He lit this fuse. Threw gasoline on a grease fire, and did his thing while it burned.<\/p>\n
We can argue about the\u00a0how and why\u00a0of Lane Kiffin\u2019s ugly departure from\u00a0Ole Miss\u00a0and heralded arrival at\u00a0LSU, and if it was the right thing to do. But there\u2019s no escaping the fallout.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no patience for what LSU and Lane Kiffin have constructed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThings don\u2019t happen overnight,\u201d Kiffin said last week during the early stages of spring practice \u2014 and after getting his first look at the most expensive roster in college football.<\/p>\n
After he left\u00a0Ole Miss\u00a0at the critical moment of a national championship run to take a better job.<\/p>\n
After LSU paid former coach Brian Kelly\u00a0$54 million to not coach.<\/p>\n
After the\u00a0governor of Louisiana got involved in Kiffin\u2019s hire, and greased the tracks of a ridiculous process.<\/p>\n
After Kiffin\u00a0convinced the best young offensive coordinator\u00a0in college football to follow him to Baton Rouge.<\/p>\n
After LSU signed the most expensive transfer portal class ever, including a championship-level quarterback within that class.<\/p>\n
After LSU spent,\u00a0according to various reports, $40-50 million on this year\u2019s roster.<\/p>\n
And finally, and certainly unforgettably, after Kiffin has spent the entire offseason \u2014 from the day he left Ole Miss, really \u2014 doing what he does best on social media.<\/p>\n
Taunting any and all, and living the life of kings.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no patience after that, pal. Not for one of the best coaches in the game, and not for one who has never won a Power conference championship.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of work to get a program to an elite performing level,\u201d Kiffin said. \u201cWe\u2019re making some first steps, but there\u2019s a ton of work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
To be fair, what’s Kiffin supposed to say? Should he step to the dais and declare LSU may not have the best roster in college football, but they\u2019ve paid the most for it \u2014 and\u00a0sonofagun<\/em>, if these guys aren’t going to raise their level of play and bring home a national title to the Red Stick. For all of LSU!<\/p>\n It\u2019s not realistic, none of it is. Not bringing together 60 new players (40 transfers) and building player-to-player and coach-to-player chemistry in a matter of months.<\/p>\n Not playing in a new offensive system with a new quarterback and wide receivers, and an offensive line. With seven new starters, and 17 of the 22 offensive players on the two-deep depth chart having not played a down for LSU.<\/p>\n Not playing with a rebuilt defense (three starters return) that was overworked last season, but still gave enough to keep LSU in games it had no business winning (or losing by one possession).<\/p>\n