Hayes: The Lane Kiffin Show never disappoints. Just wait until he adds a title
By Matt Hayes
Published:
NASHVILLE — The big room was half empty and half asleep, the last day of a long circus mercifully coming to an end.
But the show, everyone, was just beginning.
Lane Kiffin arrived to little fanfare, and even less attention on the big stage at SEC Media Days. He was placed in the early morning spot on the last day of the 4-day event, long after media here were beaten down by long days and cramped quarters, and longer nights in the local Honky Tonks.
Kiffin, of course, never fails to deliver — even though before he hopped on stage, he was reminded of SEC commissioner Greg Sankey’s advice that he didn’t have to respond to every question to show everybody he had the answer.
That’s like telling Steve Spurrier in the 1990s and mid-2000s that he didn’t have to speak his mind.
Because that’s who Kiffin has become: a 21st century version of the coach who turned the then stodgy and stoic conference sideways with his offense and play calling on the field — and his wit and brutal honesty off it.
The only thing that’s different is the hardware. Spurrier won SEC titles and a national championship at a conference heavyweight.
Kiffin is still building at Ole Miss, which before the NIL and free player movement floodgates opened 2 years ago — and before Kiffin won 18 games in 2021-22 — was a haven for mediocrity with pockets of success.
So when he stepped to the stage and described the current state of college football as a “disaster” and “a poor system that isn’t getting better, and is going to get worse,” there was barely a murmur in the place.
When he said he would embrace revenue sharing with players — the last vestige of the long-gone amateur model — and how coaching in the SEC has become coaching in the NFL with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma in 2024 to form a super conference, the room barely moved.
Two decades ago, when Spurrier called out then-commissioner Roy Kramer for the lack of a Playoff, the buzz reverberated throughout the week and forced a response from Kramer. Or when Spurrier proclaimed that coaches could use their own salary to pay players a stipend — and that he’d make sure everyone knew which coaches didn’t want to give up cash — it, too, was a national story that demanded attention.
Or when Spurrier took veiled shots at rivals Phil Fulmer and Mike Dubose and Urban Meyer and Dabo Swinney — all headline makers, all celebrated as a coach using the power of the bully pulpit.
Kiffin, meanwhile, was asked right off the bat Thursday about Tennessee’s sanctions from the NCAA compared to what he went through at USC. Kiffin, of course, spent 1 year as the Tennessee coach before leaving for probation-saddled USC in 2010.
“Well, that didn’t take long,” he quipped.
Yet even when he responded with this jewel, the room barely moved: “I read where (Tennessee) Coach (Josh) Heupel was ecstatic about the $8 million fine and all that. So that tells you how severe the penalties were in their eyes vs. what we went through.”
He jokingly thanked the media, specifically the SEC Network’s Paul Finebaum, for “pissing off” Nick Saban and telling him Alabama isn’t the same team anymore.
He was asked about ranking the boosters in the SEC, the deepest-pocket conference in all of college sports. A conference that 1 SEC coach told me this week has “millions and millions of dollars changing hands” every year with high school and transfer portal recruiting.
“I’m not about to start putting rankings out there on boosters from top to bottom in the conference,” Saban said.
He paused, and then added, “But, God, I want to so bad.”
To be fair, Spurrier would’ve named names. But that’s because he had multiple SEC titles in his pocket. Kiffin is still working on No. 1, and has an offense this season that will stress any team in the league.
He doesn’t want to, but he could play 2 quarterbacks (Jaxson Dart, Spencer Sanders) at the same time this season, just like Spurrier did at Florida and South Carolina. All that’s left to complete the 21st century version of Spurrier is a title. Or a spot in the expanded Playoff in 2024 and beyond.
Because there’s little doubt Kiffin has become the SEC’s strongest voice in the Media Days room. And still must-see — no matter how limited the following.
After his time on the big stage, Kiffin rotated into a smaller room where a television bobblehead tried to become the story. He told Kiffin that he had been told all his life that he looked like Kiffin, that his mother, when she saw a picture of Kiffin, thought it was him.
Kiffin stared at television anchor for a moment, cocked his head and said, “What’s your mother’s name? I have to talk to my dad about this.”
The show always delivers. It won’t be long until it does on the field, too.
Matt Hayes is a national college football writer for Saturday Down South. You can hear him daily from 12-3 p.m. on 1010XL in Jacksonville. Follow on Twitter @MattHayesCFB
