By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
The talk of the college football world and newest Baton Rouge resident – new LSU football coach Lane Kiffin – remains the No. 1 college football story in the country.
Kiffin, who accepted the LSU job last Saturday and arrived Sunday after leaving the Ole Miss head coaching job following six seasons, will be on ESPN’s College GameDay on Saturday morning between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m.
The hugely popular pregame show will air from 8 a.m. until 11 a.m. live from Atlanta, site of the Southeastern Conference championship game at 3 p.m. Saturday between No. 3 Georgia (11-1, 7-1 SEC) and No. 9 Alabama (10-2, 7-1 SEC).
Kiffin will be sitting next to or near ESPN analyst and former LSU and Alabama coach Nick Saban, whom Kiffin was offensive coordinator for from 2014-16.
The next best thing to Nick Saban available – Lane Kiffin – is coming to LSU, if Nick Saban has his way.https://t.co/TaBuardbYF
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) November 17, 2025
As Tiger Rag reported on Nov. 17, Saban advised Kiffin to take the LSU job via Jimmy Sexton, who is Kiffin’s and Saban’s agent.
Kiffin said again Monday at his introductory press conference at LSU that he spoke to Saban and former USC head coach Pete Carroll, whom he also coached under, before taking the LSU job.
When you start 2nd guessing yourself, then subconsciously channeling your inner Cajun Man, @Coach_EdOrgeron , then you know LSU was right decision.https://t.co/dxOk82eoOn
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) December 2, 2025
LANE KIFFIN THE TALK OF WASHINGTON D.C., TOO?
The Kiffin news cycle includes Washington D.C. as well as his name was injected into the conversation on Thursday on Capitol Hill concerning a bill that could impact college football significantly.
“As the top Democrat in the U.S. House took the podium Thursday to speak out against a bill to regulate college athletics, he set his sights squarely on LSU, its new football coach — and two of the school’s alumni who are among the most powerful people on Capitol Hill,” Baton Rouge Advocate political reporter Mark Ballard wrote from D.C.
Ballard quoted House Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, asking, “Why would Mike Johnson and Steve Scalise think it was a good idea to bring the Lane Kiffin Protection Act to the floor of the House of Representatives? Legislation that would do nothing to benefit college athletes and everything to benefit coaches like Lane Kiffin, who got out of town, abandoned his players in the middle of a playoff run to go get a $100 million contract from LSU – the home state of Mike Johnson and Steve Scalise,” Jeffries said.
Actually, it’s a $91 million contract over seven years. And all coaches who get other jobs or non-coaches who run companies who get other jobs have to “abandon” their players or employees. Also, with more and more coaches getting fired earlier in seasons in recent years, coaches are naturally being hired earlier. And the 12-team playoff is only in its second season, so obviously Kiffin is just the first of more coaches to come who will be in the same predicament he found himself in this season.
Tulane coach Jon Sumrall was in the same situation as Kiffin as he accepted the Florida job at about the same time, but Tulane will let Sumrall coach the Green Wave should it reach the playoffs while he is now working for Florida.
Johnson, who is from the Shreveport area, and Scalise, who is from the New Orleans area, are the top leaders of the Republican majority House of Representatives. Johnson is the Speaker of the House while Scalise is the House Majority Leader.
“People are asking the question,” Jeffries continued. “Why did you bring this bill this week with all the other issues that the country is demanding that we focus on led by the affordability crisis that they say is a scam and a hoax?”
Scalise is quoted as saying, “You’ve seen lawsuits erode the ability for the NCAA to even police college athletics to the point where now it’s the Wild, Wild West. There are no rules in place, no structure.”
Scalise dismissed Jeffries comments in line with others against the federal government’s involvement in regulating college sports.
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