Lane Kiffin goes off script: Hulk Hogan, Ole Miss and social media dominate SEC Media Days
· Fox News
TAMPA, FL - Lane Kiffin stepped off the escalator inside the Marriott hotel on Thursday morning with cameras waiting to capture his every move at SEC Media Days, certainly knowing that all eyes would be on him over at least the upcoming four hours.
Just after noon, the LSU coach was back on his private plane and headed home to Baton Rouge with the Tigers media relations department and three of his star players.
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Pete Golding drops unfiltered truth on 'Ex' Lane Kiffin, and NCAA tampering: 'What have we created?'
Over the past seven months, the anticipation had been brewing for Kiffin's appearance representing LSU after leaving Ole Miss before the Rebels college football playoff run.
There had been questions about whether Lane would actually embrace some of the questions that you just knew were coming his way.
But, thanks to a 22-minute filibuster at the podium after his introduction from commissioner Greg Sankey, it was Kiffin that talked just enough to only have to field upwards of four questions from the media gathered in the grand ballroom.
And, if you haven’t seen him posting on social media since May, there's also an answer to that interesting move as well.
"Really it just started with my son, Knox, saying 'you're on social media all the time, I bet you can't get off'. If you've followed me, you know that betting me is a good way to do it," Kiffin proclaimed. "I said 'yea I can, just watch'. So, I just got off everything, don't even have the apps.
"It wasn’t a plan for very long, I just wanted to show him I could do it. I think when I look back, a lot of good things have come when I subtract things from my life."
Yes, I know that's going to be hard to believe for plenty of college football fans who were either entertained or agitated with Kiffin's vocal presence on social media. Coming off the Vanity Fair piece in which he made some interesting remarks about recruiting at Ole Miss, some wondered whether or not this was a mandate from the school itself, or his agent Jimmy Sexton.
"See, look at you Trey, already on your phone," Kiffin jokingly mentioned as he walked out of the room.
But, you just knew there would be some type of head-scratching references made during his time in Tampa, even if that did not come at the expense of Ole Miss, or on social media.
I just didn’t expect Kiffin to start discussing the Netflix special on Hulk Hogan.
There have been plenty of comments made about Kiffin's departure from Ole Miss, so that story doesn’t need to be rehashed in this setting.
But, his comments about diversity problems in Oxford being a detriment to Ole Miss recruiting have not gone silent into the night.
And, as much as Kiffin would have enjoyed not having to open that can of worms in late July, the question was coming as to whether he regretted those comments to Vanity Fair.
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But, in true Lane fashion, he found a way to catch everyone off-guard with an explanation about how watching a Hulk Hogan documentary opened his eyes about regret and death.
"I made a decision that I changed jobs, and as I get older and I go through things and losing both parents," Kiffin lamented. "But, you know, I watched the Hulk Hogan special. I realized something. I was, like: We're all going to die. And so some of the things that we put importance on, we worry about, and what this person says and that, really aren't going to matter.
"When I lost my dad I started thinking that. I really started thinking, when I grew up there were two people that I thought just wouldn't die... my dad and Hulk Hogan. Then I watched that special, and Hulk Hogan died too. Like, there was no way that Hulk Hogan was ever going to not wrestle and die, and he did."
Well, that quote certainly opened some eyes, and rightfully so. If there was one thing I was not expecting from the LSU coach on Thursday, it was certainly a reference to the controversial Hulk Hogan.
But, that's Lane Kiffin for you. So, is it actually surprising?
The athletic departments at both schools could sign a peace treaty on the SEC Network for the Sept. 19 game, and it still wouldn’t calm the tension between Rebel fans and the coach who tried to divert attention away from their college football playoff run.
Lane Kiffin can't stop talking about Ole Miss, even while explaining why he chose LSU over Florida
After Pete Golding stole the show on Wednesday with his authentic answers, and rant against tampering rules in college athletics, the attention shifted a bit towards Ole Miss.
While there is no denying that the collision course these two teams are on for the showdown in Oxford, it looks as though SEC commissioner Greg Sankey's words about focusing on your own school during spring meetings seem to have been taken to heart, for now.
And, the fun between both head coaches has not gone silent into the night either.
Turns out, when Golding bought Kiffin's house in Oxford, Lane still had access to the Ring security cameras at his old residence. So, when LSU's staff was keeping tabs on a recruiting trip for Ole Miss, Kiffin had a sense of calm about his demeanor.
"He can't be wherever it was at this recruit's house," Kiffin recalled telling his LSU staff. "He's on my couch, I just saw him walk in."
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Through all the vitriol between Lane and the Ole Miss community, maybe Pete Golding will let him stay in one of spare bedrooms before the September showdown in Oxford that we're all anticipating.
We are just under two months away from a game that will have the college football world focusing their attention on the State of Mississippi.
Maybe by then, Kiffin will be back on social media, selling the showdown like Hulk Hogan would have sold the NWO.