Lane Kiffin was the big get for LSU this fall, but this past weekend he put himself into a social issue jam through a disgusting attempt at appealing to Tr**p with a post on X.
Kiffin posted an image with two LSU colored hats stitched with “Make Baton Rouge Great” and tagged Tr**p.
The backlash was swift, with many LSU fans slamming Kiffin’s MAGA-thirsty post.
“You’re so pathetic,” remarked one fan.
“Guess I’ve watched my last LSU football game for the foreseeable future,” responded another.
The criticisms continued until Kiffin deleted the original post and replaced it with another with the same hats but tagging LSU football instead of Tr**p.
The original post was a surprise to many as Kiffin was someone who supported Black players.
When he was hired by Ole Miss, he attended a Black Lives Matter Unity Walk on the campus with his team and coaches following George Floyd’s murder.
“This is about taking action, and this is a step in the right direction,” said Kiffin about the 2020 Walk. “We’re walking to promote change and to help end injustice that is occurring throughout our nation everywhere.”
It was a revealing experience that demonstrated to the Rebels new head coach he had work to do off the field.
“I had not thought at the angles of how they were seeing things, so it was very eye-opening,” said Kiffin.
In 2022, Kiffin accused a Texas Tech player of allegedly using a racial slur against an Ole Miss player and spitting on him (he did mention that he didn’t hear the alleged slur directly but that he was told about it).
Kiffin was also accused in a 2023 lawsuit by Ole Miss defensive tackle DeSanto Rollins of racial and sexual discrimination, failure to provide equal protection and a slew of other charges. But the suit was ultimately thrown out in January 2024 by a U.S. District Court Judge in the Northern District of Mississippi.
Yet while Kiffin has supported Black players, this past weekend, six years after the Unity March, he seems to have forgotten what he experienced that day.
He forgot that many of his current and former players are the very individuals currently being targeted from almost every angle by the person he tagged.
He also failed to remember that his boss, longtime Tiger and newly appointed athletic director Verge Ausberry, is also Black.
Maybe Kiffin was just trying to secure some extra attention for his program.
Maybe he was trying to return the support of MAGA-loving Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, who injected himself into LSU’s head coaching search and was involved in securing Kiffin.
Maybe this was a thoughtless moment with no malicious intent.
Or maybe this is who Kiffin has become or, more alarmingly, who he’s been all along.
Whatever the reason, he connected himself with a racist, sexist, inhumane and corrupt group whose policies are literally killing people in this county, and that should raise red flags for all Black players, their families and every LSU supporter with a soul.
How could the same man who said this after George Floyd’s murder and the Unity Walk make such as boneheaded decision?
“(I’ve been talking) with my own children about things that are going on and how things can affect people,” he said in 2020. “What you say or how you act has an impact, and you don’t realize it sometimes, so definitely some educational awareness there with my own kids.”
Looks like now his children will need to have a different type of talk with their father.
While he wrangles with his conscience and upset fans, it’s even more disturbing, and disappointing to see the lack of reaction by Black athletes, particularly Black LSU athletes.
If you check Kiffin’s Twitter feed, it’s filled with images of portal signings, recruits, and other generally good news for the LSU community.
But what’s absent is criticism from, or even commitment rescinds by Black players.
It’s a telling sign of how NIL and the big money in college football has effectively silenced the college activist athlete that used to possess a strong presence on college campuses.
Teams like Penn State, Missouri, UNC and Clemson once stood tall against unjust issues, but now those voices have taken a back seat to the game’s wealth and celebrity.
Lane Kiffin is a good coach and generally appears to be a good person, but his decision this weekend should be a warning sign for Black players and their families.
Tommy Tuberville and Bruce Pearl showed us why knowing who you’re playing for is crucial.
Now you have to wonder if Lane Kiffin might actually be part of that coaching circle.
