Kiffin’s Latest Social Media Stunt Backfires Spectacularly

Clear Facts

• LSU head coach Lane Kiffin tagged his former teams Ole Miss and Tennessee in a taunting social media post on Saturday
• Kiffin abandoned Ole Miss days before their first-ever College Football Playoff appearance, making him one of the most hated figures in the program’s history
• LSU will face both Ole Miss (Sept. 19) and Tennessee (Nov. 21) this season, with both fan bases seeking revenge against their former coach

In the college football coaching world, nobody plays the social media game quite like Lane Kiffin. Whether that’s a strength or a liability depends entirely on who you ask.

Most observers would agree his latest online venture was a complete miss. Kiffin, who posts more motivational quotes than your middle-aged aunt scrolling Facebook, decided to tag the official accounts of Ole Miss and Tennessee on Saturday with his newest message.

Kiffin wrote, “Think about this for a second,” attaching a quote that read: “Imagine how boring your life would be if you didn’t have me to annoy you.”

On the surface, watching a 50-year-old multimillionaire head coach engage in petty online behavior on a random Saturday in late April seems bizarre. When you factor in that Kiffin walked away from head coaching positions at Tennessee in 2010 and Ole Miss just months ago, the behavior crosses from odd into genuinely questionable territory.

Kiffin departed Ole Miss days before the program’s first-ever College Football Playoff appearance. That single decision transformed him from a coach many believed deserved a statue in Oxford to surpassing Tommy Tuberville as the most despised figure in Rebels football history.

While Kiffin achieved his apparent goal of generating hours of online engagement, he absorbed serious and largely justified criticism from commentators across social media platforms.

Kiffin begins his first season as head coach of the Tigers this fall. Expectations in Baton Rouge are already remarkably high for his inaugural LSU squad, driven largely by the success he achieved at Ole Miss—one of the Tigers’ fiercest SEC rivals.

LSU travels to Ole Miss on September 19 and to Tennessee on November 21 this upcoming season. Both programs and their fan bases are eager for payback against their former coach—that’s putting it mildly.

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