole Miss could finish their season. The Rebels hired defensive coordinator Pete Golding as head coach, and they also landed another massive win over Kiffin in a staff hire.

According to On3’s Pete Nakos and CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz, the Ole Miss football program managed to pry Jai Choudhary away from LSU and hired him as their new Director of Player Personnel. He was considered a rising star in the industry and immediately gave the Rebels a big win over Kiffin, which only adds to the rivalry. It is also a return to Oxford after he was there previously.

Choudhary departed the Ole Miss program last year to join LSU, but with new General Manager Austin Thomas back in Oxford, he’s made sure to bring in his right-hand man to assist him once again. He was in Oxford from 2022 to 24, so he’s coming back home now.

It’s another key move for the Ole Miss Rebels with the program stacking going on, a hiring spree to load up the front office for the future under Pete Golding. This move was made in large part because Austin Thomas was hired as Ole Miss’s new general manager and because he has a good relationship with Thomas.

Golding also added reinforcements to the scouting department with the addition of UCLA Bruins Director of Scouting Jake Sugarman. He graduated from Arizona State, where Kenny Dillingham gave him a spot on his staff. Then he got experience at LSU before ultimately being hired by UCLA for the 2025 season.

Kiffin, for his part, has had a massive rolodex of hires that have been rolled out in Baton Rouge on their own. Kiffin announced 11 new hires, most notably being Charlie Weis Jr. as offensive coordinator. The Rebels’ offense was one of the best in the SEC and featured playmakers all over the place.

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