It’s Only SEC (but I like it…) : Week 13

And so onto another SEC football Head coach. It’s actually difficult to focus on the football at this point, simply because of the circus surrounding the multiple head-coaching job searches.

Mercifully, the Virginia Tech job has now been filled; however, the four SEC Head coaching roles remain open.

the Kiffin effect

Which brings us to Lane Kiffin.

I wrote last week about how Kiffin uses Yoga to alleviate the strains and pressures of being a Head college football coach.

If you had asked me a week ago, I would have been sure that Kiffin was staying in Oxford to coach Ole Miss. Today, as I write this, I’m not so sure. And clearly so were all the other media members who were on the SEC head coaches’ weekly teleconference this week.

a call to end all calls

Let me set the scene. Every SEC Head coach takes up a slot on the teleconference every Wednesday. Each slot is 10 minutes, and after an opening statement from the Head coach, the call is opened up to Q&A from those in attendance. Depending on the length of each coach’s response, there are usually around 5 or 6 questions for each coach. Sometimes more, sometimes less.

For Kiffin’s segment, this week’s call was an all-timer.

Now this is against a backdrop that it had been reported that Kiffin’s family had been seen visiting both Gainesville and Baton Rouge, which fuelled the speculation to boiling point.

So, despite the Egg Bowl to look forward to and the potential for this Ole Miss team to do something no other Rebels team has ever achieved—reaching 11 regular-season wins— the questions were about only one thing—Kiffin’s future.

Chuck Dunlap, the SEC Director of Communications and Moderator of this call, guided us through 11 calls during Kiffin’s allotted time. Dunlap commented after the call that another 30 minutes of Kiffin’s time would not have exhausted all the questions which were in line to be asked. It was a frenzy.

We all agree that the media has a job to do. As a regular participant on this call, I understand this. But it became clear right from the get-go that Kiffin was not going to answer questions about this future. However, it seemed like for some, asking Kiffin where he would coach next year had become some personal crusade, which brings us to the Athletic.

ask a silly question…..

This interaction might be best set out in full. This is how it went.

Chris Vannini, The Athletic: “Yeah, Lane, I mean, do you expect to coach next week as you’re preparing for this game?”

 

Lane Kiffin, “Ole Miss: Do you know something I don’t know?

Chris Vannini, The Athletic: I… that’s… I’m asking you.

 

Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss: Do I expect to coach next week? Why would I not expect to coach next week?

 

Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss: I mean, I expected to coach in Florida, too, so I don’t even understand the question how I would not expect to coach next week. Why wouldn’t I be at work?

 

Chris Vannini, The Athletic: Fair enough, no, fair enough. Is there, is there any reason you wouldn’t see yourself… any situation in which you wouldn’t think you’d be coaching this team moving forward beyond next week”.

 

Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss: No, I don’t, I don’t….. I mean, we’re game planning, we just practice, I don’t even understand how that would happen, so… Okay. Must be missing something.

 

Chris Vannini, The Athletic: Fair enough.

This summed up the rest of the call. It is difficult to tell with Kiffin, especially given how he generally trolls the media. However, we do know that, as I write this on Friday, Kiffin will meet with Ole Miss Athletic Director Keith Carter. While this might be a scheduled meeting, there is no doubt that Carter will want to understand where Kiffin’s thoughts are at this moment.

a championship to be won

The issue here is timing. Ole Miss will be a Playoff team this year, which will take Kiffin’s responsibilities through most of December. With early signing periods and transfer portal dates looming in January, neither Florida nor LSU can sit on their hands waiting on Kiffin for long. Especially given that one or both may end up disappointed.

However, dwell on this scenario for one moment. Midweek, The Centre Daily Times, a Pennsylvanian newspaper based in State College – the paper for Penn State, reported that Kalen DeBoer is the number 1 choice to replace James Franklin as the Nittany Lions’ Head coach.

Now, then.

This adds yet another layer of chaos to the coaching carousel. It’s a poorly guarded secret that Lane Kiffin covets the Alabama job as the pinnacle in college football. If Kiffin is considering leaving Oxford, I am sure that he did not expect the Alabama job to come up so quickly. So it adds some further drama to the, well, drama.

Of course, at this moment, we don’t know if DeBoer has any interest in moving away from Tuscaloosa. We don’t even know if he has been approached. 

What it does guarantee is that this is a must-watch storyline at a time in the season when teams will be fighting for a National Championship.

Watch this space!

Footnote:

Not to read too much into it, but Kiffin ended his slot with “Can’t wait for next week, guys”.

The SEC’s Chuck Dunlap responded, “No call next week, Coach, this is your last one”.

Kiffin responded, “Oooh”.

Read into that what you will……