Coach Kiffin, comparing Rebels to Green Bay Packers, is thankful for Grove Collective and Donors: ‘To see our fans and donors respond like that is awesome’
OXFORD, Miss. — On Tuesday, head coach Lane Kiffin compared Ole Miss to the legendary Green Bay Packers pro football team — a franchise that allows for fans to be shareholders of the team.
“I kind of came up with that Ole Miss is like the Green Bay Packers of college football, especially in the SEC,” Kiffin said in his Tuesday press conference, echoing his comments from Monday, the first day of Grove Collection Week.
According to the latest numbers available, The Grove Collective raised $1.7 million on the first day of Grove Collection Week — a week in which director Walker Jones says the goal is $3.0 million.
“Extremely encouraged. You guys know by covering me that I’m very real on the good, bad, and the ugly. It’s been awesome what the collective’s done, what (director) Walker Jones has done. Ole Miss is kinda like the Green Bay Packers of college football, especially the SEC. Not the biggest town, not the most alumni. But to see them come together like they have, really makes me think of Green Bay and how it’s like shareholders holding the team.”
Lane Kiffin on the success of Grove Collection Monday
Kiffin definitely sees Rebel supporters holding their own in the high-dollar world of Name, Image and Likeness money for players.
“I said it yesterday but without that (Grove Collective monies), we’re not going anywhere,” Kiffin said.
“I don’t care how great of assistant coaches you hire, who your head coach is, any of that. You don’t have this, like you see in professional sports where you don’t have resources, you don’t win. That’s why I took a lot of heat a couple of years ago when I said NIL and getting a collective done right and funded properly is way more important than anything else nowadays.”
Lane Kiffin on importance of NIL money
Today was an incredible day. So many people came together to make it happen & so many of our supporters stepped up in a HUGE way! Perfect example that when we are all together, Rebel Nation is unstoppable! Today was just the beginning, let’s keep it rolling the rest of the week,… https://t.co/uZOJzNEbTm
— Matt McLaughlin (@McLaughlin_OMAF) August 22, 2023
Traditionally, players were recruited to a campus, athletic facilities and personnel. But these are anything but traditional times in college football.
“It’s more important than the size of the weight rooms, the size of stadiums, and how many Heisman trophies you have,” Kiffin said of NIL money.
”I don’t think I’m a wizard, but if you didn’t see that coming – that 17, 18-year-olds are going to make decisions once salaries were included – that was going to be the number one factor then you missed the boat on that. Now we’re seeing it and everyone is seeing it and talking about it. I’ve been honest for a couple of years and to see our fans and donors respond like that is awesome because I’m just telling you that we wouldn’t go anywhere and you would not be enjoying going to games if this wasn’t in place.”
Lane Kiffin
Team chemistry
Later in the press conference, Kiffin turned to on-the-field issues as he enters his fourth year at the helm of the Rebels. He believes this team has progressed better than last year’s squad in terms of chemistry and in coming together with so many new players acquired via the portal.
“I think we are ahead from a full-team standpoint,” Kiffin said. “I was concerned, whether I vocalized it or not, about that team (last year). I’ve always said that team was probably the most talented room of the three years but not going to be necessarily the best team.”
In 2022, Ole Miss got off to a great start, but withered during the second half of the season.
“They didn’t do certain things and I think we showed that at the end of the year once things started to go not so well,” Kiffin said.
“It’s easy to be a certain way in life or as a team until adversity hits then it’s tougher when things aren’t going your way. I feel better about this team for when those situations happen.”
Lane Kiffin
The Rebels get to display their unity and improvement from last season September 2 when Mercer comes to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium for the opener.
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.
