By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
New LSU football coach Lane Kiffin really is new to Baton Rouge.
So much so that he often sounds and tweets like a tourist on vacation.
A hashtag on his twitter account is often #It’sJustDifferent, which came from that comment he made at his introductory press conference last Dec. 1 two days after leaving his job as Ole Miss’ coach.
Real seafood!! #ItsJustDifferent 👢 pic.twitter.com/aRc8yxamQo
— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) December 20, 2025
He’s not on vacation as tourists are, because he tends to get up for work at about 4:30 a.m., according to his twitter. And during his first two months on the job he was recruiting, hiring staff, flying around and organizing from dawn until late at night. But he has that tourist sense of wonder, surprise and discovery. But it’s not like he’s in Paris or New Orleans. Baton Rouge has never been a tourist destination, excluding Tiger Stadium for the most part.
“I didn’t take the job here because I knew a lot about the town, Ok,” he deadpanned on Wednesday at his first press conference since Dec. 1. “I didn’t know much at all. I took the job because of the football program.”
But unlike his mentor Nick Saban, who showed a cratering LSU what it could be more than anyone since Paul Dietzel in the 1950s, Kiffin doesn’t always eat at home with his family. And he travels more about town than home-to-office-and-back.
He hit a golf course on Friday in some very crisp, cool weather.
Gods country @LSU pic.twitter.com/Xx73hBdqIS
— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) February 6, 2026
“We’ve been out a lot around the community, been to restaurants and different places and things, which has been awesome here,” said Kiffin, the son of a journeyman NFL coach who was a backup quarterback at Fresno State and spent much of his early coaching years at USC. “That’s just been a plus to realize, like the city. There’s soo much to do, so many places to go, so many different things.”
And he’s not talking about bars. He quit drinking years ago.
“The city’s been awesome to kind of combine that with our work life here, and then have that also,” Kiffin said.
He was asked if the excitement around the city since his hiring amid the 31,000 new season ticket orders, the 41 players signed for the No. 1 portal class while keeping the recruiting class together has propelled him.
“I don’t know if it propels me,” he said. “I do sense it a lot. Where you go, they tell me that stuff. And I’ve really felt that through the whole thing and know how much that I feel that. I also remind our guys, ‘That’s great. But we have a lot of work to do.’ Because that excitement is because of those players that we signed. But that goes away real quick when the scoreboard doesn’t go right. But I love that. It is exciting.”
Lane Kiffin Airlines – “When you absolutely, positively have to be there tonight.” … And come back with a portal signature. COLUMN:https://t.co/VG6SAf0QHO
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) February 5, 2026
Kiffin realizes that Baton Rouge can turn on a coach, but he also knows what can also happen.
“Now, let’s put this product together, and now think about the excitement,” he said. “When we have all this, we’re winning on top of it.”
Apparently, that is the plan.
Kiffin continues to be enamored with LSU as if he is an 18-year-old true freshman. For example, he marveled at the fact that he was able to help convince two of the top players among the commitments former head coach Brian Kelly and chief recruiter Frank Wilson left for him to stay with him.
Those were a pair of five-star prospects – No. 1 defensive lineman and No. 8 overall national recruit Richard Anderson of Edna Karr High in New Orleans and No. 1 athlete and No. 4 overall prospect Lamar Brown of University High. Both were wavering amid the coaching change, but signed with LSU on Dec. 4 after a meeting with Kiffin.
“I don’t know of any other school that could get those two guys when we don’t even have defensive line coaches solidified,” Kiffin said. “And they still signed with LSU. That’s not because of Lane Kiffin. That’s not because of Frank Wilson. OK, that’s the power of the place that they would decide to sign instead of waiting to see how everything evolves. Because they both knew it was LSU. It’s a big reason why we’re here. You have a place that has that much power over how kids think. That’s what you want to align with. We want to do a lot of things, too, but to have that brand with you makes a big difference.”
Kiffin never was much of a high school recruiter at Ole Miss. He relied on the portal. But that will change in the coming years now that he has his first roster in outstanding shape with the portal.
“I’ve always enjoyed over time coming here to recruit,” he said, sounding like a tourist again. “And it’s just the people. They love football. Everybody says they love football. The high school coaches here, they love football. It’s awesome. I’d love to sign a lot of Louisiana kids. I know over time there have always been great players here that aren’t highly ranked. A lot of that is because of their makeup and how they’re coached – the way they want to work. It’s been awesome to be around.”
LSU through its various collectives, revenue share and booster financial power will pay its new roster a total of approximately $30 to $35 million in 2026, LSU officials estimate. But Kiffin is convinced they didn’t just come for the Name, Image & Likeness riches.
“The resources, I know, definitely helped,” he said. “But it’s not just the financial resources. To me it’s the resources of when they come in for a visit, they walk into Tiger Stadium. And it’s LSU, and they see all the great players who have played here before, and they see the magnitude of the place. I know I said it, and now it’s like floating around here, but as they come to visit, they say the same thing. And a lot of them said it in that final meeting on Sunday that we had with them after the recruiting visits. They said, ‘It’s just different.’ It’s a different feeling when you come here. That’s not the financial reason. That’s just LSU.”
LANE KIFFIN COMPARES LSU ATHLETIC DINING AREA TO OLYMPIC VILLAGE
The facilities arms race that permeated college football beginning in the early 2000s, particularly with Saban at LSU from 2000-04, ended for the most part with NIL. But LSU still has some tourist destinations to throw at recruits via the high schools and portal, in addition to Kiffin and the coaches he wants to hire.
“They go down and they walk through the cafeteria here for student-athletes, and you feel like you’re in an Olympic training site,” Kiffin beamed. “The best baseball players in the world, the best women’s basketball players, and it’s just a feeling that they got around here. That has tremendous value when these guys decide to come here.”
Lane Kiffin doesn’t have “magic dust,” but he’s got something.https://t.co/KlGBxFasJQ
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) February 4, 2026
Kiffin went out of his way to praise Baton Rouge – this town he knew little about – for helping him and his staff sign what has been called the No. 1 portal class in the brief history of the portal (2021-26).
“The whole town was amazing in recruiting, helping bringing all these kids in and the hospitality that they showed them at the hotels, restaurants and on campus was unbelievable,” he went on. “And they could feel it. There were all kinds of meetings at the end of the official visits, and we talked through what you think about your experience, the parents, the players. And they said, ‘Really, it was amazing.’ The LSU experience, the Baton Rouge experience, how they felt coming in here to visit was a huge part.”
In Kiffin’s mind, one can’t put a price tag on the LSU Experience and Baton Rouge Experience for the tourists he hosted who became Staycationers.
“You know a lot gets played about NIL and those things, but a ton of them talked about a huge part of why they came here was the way they FELT on their trip here,” he emphasized. “That’s the city of Baton Rouge and LSU.”
And there are recruit/tourist destinations that do not have physical addresses.
“I think when they visit us, they feel our entire culture,” he said. “And they feel how demanding that we are. And I think that they choose us. And they’re really competitive, or else they wouldn’t come. They know they’re not going to be guaranteed anything. When they sit in that team room, doesn’t matter what their salary is, the best players are going to play, and they know that. That all works into what is a combination of the resources, our staff and then LSU.”
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