LSU coach Lane Kiffin's return to Ole Miss in Week 3 of the upcoming season looms as one of the spiciest moments on the college football calendar.
Kiffin spent time pondering that matchup at SEC meetings on Tuesday, as he mentioned with a wry smile that he has experience going into hostile territory.
"I've been back to Tennessee before," Kiffin said in reference to his coaching there one season and returning, "so I guess we got some practice at it."
Kiffin generally deflected a question about his return to Oxford, where he coached for six seasons and left before coaching the postseason under intense criticism this season. He said there's a big opener against Clemson to worry about.
Kiffin often finds himself at the center of controversy, and that happened again recently when comments about Ole Miss from an article in Vanity Fair went viral. It included comments from Kiffin about a conversation with families of recruits about the difference between Oxford, Mississippi, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which produced the suggestion that there's "no segregation" in Baton Rouge.
Kiffin declined to answer a question about his relationship with Ole Miss. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey declined to answer a question about whether he would fine Kiffin for the remark.
Sankey said: "You'll find out when everyone else finds out. I don't make those announcements at podiums."
Sankey added: "I have with two of our three coaches' groups had clear conversations about expectations of care and relationships. Some of that's produced some dialogue, and I'll have another one of those tomorrow. But we have leadership positions, and those in leadership positions need to function like leaders, [in] their conduct and in their commentary."
Kiffin did expound on his decision to leave Ole Miss for LSU, with six months and a top-ranked recruiting/portal class already behind him.
He said of the move from Ole Miss, where he went 55-19 in six seasons, including double-digit wins in four of five years: "Two things can be right at the same time. They both can be true. You can have had a wonderful experience. Everything you said about those six years were you needed Oxford and Ole Miss more than they needed you. And that can totally be true, and then you can choose a new challenge and go to another place. And so both those things are true."
He said his experience so far at LSU has been "awesome," as he described it as a "new challenge" that comes with the reality that "you can't please everybody."
"It really was about LSU and the belief I had in what we could do at LSU and just how it fit and the timing of everything," he said. "So, it really wasn't about any other program. It was just specifically about LSU."
Kiffin recently added former LSU head coach Ed Orgeron to his staff. Kiffin and Orgeron have a relationship that dates nearly three decades. He stressed that Orgeron's value is amplified because of a recent change in recruiting rules, which will allow Orgeron to go on the road.
"That's a tremendous value anywhere," Kiffin said, "let alone in the state of Louisiana. I'm excited about it."
