By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
With LSU suddenly Maverick Head Coach U., new football coach Lane Kiffin was asked about newer basketball coach Will Wade on Tuesday – one day after Wade’s introductory pep rally/press conference at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
“Yeah, I talked to him the other day,” Kiffin said as his team enters its second week of spring practice. “Obviously, he’s extremely excited about it. I did not know him personally. From what I know, he’s been very successful wherever he’s been.”
The Marty McFly of college basketball – Will Wade – has gone “BACK In Time.”https://t.co/f4uEDyQDBz
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) March 30, 2026
National media have drawn comparisons to the new coaches mainly because of their maverick and often-quirky personalities. Both are clearly different. Both are also clearly winners.
Kiffin has packaged his “It’s just different” comment about LSU that he used in explaining why he left Ole Miss after six seasons to be the Tigers’ coach at his introductory press conference last Dec. 1.
And Wade just proved he must think LSU is “just different,” too, as he just left North Carolina State after only one season to be LSU’s coach.
Kiffin left a program that has been clearly better than LSU in football in four of the previous five seasons as he made it that way, but not so much historically before him. Whereas Wade left a program that historically and recently has been significantly better than LSU in basketball, and he left the Atlantic Coast Conference, which has also been historically significantly better than the Southeastern Conference with a rare exception happening in 2024-25.
Kiffin and Wade also have one thing uniquely in common. Each left a major job after only one so-so, but turnaround season – 7-6 and 4-4 for Kiffin and 20-14 and 10-8 for Wade. Each broke rich, long term contracts and angered those fan bases and administrations to return to a place where they previously coached with great success and really enjoyed.
Kiffin bolted from the head coaching job at Tennessee after the 2009 season to take the head coaching job at USC, where he was an assistant for six seasons with two national championships. Wade bolted from NC State after one season to take the head coaching job at LSU, where he was the head coach from 2017-22 and led the team to three NCAA Tournaments and an SEC championship.
Tennessee fans, administration and some media were understandably frothing at the mouth, but Kiffin was returning to his dream job in a much better town and area. North Carolina State fans, administration and some media were also understandably frothing at the mouth, but Wade was returning to his deja-vu dream job in a similarly so-so town.
There is no comparison, by the way (note to Ole Miss fans and administration and some writers), to Kiffin leaving Ole Miss after six seasons and Wade leaving NC State after one. Kiffin’s departure was completely normal in the history of coaches, and six seasons for a coach nowadays is on the long end.
There is also no comparison between Kiffin and Wade regarding the NCAA. Kiffin drew only minor infractions while Tennessee’s coach. Wade is one of the most notorious cheaters in NCAA history with a nasty reputation accrued in a very short time.
But each strongly share a passion of place when it comes to LSU.
“If you’re passionate about a place, and you’re a really good coach, that’s a really good combination,” Kiffin said. “And I know there’s a lot of judgment about whether he should go, and he just got there, and all those things.”
Kiffin then didn’t fail to recognize the similarity with him.
“Probably have a unique view of that,” he quipped. “But I just think everything is everybody’s story. They got one life to live, and what they want to choose to do and what they believe their story is after they get the best information they can from the people that are closest to them, and they make their decisions. And then it’s, in my opinion, that person’s job to go prove that decision right. And so, I know people here are really excited about it.”
And Kiffin pointed that Wade’s move says a lot about the attraction of LSU, as does his move over Florida State and Florida.
“It does speak volumes of LSU,” he said. “Because to me, there’s somebody that understands everything about LSU, understands the power of LSU, went through a very unique situation. Kind of a breakup, you know. And then makes the decision to come back, to me, says a lot about LSU.”
LANE KIFFIN COMMENTS ON GABRIEL RELIFORD INJURY
Kiffin commented for the first time on the torn anterior cruciate ligament knee injury to sophomore edge rusher Gabriel Reliford suffered last week on the second day of spring practice. He is expect to miss all of the 2026 season.
“Yeah, that’s a difficult injury,” he said. “Really challenging for him after missing time last year. He was doing a great job. To me, even more than ever, to have multiple defensive ends who can rush and play snaps against that fast tempo, this was a significant loss for us. He has a really good future here, and we were really excited about how he was performing.”
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