Lane Kiffin, the Darth Vader of College Football, Makes His Death Valley Debut

Lane Kiffin enters his inaugural season as head football coach at Louisiana State University as the undisputed Darth Vader of college sports, a visor-wearing lightning road for an era defined by structural upheaval.That’s completely fine with him. He thrives on it.Mr. Kiffin, 51, has spent the better part of two decades surrounded by noise, controversy and national scrutiny. Whether it was resigning from Tennessee in 2010 after one season to become the head coach at the University of Southern California, or subsequently being fired on the tarmac at Los Angeles International Airport at 3 a.m. following a 62-41 loss to Arizona State in 2013. Leaving College Football Playoff-bound Ole Miss for a staggering $13 million annual paycheck at LSU was just the latest plot twist.Now as the Tigers open their season in Death Valley Saturday night against Clemson, Mr. Kiffin finds himself as the focal point in the controversy over whether athletes who have signed professional contracts can return to college for a fifth year of eligibility.The legal friction came to a head this week in a Louisiana courtroom where former New Orleans Saints defensive lineman Zxavian Harris and former Cleveland Browns tight end Dae’Quan Wright testified this week before a state judge who eventually issued a preliminary injunction on Thursday against the NCAA in the high-profile eligibility case.The ruling allows LSU to list some former NFL players on its roster. But when and if they’ll officially be eligible to play remains to be seen as the matter continues its way through the court system.“It’s not about Kiffin. It’s not about LSU. It’s about treating these kids fairly,” Tony Clayton, an attorney for the athletes, told reporters.But the SEC, which has filed its own lawsuit against LSU in federal court in Alabama to prevent the former pros from playing this season, is pointing a Sophie Cunningham finger at Mr. Kiffin.“Lane Kiffin is cold as ice,” Jason Williams, a New Orleans attorney representing the SEC, said. “The SEC exists in part to prevent individual competitive incentives from destroying the common conditions that make college football great.”The controversy over eligibility erupted after the NCAA adopted new rules allowing for five full years of competition. The new model allows five seasons of competition in a five-year period, beginning with an athlete’s full-time enrollment or the academic year following their 19th birthday, whichever occurs first. But it was not supposed to include athletes who exhausted their eligibility under the old model after last season, and that has left those athletes challenging the plan in court. Nearly 400 athletes have filed lawsuits seeking additional eligibility because the model excludes members of the high school class of 2022.Messrs. Harris and Wright offered a glimpse into why the former NFL players want to return to college. Both testified they would not have signed with an NFL team this year had they known they might get another year of college eligibility. Each said they earned about $1 million in college. Mr. Harris said he earned just $190 in travel expenses from the Saints and spent most of his time nursing an injury, while Mr. Wright said he received a $25,000 signing bonus from the Philadelphia Eagles before being cut and signed by the Browns. Both are hoping to play when the Tigers visit Ole Miss on Sept. 19, which marks Mr. Kiffin’s return to Oxford. Former Denver Broncos defensive back Blake Cotton also wants to play for LSU.Interestingly, two LSU soccer players, who signed with the United Soccer League, won earlier court orders and have already played this season.Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry supported the players return to college. “They are not professional football players circling back after years in the NFL,” he said in a statement. “They are college players who were told, by the NCAA, that they were done. So they took the only door that was open only to watch the NCAA change the lock behind them.”Mr. Kiffin isn’t shying away from being the lighting rod. There is a sign in the LSU football facility that reads: “If you want to win at the highest level you have to become a villain in someone else’s story.”The 51-year-old, who has served as the head coach of the NFL Oakland, now Las Vegas, Raiders, and college stops at Tennessee, USC, Florida Atlantic, and Ole Miss, said earlier this week he initially struggled “a lot” with the idea of adding players who had been on NFL rosters, but embraced the idea after LSU’s player leadership committee gave its approval.“I feel like my decisions should always be made in the best interest of the players that sit in this team room, and not for my reputation and how the decisions play in the national media or other fan bases,” Mr. Kiffin told reporters during his weekly press conference. “I’ve never been that way, and that could be wrong. It’s probably part of my story, why it is the way it is.”The expectations are enormous at LSU. Three of the last four Tiger coaches won national championships and Mr. Kiffin’s predecessor Brian Kelly was fired after compiling a 34-14 record. Being the self-proclaimed “transfer portal king” help build a 55-19 record at former SEC afterthought Ole Miss and get him the job at LSU where he has the resources to sign three of the best players in the most recent transfer portal: quarterback Sam Leavitt, offensive tackle Jordan Seaton and edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen.Mr. Kiffin said he’ll wait for “guidance” from the courts and the SEC to determine if those suing for a fifth year of eligibility can officially be added to the roster. In the meantime he said he has been focused on preparing for Clemson despite all the noise“I’ve lived in chaos a long time,” he said, adding, “We’re going to have chaos, but we’re going to have controlled chaos, and our team is going to understand why we do what we do. I’ll take the hit publically for it because that’s my job.”

Lane Kiffin, the Darth Vader of College Football, Makes His Death Valley Debut

Lane Kiffin, the Darth Vader of College Football, Makes His Death Valley Debut

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