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.
I have long been honing my argument that colleges and professional sports are the stereotypical “square peg and round hole.” I know of no other country that tries to do it this way. Somebody today pointed out something I had not thought of in connection with peg/hole. That is, how the academic calendar doesn’t work with the portal window and signing dates. The NFL, MLB, and NBA, unconstrained by semester or quarter endings, are better able to put together a calendar for trades, etc.
ReplyDeleteo Franks point, college level sports are unique to America in that if a kid is good at soccer he is taken in by a team at an early age but plays and practises in a limited manner. So who has been managing college sports so well the last 70 years ? A bunch of old dudes called the NCAA. It took a supreme court ruling before everyone figured out that the college programs were all about the money not the education of the "student athlete". There does need to be a controlling authority that sets some rules but don't hold your breath. For now there is to much turf protecting for someone to come up with a new rule book. Can't wait for the next round of bidding for the March Madness tourney.
ReplyDeleteFrom James Bustillo: I totally agree with the paragraph that starts off, “Never been a Kiffin fan,” along with the one-liner that follows it. For me it comes down to I like LSU much more than Kiffin’s underage distractions from solid abilities. Like you, I’ll pull for his potential successes. ... Thanks for a terrific read.
ReplyDeleteFrom Glenn Pannell: So......... is it Ole Miss' loss is LSU's gain? Looks that way to me, $$$$$wise.
ReplyDeleteFrom Rick Price: I will not be rooting for Ole Miss either, but just because I will be pulling for one team only [Texas Tech], unless BYU gets in as the Big 12 runner-up.
ReplyDeleteI was told that [head coach] Joey McGuire and the Texas Tech players were really mad at the way Ole Miss and Kiffen played when Tech ripped the Rebels in the Houston Bowl 42-25 (Mississippi scored a TD at the end of the game, and a Tech freshman back dropped the ball before he entered the end zone while showboating. Could have been 49-18.) I think Ole Miss was a 7-point favorite before the game.
Tech players told the coaches that Mississippi was the dirtiest team they had played all season.
Tech people called Tuberville "Old Pinebox," also after he took a telephone call from the athletic director at Cincinnati while entertaining Tech recruits at a Lubbock restaurant. He accepted the Cincy head coaching job on the phone, and left the restaurant without telling his assistant coaches at the dinner what he was doing.
He went to the airport, and just before he got on the plane, called our AD, Kirby Hocutt, and said he was resigning.
From Kay Love: This was fun reading -- especially for someone who does not like Ole Miss.
ReplyDeleteboth of my grandsons graduated from LSU. Remember the publicity when the new football training facility was announced, and the cost was millions and millions? Both of my grandsons were in science and engineering programs. So I asked them about the quality of the labs and other facilities connected to their majors. What I received was a huge laugh. Those facilities were in bad need of funds and updating.
But as we all know, football in the South rules!!!!
From Robbie Albright: Good read. I have always found it hard to root for any of the teams coached by Lane Kiffin, mainly due to his coaching background and his seemingly arrogant attitude on and off the field. But he has certainly brought Ole Miss into national prominence the past couple of years for which he should be commended. So, I will swallow hard and root for the team (except when they play my Texas teams or Louisiana Tech). And money .... how much is enough, right?
ReplyDeleteFrom Taylor Moore: Good post. Isn't it interesting that actions that got SMU the "death penalty" are now allowed, encouraged and rewarded. Much less the dedication to "student-athletes" always championed by the NCAA. I guess the enforcement of admission standards (i.e. the 1.6 rule that cost Centenary 6 years) are hard to enforce with the transfer portal in place. When is the college system going to just admit that it is a minor league professional structure?
ReplyDelete