Lane Kiffin: An Unexpected School Was In the Running For His Services
Ah, the college football coaching carousel. It’s a dizzying, delightful mess of clandestine meetings, backroom deals, and enough cash to make a Saudi prince blush. This year’s main attraction? None other than the walking, talking headline himself, Lane Kiffin. And while the world watched the three-ring circus between LSU, Florida, and Ole Miss, it turns out a fourth suitor was trying to sneak in the back door.
That’s right, Florida State was apparently making a “stealth move” to poach the prodigal son of offensive football. According to ESPN’s Mark Schlabach, while the Seminoles were publicly sticking with Head Coach Mike Norvell, behind the scenes, they were playing a high-stakes game of footsie with Kiffin. It is a move that drips with equal parts desperation and genius.
The $72 Million Question
Let’s be real: money talks, and FSU was ready to scream. Firing Mike Norvell and his staff would have cost a jaw-dropping $72 million. That’s a number that would make most athletic departments break out in a cold sweat. But for a coach like Kiffin, a proven winner who can fundraise faster than he can draw up a trick play, it was a price they were apparently willing to consider.
Hiring Kiffin wouldn’t have just been about getting a new coach; it would have been a statement. It would have been FSU kicking down the door of the ACC and announcing, “We’re back, and we brought our checkbook.” But the timing was everything. AD Michael Alford and the FSU brass were playing a game of chicken, waiting for Norvell’s season to implode just enough to justify the colossal expense.
The Kiffin Effect: Why Was Everyone So Thirsty?
So why was everyone from Tallahassee to Baton Rouge tripping over themselves to get a piece of Kiffin? Simple. The man is pure electricity. He took an Ole Miss program that was perpetually lukewarm and turned it into a legitimate College Football Playoff contender. He’s a recruiting magnet, a master of the transfer portal, and an offensive savant.
More than that, he brings an energy that programs crave. He’s the guy who tweets memes, trolls other coaches, and then hangs 50 points on them on a Saturday. In a sport that’s becoming more and more about brand and entertainment, Kiffin is the total package. He’s not just a coach; he’s a one-man content machine.
The Aftermath: What Could Have Been
In the end, the stealth mission failed. Kiffin chose the Bayou Bengals, signing a massive deal with LSU. Florida State, left at the altar, announced that Norvell would return, much to the chagrin of a fan base that was dreaming of a Lane-train revolution.
Now, FSU is left to wonder “what if?” They had the money, they had the ambition, but they just couldn’t pull the trigger in time. While Kiffin is tasked with resurrecting a giant in LSU, the Seminoles are banking on Norvell to turn things around. It’s a classic tale of the one that got away, a coaching soap opera that proves, once again, that in college football, the drama off the field is often just as compelling as the action on it.
