Mission accomplished? How coaches returning to their former stomping grounds have fared

Lane Kiffin returns to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium this Saturday with LSU, facing Ole Miss—the program he left before last year’s College Football Playoff began. The matchup comes with extra bite, after Kiffin referenced segregation as part of his explanation for switching schools earlier this spring, intensifying the scrutiny around his recruiting. The ESPN piece frames the game as the latest chapter in “The Return of the Turncoat,” a look at fiery instances where coaches and teams faced off against their former employers. It revisits historical examples, including Notre Dame’s 35-7 win over Northwestern in 1966 and Texas A&M’s 20-16 upset of Alabama in 1967.