This is an opinion column.
Lane Kiffin’s lifetime record against Alabama is 0-5.
I’m guessing LSU overlooked that little golden nugget when they decided to throw the bank at his feet and steal him away from Ole Miss before the College Football Playoff.
There have been a lot of villains throughout the history of American sports. Kiffin is right up there with Tonya Harding after taking a lead pipe to the knees of Ole Miss football this past week.
The coach at Ole Miss since 2020, Kiffin officially became the biggest heel in the history of college football on Sunday when he accepted an offer to leave Oxford, Miss., and coach rival LSU.
Tommy Tuberville famously lied about leaving Ole Miss before going to Auburn. What Kiffin has done is so much worse.
He’s walking away from a trip to the College Football Playoff with Ole Miss to coach the Rebels’ hated Halloween foe. In a single stroke, Kiffin and LSU have ruined one of the greatest seasons in Ole Miss football history. Defensive coordinator Pete Golding is now Ole Miss’ football coach, which feels like the equivalent of trading in a Porsche Panamera for a Ford Pinto.
Nick Saban argued that Ole Miss should have allowed Kiffin to coach the Rebels in the playoffs before leaving for LSU. Wrong. All Wrong. One-hundred percent repulsively incorrect.
Saban is a former LSU coach who shares an agent with Kiffin, so of course he would side with the biggest heel in SEC football history on this.
For its part, Ole Miss has handled its messy divorce with Kiffin in the best way possible. The ultimatum for an answer after the Egg Bowl was necessary because the early signing period for college football is this week. Was Ole Miss supposed to let Kiffin and LSU destroy the entire program? At least now Golding, who is an excellent recruiter, has a chance to save the recruiting class.
Ole Miss went 11-1 this season (Kiffin luckily didn’t have to play Alabama), tying for first place in the SEC. The only loss was at Georgia. At the height of its joy, and coming off a massive victory against Mississippi State, Ole Miss’ celebration has turned into a hellscape of cringe.
But give LSU credit for putting a torch to Ole Miss’ immediate future. That’s life in the SEC. The Rebels’ first trip to the playoff is going to taste like a burned marshmallow over a tire fire.
Did LSU win the SEC’s unprecedented coaching carousel by stealing Kiffin from LSU? It’s impossible to know before the early signing period (Dec. 3-5) and the beginning of the transfer portal window (Jan. 2-16).
This is a certainty, though. Kiffin will wear the black hat of an all-time sports villain for the rest of his career after this latest publicity stunt.
ESPN worked so hard to clean up Kiffin’s image. And for what?
Well, for money.
Kiffin is good for ratings anywhere, but even better at a major brand like LSU.
There’s also this, though. Kiffin’s agent, Jimmy Sexton, also works for the company, Creative Arts Agency, that represents a lot of ESPN employees. Unethical? I guess it’s a gray area.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mind it. As a sports columnist, I love Kiffin’s quest for ultimate mayhem. He makes my job pretty easy by making the SEC about as bizarre as a live bull on the loose during a professional wrestling match.
The SEC is not only the toughest league in sports, but it’s the most entertaining, too.
Let’s take a look at some of LSU’s notable SEC opponents next season: Alabama, Texas, Texas A&M, Arkansas, Auburn, Ole Miss and Tennessee. To borrow Kiffin’s famous quote before losing to Alabama for the third time in his career, get your popcorn ready.
Annoyed by Kiffin? Well, maybe, but don’t lie. You can’t look away.
Kiffin’s running total of awkward life moments involving transportation added a couple more greatest hits on Sunday at the airport outside Oxford, Miss. First there was the breaking news interview with ESPN reporter Marty Smith near a barbed wire fence by the private jet runway.
“I just watched you do something unbelievable by going off road around the firetrucks to get here, so amazing job by you,” Kiffin said to Smith.
Then came the obscene fan reactions from Ole Miss supporters who gathered outside the airport to send Kiffin off to Baton Rouge in infamy. If those images of angry students felt like déjà vu, that’s because Kiffin knows how to make an exit.
When he left Tennessee for USC after one season, Kiffin had to barricade himself inside the Vols’ football complex to avoid an angry mob. As USC’s coach, he was then famously fired at LAX after a humiliating loss to Arizona State. It wasn’t on the tarmac, as the legend goes, but rather inside a nearby office at the Los Angeles airport.
Then came Kiffin’s trouble at Alabama.
First, Saban ordered the team bus to leave Kiffin at the stadium after the national championship game against Clemson in January 2016. Kiffin was chatting with reporters on the field too long for Saban’s schedule, apparently.
Then came the national championship game against Clemson the following season. Saban fired Kiffin before the game instead of allowing him to coach. The problem, in Saban’s mind, was that Kiffin was too distracted after being named the new head coach at FAU.
Kiffin’s move from Ole Miss to LSU tops them all, though. And it makes you wonder.
How’s he going to outdo himself when he leaves Baton Rouge for Tuscaloosa?
He’ll have to actually win a game against Alabama first, and moving to LSU gives him the best chance yet.
Just ask Brian Kelly.
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