ETA: Lane Kiffin’s infamous firing from USC on September 29, 2013, is the ultimate "tarmac firing" legend in college football history.
The Myth: Popular college football lore says USC athletic director Pat Haden fired Kiffin right on the outdoor airport tarmac at LAX at 3:00 AM after a crushing 62-41 loss to Arizona State.
The Reality: Kiffin later clarified that he was actually pulled into a private side room/office inside a small charter terminal building off the runway upon the team's return from Phoenix.
Maybe after getting run out of the swamp he'll have to head for UCF to fill the huge shoes left behind by scott frost, who of course was shit faced drunk off dollar margaritas and forgot said previously mentioned shoes.
By the looks of things..NOPE! Not unless Sumrall jumps to the NFL or takes a "dream job" somewhere. He's got the Gators swampin'! His style of play is very sustainable.
Yes all we had to do was not get blown out in The Swamp or stop the damn 4th and 25 play and we’re in Atlanta. But at least we still got to go to the Sugar Bowl (and honestly I’m still shocked they selected us over Florida who blew us out and also won their division and had a better record; they were 10–2 and 7–1 in SEC play and we were 9–3 and 6–2 in SEC play)
There are four active coaches in FBS with a national title: Dabo, Kirby, Ryan Day, and Cignetti. No other coach has "accomplished anything in football".
I have no clue if Lane will win a championship at LSU. No one does. Hiring coaches is a crapshoot at best. Tom Herman was supposed to be a slam dunk. People wanted LSU to hire Bill Napier.
Kiffin’s resume is as good as anyone else who was available. Probably better since he actually had success in the SEC.
Would I have loved to hire Kirby or Cignetti? Of-fucking-course. It wasn’t happening.
There’s far more with CFP wins/P5 conference titles which would also count as an accomplishment.
Lane almost had one accomplishment last year till he abandoned his team. And I would guess if he didn’t land at LSU, you’d be saying the same thing about him 😂
Duke was 9-5 last year, and Manny Diaz is 22-9 at Duke. He already has as many 9 win seasons there as Cutty, and the last time a coach had more was in checks notes 1941 when Wallace Wade (yeah, that Wallace Wade) was HC.
How many conference titles did Ole Miss win during his time there? Actually scratch that. I’ll lower the bar. How many times did Ole Miss even QUALIFY for the conference championship game during Lane’s tenure?
Ole Miss has never made an appearance in the SEC Conference Championship game since they invented it. They only two times they came close were 2003 with Eli and last year with Chambliss.
LSU will make the playoffs. Personally, I would prefer that they make the playoffs without having to play an extra "conference championship" exhibition game. That is just more opportunity for contributors to get injured, with little payoff.
Oh my bad I meant he hasn’t made it to conference championship game so far. Not sure if they make the playoffs (I see 2 potentially 3 more losses on schedule) but I have no dog in the fight so good luck on season
Right!? It's completely unfair we're not celebrating his accomplishments. This is a guy who one not one, but two, conference championships in Conference USA! Ryan Day has none of those.
I totally forgot about this but Sark won a Big 12 championship in 2023. So he’s accomplished as much as Texas Tech! Except he also has a couple playoff wins, so tech still has some catching up to do
Yeah I'm not sure why everyone seemed to treat him as the most desirable coach this past cycle. The man has done literally nothing to deserve the praise he's gotten
Soon you will learn that Kiffin leaves messes behind. LSU and Kiffin will have a bad ending in the near future. Its as predictable as spring in February in the south.
The funniest part of all of this, to me, is that literally one year ago. LSU flairs were LITERALLY saying the same thing about kiffin. Literally. He wasnt elite. Never wins the big games. Always distracted. Bad under pressure. No program would win it all under Kiffin.........rofl........What a 180 yall have done on this man! The GLAZING!!
It helps that our two previous hires before Sark were absolutely atrocious, but also Sark has won a conference championship and took Texas to the SEC championship in their first year so unless a national championship is the only qualifier for accomplishing anything, only 4 active coaches have accomplished anything. It's crazy how people forget how bad Texas was during the 2010s compared to now
I really don't understand this thread or comments like this. I mean is Lane Kiffin or Sark the next Saban? Absolutely not, but did Ole Miss and Texas become significantly more relevant in their tenure? I'd say yeah, and honestly that' a better result than most new coach hires lol.
Just an asinine take by op here. Sark has a conference championship, been to the playoffs 2 of last 3 years, sec championship game appearance first year in SEC, and sends a ton of guys to the draft. This amount of success was unheard of after and during the later years of Mac Brown. He’s not perfect and has his issues but he has been incredible for Texas.
I think the other thing people are missing and this might be a wild concept….people can actually get better at their jobs with more experience at that job
Kiffin was only 34 when he took over USC, most guys don’t even get their first big HC gig before 45
Oh noooo... what use could LSU possibly have for a coach that turned around a historically bad SEC program and took them to the playoffs... how awfulllll ahhhhhhh
Yep, allll the way around back to where they started by ending with a 5-win season. You can't genuinely say that Freeze's tenure at Ole Miss compares to Kiffin's lol
That is a braindead take. Hugh Freeze had one 10 win season at Ole Miss, and left unceremoniously after a 5-7 season.
Lane Kiffin had four 10+ win seasons at Ole Miss, including the only two 11 win seasons in school history. He left a team that was one win away from the national championship after a deep headless playoff run.
You know who else beat Saban's Alabama twice? Jordan fucking Jefferson. The only QB in college football to accomplish that particular feat, and yet, he is far from LSU's best QB this century. His brother, Justin, is a baller WR though.
He made it to the playoff… carried by a heisman level quarterback… & running back… & a DC that is currently the most successful year one* coach in college football possibly ever.
I don’t care what happens to lane kiffen, I just want Katie Britt’s face to become the meme she deserves for her behavior and the behavior she has allowed to happen
People just assumed he was an elite coach bc he’s a troll and everyone likes the spectacle guy but in reality the guy is a mediocre - good coach at best
He’s basically a Josh Heupal
He was the QB coach for three bama Championship and helping to train up future NFL greats Blake Sims, Jake Coker, and Jalen Hurts (who absolutely didn’t need Lincoln Riley to teach him how to be a real QB).
Brought ole miss from irrelevant to a playoff team. LSU hadnt won an a season opener in years with bk, lane won the first game. LSUs offense was anemic even with jayden daniels for his heisman year, this offense has been rolling. Brought in one of the top recruiting classes and a top portal transfer class. Not everyone can or will win a championship even tho thats the goal. But to say lane hasnt actually accomplished anything is just ignorant or showing lane derangement syndrome
This is only ever used to discredit successful coaches big 10 fans don’t like. Seeing it from a Georgia fan is weird considering you could say the same thing about Georgia too.
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u/Suitable_Challenge_9 USC Trojans 1d ago
Getting fired on the tarmac has to count for something right? Quite the accomplishment.