What's the price for winning?

         A friend asked me about a half-dozen the past couple of weeks who LSU's new head football coach was going to be. He asked five times in one conversation, and then again in an e-mail reply to a link I sent which had almost nothing to do with football.    

      I assured him, repeatedly, it would not be Lane Kiffin, no matter what the speculation was. There was no reason for him to leave Ole Miss, where his program was peaking to national-championship contention. 

      See how much I know.

      Let's see, there are millions of reasons why I my uneducated guess was wrong. Oops, meant to say millions of dollars. 

      If as Coach Kiffin said it wasn't about his contract, that he didn't know about the dollars (reported $91 mil over seven years), then what about the NIL/transfer portal money?

      That was, he told us, his concern. And LSU is giving him an unlimited player-pool budget. (Insert the old joke: An unlimited budget, and he will exceed it.)

      Great. Make no mistake this IS about money. Almost everything about college football -- college athletics, period -- these days is about money. Always has been to an extent, but it is so far out of sight -- out of control, really -- these days. Education, at colleges? Who cares? 

      So my reaction -- and likely is shared by many LSU faithful is ... I have to root for this guy? 

       Never been a Kiffin fan. He's smart, yes. He can recruit, and he can run an offense, call the right plays. No question. And he's smart ... who at times shows his ass when he tweets and takes  "cute" shots at people. So, a punk attitute. Put it together: smart-ass punk.

      Don't like his sideline manner, either. Too demonstrative, too glitzy.   

      That's my take. Maybe it's not fair. Don't know the guy, don't know anyone who knows him well. I'm just out here in left field, a long way from Baton Rouge, or Oxford, Mississippi.

      And it certainly doesn't matter. Noticed that no one from LSU called me to consult me on this coaching selection.  

       I would have told them to check with Nick Saban -- which they did -- and if you can, convince to come back to be the LSU head coach again. And if not him, ask Steve Spurrier. Then try Bob Stoops. That was my first choice; he was so solid, so consistent, at Oklahoma.

       But Kiffin was the "hot" choice nationally, the guy schools like Florida and maybe Auburn or even Penn State might have wanted. 

       Remember the "hot" coaches of four years ago -- Lincoln Riley and Tom Herman? Both reportedly were LSU's choices ... until they weren't. 

      (So Riley hasn't exactly brought Southern Cal into renewed national prominence, even though it did beat LSU in the 2023 season opener. And "golden boy" Herman? Fired by U. of Texas in 2020 after 3 1/2 seasons; fired by Florida Atlantic in 2024 after two seasons.)

       Speaking of firings: It has happened to Kiffin three times (Oakland Raiders 2007; Southern Cal (the infamous airport dismissal) 2013; by Saban at Alabama (before the 2016 national-title game). 

      And messy endings: He bolted from U. of Tennessee after one 7-6 season (2009) for the Southern Cal job. Think the Vols faithful have forgotten that slight? They are proud of their program there.

       So, yes, Sunday when Kiffin bolted from this Ole Miss program which has had a wonderful season and six really good years with him, Rebels fans -- and the administration -- were not happy. On his way to catching the LSU plane to Baton Rouge, the goodbyes were ugly.

      (But at least, he didn't say he would leave Ole Miss only in a pine box. Some wish that would have been true for coach Tommy Tuberville in 2009. Some wish that for Sen. Tuberville now. Sorry, a crass off-course paragraph here.)

        And LSU has had its moments. "I'll never leave LSU," coach Paul Dietzel infamously said after receiving a new contract following the 1958 national-title season. Early in 1962, he did. So we've had it done to us.

        Then consider that the last three LSU head coaches -- not counting interims -- were fired in mid-season: Les Miles, Ed Orgeron, Brian Kelly. Two goofy guys (Miles and Cajun Ed); one older, established head coach. 

        Quite a legacy for what we think, what we want, is one of the nation's best football brands, one of the best jobs for a coach.

        My thoughts on Kelly: His hiring in late 2021 was a total surprise. To think LSU could hire away the Notre Dame head coach was a shock. 

        Wasn't particularly a fan of his, but grew to respect the way he ran the program. He took over a mess from Orgeron; rebuilt the roster and won some big games (Alabama, 2022, three bowls). Made some mistakes: the phony Southern accent, the circle-dance video with a recruit, and at the start not retaining 20-year strength coach Tommy Moffitt, scooped up quickly by Texas A&M).

       One argument: He didn't fit LSU's culture. He was from the north, a Yankee. A ridiculous thought. Quick reply: Nick Saban, Dale Brown, Skip Bertman, Les Miles ... no Southerners there, but all successful coaches at LSU for years. 

       This season's team seemingly had great potential. But injuries to the offensive line and QB Garrett Nussmeier hurt greatly, and the losses mounted ... Ole Miss (Kiffin) and  Vanderbilt, both close games, and the A&M embarrassment was too much for LSU's administrators to take. 

      Those three losses to teams all having tremendous seasons. So Kelly was the victim and so -- stupidly, in my opinion -- was athletic director Scott Woodward, an LSU/Baton Rouge guy who was well-respected.

      My sportswriting contacts in Louisiana said Kelly was very cooperative, very available and very honest in his dealings with media, opened up practices and shared details most head coaches these days don't do. Didn't matter.

       One guess, a far-away observation -- and I have seen a couple of references to this -- is that Kelly did not "connect" well with his players. He's an older man (64) talking to 20-year-olds; seemed to me it was like a grandfather lecturing his grandsons. 

       Bottom line, though: Did not win enough big games. Period.

       So here is Kiffin to do that, right? He better. 

       He'll do fine, I would think. He knows how to handle the system -- the recruiting, he's a transfer-portal maestro, he's an innovative offensive mind, he can put together a great staff.

        LSU people will find all the money he needs, all the money to pay off fired head coaches, assistants and athletic director. And, no, Gov. Landry, it won't be taxpayer money. LSU athletics is self-dependent. We've got boosters ... like Texas and Texas A&M and Texas Tech, and so many other major schools do.

       LSU's spending will up the ante for all the other schools. Is this good for college football, college athletics in general? Of course, it's beyond those of us who are "old school" types. But it's today's world, it's greed, it's the American way.  

      Never thought that I would feel sorry for Ole Miss and its fans. But they got stiffed here. Too bad. But if you think I will be rooting for Ole Miss in the playoffs ... nope.        

      One more thought: LSU badly needs a new library to replace the current one that opened in 1959. Estimated cost: One figure I saw is $162 million.

     That's almost enough to fund a football program. Hope Coach Kiffin can pay for the library. Just a suggestion.