For far too long, Lane Kiffin has been allowed to run roughshod over college football. No, not on the football field, though he has certainly had his share of success as a head coach in the SEC, but with his off-the-field antics.
Fans have long enjoyed Kiffin as an edgy straight-shooter unafraid to push the envelope. But his shtick has grown tired, now more of a constant reminder of all of his shortcomings as a person than comedic relief.
Kiffin reminded the nation who he was six months ago when he abandoned Ole Miss before the start of the College Football Playoff to take the LSU head coaching job, under the guise of the Tigers being better positioned to win a national championship, and completely ignoring the fact that he had a legitimate title contender in Oxford. The Rebels made it to the College Football Playoff semifinal without him, coming up agonizingly short in their matchup with Miami.
Kiffin's career has been filled with controversy. From leaving Tennessee in the middle of the night over 16 years ago to getting fired on the USC tarmac, his constant trolling on social media, insensitive and highly offensive comments toward a player at Ole Miss, and the many, many escapades of one Joey Freshwater, Kiffin has gone unchecked for far too long.
The recent comments he made about Ole Miss in a Vanity Fair article should be the straw that broke the camel's back. According to Matt Hayes with USA Today, the SEC is considering a reprimand of Kiffin, who has clearly been put on a social media timeout by LSU or the SEC (he hasn't posted on X since May 11).
Greg Sankey should take a stand against Lane Kiffin and suspend him
Sankey may have bigger fish to fry this week in Destin for the SEC spring meetings, with the possible expansion of the College Football Playoff being at the forefront of discussion, but it's time for him to make an example of Kiffin.
Talk is cheap. A public reprimand isn't going to do anything to quell Kiffin's narcissistic behavior. Perhaps a suspension would do the trick.
Would sitting out his highly anticipated LSU debut at home against Clemson on September 5th be enough for Kiffin to finally understand that he has a responsibility as an SEC head coach to not only represent his own University with class, but the entire league as a whole?
Maybe, maybe not. It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks, and perhaps Sankey rolling up the newspaper and popping Kiffin on the butt with it would be too little, too late. He is who he is.
And who he is is one of the best football minds in the business, who happens to come up way short as a human being. LSU isn't paying him to be a "good guy." That entire athletic department is built for one thing: winning games. They've lost the plot on what college athletics is supposed to represent, so they aren't going to do anything to quell Kiffin's child-like behavior.
Sankey can, however. He can make an example of the SEC's petulant child who has been left to his own devices to run amok for far too long.
Nick Saban certainly tried his best. He gave Kiffin plenty of public "a** chewings" on the sidelines during the three years Kiffin served as Alabama's offensive coordinator, and undoubtedly plenty more in private. That didn't stop Kiffin, however, from being all about Kiffin. The Saban/Kiffin relationship strained so much in Tuscaloosa that Saban ultimately fired him in between the CFP semifinals and national title game in 2016.
Kiffin went on an image rehabilitation tour at Florida Atlantic and then at Ole Miss, but he never really changed, as the last six months have clearly indicated.
One day, Kiffin's chickens will come home to roost. He has too many skeletons in the closet for them to go unnoticed forever. Whether Sankey ultimately disciplines him or not, one day karma will come back and bite Kiffin where the sun doesn't shine.
It's inevitable, and it will be cause for celebration in every SEC town except for the one he currently calls home, though it's only a matter of time before Kiffin burns the bridge he's building in Baton Rouge, too. It's just what he does.
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