The biggest topic this past week in college football and will most likely carry over into next week is Lane Kiffin and his seemingly mutual flirtation with LSU and their head coach opening.
While Kiffin has announced he will address his future next Saturday following Friday’s Egg Bowl, his former boss Nick Saban addressed why a potential Kiffin move at this point in the season may present a bigger issue as ESPN’s College GameDay discussed the situation.
“Well, everybody should be thinking about the players. Everybody should be thinking about the student athletes. What’s best for the student athletes? Saban said. Players should be able to play for his coach for the entire season.”
It’s quite possible that Kiffin may accept LSU’s lucrative offer and Ole Miss will have a spot in the SEC championship game, as well as a College Football Playoff spot. Something Saban was weary of, especially if the CFP committee takes note.
“Players shouldn’t be penalized if the coach leaves, because the committee has the opportunity — If a player or coach doesn’t participate, they can sink you in the rankings,” Saban said. “So all this could go down in the rankings, maybe miss the whole game, so the players are getting penalized.”
However, there’s a bigger issue that Saban believes should be addressed, and that is the sport’s calendar, which impacts what’s done for both players and coaches.
“But we need to take a better approach to the business aspect of what we do in college athletics. In the NFL, you cannot leave your team until you’re finished playing, Saban said. You can’t talk to another coach in the regular season. There’s a defined time where you can talk to them if they’re in the playoffs.
That’s the way it should be. And we should match the academic calendar with the football calendar. And we shouldn’t have an early signing date that conflict with people wanting to hire an early coach, a portal situation where you got to hire an early coach, fire your coach early. This is none of this is fair to the player.”
Saban believes the problems are bigger than just Kiffin wanting to go to a school that seemingly presents a better situation.
“So, this is not a Lane Kiffin conundrum, Saban said. ”This is a college football conundrum that we need some leadership to step up and change the rules on how this gets done in terms of coaching searches and opportunities for people to lead, players can lead. So, if you went to the on these players, they would say, I want my coach to coach.”
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
