After a tumultuous 48-hours, Lane Kiffin was introduced as the next LSU head football coach. Unlike his departure from Oxford Mississippi, his arrival in Baton Rouge was in a word, pleasant.
Throughout Kiffin’s remarks, there were two competing themes. Leaving Ole Miss was an extremely difficult decision to make and his arrival at LSU confirmed he made the correct decision.
Kiffin spoke of his journey and path. He admitted that he made significant mistakes in his coaching career, but much of that came early in his career. Believing that those mistakes and his journey all led him to this decision, at this moment, at this age.
Athletic Director Verge Ausberry took a few minutes to address the media prior to Kiffin taking the podium. That message was completely prewritten and read off the page. However, the thoughts of the AD reflected one of the three big takeways. Program alignment and support for this hire.
The decision to leave Ole Miss was extremely difficult
Kiffin claimed in the early portion of the press conference that the last six years were the best six years of his life. He would go on to reiterate the difficult nature of the decision and thanked those left behind at Ole Miss repeatedly. Kiffin even went as far as to thank Rebels athletic director Keith Carter for entertaining his plan to coach the Rebels in their playoff run.
Despite a strong belief that they could create a plan that would allow Kiffin to coach the Rebels post season, he admitted that there was one detail and one line that made him understand the Ole Miss decision. “He (Carter) still has to live there," Kiffin said.
Kiffin believes that they did great work in Oxford and hopes one day, the fans and alumni will see the good they did in those six years. He also understands how difficult a decision like this is, especially in the SEC.
“The last 48 hours in a lot of ways, sucked. That’s the only way to describe it. It sucked for a lot of people. There was no way to possibly do it any better than we did from a timing standpoint. It’s a bad scheduling system with how it’s setup and eventually, hopefully it gets like the NFL where you can’t do that in the season.”
He reiterated that he’s not upset by the reaction of fans. He sees it as a reflection of being pleased with what they were able to do. Suggesting no one goes to the airport or tries to run you off the road, if you try to leave and you were performing poorly.
Family and Kiffin’s big three
Kiffin mentioned several times that he leaned on his family, faith and even a ‘big three’. Logistically, big time head coaching is unlike most jobs in the real world. He claimed he relied on his wife, kids, and even his brother’s kids to survey the Baton Rouge situation and do some of the relocating logistics a coach in his position is not afforded the time to do.
In addition to Kiffin’s actual family, he reached out to two men in the coaching field and reflected on his father. Kiffin described the big three in his coaching life have always been his father Monte Kiffin, Pete Carroll and Nick Saban.
“It was really apparent from everyone that I talked to outside the state I was in, they all said the same thing. You’re going to regret it if you don’t take this job and go to LSU”.
Kiffin spoke of Pete Carroll as someone who vowed to Monte Kiffin, he would look after Lane. "Carroll said this is exactly what your dad would do. He would tell you, go boy, go get it." As far as Nick Saban, he also sought advice from the former Alabama head coach.
“Coach Saban coached at another place in this conference so I can’t, I can’t really say what he said, but I’ll say I think the world of coach Saban, and I respect him, so there’s a reason I’m here.”
Alignment and the power of LSU
In a somewhat surprising admission, Kiffin throughout the press conference spoke of the program’s alignment. Kiffin described the sense of alignment he felt as the entire state of Louisiana being aligned on goals and expectations. He even suggested there were opportunities to leave Oxford before this year and he never really considered it. It would take a program like LSU and for them to be as aligned as they are for him to leave Ole Miss.
Kiffin was asked about money and again he reiterated the program’s alignment. He admitted he did not want to make a decision based on money. “I’m telling you right now, I don’t know what my contract here is," Kiffin claimed. "That’s not very financially responsible. Nor did I know the numbers at the other places (Florida, Ole Miss). I told Jimmy Sexton (Kiffin’s agent), don’t tell me the numbers.”
However, that conversation changes when the money discussed is and NIL budget and an overall NIL plan. The NIL plan was very important in the decision to join LSU. Kiffin believes LSU has a great plan to attract the best players in the country. Kiffin added that while he doesn’t know what the actual numbers were, he knows each program was offering a similar salary to LSU. What wasn’t similar was their respective NIL plans.
When asked about the Ole Miss reaction to his decision, he did not blame the fans or anyone who were reacting emotionally. While his description of the drive to the airport plays like the script of an action movie, he does not blame them for their reaction. However, the stark contrast between reactions only confirmed his choice.
"Then we got here and were here for six minutes, and we love you coach you’re the best thing ever!" Kiffin said. "And I’m like, we’ve only been here for six minutes, we haven’t done anything for you yet. But that’s the SEC.”
Just prior to the conclusion of the press conference, Kiffin shed some light on his reaction to seeing Tiger Stadium, in its full Death Valley Nights splendor. On the physical visit, Kiffin claimed he wasn’t contacting many people, but there was one person he had to call in that moment.
“I called Ed Orgeron and said, hey man, all I can do, this place makes me want to talk like you right now.”
Now comes the logistical sprint for Kiffin. Wednesday is early signing day and the transfer portal will open a month from now. Kiffin was rather tight lipped on anything regarding recruits and staff as he has not had those conversations and meetings yet. However, he will need to work fast to be setup in time to take full advantage of his recruiting opportunity with Spring Ball only a few months away.
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