Tag: Lane Kiffin

Lane Kiffin’s rant about how unhealthy Coca-Cola is was so unhinged (but completely correct)

Lane Kiffin does make a really good point.

Lane Kiffin has never been a stranger to wearing his heart on his sleeve in public.

Even earlier this summer, the Ole Miss head coach savagely dunked on SEC media personality Paul Finebaum. But where Kiffin sometimes gives off a “bro’s bro” vibe, his short rant about Coca-Cola hits the mark.

During a recent press conference, when it came time to start answering questions from the media, Kiffin noticed a Coca-Cola curiously placed at the top of his lectern. He proceeded to go on a tangent about how one standard bottle of the soda has more sugar intake than is recommended over a full day for an average adult. Kiffin would, of course, clarify that he hasn’t drunk “Coke” in a “long time.”

It was a funny little moment for the face of Ole Miss football to dunk on a product directly paying Ole Miss for vending.

As random as Kiffin’s sidebar was, is he wrong?

Newsflash: Most sodas are very bad for you! Plus, it’s not as if he was telling anyone not to drink it. He was just stating a fact — unprompted, yes — backed up by his reading of the nutrition label.

And I’m also not surprised Kiffin fixated on Coca-Cola as someone who lost 30 pounds three years ago. Do you want to know how he probably partly did it? Cutting any and all soda out of his diet!

This is a reminder that Kiffin really does contain multitudes, even when it comes to a balanced and nutritional diet.

Lane Kiffin isn’t putting up with foolishness from carnival barkers

Lane Kiffin has a chance to speak loudly through his Ole Miss team’s performance.

Lane Kiffin didn’t hold back when he “thanked” Paul Finebaum for helping him get fired. Kiffin explained that Finebaum called him “the Miley Cyrus of college football,” and that he should be fired.

Lane Kiffin is a man on a mission this year. He knows he has something to prove. He knows he has a historic opportunity at Ole Miss. The Rebels have never played in the SEC Championship Game. This year could be their big chance to make a breakthrough. Ole Miss is viewed as a contender for the 12-team College Football Playoff. The Rebels have a lot of pressure and expectations to deal with. Kiffin knows it, and it’s why he’s standing his ground against Finebaum. He doesn’t have time for the talk show host’s ridiculous takes.

Finebaum has a history for calling for coaches to lose their jobs — including Jim Harbaugh, Nick Saban and others who succeeded right after Finebaum called for their ousters.

Robert Griffin’s expressions and excalmation of “Oh my God!” in response to this Kiffin-Finebaum exchange truly said it all.

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Lane Kiffin’s USC tenure comes up at SEC media days with Ole Miss

Lane Kiffin’s low point at USC came up on a recent sports talk show.

Lane Kiffin and Paul Finebaum have been beefing since Kiffin’s days at Tennessee and USC. After all these years the jousting between them continues.

Over a decade ago, Kiffin was called “the Miley Cyrus of college football” during a live broadcast just hours before the USC football coach was fired on the tarmac at LAX after the Trojans’ 2013 loss to Arizona State, a moment neither Kiffin nor Finebaum have forgotten about to this day.

“Really, I don’t know what you’re good at,” Kiffin said as he trolled Finebaum on Finebaum’s eponymous show. “You’ve predicted Coach (Nick) Saban was done; that didn’t happen. You basically said Miley Cyrus stinks, and she’s still going.”

Cyrus has continued to be among pop music’s most enduring stars of the past decade, and Saban not only was not done at the time of Finebaum’s prediction many years ago, but ended up winning additional national championships.

“Oh, yeah yeah. When you got me fired at USC,” Kiffin told Finebaum. “I got myself fired at USC. But you didn’t help.

“You really didn’t, but it is a true story that the athletic director (at the time, Pat Haden) and the school president were on that trip. We were playing that night, and you were on College GameDay and you had to make your big splash. And they were watching it, because I know the other person in the room that was watching it with them.

After leaving USC Kiffin became the Alabama offensive coordinator under Nick Saban before leaving to to be the head coach at Florida Atlantic.

In 2020, Kiffin took the head coaching job at Ole Miss, which went 11-2 last season and is expected to be a national championship contender in 2024.

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Lane Kiffin savagely dunked on Paul Finebaum at SEC Media Day

This is ROUGH.

Paul Finebaum has been talking about college football for a long, long time. Through it all, he has never held his tongue about anything.

He’s going to say whatever comes to mind about a person, player or team. That’s how Finebaum has always been. Sometimes, it makes for good television. It can also create a bit of, uh, let’s call it animosity between Paul and the people he’s covering. Like Nick Saban said, Finebaum made his life hard for 17 years.

He’s got some coaches who’ve got beef with him. We can throw Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin into that category. He sat down with Finebaum for SEC Media Day and savagely dunked on him.

Kiffin also told a story about how Finebaum actually got him fired from USC with something he said on College Gameday.

“College gameday, you had to make your big splash. They were watching it because I know the other person in the room that was watching it with them. And you said what a joke I was and I’m the Miley Cyrus of college football. They looked at each other and later that night I was fired.” 

The exchange was ROUGH. Finebaum tried to laugh it off by pointing out how Miley Cyrus has blown up since then, but Kiffin wasn’t having it. He showed no mercy.

The entire exchange got so awkward.

“So you were wrong about that. So, really, I don’t know what you’re good at. You predicted coach Saban was done. That didn’t happen,” he said. “You basically said Miley Cyrus stinks and she’s still going.”

SHEESH. Finebaum’s face there says it all.

But hey, man. This is what happens when you talk the way Finebaum talks. It’s great for TV! But, clearly, it’s not the best for working relationships.

The Sporting News has Ducks in a rematch with Ohio State in Pasadena

According to a scenario The Sporting News laid out, Oregon and Ohio State would meet in the CFP quarterfinals at the Rose Bowl.

As if one game with Ohio State inside Autzen Stadium isn’t enough of a season highlight for the Oregon football team, The Sporting News has the two teams facing off again in the Rose Bowl.

According to the long time publication, the Ducks and Buckeyes will play in Pasadena in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal for the chance at the semifinal at the Cotton Bowl.

Unfortunately for Oregon, TSN has the Buckeyes moving on to play Notre Dame, the No. 6 seed in their projections.

In the earlier round, The Sporting News has the No. 7-seeded Ducks hosting the No. 10-seed Ole Miss and Lane Kiffin in what they describe as a “shootout.” Oregon’s defense might differ with that particular assessment of how that matchup would go down, however.

If the Ducks and Buckeyes were to meet in the playoffs, it could very well be the third time these two teams play in one season as both are favorites to reach the Big Ten title game. It would be unprecedented for a three-time matchup, but college football is in unprecedented times and it would create quite the rivalry.

Former Tennessee defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin dies at 84

Former Tennessee defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin passes away at 84.

Former Tennessee defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin passed away Thursday.

Kiffin, the father of former Vols’ head coach Lane Kiffin, served as Tennessee’s defensive coordinator in 2009, during his son’s only season in Knoxville.

He was 84.

Kiffin, a long time college and NFL assistant coach, was best known in the NFL as Tampa Bay’s defensive coordinator. He was an architect of the Buccaneers’ Tampa 2 defense.

Kiffin served as Tampa Bay’s defensive coordinator from from 1996-2008 under head coaches Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden, winning Super Bowl XXXVI.

He was also defensive coordinator at USC (2010-12), a defensive assistant at Florida Atlantic (2017-19) and a player personnel analyst at Ole Miss from 2020-23.

Kiffin worked at Nebraska from 1966-76, beginning his career as a graduate assistant. He was also the Cornhuskers’ defensive coordinator from 1969-76. Kiffin held the same position at Arkansas from 1977-79 and was also the Razorbacks’ assistant head coach in 1979.

He was head coach at North Carolina State head coach from 1980-82, compiling a 16-17 record.

Kiffin also worked as an assist coach in the NFL for Dallas, the Jets, Minnesota, Green Bay, New Orleans, Buffalo and Jacksonville.

PHOTOS: Vols’ defensive coordinators through the years

Photo by Joe Murphy/Getty Images

Lane Kiffin pays tribute to Monte Kiffin in simple, poignant childhood tweet

Lane Kiffin called Monte Kiffin “My hero.”

The passing of Monte Kiffin is a loss for the football community, but it is most centrally a loss for the Kiffin family and the son who learned so much from his father. Lane Kiffin tweeted two pictures from his childhood. In the two pictures, Lane is with his dad, Monte Kiffin, who died on Thursday at age 84. Lane Kiffin, who spent several years at USC — many as a coordinator and a few as head coach — is now the head coach of Ole Miss. He is entering a season in which the Rebels have a chance to make the College Football Playoff in the eyes of many experts.

College Sports Wire has more on Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss in 2024:

Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss Rebels have been living off loading up the roster through the transfer portal and the 2024 team will be no different. The Rebels won a school-record 11 games last season and the roster is ready to challenge for the SEC title. For that to happen, Kiffin will need to find a way to compete with Georgia, Texas, and Alabama. This year the Rebels only draw Georgia in the regular season but likely have to play one of the three should they make it to Atlanta for conference title game.

We’ll have more on the life and career of Monte Kiffin. Watch this space.

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Lane Kiffin’s father, former USC assistant coach Monte Kiffin, dies at age 84

Monte Kiffin is a centrally transformative figure in the world of football coaching.

Lane Kiffin, the former head coach of the USC Trojans and the former offensive coordinator for USC under Pete Carroll, is the son of a man who became a transformative defensive coach in the NFL. Monte Kiffin, who revolutionized coverages and defensive schemes with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and became a hugely consequential innovator in the football world, died on Thursday at age 84.

Touchdown Wire has more on Monte Kiffin, who served as Lane Kiffin’s defensive coordinator at USC from 2010 through 2012:

Kiffin spent 13 seasons as defensive coordinator with the Tampa Bay Bucs. In those seasons, Tampa Bay allowed the fewest points per game (17.5) while ranking second in both yards allowed per game (286.8) and total takeaways (293).

Overall, Monte Kiffin spent 25 years in the NFL, having also served as a coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints and Dallas Cowboys.

The reach and influence of Monte Kiffin in the sport of football are substantial and far-ranging. We extend our condolences to Lane Kiffin and his extended family.

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Former Vikings player, coach Monte Kiffin passes away at 84

Former Minnesota Vikings player and coach Monte Kiffin passed away on Thursday at the age of 84, Ole Miss announced on social media.

Former Minnesota Vikings player and coach Monte Kiffin passed away on Thursday at the age of 84, Ole Miss announced on social media.

Kiffin was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the 15th round of the 1964 NFL Draft after a college career at Nebraska. He was known for his time serving as a coach more than his playing time on the field. During his coaching career, Kiffin orchestrated some of the more effective and legendary defenses in the pro or college football game. His coaching career started in 1966 as a Graduate Assistant at Nebraska after his playing career ended the same year.

He would make several stops in both the NFL and NCAA, including coaching the Minnesota Linebackers from 1986-1989 and 1992-1994. He also earned the title of defensive coordinator with the team in 1991.

While his time with Minnesota won’t be the first thing mentioned in any conversation about him, It is one of many stops to play a part in his football life. Kiffin will forever be known for coaching the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense that won Super Bowl XXXVII against the Oakland Raiders.

He eventually coached at Tennessee, USC, Florida Atlantic University, and, most recently, Ole Miss with his son Lane Kiffin. He was coaching as a key defensive assistant at the SEC school as recently as 2023 under his son.

Longtime NFL defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin dies at 84

The great defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin has died at 84

One of the great defensive coordinators in NFL history has died. Monte Kiffin was 84.

Kiffin’s death was announced by Ole Miss via information provided by his grandson, Knox.

Kiffin spent 13 seasons as defensive coordinator with the Tampa Bay Bucs. In those seasons, Tampa Bay allowed the fewest points per game (17.5) while ranking second in both yards allowed per game (286.8) and total takeaways (293).

Overall, Monte Kiffin spent 25 years in the NFL, having also served as a coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints and Dallas Cowboys.

His son, Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin, posted a sweet message about his dad.

Other tributes came in via Twitter: