Jimbo Fisher: Lane Kiffin is ‘the villain’ for the way his departure from Ole Miss to LSU has impacted the playoff
Former Florida State and Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher doesn’t like the fact that several Ole Miss assistants won’t coach the Rebels Thursday night in the Fiesta Bowl.
Four offensive assistants accompany Lane Kiffin to LSU. Although offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. and running backs coach Kevin Smith will be with the Rebels against Miami, tight ends coach Joe Cox and wide receivers coach George McDonald will not be with the team. And Fisher thinks Kiffin became a “bad guy” because of how his departure played out.
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On the ACC Network’s “Inside ACCess” Wednesday night, Fisher speculated that what Kiffin “wasn’t counting on was [Ole Miss] win” in the College Football Playoff. While Kiffin is recruiting for his new job — one that he said gave him a better chance at a national title — Ole Miss is one win away from playing for a national championship itself.
“He thought his dysfunction in leaving would cause them this dysfunction,” Fisher said. “No, it united them. And these coaches came back because they love the kids and they did and now he’s taking them away. When you made the decision at the time to say they can coach, they should coach all the way. I’m not saying they can’t recruit during the day, during the week, plan a game – you have computers, you can break down the game plan, call the kids, have a Zoom meeting and then I’ll be back for the game, I’ll be back two days before the game – that’s where he’s wrong.
“He thinks he’s being portrayed as the bad guy. He’s right now. Because it’s wrong. These kids have an opportunity to do something. You know, that national championship ring that I have? … You don’t have those opportunities. And what they did. And for them to have an opportunity to win a national championship… you made that decision a month ago, you live it through the playoffs. And he’s wrong for doing it and I will say he has wrong. I have no problem saying that.
New Ole Miss coach Pete Golding has the opportunity to go 3-0 in the College Football Playoff before Kiffin has coached a playoff game himself. Golding, the team’s defensive coordinator, was named coach at Ole Miss as Kiffin was about to leave for LSU. And the Rebels beat Tulane and Georgia within two wins of their first national title in more than 60 years.
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On Wednesday, Golding made it clear he wanted to build a program where “one person or one player or something like that” wouldn’t derail it.
“I am replaceable, you are replaceable, our players are replaceable,” Golding said. “I think you want to build a program that’s going in the right direction and one person or one player or something like that isn’t going to derail that.
“There’s too much invested in this, and it’s been fairly established that one person wouldn’t have that drastic an impact on something. If that’s the case, it’s probably not well constructed. If a coach in any sport can determine the outcome, he probably doesn’t have a very good staff. I mean, if one player can determine the outcome, we probably haven’t recruited and created the right depth.”
