Maybe it's just me, but I've always seen a lot of similarities between Lane Kiffin and Blink-182 front man Tom DeLonge.
Both are 47-year-old Californians who have been in the public eye for two decades now. Both are extremely talented at what they do, and both are prone to make maddening career decisions at times. Both like to profess their love for dogs on the Internet.
And because both men became very famous in their respective fields at a young age, both attracted reputations as immature pranksters that, as they age, turned into a narrative where each new album or job was each man at his "most mature yet."
Kiffin says he's in a different place mentally, more mature, Alex Scarborough writes in his profile of Kiffin, which published on ESPN.com today.
The crux of the piece is examining why he turned down Auburn to remain at Ole Miss, but what I found most interesting was Kiffin's view on the transfer portal and its effect on how coaches brand themselves and their programs in recruiting.
The coach who regularly tweets #TransferToTheSip and dubbed himself the "Portal King" knows he won't be able to recruit like Alabama, Auburn, LSU and Texas A&M, but the portal can serve as an equalizer. You won't hear Kiffin bemoan the evils of the portal, more like a shrugging acceptance that it's the new way of the world.
"These coaches sell parents on -- especially in the south -- come here, it's family, we're gonna treat you like family," he says. "I'm like, 'No, they're not.' If it was family, then why do coaches bring kids in and say, 'Hey, we want to help you transfer, it'd be better for you to transfer.'? You don't do that to your family. So the whole family thing, I said, 'We have to teach some reality that there's a business side.'"
In 2022, Ole Miss signed 18 recruits and 17 transfers. In '23, the number flipped: 16 transfers and 15 recruits.
At quarterback, Kiffin got Jaxson Dart to transfer from USC. The 2020 Gatorade National Player of the Year started for the Rebels in 2022 and so, naturally, Kiffin lured in 5-star quarterback Walker Howard from LSU as well as Spencer Sanders, a 4-year starter at Oklahoma State.
All three are aware there is still only one football.
Kiffin tells players that competition ultimately makes everyone better, and, "Just like the pros, we can't not sign players based off your feelings."
"That's not my job to make you happy," he says. "My job is to make the best roster for our fans, for our [athletic director], for our chancellor that hired me."
Every coach who pitches a family atmosphere undoubtedly means well and most certainly does his best to fulfill that promise. But not many families turn over roughly 25 percent of their membership annually as cogs within a multibillion dollar enterprise.
I'm not sure every coach should operate like Kiffin, but college football is better with him in it.
Now here's "All the Small Things."