Lane Kiffin offers candid opinion on ‘really stupid’ system that allow multiple transfers
OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin has never been shy about using the transfer portal to help build his roster.
This fall’s roster looks as if the Rebels have the talent to do special things this season.
“We have a really, really good roster. By far the best one — I probably shouldn’t say by far — but definitely the best one since we have been here. (It) doesn’t mean we’ll be a great team, but we do have really talented (team), especially the middle-to-upper half of the roster.”
Lane Kiffin
But having a great roster is nothing new to Kiffin. He has had them in the past, and he was asked about comparing these Rebels to those former teams where he coached.
“I feel like it’s a really talented roster, probably top-to-middle, top and middle,” Kiffin said. “It would not be one through 85, necessarily. At USC during 34 straight wins or when we left Alabama, I think it was 26 straight wins. You know, those are the top of programs in the history of football at that point, roster-wise. So, we’re not there,” he added.
Kiffin believes no other rosters will be built that way again — as long as the transfer rules that are in place stay the status quo. He believes the system is, well, messed up. He has never been shy to elaborate on the subject.
“I have these rants on this thing, but because it’s really a (expletive) system,” Kiffin said. “Now we’re going to utilize it just like the players…. I’m not mad at the players, they’re going to utilize the system, we’re going to utilize it and make the best roster that we can but it’s not good.”
Yes, Kiffin will give his candid opinion when asked about the current affairs of the portal. After being asked at Tuesday’s press conference if he thought the spring portal would be busy, Kiffin did not hold back on his thoughts on the system.
” I do, obviously because they can transfer multiple times,” Kiffin began.
“I mean, here again, just a really stupid system, but, hey, good for the players — maybe. I mean it’s good for them financially. I don’t know that it’s really good for them — they know they can leave anytime. ‘When something goes wrong, I’m just going to run no matter what.’ But what I think you’re going to see, and I said this when they first started this, you’re going to see people — and maybe it just happened with a high-profile player — that I’m going to go somewhere in January, I’m going to get their money, I’m going to have never played a down as a transfer and I’m going to go back in right after spring ball into the portal and go somewhere else and get their money.”
Lane Kiffin
Kiffin questions the current state of the system and what it means for college football.
“So, I mean, good for the players, but is it? You know it’s good financially for them, but is that really good for college football? You’ve created the system, so you can’t really blame them. You’ve created a system that you can go just keep getting money basically at the end of every semester somewhere else and switching spots as many times as you want. You know, let me go try out this school and take this spot and make a deal with their collective, and then I’ll go try out this one if it doesn’t. You know, I don’t get as many balls as I want or it doesn’t go my way, that’s not good and I think you are going to see that. I think you’re going to see players that just signed in January that are going to go back in having taken the money, which is fine, and go another place and never play there. It’s not necessarily that they had a terrible spring, it’s just because the system allows that.”
Lane Kiffin
Kiffin has elaborated on his concerns about the system in conference meetings. Those concerns have fallen on deaf ears.
“I brought (having a binding agreement) up in meetings when they first went down this second (portal calendar opening),” Kiffin told reporters. “I’m like, ‘You better make something where they’ve got to sign for a year’ so all these portal players that after last season go in, at least they’re signed for one year and not one semester without playing in the offseason,” he continued.
“Would that happen in the NFL? Go sign in the offseason, get a contract, get paid and before you ever play go somewhere else? I have these rants on this thing, but because it’s really a (crappy) system.”
Lane Kiffin
The NCAA approved that the next portal window for FBS football will open Tuesday, April 16 and remain open for two weeks.
Until someone in power listens to Kiffin, he will continue to use the portal to his advantage to try and sculpt the perfect roster.
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.
