Lane Kiffin's elite understanding of media as a tool, and sometimes a weapon
The Kiffin-Jimbo feud, some hoops notes and a golf update
Hope everyone is having a good week. We’ve got a new podcast out with, well, just me. I talked about the Lane Kiffin and Jimbo Fisher beef, as well as Ole Miss’s win over LSU in basketball. You can check that out here or anywhere you get podcasts. One disclaimer I will ad is that I published the podcast literally 90 seconds before the Daeshun Ruffin news broke, so it is a little dated in that sense.
We have much of the same and more to get into today.
Lane Kiffin twists Jimbo Fisher’s brain into a pretzel
Lane Kiffin held a press conference on Tuesday, the day before the now almost meaningless February National Signing Day. From the time he walked into the room, it was clear he had little interest in talking about the No. 1 ranked transfer portal class he hauled in, or the zero high school kids he planned to sign during this late signing period. Kiffin wanted to lob a turd in the proverbial punchbowl while also raising awareness about an issue within his profession. And oh boy, did he thread that needle nicely. Here is the full press conference, on the off chance that you’ve been living under a rock.
He gets right to it in his opening statement.
“I think that this is just going to be how it happens.” Kiffin said. “We are basically going to have year round free agency in college football, which is a major issue and why they don’t have it in the NFL and professional sports. It is what it is. We are just trying to make the best of the rules and the situation.”
Like I said, Kiffin made it abundantly clear what he wanted to discuss from the time he opened his mouth. And he was just getting going from there.
“We try to do the best we can with the positions they put it in. I am proud of our staff. I think we maximized it. We don’t have the same funding resources as some of these other schools when it comes to NIL. It’s like different salary caps. We now have a sport with different salary caps and some of these schools’ caps are, whatever, five or ten times more than other places. It is what it is.”
Here’s the dynamite quote.
“I joked the other day that I didn’t know if Texas A&M was going to incur a luxury tax for how much they paid for their signing class.”
Oh boy. It was game on after that. I am still befuddled the next question after Kiffin said that was about a completely unrelated topic. The guy is begging you to continue to feed him lobs for alley-oop sound bites. What are we doing here? Kiffin later took a question about Zach Evans and steered it back toward roster building. This was a man with a plan and a message. He executed it to perfection, too.
I have quite a few thoughts on this:
Kiffin loves stirring the pot. It’s always something with him. Whether it’s randomly decapitating Brian Kelly on Twitter for a cringeworthy dance video or cryptic photos with no context when he’s out on the recruiting trail, the guy loves to rile people up. I mean, for the love of god, look at his face the moment the Texas A&M jab came out of his mouth. I screenshotted it immediately, but Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger did it better and did the work for me. Enjoy.
That is a hall-of-fame worthy shit eating grin. Truly inspiring stuff. When I did the internship covering the Reds in Cincinnati, there was a man named Seg Dennison who covered the team for a radio station there and was in the clubhouse every day. He’s a local legend. His real name isn’t Seg either. A former Bengals coach gave him that nickname because he declared Mr. Dennison always had a Shit Eating Grin (SEG) on his face. Mr. Dennison did have a nice one, but Kiffin may have topped it.
I’ve gone back-and-forth over just how meticulously calculated this was. It was certainly intentional. But just how calculated? Here’s an example of what I mean: this press conference was on Tuesday, a day before February (the original) National Signing day. In my five years covering Ole Miss, we never had a press conference the day before National Signing Day. It doesn’t really make any sense. Yet, Kiffin had this press conference the day before NSD and dominated the narrative of what the presser was going to be about? Things that’ll make ya hmm.
Now, some context is needed. The February Signing Day is all but completely irrelevant now. It’s become less relevant each of the five years year we’ve had the December signing period. Ole Miss didn’t sign a single high school prospect yesterday, nor did it plan to. The transfers they brought in don’t really apply to this signing period because transfers don’t sign a national letter of intent. They sign scholarship papers that aren’t actually binding until the student-athlete enrolls in classes. The point is that this past Wednesday’s signing day meant absolutely nothing to Ole Miss. Hell, the coaches are on vacation for two weeks. Kiffin was in California on the beach by Thursday and likely earlier.
But that isn’t the case with every school. Texas A&M added to their record-setting signing class on Wednesday and had a press conference at the end of the day. Do you think Lane Kiffin held a presser a day early, in which he called A&M out by name, just to get to Manhattan Beach a day early? I doubt it. I think he wanted to ensure Jimbo Fisher had to talk about it, and he wasn’t going it up to the Big J journalists at TexAgs (shoutout to the ‘trash programs bro’ guy, wherever he may be) to ask Fisher about it. I think he wanted to go on the offensive. I think it was a shrewd strategic move that shows Kiffin’s understanding of how to use the news cycle as a tool, and really in this case, a weapon.
I also believe Kiffin was genuine in his concerns about the lack of regulation with regard to NIL. Both things can be true. He wanted to prod Jimbo while also raising awareness on what he views as a major issue. He even called it an ‘issue’ himself. NIL is a mess. The year-round transfer thing is a mess. Ask yourself this as a consumer: is it not exhausting at times to keep up with who is coming in and out of the program you follow? I don’t even really cover it full time anymore and it makes my head spin. Some will see his criticism as hypocritical because Kiffin has capitalized on the portal as well as anyone in the country, but again, you can dislike a rule while also using it to your advantage. You think the Chiefs love the overtime rule even though they beat the Bills a couple weeks ago ? The answer is no. The Chiefs tried to have it changed after losing to Tom Brady in the AFC Championship game in 2019 because of it.
Anyway, something needs to be done about the transfer portal part of it, whether that is a transfer portal window, sort of like the signing periods you have, or something similar to it. Guys being able to leave pretty much anytime they want (really the only thing limiting it at all is being enrolled in class for a semester) isn’t really advantageous for anyone at the end of the day. It also makes the “recruiting” process for transfers and the backchannelling that goes on along with it all the more sketchy.
Now, as it pertains to the NIL cap part of it, Kiffin has a legitimate gripe, but I am not sure anything is ever done about it. I don’t think any part of what Kiffin said about the salary cap and a lack of resources was said with the purpose of prodding Ole Miss fans and boosters. To Ole Miss’s credit (when I say “Ole Miss” I mean the alumni and the boosters because the school can’t run NIL collectives, *wink wink*), it has been on top of the ball when it comes to NIL. Whether it’s the Grove Collective or any of the other for-profit LLCs that have emerged, the Rebels have been quicker to adapt than a lot of schools (particularly their in-state counterparts) when it comes to NIL. That’s a great thing. But, at the end of the day, the pockets of the Ole Miss alumni base simply aren’t as deep compared to either Texas or Texas A&M. That’s not a dig or a slight, it’s just reality. If we are being really honest, no one’s is as deep as Texas’s and Texas A&M’s — Alabama and Auburn included. NIL has benefitted the schools with gigantic, wealthy alumni bases more than anyone else.
“Well, it’s always been this way, it was just done under the table,” you say. Yes, that is true, but I think it being above board and legal now has made people less tentative when it comes to donating and widened the net of donors. Maybe I am wrong, but something is clearly different — just look at A&M’s 2022 recruiting class. That wasn’t happening before. I am just not sure how you put a cap on it. How can you control how rich people their money?
Lastly, Kiffin did this in part to get a reaction. He chose a rather easy target in Ross Bjork and Jimbo Fisher. And, yes, they took the bait. Hook, line and sinker.
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Bastion of integrity Jimbo Fisher claps back
Kiffin wanted a reaction and he got it. Jimbo Fisher, to put it frankly, sounded like an idiot in his post-signing day press conference on Wednesday that produced a series of cringeworthy clips. Here is the gist of it.
On the off chance you are wondering what the hell he is talking about bibles and bread for, lets clear some things up. Fisher is referencing an article written by a website called BroBible, a sports and men’s lifestyle website. The article was not written by someone named Sliced Bread, despite Fisher’s claims. My sources deeply imbedded at BroBible assured me that they do not employ anyone named Sliced Bread. I even asked them if it was a stringer they forgot they hired (I hear you’d be surprised at how often that happens) and they assured me that wasn’t the case.
So, who the hell is Sliced Bread? The article is aggregating a message board post on an Oklahoma message board. The poster’s name is Sliced Bread and he claims to have inside sources on how much Texas A&M spent on their recruiting class. If you are wondering why the fella’s name is Sliced Bread and how he would know such things, you have too much to learn about message board culture for me to explain it in one newsletter.
Now, on a slightly serious note. The amount of money A&M spent on this signing class has been the talk of the industry for months. The conversation didn’t get started because of Mr. Sliced Bread or Bro Bible (the author of the Bro Bible article is actually an Ole Miss alum). Fisher is being purposefully obtuse by suggesting that. And for the record, the real number is actually more than Mr. Bread reported.
Okay, now that we have got that out of the way, let’s talk about this rant.
This is cringeworthy on so many levels. Fisher is clearly out of his comfort zone. Let’s talk about the question asked. It was almost 100 percent a planted question by Fisher and the athletic department. I mean, the dude started the question with "Is it a slap in the face…” and Fisher started his answer (one he referenced written notes for) before the ‘reporter’ finished the question. Could you be any more obvious?
Fisher could’ve handled this a number of different ways and he chose the worst possible route. Congrats to Kiffin on picking an easy target. Fisher could’ve said any of these things and been fine.
Option 1: “I am worried about my program and I am not going to comment on other people’s programs. Frankly, I don’t care what other people have to say. We have a great signing class and I am thrilled about the future.”
Option 2: “I am not allowed to talk about NIL with players. We worked hard to sign a great class. We have guys that are already here that have taken advantage of NIL and earned money by capitalizing on their brand. We have great opportunities to do that once guys get here. Is that why they wanted to sign here? I don’t know. I can’t answer that.”
Option 3: “Hell yeah. It’s legal. We do NIL here better than anyone else. Kick rocks. Sorry we are better than you.”
The last option is a little tongue-in-cheek. Fisher can’t insinuate promises were made to recruits about NIL deals contingent upon signing with the Aggies. There aren’t many rules when it comes to NIL, but that is one of them and you’d have to be an idiot to publicly break it. But I do think there is a way to dance around it while leaning into the notion that your school has a gigantic pile of money for an NIL fund. It’s not illegal anymore. All of this is above board if done the right way. Why wouldn’t you want players knowing they can make more money in College Station than anywhere else? Once they get to campus, of course (*wink wink*). It’s not a bad thing.
There’s also a fourth option. Here’s a novel concept: DON’T ADDRESS IT AT ALL. There is no way to come out of it looking good if you are going to be defensive about it and deny NIL had a role in elite prospects wanting to come to your school. There just isn’t. I mean, did you see how stupid he sounded by citing the Texas A&M education and game day atmosphere as reasons guys signed? I’ve been to a game at Texas A&M and seen videos of the Midnight Yell thing. It resembles some sort of ritual that ends with a human sacrifice more than it does a cool SEC game day atmosphere. He doesn’t even believe what he’s saying there. Also, you cannot do the whole “NIL didn’t play a role in this and I am very mad someone would suggest that it did,” when you have this sound bite from a Finebaum interview less than two months prior.
I mean come on, man.
This strategy reeks of Ross Bjork
There’s a Ross Bjork aspect of this, too. Call me a conspiracy theorist if you wish, but with as uncomfortable as Fisher looked while stumbling through that rant, do we really believe this was his idea to address it? Their official football account was firing off graphics on Twitter about it afterward. The question was a plant. Bjork tweeted about it. This didn’t have to be addressed at all. They could have not taken the bait Kiffin dangled out. All of this was coordinated and I just cannot buy that it was Fisher’s idea to do it. Do you really need notes if you’re so pissed off about something you publicly rant about it? How many great sports rants included coaches reading from notecards? If you’re speaking off emotion, you don’t need notecards to steer you.
So, with all of that in mind, do any of you know an athletic director with a history of fighting unnecessary battles that result in self-inflicted errors? Do any of you know of an athletic director that repeatedly botched multiple public relations strategies in response to allegations of improper benefits to players? Oh, that is right. It was that Bjork guy at Ole Miss. And I am supposed to believe he had no part in this cringeworthy circus? I am surprised the wrestling belt didn’t make an appearance
This is the same program that avoided Wake Forest in the Gator Bowl.
None of this was necessary. No one accused Texas A&M of doing anything illegal, and yet, Fisher came out looking quite foolish. I don’t always love Kiffin’s affinity for stirring the pot, but he laid a trap and Texas A&M walked right into it.
At the end of the day, does any of this really matter? No, not really. The only real substantive thing that could come from this is further regulation of NIL and the portal, but I don’t really see that happening anytime soon. We did learn something in all of this though: Lane Kiffin knows how to play the media and the news cycle like a fiddle.
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Rebels lose Ruffin for the year in road win at LSU
I started writing this segment on Wednesday. I had all of these notes about the toughness Ole Miss displayed in its road win at LSU on Tuesday night and how reining SEC Freshman of the Week Daeshun Ruffin was starting to flash star potential. All of that is true. Ruffin scored 19 points in 20 minutes on Tuesday night, helping Ole Miss jump out to a shocking 24-point first half lead over LSU. But Ruffin left the game midway through the second half with a knee injury. Ole Miss held on to win despite losing Ruffin and having Austin Crowley foul out. It appeared that in a year of misfortune, this team finally caught a break. Until it didn’t.
Ruffin is out for the year with a torn ACL. This is just a brutal blow for this Ole Miss team that cannot catch a break. It sucks for Ruffin too because he was just starting to put together a spectacular second half of his freshman season. I truly have no idea how this team remains competitive without Ruffin and Jarkel Joiner. It was already a massive struggle offensively with just one of them out.
Ole Miss won on Tuesday night despite not making a field goal for over nine minutes until a Brakefield layup with 10 seconds left in the game. That is absolutely remarkable that a team won an SEC basketball game with two field goals over the final 10 minutes. Once Ruffin went out, Ole Miss had nowhere to turn offensively. And once Crowley fouled out with four minutes left, the Rebels quite literally had trouble getting the basketball up the court and making simple A-to-B passes. It was sort of agonizing to watch. There simply weren’t any ball handlers left. Kermit Davis deserves credit for getting Ole Miss into some sort of organized action on the most crucial possession of the game with around 40 seconds left. They ran a play for Ty Fagan to either get him a perimeter jumper or go to the rim with his right hand. LSU bailed Ole Miss out with a hand check foul, but it doesn’t change the fact that Davis coached his ass off in the final three minutes, particularly on that possession, to even get them remotely organized on the offensive end.
The feel-good moment for a team that has really struggled this year was short-lived as they learned 24 hours later their best available player was done for the year. It’s going to be a long, brutal final five weeks of the season. There’s no way around that and it is a shame this young core, with Ruffin at the epicenter of it, doesn’t get the chance to continue to find their way, because in some respects, they were beginning to gel.
Magnolia State Golf Update
I have been slacking on this the last two weeks. The work week and content schedule has been a little thrown off, but we are back with an update on what Mississippians are doing in professional golf.
The PGA Tour is at Pebble Beach this week for the AT&T Celebrity Pro-Am. Three Mississippians are in the field. This event is unique in that it is a 54-hole cut that sees the players play three different golf courses: Pebble Beach, Monterey Peninsula and Spyglass Hill. All players will play Pebble Beach in the final round.
Tupelo native and Mizzou alum Hayden Buckley fired a 1-under 71 on Spyglass Hill on Thursday. As of this writing, he just followed that up with a nifty 8-under 64 at Pebble Beach today to pull him to T-7. Buckley has a 12:42 tee time at Monterey Peninsula tomorrow. Buckley is in solid position to notch his fourth top-15 finish or better in his first eight PGA Tour events as a rookie. That is some pretty damn strong playing and it is only going to bode well for him going forward in terms of the opportunities he gets and the tournaments he gets into.
His celebrity paring is Mike Smith. I don’t think it’s the ex-Ole Miss softball coach, so I truly have no clue who that is.
Hattiesburg native and Alabama alum Davis Riley shot a 3-under 69 at Pebble yesterday and is 1-under thru 10 holes on Monterey Peninsula today. Riley is T-43 as of this writing. Riley has made five of 10 cuts in his rookie season with a T-7 at the Bermuda Championship back in the fall. Riley is paired with Matthew Flannery, the CEO of United Rentals.
Fulton Native and Mississippi State alum Chad Ramey shot a 1-under 70 at Monterey Peninsula yesterday and is 2-under thru 15 today on Spyglass Hill. Ramey is 3-under for the tournament and sits at T-69 as of this writing. Ramey has made four of nine cuts on the season so far with a pair of top 25 finishes. He’s struggled a bit after having one of the hottest, most consistent 18-month stretches you’ll see in professional golf on the Korn Ferry Tour. He is paired with Swiss businessman Ernesto Bertarelli. I can only hope Ramey promised the Swissman that he’d try his best to get him on Fulton Country Club, but no promises.
The Korn Ferry Tour is continuing its Caribbean stretch with the Panama Championship. Two Mississippians are in the field.
Olive Branch native and Ole Miss alum Braden Thornberry shot an even par 70 yesterday and a 75 today. He will not see the weekend. Thornberry finished 56th in the Korn Ferry Tour points standings last year and nearly earned his PGA Tour Card via the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. He fell just short but is fully exempt on the Korn Ferry Tour this year. There are worse places to be in pro golf in your mid-20s than one-step away from the PGA Tour.
Brandon native and Ole Miss alum Jonathan Randolph shot an even par 70 yesterday and a 1-over 71 today. He will likely not se the weekend either. I am not positive how Randolph got into this event. He finished outside the top-100 in the Korn Ferry Tour points last year and did not qualify for The Finals. I am assuming he still has partial Korn Ferry Tour status and gets into a handful of events as a result. Randolph is going to need a win or a high finish in one of those to change is fortunes.
On the horizon
A couple of feature stories in the works.
A Mailbag Friday pod out later today and a Sunday pod with former Andy Kennedy staffer Bracken Ray
A week full of newsletters covering whatever might pop up that interests me.
That is all from me today. Thanks for being a loyal subscriber. Send to your friends and tell them to join in on the fun by smashing the subscribe button below. It is free.