Ad Disclosure
A lot is made about Lane Kiffin and the dislike (and distrust?) that follows him around the country as he bounces from coaching job to coaching job. It’s unsure how people initially started to hate Kiffin, but the hate is strong, and stretches pretty much from coast to coast. The more I pay attention to him, the more I want to see. He is basically a WWE heel. A villain that everyone hates, but we can’t get enough of. He is the heel of the SEC.
At one point during his unceremonious departure from the Oakland Raiders, I remember thinking Kiffin was jobbed, that Al Davis was the one to blame for how the whole situation devolved into a sordid affair of he-said-he-said. Kiffin didn’t do himself any favors at his next post, the University of Tennessee, when decided he had enough after one season. Then, after getting what seemed to be he dream job, Kiffin got himself into more trouble at USC, this time involving NCAA violations, having his players switch jerseys, deflating balls, and going from being ranked #1 to unranked in the same season. He was later fired at LAX before the team bus headed back to USC from the airport.
Going back to his time as the head coach at Tennessee, Kiffin provided a number of “heel-like” moments, mostly in reference to Florida in an attempt to rile up his fan base (such a classic heel move). Well, as a heel often does, he came out on the losing end of that whole transaction, and wasn’t exactly singing “Rocky Top” all night long after losing to Florida in his only attempt while at Tennessee.
All of these things just ring of semi-made-up-ness which is why they are so decidedly heel-like. He has such a propensity for drama to find him, and most of the time it is brought on by himself.
Can you imagine if he was able to actually talk to the media? That would be so great; to hear him talk trash for an entire week, then walk out of the tunnel to have every fan in attendance at whatever stadium his team played start screaming (and probably worse) at him. And when they were yelling God-knows-what at him, he would simply have this reaction every time:
This video is so amazing. It sums up his entire persona in one 6-second loop.
All that is left is for Kiffin to bring out an Atomic Leg Drop to Saban during media days and announce that Alabama is breaking off from the SEC and forming their own conference, spray painting “NWO” on the College Football Playoff trophy and daring anyone to challenge him and his new made up conference.
Worked for the internet in Los Angeles before being lured back to Florida by SEC football and the promise of a bourbon bar. When he's not internetting or watching football, he's probably out giving himself 4-footers on the golf course.
