Lane Kiffin talks golf balls, mustard at SEC Media Days
ATLANTA – If Grey Poupon or Titleist are looking for a spokesman, they should contact Lane Kiffin’s agent. The Ole Miss coach has become synonymous with mustard and golf balls.
It all goes back to last October in the waning moments of the Rebels’ 31-26 win at Tennessee.
The Volunteer fans at Neyland Stadium did not like losing to their former coach and rained objects onto the field in protest.
The projectiles that received the most attention were mustard bottles, until a television camera caught the image of a golf ball whizzing by Kiffin’s head.
Lane Kiffin got hit by a golf ball from the stands in Knoxvillepic.twitter.com/ZrNyqCPCRh
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) October 17, 2021
Since then, Kiffin has had some odd autograph requests. Monday, at the SEC Media Days, he relayed how those requests have continued.
“I did sign a mustard bottle,” he began. “That was the first guy to come up, which I think he had an Alabama shirt, so I was a little confused there,” Kiffin explained. “So, I have signed a lot of mustard bottles and golf balls. It’s been a unique offseason.”
Is that a mustard bottle signed by Lane Kiffin? Yes. Yes it is. pic.twitter.com/gQBGpXbhku
— Barrett Sallee (@BarrettSallee) July 18, 2022
But an offseason that followed a season in which the Rebels won ten regular-season games for the first time in school history and received a Sugar Bowl berth.
Prior to media days, Kiffin had some fun with the Tennessee fans. In March, when the Vols’ baseball team came to Swayze Field, Kiffin threw out the ceremonial first pitch. He used a golf ball instead of a baseball to troll the Volunteers.
Lane Kiffin just threw out the “first pitch” with a golf ball.
In case you forgot, a Tennessee fan launched a golf ball at him back in October inside of Neyland Stadium. pic.twitter.com/DM04xfoPhL
— Ben McKee (@benmckee14) March 25, 2022
Unfortunately, Tennessee swept the three-game series, but the golf ball pitch led to greater things.
“On the golf ball, which goes back to the first pitch of the Tennessee game, we got swept by Tennessee and everybody thought it was my fault,” Kiffin said Monday.
“I had a plan. I wanted our guys to stay humble, not play very well, then we’d go win the national championship in baseball. I’d like to say that was a plan. All the Tennessee fans that were all excited about sweeping us, there was a plan.“
Lane Kiffin on throwing out a golf ball for first pitch vs. the Vols
After that series, the Ole Miss baseball team got hot, with the Rebels winning 8-of-10 to close the regular season. After losing its first game in the SEC Tournament, Ole Miss received the last at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Once the Rebels got into the tournament, they tore through the field on the way to the school’s first baseball national championship.
Never doubt the genius of Lane Kiffin when it comes to mustard bottles and golf balls.
Steve Barnes
Steve Barnes joins The Rebel Walk staff as a senior writer and brings a trifecta of journalistic experience. As a writer, he has covered college sports for Rivals.com, Football.com and SaturdayDownSouth.com as well as served as a beat writer for various traditional newspapers.
He has been a broadcaster for arena football and several national tournament events for the National Junior College Athletic Association as well as hosting various shows on radio.
A former sports information director at Albany (Ga.) State University and an assistant at Troy and West Florida, he has helped host many NCAA conference, regional and national events, including serving five years on the media committee of the NCAA Division II World Series.
Barnes, a native of Pensacola, Fla., attended Ole Miss in 1983-84, where his first journalism teacher was David Kellum. The duo has come a long way since that time.
He will bring a proven journalistic track record, along with a knack for finding the out-of-the-ordinary story angles to The Rebel Walk.
Barnes continues to reside in Pensacola a mere ten minutes from the beach because he does have taste and a brain.
