Kiffin Time

LSU next stop on Lane Train

By Jim Gazzolo

As Lane Kiffin himself likes to say: Get your popcorn ready.

With SEC Media Days coming soon, Kiffin will no doubt be center stage as the league’s followers begin yet another season of high expectations.

And that is just where Kiffin wants to be, in the center of the storm with all the attention he can get. 

College football’s rebel head coach, who spent the last few years trying to remake his image, blew it all up when he left Ole Miss for LSU just as his old team was about to start its playoff run.

Kiffin even tried to play the victim card when Ole Miss told him he could not coach the Rebels after taking the job in Baton Rouge. That seems like a simple fact, but apparently it isn’t in Lane's world.

Now he will find out what real pressure is when it comes to coaching college football. He had some of it at USC, but the Trojans were really suffering under NCAA punishment and had little chance of winning at that time.

At Ole Miss, Kiffin could do no wrong until he left the Rebels at the playoff altar. 

This has been his way all along. Tennessee was a great job until USC came calling. Returning to the Trojans, where he had success as an assistant, did make sense. 

Leaving a program he built from the bottom up into a title contender, just as it was about to have its biggest moment, seems like more of a reach. Granted, LSU gave him a lot of money to make the move, but we will find out if that is worth it.

The Tigers haven’t been in the national picture since 2019, when they won their last championship. Soon after, Ed Orgeron was fired for not winning enough. Now, even he is back as a special assistant. 

LSU is a tough place to coach. The fans have expectations of being the next Alabama or Georgia, but the patience of Auburn. They are willing to write checks and move on from one coach to the next as easily as the rest of us buy a beer.

That is something Kiffin has not had to experience. Well, maybe when he was with the Raiders.

Coaching football at LSU is not like a lot of other places. The fans demand greatness from a program that has had great moments but never developed into any type of dynasty, which its followers beg for, if not demand.

Now Kiffin is the next man up. He will bring his swagger and talk to a group of folks who love being considered rebels themselves. 

That could make this the perfect next stop of the Lane Train, though the history of both the coach and the school makes it unlikely to be a final destination.

What we can count on is that it won’t be boring. 

It never is in Baton Rouge or around Kiffin.

Jim Gazzolo is a freelance writer who covers sports in Southwest Louisiana. He is also the host of Poke Nation, which airs weekly on CBS-Lake Charles.