When Lane Kiffin starts taking some heat, a good guess is that he at least partially brought negative attention to himself. The latest chapter in the long Lane Kiffin saga comes from an interview he gave to Vanity Fair.
Kiffin is adept at using social media, so when dealing with a mainstream media platform, there's no doubt that Lane had a narrative in mind. That narrative not only failed, but it also created a huge backlash against Kiffin.
Lane clearly does not want the reputation that he looked at the $91 million offer from LSU and cast aside Ole Miss without a second thought. His likely first thought of 'take the money and run' was probably only later followed by the reasons why LSU was a better career opportunity.
LSU is a better career opportunity. Petrochemical money controls most matters of import in the state of Louisiana. And the success of the LSU Bengal Tigers is a matter of great import. Purportedly, Kiffin has close to a $60 million player payroll budget for the 2026 season. Not even oil-rich Texas Tech is expected to spend so much.
Getting back to the Vanity Fair piece, Kiffin's narrative was designed to justify leaving Ole Miss because the school's and the state's history hampered opportunities to attract players.
Kiffin believed that Confederate flags, statues of Civil War heroes, 'Colonel Rebel', and even the 'Ole Miss' name tainted the school's football program. Old wounds do fester in the south. They are not isolated to the state of Mississippi. The state of Louisiana has them as well, as does the state of Alabama. Kiffin knows all of these things. He should have known not to use them as an excuse.
Perhaps in Lane's mind, any narrative that favors him is justification enough. This time he was wrong.
Ole Miss head coach and former assistant to Kiffin, Pete Golding had an apt response, "Yeah I see his posts every now and then. He likes attention and folks give it to him. If he coached as good as he tweeted, Ole Miss might have had a Natty by now."
It has been said that Kiffin would have crawled to Tuscaloosa to succeed Nick Saban. He was never in consideration. It is believed that some of Kiffin's activities in Tuscaloosa alienated some influential people. Plenty of Alabama football fans wanted Kiffin. It could be argued that Alabama dodged a bullet by not pursuing Kiffin.
The old history should no longer matter to Kiffin. In Baton Rouge, he's a good coach with abundance at his disposal. He should win and win big. If he doesn't, no concocted narrative will save him. He will likely either become "the most hated man in college football or the most hated man in the state of Louisiana."
Note: This is mostly an opinion post - and 'take the money and run' comes from a 1976 song by the Steve Miller band.
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