Kiffin's Sordid Drama; Stanford's UnLucky Choice; White House Bully Bloy

Lane Kiffin and LSU were made for each other. 

The stench from Baton Rouge over the last few weeks has been overwhelming, given the firing of head coach Brian Kelly, the messy involvement of Governor Jeff Landry, the forced resignation of AD Scott Woodward, the ludicrous claim Kelly hadn't been "officially terminated" and subsequent attempt to change his firing to "for cause" to justify not paying his $53 million buyout.

Not to mention the hiring of a new AD who was once suspended for sweeping sexual assaults by football players under the rug.

As for Kiffin, who was known as "Lane Violation" during his early years as a head coach at USC and Tennessee, where he violated NCAA rules with abandon, this is just the latest chapter in his no-loyalty, job chasing career.

Kiffin had supposedly matured after getting sober, learning hot yoga, and finding religion.

No chance. All his team mantras about relationships, accountability and finishing ring pretty hollow right now.

He's kept Ole Miss hanging for two weeks while he weighed offers from LSU and possibly Florida. Yesterday, he bailed on his team on the brink of the College Football Playoff, where it will compete for the national championship, to take a job with one of its chief rivals. 

If that wasn't bad enough, when Kiffin announced he was leaving Ole Miss for LSU, he demanded to coach the Rebels in the CFP while simultaneously threatening to poach coaches and players if he couldn't.

Seriously. As one agent snarked, "Only Lane Kiffin would burn a bridge while still trying to stand on it."

Fortunately, at that point Athletic Director Keith Carter showed him the door, realizing that if he allowed Kiffin to coach in the playoff, the slimeball would still try to take players and coaches with him afterward.

In the midst of this disgusting scenario, ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit and Nick Saban, the former Alabama coach who once fired Kiffin during the playoff, both defended him in yet another example of ESPN's rancid SEC bias.

No, Kiffin is a disgrace. He epitomizes everything that is wrong with college football, where loyalty and integrity are in short supply, where perpetual free agency has ruined a once-great sport.

It's gotten to the point where I'm expecting a player or coach to transfer at halftime. 

Stanford's New Coach: They hired a new football coach at Stanford the other day. Reportedly, after an exhaustive national search.

Unfortunately, it wasn't an inspiring choice. Andrew Luck took the easy way out.

Instead of hiring a proven coach, a program builder, someone who could turn Stanford football around, the Cardinal football general manager went with an old friend, a guy he'd played with, a guy he was comfortable with, a guy who'd never been a head coach.

Tavita Pritchard may turn out to be a wonderful head coach for Stanford. He may prove me wrong. I sincerely hope he does.

But there were many more qualified coaches out there...Jim Mora, Sean Lewis, Bob Chesney, to name a few. Coaches who'd turned programs around and won big. Coaches who knew how to build something out of nothing.

Pritchard is a good quarterback coach. He's done well with Jayden Daniels and Marcus Mariota with the Washington Commanders. He can run a four-man quarterback room.

But that's much different than running the show, being responsible for an entire program...the recruiting, the media, the donors, the admissions office, the in-game decisions of whether to kick or go for it on fourth down, whether to try an onside kick, the clock management, etc. etc. 

Not to mention hiring a quality staff, which will be challenging for a young coach with no head coaching experience.

Another thing to consider. Other than the last two and a half years with the Commanders, Pritchard's entire coaching career was spent at Stanford, where he is known for the game-winning TD pass against USC in one of the biggest upsets in college football history.

He started as a graduate assistant in 2010 and stayed on The Farm through 2022. That's unhealthy inbreeding. 

And that timing also means he has little or no experience with NIL or the transfer portal, which have brought seismic changes to college football.

Pritchard had four desultory seasons as offensive coordinator in the declining years of the David Shaw era. Stanford's records those years: 4-8, 4-2 (Covid), 3-9, 3-9. In 2021, Stanford averaged only 20 points, 302 yards and 86 yards rushing per game. The Cardinal did a little better in his final year, 2022, improving to 21 points per game.

UConn, a team that had won four games in the three years before Mora got there, went 9-3 this year and averaged 37 points and 460 yards per game. Perhaps Mora was too old (64) for the much younger Luck (36). Pritchard is 38.

But people expected more from Luck, who has become the face of Stanford football and has made big, bold promises about returning the program to national prominence.

The Athletic gave the Pritchard hire a grade of "C." I'm afraid I'd go a little lower.

Bully Boy: In the last two weeks, the 79-year old manchild in the White House has called three different female reporters "piggy," "ugly" and "stupid." 

They had the temerity to ask the wannabe king a question he didn't like.

Remember when we had class, decorum, and dignity in the White House? When Presidents treated political opponents and media representatives with respect, instead of with insults and retribution?

Trump likes women who provide eye candy. Women who don't challenge him. Women who know "their place." 

It's not surprising that he was bosom buddies with Jeffrey Epstein.