Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images
(The quotes in this story are from interviews conducted on Mornings with Brian Haldane on Talk 107.3 FM in Baton Rouge. The interviews can be heard here.)
By Hunt Palmer
As the clock struck zeros in Clemson on Labor Day weekend, no one in Baton Rouge was thinking about a coaching search.
One was on before Halloween. LSU’s newly assembled committee moved on its target immediately.
“We knew from Day 1 who we wanted,” said LSU board of Supervisors Chairman Scott Ballard. “Sometimes you have to go after something, and you have to stick with it if you believe in it…We saw some coaches taking jobs. We saw Florida moving who wanted Lane (Kiffin) as well, but we knew we wanted him, and we knew we were the best school in the world. We’ve proven that to be true to all those doubters.”
Athletic Director Verge Ausberry has been involved in many coaching searches across various sports during his three decades at LSU. He was integral in LSU’s pursuit of national championship baseball coach Jay Johnson among others.
A month following Kiffin’s hiring, Ausberry is pleased with the result.
“It was a great search process that we had,” Ausberry said. “I kept (Ballard) informed everywhere that we were. We met a few people on the trail, some very good coaches out there. But, you know, we had to get the best person for LSU. At that time, it was Lane.”
As Kiffin’s name percolated throughout November and tensions rose in Oxford, Gainesville and Baton Rouge, LSU’s representatives stuck to the course while rumors littered the internet.
Flights and family whereabouts were tracked. Reports surfaced. Predictions followed. Much of the speculation was empty.
“With Coach (Ed Orgeron) and all of that (in 2016), when we were looking at (Tom) Herman, Coach O and all the other people, we traveled more,” Ballard said. “In this case, you have some travel with the AD and some of the support staff to get some of it. But most of it, the vast majority of it, 95, 92 percent, is done obviously with the agents on the phone.”
Kiffin has impressed the folks who brought him to LSU. Ballard called him “hyper, hyper-focused” and lauded the first month on the job.
He won’t coach his first game at LSU until September, and the transfer portal isn’t open yet, still Kiffin’s wheels are in motion.
“Lane texts me often,” Ballard said. “He’s an idea guy. He’s an entrepreneur. He’s always coming with ideas, and that’s what it takes to be great. I don’t care if you’re in business, or you’re a coach–which is a business–that’s the secret.”
Meanwhile, the program Kiffin elevated and left is competing for a championship. Ole Miss takes on Georgia in the Sugar Bowl this weekend. Many in the national media have criticized Kiffin for leaving that behind.
LSU isn’t concerned.
“People talk about the process, how it went down,” Ausberry said. “We don’t have control of the process. With Signing Day and the transfer portal day, if the NCAA wants to move those days, they can, but it’s part of the business model that we’re in. Does everybody like it? No, we don’t like it. But, you know, it is what it is. We had to do what’s best for LSU.”
Across the board, the consensus is that Kiffin is what’s best for LSU.
“Lane is going to go to work with the tools given to him, and he’s going to be the best at it,” Ballard said. “I truly believe that.”
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