There is no evidence that a driver tried to run former Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin off the road while he was on his way to the Oxford airport to accept a new head coaching gig at rival Louisiana State University, according to state and local law enforcement agencies.  

Kiffin announced last weekend that he was leaving Mississippi’s flagship university after helping it clinch a spot in the playoffs for the first time in the program’s history. He said in a Monday press conference in Baton Rouge that an angry Rebel fan tried to run him off the road while he was driving with his son Knox to the airport in Oxford.  

Bailey Holloway, a spokeswoman for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, told Mississippi Today that Kiffin had a safety escort from the Mississippi Highway Patrol when he traveled to the airport. The agency’s officers have no record of an automobile trying to push the football coach’s car off the roadway, Holloway added.

Sean Tindell, the DPS commissioner, weighed in on the situation by posting a satirical social media video Tuesday night, stating that there were no incidents involving Mississippi Highway Patrol officers trying to run the coach off the road. 

In the video, Tindell wore a visor, something Kiffin is known for wearing, and walked a dog on a leash. Tindell said that the pet was not even his dog, a reference to lingering questions about Juice Kiffin, a dog that has become an unofficial mascot of sorts at Ole Miss. 

“He had a safe trip, and he’s on his way,” Tindell said of Kiffin. “I’m sorry, this is not even my dog. Y’all be safe.” 

Tindell runs the state’s top law enforcement agency and was poking fun at the situation that has inflamed an already bitter rivalry between two SEC schools and caused a wave of internet memes. 

Still, attempting to run a car off a roadway is a criminal offense in Mississippi, and if someone attempted to harm the football coach, state and local police could launch an investigation. 

Breck Jones, the public information officer for the Oxford Police Department, also said that the local police department received no calls or complaints about the alleged incident, and they have not been asked by anyone to look into it. 

Communications officials with LSU athletics and the university did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

This is not the first time Kiffin, now persona non grata among the Ole Miss fan base, has made national headlines over situations that occurred around an airport. The University of Southern California famously fired him in 2013 on the tarmac at the Los Angeles International Airport after the team’s plane landed.