Ole Miss fans rush to airport to boo, flip off Lane Kiffin on his way to Baton Rouge after accepting LSU job

Ole Miss fans were, understandably, livid on Sunday afternoon.

A large group of Rebels fans made their way toward the airport in Oxford, Mississippi, and gave their former head football coach quite the sendoff shortly after he made his jump to LSU official. It went about exactly as one would expect.

Kiffin, after weeks of rumors and scrutiny, officially struck a deal to become the next head coach at LSU on Sunday. He’ll replace Brian Kelly, who was fired by the Tigers earlier this season.

Kiffin finished his sixth season at Ole Miss this fall, and led it to an 11-1 record. The Rebels are very likely headed for a spot in the College Football Playoff, too, after beating rival Mississippi State on Friday. Kiffin said in his statement that he asked the university to allow him to coach the team in the postseason, but they would not allow him to. Kiffin also claimed that players wanted him to stay on, too.

"I was hoping to complete a historic six season run with this year's team by leading Ole Miss through the playoffs, capitalizing on the team's incredible success and their commitment to finish strong, and investing everything into a playoff run with guardrails in place to protect the program in any areas of concern,” Kiffin said in a statement, in part. “My request to do so was denied by [Ole Miss athletic director] Keith Carter despite the team also asking him to allow me to keep coaching them so they could better maintain their high level of performance. Unfortunately, that means Friday's Egg Bowl was my last game coaching the Rebels.

"While I am looking forward to a new start with a unique opportunity at LSU, I will forever cherish the incredible six years I spent at Ole Miss and will be rooting hard for the team to complete their mission and bring a championship to Oxford."

Ole Miss has since promoted defensive coordinator Pete Golding and made him its next permanent head coach. Golding will presumably lead the Rebels in the playoff. The move was one of several made in the SEC on Sunday. Florida hired Tulane’s Jon Sumrall, Auburn hired South Florida’s Alex Golesh and Arkansas hired Memphis’ Ryan Silverfield. Missouri and Vanderbilt also reached extensions with their respective head coaches in recent days, too.

Kiffin has led Ole Miss to at least 10 wins in four of the last five seasons now, and the program is on the cusp of what would be its first trip to the College Football Playoff. While his presence wouldn’t guarantee a championship by any means, a sudden and messy departure at this point is going to leave plenty of fans in a bad place.