Lane Kiffin
Hear it here!
I’m almost embarrassed to be writing about a college football coach leaving a school for another one before his job is done. It’s become as common as the average person changing their underwear.
But this one is almost comical because it involves a coach who has made a habit of this sort of thing and a school who apparently cares less about doing the proper thing.
In fact, if the subject is college football, the last thing that sport is about is doing things the sensible way.
Lane Kiffin is the subject of this piece. If you’re a keen sports fan, a college football aficionado, or someone who casually peruses the news of the day in sports, you know who he is. I also realize many of our followers have no idea who he is. And many who don’t care.
Kiffin is a football coach who has had a spotty past to put it mildly. He is totally opposite of his father, a man I got to know, Monte Kiffin who was one of the greatest defensive coordinators in NFL history. Hundreds of coaches have been influenced by this wonderful man who died at 84 last year. He was a principal force in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers capturing the first of their two Super Bowls in 2003.
The trail has not been as smooth for his son Lane, now 50, who has been fired in-season by both the NFL Oakland Raiders as well as college powerhouse Southern California. Since then he has been head coach at Tennessee for one year, guided the offense for Nick Saban’s great Alabama teams for three years, took a step down to coach Florida Atlantic for three seasons to heights they had never known, and just completed his longest tenure anywhere, six years, at Mississippi, which is traditionally known as Ole Miss.
There has been controversy wherever he’s gone and I don’t have the time or space to enumerate each one. Just take my word for it. Controversy follows Lane Kiffin.
You would think when he lands at a new school, he is already eyeing his next move.
His Ole Miss teams have won 10 games on two occasions, and 11 victories twice, including this year when the Rebels firmly established themselves as a national power.
It’s been a double-edged sword for Kiffin. Supposedly not an easy person to deal with (John Madden used to have a great description of such a guy, saying he’s a “hard like”), but a phenomenal football coach. That’s why he’s in such a demand.
The man can coach and he can win and win big. What college doesn’t want that?
So, you get what you pay for.
In the glory of a dream season for the Ole Miss Rebels, other schools, particularly in the same conference, the SEC, were ready to pounce. The two who got the word out they wanted this man, were Florida and LSU. His deal with Ole Miss automatically was extended one year as it has been, but legally he could depart. The school wanted Kiffin to make known whether he would leave or stay. He kept them hanging until this past weekend when he revealed he was headed to LSU. The Tigers have been a perennial national power but ran afoul with its hiring of Brian Kelly a few years ago, that resulted in his firing during this season. LSU had to pay Kelly $54 million in a buy-out. They now will pay Kiffin close to $100 million over seven years.
I wonder if colleges should now demand a buy-out by coaches who leave before their time. But that’s for another day.
Ole Miss is headed for the College Football Playoff to determine the national champion.
Kiffin wanted to continue to coach the team even though he’s leaving.
The University would not permit it.
It’s interesting, in his final statement announcing his departure and disappointment at not being able to lead his team forward, Kiffin talked about how he prayed about the decision. Apparently, LSU knew how those prayers would come out because they had two airplanes waiting at the airport in Oxford to deliver Kiffin and his family to Baton Rouge.
Kiffin has had supporters, including Nick Saban, who believe he should coach the boys he’s led to this point, to the end of the run whenever that comes.
I think Ole Miss acted wisely in refusing to do so. First off, he is now the head coach at LSU, not Ole Miss, a conference rival.
Secondly, it would have been ideal for the coach to try to win a national title. Coach a big game or more. He would have had his cake and eaten it. No way, I say. What if their quarterback announced he was transferring to Tennessee after the season but wanted to lead his team in the playoffs. What do you think the reaction would be?
The delay in a resolution of this story made for a frenzied media barrage.
Would Lane Kiffin go? Would he stay? Would he continue to coach Ole Miss if he left?
What all this says to me is that college football is really pro football under a different setting. It is all about the millions of dollars, maybe more, that rule the sport.
The television networks call the shots.
Players, even freshmen, can haul in millions right away. There is now a budget each team has to pay the players big money. They can transfer to another school who can promise an improved spot in the lineup, or even better, more money than they’re already getting. And if they desire, they can transfer again during their time in college, which often goes beyond the traditional four years.
The never-ending drama of Lane Kiffin evolved like a soap opera.
What it really came down to, was one coach and two schools. That’s all.
But it reinforced what we already know. The NFL and college football are the same except for one thing.
The NFL has rules.
