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FOOTBALL SEC Media Days | Lane Kiffin

Jay G. Tate

IT'S A TRAP!
Staff
Jan 17, 2003
81,566
391,805
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Montgomery, Ala.
It's time for the OLE MISS coach to take the stage.

His Rebels were 10-3 last season.

*****

• Lane is wearing sneakers with his blue suit. Interesting.

• "Our job, I think, is really challenging this year. On paper, we look like we should be decent."

• On trick plays -- what what he learned from Saban about trick plays: "Like Kirby Smart, sometimes you come up here and you find yourself talking about Alabama. That's pretty usual. Analytics on trick plays probably shows we don't run them as much anymore. If they worked, (Saban) was happy. If they didn't work, you'd get an ass-chewing."

• On his new quarterbacks and what this means for the offense. "One think we do pretty well is change our offense to (fit) our players. With the portal, I can't really tell you what that will look like. That's what fall camp will be about."

• On his new OC Charlie Weis Jr. "Jeff Lebby did an unbelievable job for us. Charlie has been with us two places before. I've always thought he was way ahead of the game. His mind is really unique and special. He can memorize things like no other."

• On playing Ala so late in the season. "No disrespect to Alabama, but I couldn't tell you what number on the schedule they are. We have a lot of work to do before Game 1."

• My friend Parrish Alford asks about replacing Matt Corral's leadership. "He just led by example. That's a challenge to replace. That's not just quarterbacks."

• On pushing to go for it on 4th down. "We sell to (recruits) that we believe in you. Players feel like we believe in (them), then we'll play so aggressively. I can't predict what that's going to be like year to year. A lot of coaches don't follow the analytics because it's very easy for that press conference or stadium to turn on you when it doesn't work."

• On Deion Sanders' effect on the state of Mississippi, which has two big-personality coaches. "We have another big personality in the state and that's Mike Leach. It's been great to see Coach Sanders' success."

• Dude asks about going 3-0 in the Egg Bowl. Kiffin isn't thinking that far down the road just yet.

• Dude asks about USC moving to the Big 10 and the travel. "That would be a lot (to handle). There wasn't a lot of travel on that schedule (before). They can deal with that in a few years from now."

• My friend Edgar Thompson asks about learning from Saban. "I would doubt there's been a coach in any sport ... that has so many people under him that are at major jobs. I really is amazing. It speaks volumes of how phenomenal Coach is. When you look at the defensive coaches that leave there ... like the Georgia blueprint ... take everything and move it there. The offensive head coaches leave ... and the program looks a little different because everybody takes the own flair to their program."

• Question about coaches should or shouldn't be shaping NIL rules. He says it needs to be capped. "Ideally, I think the coach should be part of managing that. I don't know that it'll be that way. Look what happens in professional sports -- the coach and the general manager handle that. If you've got boosters out there deciding who they're going to ay and the coaches aren't involved in that, then what? Do the boosters tell you who to play? This was not thought out at all ... and it's created a massive set of issues."

• Question on the importance of marketing as a head coach. "We don't sit around and complain about how things are and how things should be. You shouldn't be picking (schools) based on a photo shoot or things like that. We just try to be creative. We don't think outside the box; we create a new box. We don't do things the way they were done before. At Ole Miss, you have to do that to be successful."

• Question about playing UK in 2020. He said it was during "the strange COVID year." He thinks it's cool and special that UK is winning these days. He says a lot of nice stuff about UK. Ho hum.
Question sucked IMO.

• Question about the four new schools (OU/Texas/USC/UCLA) moving to bigger conferences. "I don't know that there's a huge jump into the Big 10. The SEC is a whole different animal.

• Question about being on the inside of the big conference with all the volatility. "The SEC is the top of everything. People are always trying to chase the SEC and figure it out."

• He says he's mad about rivalries being dismantled in the name of money. Don't know what he's upset about there.

• Kiffin says he's been signing a lot of mustard bottles and golf bottles. (A reference to the game at Tennessee when he was pelted by mustard bottles and a golf ball.)

• Question about playing Arkansas and that rivalry. "You can never predict how games are going to go. That's an exciting rivalry."

• My friend Joe Goodman asks about what he thinks is the key to succeeding with NIL. "How to do well at it? You have good boosters. It's like a payroll in baseball. Who wins a lot of games over time? The teams with high payrolls and that pay players more. It's not any different than that. They legalized cheating. Get ready for the people with the most money to get the best players."

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