TO DISCUSS THIS COLUMN, EMAIL JIM ENGSTER AT … [email protected]
By JIM ENGSTER, President, Tiger Rag
Lane Kiffin reigns as the most polarizing college football wizard since Nick Saban called it a career after 17 glorious seasons at Tuscaloosa. Kiffin has a galaxy of miles to go before reaching Saban territory on the field, but he is a magnet for those who cherish a villainous target. A nation chats incessantly about the mercurial man, who is a native of Bloomington, Minnesota, but has never lived in one place long enough to call it home.
Eighteen years ago, Saban was burned in effigy in Baton Rouge at an off-campus apartment complex when he returned to LSU as the Alabama maestro. His No. 1 team survived to defeat the No. 15 Bengals 27-21 in overtime on Nov. 8, 2008. Saban was at the brink of his manifest destiny to be regarded as the best there ever was at winning college football contests.
Nick was also once regarded as a nomad who had deserted top posts at Toledo, Michigan State, LSU and the Miami Dolphins before spending his golden years between 55 and 73 years of age as the first worthy heir to the Bear in Alabama.
At 51, Kiffin is five years younger than was Saban when he arrived at the premier destination in the SEC. The popular pundit Paul Finebaum insists Kiffin desired to replace his former boss in the land of the Red Elephants, but Bama had trepidation about hiring a coach who is regarded as unpredictable as he is brilliant.
Controversy has frequently accompanied the Kiffin swagger.
He has been the recipient of an avalanche of attention since well-documented friction with Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis, the first boss to fire Lane. From his midnight run from Tennessee to USC where athletic director Pat Haden canned him on the airport tarmac to his move from sedate and proper Oxford to Babylon on the Bayou, Kiffin has been engulfed with catcalls from critics and amens from admirers.
Lane enticed a collection of keyboard cowards and armchair quarterbacks by departing Mississippi as the Rebels were prepping for a national championship run. The chase fell short by an eyelash under his successor Pete Golding. Trinidad Chambliss, the quarterback Kiffin molded and could not coax to LSU, has reached a new level of competence under his new coach.
The talented and charismatic passer and runner for Ole Miss gave Golding the first laugh in a newly fueled rivalry between two of the SEC’s original members. There has not been as much excitement on a Saturday night telecast of LSU and Ole Miss since Dec. 5, 1970, the night when the Tigers pounded the Rebels 61-17 at Tiger Stadium in a bout between Bert Jones and Archie Manning.
LSU also savored a triumph in the initial Saban-Les Miles battle on Nov. 3, 2007 in a 41-34 slugfest at Tuscaloosa. By the time Les was fired in 2016, Saban enjoyed a 7-3 edge over Miles and had won six national titles to one for Miles.
A distinction between Saban at Alabama and Kiffin at LSU is that Nick had to rebuild without a transfer portal and NIL benefits and won it all in his third season at Alabama. In year one in Baton Rouge, Kiffin has assembled the most compensated roster and staff in the history of college sports. It is reasonable to expect LSU to compete at the highest levels under these circumstances.
At the start of the 2026 season, the only member of the SEC head football coaching fraternity to have won a conference championship is former LSU assistant and current Georgia coach Kirby Smart. The other 15 league coaches wallow in the shadow of Smart, who has four SEC crowns and two national titles in his eleven seasons at Athens.
Smart is nine months younger than Kiffin and served as defensive coordinator at Alabama in 2014 and 2015 with Kiffin as the Tide offensive coordinator. Those years produced a pari of SEC titles and a national championship for Bama.
It would be appropriate to term Smart a savant or genius, but it is too early to apply those descriptions to the LSU coach. Kiffin has shown great promise, but until he wins league honors, it would be wise to give assessments about his intellect a break.
A local sportscaster in Baton Rouge termed Lane the best coach in Ole Miss history. The record shows Kiffin did not win the conference in six years at Oxford while Johnny Vaught won the SEC six times from 1947 to 1963. Some of Vaught’s conference competitors included Bryant, Bobby Dodd of Georgia Tech, Shug Jordan of Auburn, Wally Butts of Georgia and Robert Neyland at Tennessee.
Here is the list of the SEC football coaches with the most league titles:
Coach/Championships/Years At School Or Schools
Bear Bryant/14 (13 Alabama, 1 Kentucky)/33 years
Nick Saban/11(9 Alabama, 2 LSU)/22
Johnny Vaught/6 at Ole Miss/25
Vince Dooley/6 at Georgia/25
Steve Spurrier/6 at Florida/23
Robert Neyland/5 at Tennessee/22
LSU is now touted as a Top 5 football power in the country even though LSU has no coaches with more than two SEC titles. Saban, Bernie Moore, Paul Dietzel and Les Miles won two SEC crowns to lead the pack in TigerTown. Charles McClendon, Bill Arnsparger, Mike Archer and Ed Orgeron each won a single conference title.
By comparison, Pat Dye was the SEC champ four times in 12 years at Auburn.
In conference competition, these SEC coaches have amassed more than 100 victories against league foes:
Bear Bryant/ 159-46-9/77.6 pct.
Nick Saban/148-30-0/83.1 pct.
Steve Spurrier/126-52-0/70.8 pct.
Vince Dooley/108-41-4/72.5 pct.
Johnny Vaught/107-42-10/67.3 pct.
Robert Neyland/103-17-10/85.8 pct.
This is the LSU list of most prolific coaches in SEC play:
Charles McClendon/63-41-1/60.6 pct.
Les Miles/62-28-0/68.9 pct.
Bernie Moore/43-28-4/60.6 pct.
Ed Orgeron/31-17-0/64.6 pct.
Nick Saban/28-12-0/70.0 pct.
Paul Dietzel/26-16-2/61.9 pct.
Brian Kelly/19-10-0/65.5 pct.
Gerry DiNardo/18-20-1/47.4 pct.
Gaynell Tinsley/17-25-6/40.5 pct.
Mike Archer/15-12-0/55.6 pct.
Bill Arnsparger/13-3-2/81.3 pct.
Kiffin possesses potential to emerge as the most decorated coach in LSU history. He is a seasoned mentor primed to dominate headlines with success to offset his many controversies. But Lane is a work in progress until he reaches the SEC pinnacle.
Be the first to comment