Why The Lane Kiffin Soap Opera Can’t Happen Again In College Football

Lane Kiffin wanted to remain on board in Oxford through the College Football Playoff? Gee, what a pal! He will have to settle for sending a postcard from Baton Rouge. However, it will likely be returned to sender.

After spending a few weeks hijacking the Rebels, the university and an entire fan base, he prayed “a lot” about whether or not to accept a seven-year, $91 million deal from LSU. God save us! Aren’t you glad you are not among the top one percent? Such gut-wrenching decisions.

It is a tremendous credit to the Ole Miss players that they persevered the way they did through the soap opera. The Rebels concluded the regular season with an Egg Bowl win over Mississippi State to improve to 11-1. They were No. 7 in last week’s CFP ranking and may move up a notch this week after No. 3 Texas A&M lost at Texas. Regardless, the Rebels are in the playoff with an opportunity to win the national title. And their coach was last seen flying out of town.

Rallying Around Ole Miss Heading Into The CFP

It may be difficult for even the most casual of college football fans to not root for Ole Miss. The sight of Pete Golding, the 41-year-old defensive coordinator and now interim head coach – and Louisiana native, by the way – being hoisted upon his players’ shoulders and paraded around Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens late on the evening of January 19 as sweet confetti falls on the victors is a sight that certainly countless Rebels fans are envisioning about now. It could happen.

Golding is suddenly a national figure. It would not be his first national championship. He won it all as the DC on Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama in 2020. This time around, though, would be on a surreal scale. After all, Golding’s first career game as a head coach will not be a minor bowl in front of 20,000 people following a 7-5 regular season, but in the College Football Playoff.

Golding takes over a team that is fun to watch and with some neat storylines on the field. His defense is stout in allowing only 20.1 points per game to rank 25^th nationally. On the other side of scrimmage, quarterback Trinidad Chambliss transferred from Division-II Ferris State in his native Michigan and took command of the Rebels’ offense early in the season. He enters the playoff with more than 3,000 yards passing and 24 total touchdowns. Kewan Lacy? He is sure to have received plenty All-America consideration while rushing for 20 touchdowns, good for second nationally.

The tools are there for a real shot at a title, and so is the motivation.

Preventing A Lane Kiffin-Saga Repeat

Many coaches have moved on prior to the postseason, and many have again this year. Typically, it is a situation following a regular season in which their now-former teams are not going to participate in a conference championship or even something resembling an upper-tier bowl. It has been nothing on the level of what Kiffin did to the Rebels.

Kiffin dragged his team through a weeks-long saga of “will he stay or will he go” drama that nobody needed. While Kiffin reeks worst, the larger picture reeks of a system, or lack of one, that does not have safeguards against such recklessness.

It is a situation that has predictably and understandably prompted opinions from far and wide within the sporting landscape. Perhaps St. John’s basketball coach Rick Pitino summed it up best in a social media post when he stated that, “I’m not knocking football, but there’s something wrong with their calendar. I’m at SJU and we are potentially a one seed and can win a National Championship this year, and I leave in March??? What’s going on here?”

In the larger context, it did not help when college football’s early signing period was moved up three weeks to early December. Athletic directors that dismiss coaches during the season need to have a new a coach in place prior to signing day, not to mention having to monitor the portal. All that before a new staff is entirely in place. Much chaos can only reign, and it does.

Tulane, which could be in the 12-team playoff field as the highest-ranked non-power conference team, which it currently is, is scrambling for a new coach. However, Jon Sumrall, long rumored to be on the move, will not take over in Gainesville just yet as he remains on board to coach the Green Wave for Friday night’s American Conference championship game and the playoff game(s) or bowl that follows. It is far different from the mess Kiffin created for Ole Miss.

Given its diminished authority on just about anything, it is difficult to imagine the NCAA having a voice that would be heard loud and clear when it comes to preventing the timing of another Kiffin-like move. Rather, school presidents, athletic directors, athletic department CEOs and football CEOs, who are becoming the new faces of the sport, need to come together and do something – something! – to prevent another such debacle.

It may not happen until power conferences are up and running and, for example, an SEC/Big Ten league has its own governing body. Whatever the case, college football’s leaders need to step up and take action. Many people would be on their side about now.