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Lane Kiffin basically predicted how his tenure as the LSU Tigers' head coach will end
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- Lane Kiffin basically predicted how his tenure as the LSU Tigers' head coach will end
Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
Former Ole Miss Rebels and Tennessee Vols head coach Lane Kiffin was hired to replace Brian Kelly as the LSU Tigers ’ head coach this past winter. Kiffin has now had six head coaching jobs across the NFL and college football.
The expectations for LSU Tigers head coach Lane Kiffin are crystal clear — bring a national championship back to Baton Rouge.
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It’s that simple. Anything less than a national championship (or two, or three) during Kiffin’s run with the Tigers will be a disappointment.
No one knows, of course, if Kiffin will accomplish that goal, but he’ll certainly have all the resources
money he needs to make it happen.
For all the hoopla that surrounds Kiffin, he’s a really good coach and an elite offensive mind. Ed Orgeron and Les Miles won championships in Baton Rouge — albeit in a different era when there wasn’t nearly as much parity in college football — so it stands to reason that Kiffin should be able to do what B rian Kelly couldn’t do at LSU.
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Lane Kiffin essentially predicted how his time at LSU will end
Kiffin, like the rest of us, doesn’t know what all he’ll accomplish at LSU. That story is yet to be written. Kiffin, though, knows how his time with the Tigers will likely end.
While speaking with On3 about his controversial decision to leave Ole Miss for LSU, Kiffin pointed out that almost every college football head coach ends up getting pushed out or straight up fired — even if they were wildly successful.
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"The narrative that you could stay here forever and be so great and build a statue and why would you ever leave? Because it doesn't happen," said Kiffin to On3 . "Even some of the greats, as you follow, even at the end, they're actually pushed out. So this is what happens. The coach leaves or gets fired 99% of the time.
"So, it's kind of like, ‘OK, this was this amazing, great six-year relationship.' It was going to end at some point. People just don't like to talk about it that way. They don't think about it that way. It does. They end up getting you most of the time."
Kiffin is right. Not many coaches get the Nick Saban experience where they get to step down on their own terms.
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Miles and Orgeron were both fired at LSU despite winning national championships.
Phillip Fulmer won a national championship with the Tennessee Vols in 1998, and then the school basically forced him to retire in 2008.
Mack Brown won a natty at Texas in 2005, but he was forced to resign following the 2013 season after fighting to keep his job .
The list goes on…
Kiffin may end up winning a national championship with the Tigers. Maybe he wins multiple. But Kiffin knows deep down that the most likely outcome for his tenure at LSU, even if he has some great seasons, is that he’ll eventually be pushed out the door when the program needs a new spark.
That’s just life as a coach.
