LSU paid millions to replace Brian Kelly with Lane Kiffin, but the Tigers are already off to a worse start than last season. Was it all a mistake?
LSU fans spent months celebrating the arrival of Lane Kiffin, believing the former Ole Miss head coach would finally bring championship football back to Baton Rouge.
Well, six games into his tenure, Kiffin is already doing worse than the coach LSU paid millions to get rid of.
The Tigers are sitting at 4-2 following an embarrassing 35-34 overtime loss to Kentucky, including a disappointing 1-2 record in SEC play.
Meanwhile, Brian Kelly had LSU sitting at 5-1 through six games last season.
Let that sink in.
LSU reportedly committed more than $90 million to bring Kiffin to Baton Rouge while also facing an enormous buyout to move on from Kelly. All that money, all that hype, and the Tigers have somehow taken a step backward.
And the excuses are already starting.
Following the Kentucky loss, Kiffin expressed frustration with controversial officiating decisions. But championship-caliber coaches shouldn’t need to blame referees after losing to an unranked opponent.
What makes this situation even more concerning is that Kiffin was supposed to be an offensive mastermind capable of immediately transforming LSU into a national championship contender.
Instead, the Tigers have already suffered two conference losses, and their College Football Playoff hopes are suddenly looking shaky.
Nobody is denying what Kiffin accomplished at Ole Miss. But winning games in Oxford and handling the expectations of a championship-or-bust program like LSU are two completely different challenges.
Brian Kelly was fired because winning wasn’t enough.
Now LSU has a coach who’s winning even less.
Maybe Kiffin eventually turns things around, but right now, LSU fans have every reason to question whether their expensive new hire was ever the right guy for the job.
