This is an opinion column.
Lane Kiffin’s lifetime file in opposition to Alabama is 0-5.
I’m guessing LSU missed that little golden nugget after they determined to throw the financial institution at his toes and steal him away from Ole Miss earlier than the College Football Playoff.
There have been quite a lot of villains all through the history of American sports. Kiffin is proper up there with Tonya Harding after taking a lead pipe to the knees of Ole Miss soccer this previous week.
The coach at Ole Miss since 2020, Kiffin formally grew to become the biggest heel in the history of faculty soccer on Sunday when he accepted a suggestion to depart Oxford, Miss., and coach rival LSU.
Tommy Tuberville famously lied about leaving Ole Miss earlier than going to Auburn. What Kiffin has executed is a lot worse.
He’s strolling away from a visit to the College Football Playoff with Ole Miss to teach the Rebels’ hated Halloween foe. In a single stroke, Kiffin and LSU have ruined one among the biggest seasons in Ole Miss soccer history. Defensive coordinator Pete Golding is now Ole Miss’ soccer coach, which appears like the equal of buying and selling in a Porsche Panamera for a Ford Pinto.
Nick Saban argued that Ole Miss ought to have allowed Kiffin to teach the Rebels in the playoffs earlier than leaving for LSU. Wrong. All Wrong. One-hundred p.c repulsively incorrect.
Saban is a former LSU coach who shares an agent with Kiffin, so in fact he would facet with the biggest heel in SEC soccer history on this.
For its half, Ole Miss has dealt with its messy divorce with Kiffin in the finest approach potential. The ultimatum for a solution after the Egg Bowl was crucial as a result of the early signing interval for faculty soccer is this week. Was Ole Miss alleged to let Kiffin and LSU destroy the complete program? At least now Golding, who is a wonderful recruiter, has an opportunity to avoid wasting the recruiting class.
Ole Miss went 11-1 this season (Kiffin fortunately didn’t should play Alabama), tying for first place in the SEC. The solely loss was at Georgia. At the peak of its pleasure, and coming off an enormous victory in opposition to Mississippi State, Ole Miss’ celebration has become a hellscape of cringe.
But give LSU credit score for placing a torch to Ole Miss’ quick future. That’s life in the SEC. The Rebels’ first journey to the playoff is going to style like a burned marshmallow over a tire hearth.
Did LSU win the SEC’s unprecedented teaching carousel by stealing Kiffin from LSU? It’s unimaginable to know earlier than the early signing interval (Dec. 3-5) and the starting of the switch portal window (Jan. 2-16).
This is a certainty, although. Kiffin will put on the black hat of an all-time sports villain for the remainder of his profession after this newest publicity stunt.
ESPN labored so arduous to wash up Kiffin’s picture. And for what?
Well, for cash.
Kiffin is good for scores anyplace, however even higher at a serious model like LSU.
There’s additionally this, although. Kiffin’s agent, Jimmy Sexton, additionally works for the firm, Creative Arts Agency, that represents quite a lot of ESPN staff. Unethical? I suppose it’s a grey space.
Don’t get me unsuitable. I don’t thoughts it. As a sports columnist, I like Kiffin’s quest for final mayhem. He makes my job fairly straightforward by making the SEC about as weird as a stay bull on the free throughout knowledgeable wrestling match.
The SEC is not solely the hardest league in sports, nevertheless it’s the most entertaining, too.
Let’s check out a few of LSU’s notable SEC opponents subsequent season: Alabama, Texas, Texas A&M, Arkansas, Auburn, Ole Miss and Tennessee. To borrow Kiffin’s well-known quote earlier than dropping to Alabama for the third time in his profession, get your popcorn prepared.
Annoyed by Kiffin? Well, perhaps, however don’t lie. You can’t look away.
Kiffin’s working whole of awkward life moments involving transportation added a pair extra biggest hits on Sunday at the airport exterior Oxford, Miss. First there was the breaking information interview with ESPN reporter Marty Smith close to a barbed wire fence by the non-public 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 got here the obscene fan reactions from Ole Miss supporters who gathered exterior the airport to ship Kiffin off to Baton Rouge in infamy. If these photos of offended college students felt like déjà vu, that’s as a result of Kiffin is aware of easy methods to make an exit.
When he left Tennessee for USC after one season, Kiffin needed to barricade himself inside the Vols’ soccer advanced to keep away from an offended 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, however relatively inside a close-by workplace at the Los Angeles airport.
Then got here Kiffin’s hassle at Alabama.
First, Saban ordered the workforce bus to depart Kiffin at the stadium after the nationwide championship recreation in opposition to Clemson in January 2016. Kiffin was chatting with reporters on the area too lengthy for Saban’s schedule, apparently.
Then got here the nationwide championship recreation in opposition to Clemson the following season. Saban fired Kiffin earlier than the recreation as a substitute of permitting him to teach. The downside, in Saban’s thoughts, was that Kiffin was too distracted after being named the new head coach at FAU.
Kiffin’s transfer from Ole Miss to LSU tops all of them, although. And it makes you marvel.
How’s he going to outdo himself when he leaves Baton Rouge for Tuscaloosa?
He’ll have to really win a recreation in opposition to Alabama first, and transferring to LSU offers him the finest probability but.
Just ask Brian Kelly.
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