Lane Kiffin is college football’s most polarising head coach, and maybe the most entertaining one. The persona, the charm, and his controversial past all make him the perfect head coach to manage the now-incoming NIL era Gen-Z players. He’s got the sense of humor, the talent of an offensive maestro, and the ability to carve relationships akin to brotherly bonds with his players more than half his age. Last season, Jaxson Dart called his head coach his “best friend” after a string of gutsy, heroic performances. Dart’s sentiment says a lot about Kiffin’s bond with his team.
So, it’s quite natural to think that a personality like his would be widely popular with the fans, right? Well, to put it precisely, Ole Miss fans love the head coach, who candidly shares his opinion on his X account. This outspoken and unwavering persona has made him popular with the fans. David Pollack of the ‘See Ball Get Ball’ podcast rightly summarized the whole MO of the head coach and why it’s awesome.
“His social media comes into play, because he’ll take shots. … He’ll say exactly what he thinks. … And I think you appreciate that as a player, as a person, you always appreciate the realness.” Lane Kiffin is so unapologetic for his persona that he even took a dig at the playoff committee for snubbing his team last year. “Really exciting competitive game @CFBPlayoff . Great job!!” the head coach wrote on his X account after Notre Dame defeated Indiana in the playoff first round, seemingly signaling sarcastically to include Indiana in the playoff.
A lot of these antics might not sit well with opposition fans, but Ole Miss supporters just adore him. Take, for example, a video shared by the ‘thefieldrush’ shows Coach Kiffin is dancing joyfully in his shorts on a parking lot, and two fans seem to pass by the head coach dancing joyfully as they comment, “Nice green shorts, Dork!” Kiffin then abruptly stops and looks at his shorts with a sad face as the girls in the car start laughing. The moment is short but hilarious, and the video will surely make Ole Miss fans feel what a cool head coach they have.
Lane Kiffin’s popularity isn’t just because of his social media presence or the cool persona he showcases. It’s also because of the transformation that he has brought to the program. Reeling with his controversial past of Tennessee exit and then firing at USC, the head coach is really on his way to redemption with back-to-back 10-win seasons for Ole Miss ever since he took over. Moreover, who can forget the demolition of the mighty Georgia last year by 28-10? Kiffin even termed the win to be meticulously planned for more than a year. Now, the only frontier that is left for Kiffin at Ole Miss is the playoff spot, and 2025 seems quite optimistic.
Lane Kiffin gets a missing piece in his QB room?
With Jaxson Dart off to the NFL, the consensus was that the QB room would regress in Dart’s absence. But when you look at the QB room now, Lane Kiffin has brought in Trinidad Chambliss from Ferris State and Maealiuaki Smith from Oklahoma State, who passed for 489 yards last season. And now, there’s a new name in the mix.
Lane Kiffin has brought in Shawqi Itraish from the Rice Owls. The inclusion of Shawqi Itraish now takes the tally of the QBs in the roster to 5, including the touted starter, Austin Simmons. Itraish’s girlfriend shared the momentous feat and commented on Shawqi’s IG post “absof—lutely.” She even shared an Insta story for Shawqi and wrote, “yesssirrr.”
The arrival of Itraish will act as a pivot in depth for the team and will provide head coach Lane Kiffin a plethora of options in the QB room. As far as the QB’s ability is concerned, he was a 3-star recruit in high school and threw for 4,036 yards. In his last season for 2024, he showed reliability as a backup and passed for 216 yards. While he’s not a household name yet, he adds valuable depth and competition, two things Kiffin thrives on.
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