Lane Kiffin Always “Different” And An “Acquired Taste,” Says Writer Who Covered Him Since Tennessee Days

By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

When On3.com columnist Chris Low first met Lane Kiffin, Tennessee had just hired him as head coach after the 2008 season to replace Phillip Fulmer – Tennessee’s last coach to win a national championship in the 1998 season.

Kiffin was just 33 years old at the time after getting fired by the Oakland Raiders as head coach after a 1-3 start in 2008 following a 4-12 season the previous year. Fulmer had just had his second losing season in four years in 2008. Kiffin went 7-6 and 4-4 in the Southeastern Conference with the Volunteers in 2009, which was seen as a solid season.

But then he bolted for the head coaching job at USC, where he had been an assistant for six seasons and had risen to offensive coordinator under Pete Carroll. It was Los Angeles over Knoxville. But he got fired there in the 2013 season, and he resurfaced as Alabama’s offensive coordinator for three very successful seasons under Nick Saban with a national title in the 2015 season. Then he was a successful head coach at Florida Atlantic from 2017-19 and at Ole Miss from 2020-25 before landing at LSU.

“He was sort of a bull in a china shop,” Low said on Tiger Rag Radio Tuesday night of Kiffin’s time at Tennessee. “I think he still is, but I think he’s been able to reign in some of the things that were his undoing in his personal life. And he’ll tell you that.”

Listen to Chris Low’s complete interview on Lane Kiffin on Tiger Rag Radio by hitting the white arrow in the red box below:

Kiffin has stayed away from alcohol since 2020 and is much healthier as he took up yoga at about the same time.

“He’s sober now, and that’s made a big difference with him,” Low said. “Lane is one of those guys, and I don’t mean this in a good or bad way, but he’s willing to do whatever it takes to win at the highest level. He’s 1,000 percent committed to winning and winning big.”

Kiffin, 51, opens the 2026 season with his No. 11 Tigers against No. 23 Clemson on Sept. 5 at Tiger Stadium (6:30 p.m., ABC).

“And he’s going to blow hot and cold,” Low said. “He’s going to be one of those guys who’s very much an acquired taste. Some people never acquire that. But he has a way of rallying teams and rallying players. Almost all the guys I talked to who played for him at Tennessee, and who played for him at Florida Atlantic and at Ole Miss, they like playing for him. They enjoy his swag, the way he goes at it.”

Not all coaches have enjoyed working for him, though.

“Some of them swear by him. Some of them swear at him,” Low said. “But he is unabashedly who he is. And that’s never going to change.”