Lane Kiffin is a can’t lose hire for LSU

But it’s gone about as poorly as possible so far.


Let me explain: Lane Kiffin was far and away the best coach available in the carousel. His pedigree, his brand, his offensive mind, and what he’s been able to accomplish at Ole Miss is nothing short of elite. Kiffin went 55-19 in six seasons at Ole Miss—50-14 outside of a 5-5 year one rebuild during COVID. Over that same period, LSU had its worst run since the Dinardo years—47-30. LSU needed a home run hire badly and they got it. Bonus points for gutting an annual rival in the process.

But boy did Kiffin’s divorce from Ole Miss go badly. He thought he could leave for LSU and coach Ole Miss in the playoffs and when Ole Miss AD Keith Carter destroyed that pipe dream, Kiff tried to go scorched earth. This backfired.

He told his coaches to get on the jet immediately or they wouldn’t have a job. A few did, while others stayed. He wanted to torpedo Ole Miss’s chance of hosting a playoff game so he had friendly media folks circulate stories of the committee giving Ole Miss the FSU treatment. In the end the committee didn’t punish Ole Miss for Kiffin’s sins and he had to reverse course and pretend that he was allowing assistants to return out of noblesse oblige when he really had no say in the matter.

Ole Miss drew Tulane—ensuring that Ole Miss’s first ever playoff game would be a victory parade for a special season that Kiffin missed despite working so hard for it. Worse yet, the media shredded Kiff for leaving a playoff team. Now Ole Miss has been to the playoffs, Kiffin still hasn’t and you can tell that it’s wearing on him. He should be competing for a national championship right now, not doing interviews while his future team loses the Texas Bowl.

The LSU team he’s inherited also looks like a tougher rebuild than he thought he was getting. Kiff seems stressed, a shell of his best self right now. He’s been bad in interviews and tweeting through it in his free time. I don’t think it’s a forgone conclusion that he’ll regain momentum in time for the transfer portal and if he doesn’t, the rebuild in BR could take some time. He’s a great coach but it took him time to build the machine at Ole Miss and it might at LSU too

In conclusion, LSU hired an elite head coach, which is the only way to compete for championships. At the same time, it’s been a rocky first month and LSU fans may need to show a little patience if they want the Kiffin era to really work.