Go ahead and scratch LSU off the list of possible destinations Lane Kiffin could leave Oxford for.
Or at least it should be scratched off after Yahoo! Sports’ senior college football reporter Ross Dellenger’s story portraying an absolute mess (my words, not his) of a situation down in the bayou.
The story is worth the time reading fully, but in quick summary:
- Governor of Louisiana Jeff Landry officially authorized (it’s complicated, but, yes, it was needed) the firing of LSU coach Brian Kelly and the resulting $53 million buyout. That took place at a meeting with LSU board members, donors, administrators but did not include LSU athletic director Scott Woodward.
- A couple days after Kelly’s firing, Landry held a press conference and, to quote Dellenger, “publicly eviscerating the sitting athletic director of Louisiana State University,” by saying Woodward would not be hiring the next football coach.
- In a not-so-shocking revelation, Landry “strongly suggested” Woodward also be fired. That didn’t happen, but considering the next bullet point could still happen.
- There is a political angle to this, but since this writer subscribes to the Michael Jordan school of “Republicans buy sneakers, too,” we’ll skip that (but do read the full story yourself). The sports-specific angle appears to be centered around the firing of men’s basketball coach Will Wade that Landry was not in favor of.
- LSU also does not have a permanent university president. It will next week and that person will have to resolve the athletics situation.
- Finally, there’s this extremely important nugget of information in Dellenger’s story, “The latter part — that a search committee would be formed by the board — was news to the board’s chair, Scott Ballard, who, when told of the governor’s announcement during a local television interview on Wednesday night, said: ‘No, I didn’t know that.'”
Considering all of that, why would Kiffin leave Ole Miss for that mess of a situation?
Is LSU better suited to produce national championship-winning teams? On paper, yes. In reality, maybe not?
Look at what Curt Cignetti has done at Indiana. Or what Clark Lea has done at Vanderbilt. And even Kiffin at Ole Miss (don’t lose to Florida last season and who knows what that team does in the playoff).
You could also include Texas Tech and it’s massive NIL collective, but the point is you don’t need to be a blue blood college football program to be successful.
So, again, I ask, why would Kiffin leave his cushy situation in Oxford – to quote Nick Saban, “he has some guys over there at Ole Miss that give him pretty much whatever he wants from a roster standpoint,” – for a mess at LSU?
