Coaches and players hop from school to school in the Southeastern Conference annually.
It’s part of the new era of college football.
This year, Lane Kiffin returns to both SEC programs he decided to leave earlier in his career. He was rudely greeted in his September return to Oxford, and that paled in comparison to the circus in Knoxville five years ago when a golf ball and a mustard bottle were hurled in his direction.
Ole Miss and Tennessee happen to be the alma maters of Peyton and Eli Manning. Add older brother Cooper and father Archie, both Rebels, to the mix, too. Kiffin’s decision making probably hasn’t been positively framed around the Manning dinner table.
Still, Kiffin says his relationship with the family is strong.
“If you think about it, I left them twice,” Kiffin said with a grin. “You’ve got to remember the Tennessee part, too, and Peyton. Awesome family, awesome people. I still text once in a while, whether it’s a group text with the family, or on the side just with Peyton or Cooper. They’ve been awesome (at) the places I’ve been and very supportive while we’re there.”
Cooper’s son Arch will take snaps for Texas in Tiger Stadium at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. Kiffin recruited the next Manning generation while head coach at Ole Miss. The Manning name will forever be royalty in Oxford.
Arch chose to forge his own path at Texas with Steve Sarkisian with whom Kiffin also shares a long history.
Both worked at USC and with the Oakland Raiders as young coaches. Sarkisian immediately followed Kiffin as the head coach at USC and the offensive coordinator at Alabama. Sarkisian served in that role for the national championship game after Kiffin was dismissed in his role as offensive coordinator by head coach Nick Saban.
“Yeah, we have a really unique relationship,” Kiffin said. “It goes back a long time. I was a first year tight end coach. He was a GA, actually coaching the quarterbacks with Norm Chow. And then just kind of a really intertwined strange thing of growing up in those years and having the great offenses together and then the Raiders thing where he didn’t go then I went.
“And then I go to USC,” Kiffin said. “Then he comes to USC as the head coach, and then I go to Alabama. Then he comes to Alabama and ends up being the coordinator there.”
Both have achieved success with the headset, but both have battled demons away from football. Sarkisian was fired from USC after a number of alcohol-related events including slurring words and using profanity at a booster event. Kiffin publicly decided to get sober while head coach at Ole Miss.
“On a personal level, a major change in my life was getting sober almost six years ago, and he was a big part of that,” Kiffin said. “I owe him a lot for that and will always be appreciative for that.”
Sarkisian led Texas to the College Football Playoff two years ago. Kiffin’s Rebels made it last season after he coached the team to 11-1 but didn’t coach the team in the postseason after taking the LSU job.
Saturday, they’ll battle with CFP aspirations on the line in some capacity. Texas will be ranked comfortably inside the top 12 on Tuesday night. LSU, with three losses, has to win its final three games and hope for some help.
Plenty a familiarity will be on the field Saturday night in Death Valley.
