Lane Kiffin’s Social Media Detox

TAMPA, Florida – In a bold move, Lane Kiffin, the polarizing LSU coach, has been off social media since May 11, as revealed by SEC commissioner Greg Sankey at the SEC media days in Tampa. Kiffin’s son issued the challenge, and, being Kiffin, he couldn’t let it stand. He got off social media, even deleting the apps from his phone.

Kiffin’s decision to leave Ole Miss for LSU before the Rebels’ playoff push in December sparked controversy, with many questioning his motives. However, the LSU coach has always been a lightning rod for controversy, sharing his opinions and poking fun at his coaching colleagues on social media. The SEC commissioner’s comment about Kiffin’s social media detox highlighted the challenges the coach faces in maintaining a professional image while being true to himself.

Source: sportshub.cbsistatic.com

Kiffin’s Reflections

The last nine months have provided one of the most dramatic chapters in the mythology of the most difficult-to-categorize coach in college football. What he does next at LSU may just be the defining moment for the man and coach, who has won 10-plus games in half of his 14 seasons as a head coach. Kiffin is often reflective and publicly philosophical in the aftermath of touchstone moments in his life, from leaving Tennessee for LSU after a year to his dramatic weight gain and weight loss. When Kiffin sits still, he thinks about the transfer portal, roster construction, and the butterfly effect of wins that redirected his career as the only coach to lead three different SEC programs.

The Transfer Portal and Roster Construction

Kiffin has talked openly about the butterfly effect, the way that Ole Miss-LSU game last November, the win that ended his tenure in Oxford and opened the door in Baton Rouge, cascaded outward. Golding got a head coaching job. Players got NIL money in both places. Programs that were already good got resources they didn’t have before. In a lot of ways, a lot of people won, Kiffin said. A lot of coaches either stayed or came. They were able to keep Pete Golding as a head coach, so he became a head coach. Players got a lot of really big contracts in both places. Assistant coaches did in both places. Both are talked about a lot as premier programs heading into next year.

The Complicated Relationship Between Kiffin and Golding

Before safety TJ Dottery transferred to LSU, Golding called him into his office. He told him he thought he’d be dumb to leave and what he stood to lose by going to Baton Rouge. The message he delivered to a group at Oxford and later confirmed in a wide-ranging interview with ESPN was not subtle. Golding had them Google Kiffin’s name. He asked them to look at what the internet had done to a man who three years earlier would have had a statue in Oxford. He believed that leaving Ole Miss for LSU would hurt the future of the players who opted to follow Kiffin there.

Kiffin’s Decision to Leave Ole Miss

Kiffin took coordinators and players and ripped away the goodwill of a fanbase that had, by virtually every measure, never had it better. Ole Miss went 11-1 in his final season, reached the College Football Playoff for the first time in school history, and sent Kiffin out on the highest note in the program’s modern era. So, why leave? Every place isn’t for everybody, said Ole Miss’ new coach, Pete Golding. That’s coach, players, that’s your job, that’s everything. That’s OK.

Kiffin’s Thoughts on the Situation

I think whenever I’ve removed something – whether that was bad habits, whether that was food, whether that was alcohol, whether that was toxic relationships, now social media – anything that I’ve removed throughout life, once you remove it, you start to notice how many people are dependent on it that you didn’t really realize before, Kiffin said. He has been telling his players the same thing. There’s clarity in disconnection, especially for Kiffin, whose life is never quiet. He has talked openly about the business of it all, what he keeps returning to. He has talked about the butterfly effect – the way that Ole Miss-LSU game last November, the win that ended his tenure in Oxford and opened the door in Baton Rouge, cascaded outward.