College football's mercenary era has a new posterboy
Lane Kiffin's dramatic Sunday included leaked audio, an R-rated airport sendoff, and a healthy dose of hypocrisy.
Here are six sports business takeaways from a rare dramatic Sunday in college football…
Story of the Week 🏈: No story dominated Thanksgiving Week quite like Lane Kiffin’s uncertain future. The Ole Miss coach spent weeks considering other jobs, holding Rebels fans (and administrators) hostage while the team kept winning. On Sunday, he announced he was leaving for LSU. Kiffin reportedly made the decision days earlier, but was jockeying behind the scenes to be allowed the coach the Rebels in the college football playoff.
That request—an absurd one in my opinion—was ultimately denied. This ESPN story appropriately captures just how wild things got in the end.
The airport sendoff 🛫: The outcry has been swift from across college football. It’s not that Kiffin quit on the No. 7 team in the country, it’s how Kiffin quit on the No. 7 team in the country. After he failed in his attempt to stay on through the end of the season, Kiffin reportedly forced the rest of his staff to decide that day whether to stay at Ole Miss or join him in Baton Rogue.1 Here’s On3’s report 👇
A handful of assistants ended up joining him on that plane. And when it was time for Kiffin & crew to fly off, a number of fans gathered to say goodbye…
The tale as old as time ⚖️: The whole saga highlights the continued imbalance between the rights of college coaches and the rights of college athletes. Forced by numerous legal challenges, the NCAA has given players more freedom of movement, but it has also made decisions that halt that very progress.
The winter football transfer portal, for example, was recently condensed into a two-week period in early January. Why? To limit the number of players that enter the portal before their teams are done playing (LOL). The NCAA also changed the transfer rules for players on teams where a coach departs. They used to be able to transfer immediately, within a 30-day window; now they must wait at least five days after a new coach is hired. Only then does a 15-day window open.
In other words. Kiffin is free to change schools now, but players aren’t. How are we still here?
The leaked audio 🎧: Speaking of players. Ole Miss admins held a private meeting with players on Sunday to discuss the program’s future. Of course that audio leaked. What caught my ear was the reaction from players when defensive coordinator Pete Golding was announced as the next head coach. This sure sounds like a group ready to move on 👇
The man behind the curtain 👑: Yes, coaches appear to be gaining power in this new version of college football. And some of that is due to Jimmy Sexton, the CAA agent that reps many of the sport’s biggest names, including Kiffin, Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer, Texas’s Steve Sarkisian, Georgia’s Kirby Smart, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, Florida State’s Mike Norvell, and Oregon’s Dan Lanning.
Sexton is quickly becoming for NCAA football what Scott Boras is in baseball, with all of the success and controversy that comes with it. This ESPN story is old, but it’s a fun read on how Sexton became the sport’s “ultimate power broker."
The 30,000-foot takeaway 📈: I know I sound like a broken record here, but there was something very… NFL about how this all played out on Sunday.2 There were no college football games on the schedule, but the sport still dominated headlines and social media. The NFL’s spot as U.S. Sports King™️ is definitely secure, but college football is quickly separating itself as a clear No. 2.
[BONUS] The hypocrite 🏀: The Kiffin saga was so pervasive that it drew the below post from one of college basketball’s most noted rule-breakers…
Maybe sit this one out, Rick.
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Kiffin denied this in an interview with ESPN.
Except for the fact that, given antitrust protections, the NFL prevents teams from poaching rival coaches in-season.