PALMER: Three things I learned at Kiffin’s intro press conference

By Hunt Palmer

Lane Kiffin donned a purple and white dress shirt and a purple tie as he made his introductory remarks Monday afternoon in Tiger Stadium.

He spoke about the weight of the decision, the process by which he made it, the influencers he trusted and his emotions over the last few weeks.

He got emotional talking about his father and his drive away from Ole Miss with his son. He also showed some real joy when talking about driving by Tiger Stadium.

Kiffin is not the most polished speaker to grab a microphone. His gift is coaching, not public remarks. But his answers on Monday were interesting and at times revealing.

Here are my three takeaways from Kiffin’s first press conference at LSU.

Nick Saban told him LSU was the best job in football.

Was this a direct quote? No. Did I infer it? Absolutely. It was a combination of the quote and the body language when he mentioned Saban and Pete Carroll.

 “I just talked to them, and it really was apparent to I felt like everybody that I talked to outside of the state that I was in all basically said the same thing. They all said, man, you are going to regret it if you don’t take the shot and you don’t go to LSU. It’s the best job in America with the best resources and to win it. It’s obviously been done here before by a number of people.

Pete Carroll, really, he told me that he always told my dad that he would look out for me. When we were talking, he really channeled him from knowing him for so long, and he said, this is exactly what he would do. He would tell you, boy, go get it; go for it.

Coach Saban kind of coached at another place in this conference, so I can’t really say exactly what he said, but I’ll say I think the world of Coach Saban, and I respect him. So, there’s a reason I’m here.”

Why can’t you say what he told you? Because it would not go over well in Tuscaloosa. Saban has been on record saying that leaving LSU was the biggest mistake he ever made. That has everything to do with the fact that he didn’t enjoy the environment in the NFL and nothing to do with his time at Alabama. But, when you read that quote and saw the smirk that went with it, it’s easy, and convenient, for me, to infer that Saban told Kiffin that LSU was the best job he ever had.

LSU always has the money…so far.

In an era of college football that demands the boosters and football programs spend, LSU has always found the cash. Need $17 million to fire Ed Orgeron. Done. Need $95 million to hire Brian Kelly? Done. Need to buy out his defensive staff? Done? Hire a new one? Done. Buy the No. 1 portal class? Done. Buy Kelly out? Done. Hire a new coach for $91 million? Done. Have a plan in place for revenue sharing and the new NIL rules? Lane Kiffin says that’s done, too.

“But in that, it was very important and very critical. Verge and his team had a really, really good plan and even talked to some donors that are part of that plan here to see exactly how does that work. There’s a great plan here. There’s a great plan of how we can come together with what we bring and what players around the country want to play for us and play in our systems and then have that support to be able to do that so that they want to play for us and they get taken care of financially.

Obviously nowadays it’s the world of college football, and it’s very important and critical to them, which it should be. This was the best setup. That definitely played a factor into it. Because I don’t care what your systems are, without good players, they don’t work.

I actually asked today about my contract. Not the numbers. I still don’t know them. I said, hey, just in case I get asked on it, and he said, basically all four were extremely similar contracts for me, but in the process of figuring out the NIL package, those were not similar; those were not the same. That’s a big part of it.”

Recruiting is the top priority right now.

Kiffin is not known for his recruiting prowess. He’s an offensive mind. That’s his strength. However, when he got to campus, a plan was in place. Lamar Brown, the No. 1 player in the country and an LSU commitment, came to the facility. So did Oklahoma commitment Brayden Allen, a wide out from Lafayette. We knew all of that on Sunday night. Kiffin’s excitement for recruiting came through in his press conference, though.

“That was the number one priority and is the number one priority right now. We’re on that.

It goes dead where we can’t go out right now. Yesterday people could come up to the office. I obviously can’t name them individually, the recruits. So that is our number one focus right now is to sign the best class that we possibly can Wednesday.

Also, we have big-picture thinking, too. We’re not reaching or we’re not signing kids because they’re from this school or that school or any of that stuff, okay? We’re going to sign the best players that we can on Wednesday.

Then go to the portal, which I have zero concern about the interest of players with that, because I know what the interest was of players nationally to come play for us where we were just at, and now when you put that with this stadium and with that logo, I mean, makes me want to get on the phone right now, but the portal is not open.”

I’ve watched enough Kiffin press conferences over the last three weeks to know that his poker face is not very good. When he’s uncomfortable, you know it. When he gets diverted into something he’s passionate about like his kids or his wins at Ole Miss, he gets going a little bit more freely. This was the spot in the press conference where he really got rolling with the excitement that comes with a new job. And the end of that quote speaks to part of his decision to leave Ole Miss.

This stadium is 40,000 seats bigger and carries a mystique all its own.

That logo is as powerful as any in collegiate athletics across all sports. It’s national titles in football, baseball, women’s basketball and gymnastics. It’s Heismans, and No. 1 picks and Cy Youngs and magazine covers. It’s Saturday Night in Death Valley and purple and gold. That doesn’t exist everywhere.

Ole Miss is a good job. Kiffin, without completely disparaging the place he called home for six years, made it clear what separated LSU and made his choice.