FBI swept Ole Miss offices for bugs after Kiffin left

The FBI swept the Ole Miss football office for listening devices after former coach Lane Kiffin left from LSU, the executive director of Ole Miss’ NIL collective said.Walker Jones of the Grove Collective told the “Assorted Crackers” podcast that FBI officials searched for bugs in the football offices at the Manning Center.“We actually had the FBI come through and walk the building for bugs and for everything,” Jones said. “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?’”He was asked why he was looking under the desk, Jones said: “Trust me, you don’t know this guy (Kiffin) like I do.”Jones wasn’t done. He explained how uneasy things were in the aftermath of Kiffin’s departure.“I guess that’s what you do if you’re the LSU head coach,” Jones said. “You try to destroy your opponent, your rival. So I guess that’s probably the way. Again, shame on me to think it was going to be anything other than what it was, but we battled and we were able to hold on to the majority of our roster and our players.“What people don’t realize too is half the staff was going to LSU, so we literally had to have two different text threads, two different staff meetings. We had to ask coaches to leave the room. We had to no hall room conversations, nothing written down, nothing written on the grease boards in the office, because half the staff, we literally were going to be competing against.”The Rebels promoted defensive coordinator Pete Golding to head coach on the same day that Kiffin left.Kiffin ended up taking several Ole Miss assistants with him to LSU, including offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., co-offensive coordinator/tight ends coach Joe Cox, receivers coach George McDonald, running backs coach Kevin Smith and general manager Billy Glasscock.Kiffin allowed Weis, McDonald, Cox, assistant receivers coach Dane Stevens and slot receivers coach Sawyer Jordan to return to Ole Miss to coach in the CFP.Jones said he had to work to keep the Tigers from poaching some of the Rebels’ best players. “I spent several nights sleeping at the Manning Center and (worked) 24/7 to keep our roster, and to keep the program going,” Jones said. “And what people don’t realize, too, is half the staff was going to LSU.“So, we literally had to have two different text threads, two different staff meetings. We had to ask coaches to leave the room. No hall room conversations. Nothing written down, nothing written on the grease boards in the office, because half the staff was literally, we were going to be competing against.”Mark Heim is a senior writer who provides sports, news and trending content. He co-hosts a daily sports radio show on WNSP-FM 105.5 in Mobile. Heim has been recognized with awards for his writing, headlines and...