Hero or heel? Lane Kiffin’s actions these next few years will dictate how he’s remembered at Ole Miss.
What does Lane Kiffin want legacy to be? ‘Impact people’ he says. He can do that at Florida or LSU.
Lane Kiffin always speaks highly of Ole Miss and Oxford. That’s not the same as wanting to end his career there.
Get your popcorn ready.
Here’s a play in three acts:
1. Mississippi loses the Egg Bowl in Starkville.
2. Lane Kiffin vamooses for another SEC job.
3. The Rebels are left out of the College Football Playoff.
Epilogue: Ole Miss fans hate Kiffin forever, and he reprises his past role as a villainous traitor.
The Greeks’ “Oedipus Rex” would have nothing on this modern-day tragedy in Dixie.
Now, in contrast, how about this three-act drama that’s more uplifting, except for those in Starkville and Gainesville:
1. Ole Miss quiets the cowbells and wins the Egg Bowl.
2. Kiffin signs a contract extension and announces he’s riding with the Rebels.
3. Ole Miss qualifies for the playoff for the first time in history and plays into January.
Epilogue: Kiffin eventually leaves Ole Miss year(s) later, but, upon his retirement, a statue is built in Oxford. Kiffin is welcomed back a hero, and he’ll remember his time coaching the Rebels as the most rewarding years of his career.
This story could take a few other shapes, too, like the Rebels winning the Egg Bowl but Kiffin exiting afterward. Kiffin might cling to the illusion of going on a ‘Last Dance’ type run at Ole Miss, even as he packs his bags for an SEC rival. His Ole Miss bosses could put the kibosh on that.
As Kiffin considers overtures from Florida and LSU while his team pursues the playoff, he must ask himself: What type of production does he want to become the star in?
Is he tired of being the renegade, or does he deep down miss that heel turn? Is he ready to scratch the itch I know he must feel for a plot twist?
Did Ole Miss become his forever love? Did he fully and truly embrace Oxford, complete with the rocking chairs on his veranda, or was that just one of the stories he told to refine his image?
Is he ready to give up dreams of brand names and accept his happiness and success at the emboldened underdog punching above its historical weight? Or, does he think he’s taken Ole Miss as high as he could take it, and he could take Florida (or LSU) higher?
Does he make a better hero, or a black hat?
How Lane Kiffin answers the legacy question
As Kiffin navigates this stay-or-go process, to what degree has he thought about what he wants his career legacy to be? That’s the big enchilada, right there.
I asked Kiffin that very question on the SEC’s midweek teleconference. He paused, speechless for several seconds, before beginning to respond.
“That’s a good one,” Kiffin said. “I wasn’t ready for that.”
As he began to answer, he told a story he’s shared with me before, about how after his dad died, he was struck by the number of people, from all walks of life, who told stories of how Monte Kiffin affected them.
“I love that I feel like my story, what I’ve gone through, my experiences, are able to impact people,” Kiffin said. “I remember speaking at my dad’s funeral, and so many people from so many places sending cards, coming down, saying things about his impact on them, and I was like, ‘God, that’s what I hope for.’
“So, I guess I don’t have a full answer, because you were probably thinking more of coaching. I’m thinking more of the legacy that you leave with the people you connect with and the ability to help them through things.”
I don’t think Kiffin is the same person he was when he inflamed Raiders owner Al Davis or jettisoned the Vols. I also don’t think he’s ever, in his heart of hearts, accepted the idea of retiring at Ole Miss.
Kiffin, a consumer of Taylor Swift’s music, once told me his favorite song off her ‘Tortured Poets’ album is, ‘My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys.’
He saw forever, so he smashed it up, the pop icon sings in that one.
Or, he saw forever, and so he moved to Gainesville or Baton Rouge.
As Ole Miss waits, Lane Kiffin decision on Florida, LSU looms large
If Kiffin wants to “impact people,” as he puts it, he doesn’t need to stay at Ole Miss to do that. In fact, he can tell himself he’d encounter more people whom he could impact by leaving for Florida or LSU.
Two things can be true at once: Kiffin has evolved, somewhat, but not so much that he wants to be a Reb for life. I think he’s long fancied Florida, and I think he believes LSU is an elite job with a vaulted ceiling.
Kiffin can’t have it both ways, in this instance. If he spurns Ole Miss and accepts another job while the team he built and the program he electrified is in the midst of a playoff run, he’s the heel again. That might become unchangeable, etched into his epitaph.
We can tell ourselves stories that help us when we look in the mirror, but we don’t get to write our own legacies.
Legacies are crafted by how others perceive and remember our actions.
Kiffin’s actions these next few weeks will dictate how others perceive and remember his career. Hero or heel, what’ll it be?
No matter what he chooses, he’ll be the star of this show.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.