The Josh Innes Show - Lane Kiffin and The Stink of College Football

Episode Date: January 5, 2026

I love LSU. I don't know that I like Lane Kiffin. I don't care that he left Ole Miss in the middle of the season. I don't care that he's trying to get some of the Ole Miss players to LSU. That's to be expected. I'm just disgusted with the big picture in college football. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All right. So transfer portal has been fired up in college football. And, well, let's actually start here. Let's start with the college football playoff and what's turning out to be kind of a disaster for Lane Kiffin. And not just kind of because now it's not just a PR disaster. Now it's a legitimate disaster because Lane Kiffin probably didn't anticipate that the Ole Miss would advance past the game against Georgia. They have. So now if you don't know this, he's sharing coaches with Ole Miss. So, like, guys are flying back and forth and coaching.

And here's the worst part. And this is, like, a big picture issue with college football, which may never come down to this again because a coach may not leave in the midst of a playoff run ever again. But, you know, it's happening. So it's what they're dealing with. LSU, and this is wild, right? I was listening to my buddy Matt, who does the Locked-on LSU podcast among a thousand other things because the guy never stops working. LSU currently does not have a quarterback on the roster, a scholarship quarterback.

They do not. And I think Lane was fully anticipating getting Trinidad Chambliss to come with him from Ole Miss and get some of his guys. Well, here's what's happened. The more they continue to win, the more difficult it's going to be for them to just up and go, hey, I'm out of the – I'm getting in the portal. Remember this. And this is wild to think because, again, the calendar for all this shit is ridiculous. But if Ole Miss advances again, they will have guys who have –

to declare for the portal while they're still playing in the playoffs. They have to, like, their intention to be in the portal will have to be made while they're still playing in a playoff game. So, Trinidad Chamlis today says, I'm going to stay at Ole Miss, assuming he can get another year of eligibility, which is up in the air right now. But think about the absurdity of college sports where this is what we're dealing with. Think about the absurdity of being LSU. You just spent all this money on Lane Kiffin.

Lane Kiffin bolts because he has to. He wants your job. He doesn't want to stay at Ole Miss, so he takes the job. Now, Ole Miss has become this America's team, which I think is a total farce. But, like, oh, root for Ole Miss to root against Lane and all this shit. Let's play a couple commercials and get into it. So, like, I really dig the guy that coaches Ole Miss. Like, he looks like a dude who's like the ne'er-do-well kind of, like, golf pro.

Like, he's 10-cup, right? Like, if you look across the field and you see Kirby Smart, like I think that was a great comparison between the two coaches. I'm not that anybody's made it, but I will. If you watch Tin Cup, you've got the Kevin Costner character, the Roy McAvoy character, who's kind of the kind of slovenly, like could have been something but was lazy type of charming guy. And then you've got the Don Johnson character who's like just the sleaze ball golf pro

that's, you know, making all the money on the tour. but they know each other. You've got Kirby, who's that character, and then you've got Pete Golding, who is that character, who is the Roy Magavoy character? Like, I get it. I understand why, from afar, why people would say we're rooting for Ole Miss.

I understand why you'd find that coach charming, and I understand why, if you want to operate in a completely unrealistic, naive world, which a lot of people do, they want to engage themselves in this world where, it's a sport that is played because of love of school, because of school pride, because these are just amateurs, and blah, blah, blah. That's my biggest issue is that people operate in this world where Lane Kiffin is this giant scumbag, and he left for greener pastures, and we got to go out there and root for the kids because the kids are being punished, and he abandoned his kids, and these other guys are sticking around for the kids. we have to stop operating in a universe where we're referring to college athletes who are making hundreds of thousands and in some case millions of dollars referring to them as kids because they ain't kids they are professional athletes and if this happened in the NBA you wouldn't care if a 19 year old dude playing in the NBA had this situation happen you wouldn't care you'd view them as pros lose the fact and ignore the fact that they play at a college this is not it's not an education situation. These are dudes who are getting paid Buku De Niro in many cases, like Trinidad

Chambliss, who I just brought up. That dude's probably going to get four or five million dollars a year to play at Ole Miss, assuming he gets another year of eligibility. This Sorsby, who is the coach or the quarterback at Cincinnati, has just signed with Texas Tech, and he's going to make like $5 million a year to be the quarterback at Texas Tech. Stop operating in this world where, like, it's just the coaches who are. are the villains. Yeah, it was a shitty situation. Yeah, Lane had to leave. And yeah, Lane said that he would be able to focus on coaching his team if he were able to stay and get the LSU job. That's been proven false because now, you know, you're dealing with this issue with

the coaches there. There's a lot of things about this that are ridiculous. I'm an LSU fan. I think it feels gross. I think the whole thing feels gross. And I don't even really feel any sort of commitment to Kiffin. I'm not excited about Kiffin because Kiffin's a walk away Joe who's going to throw up the deuce is whenever another opportunity comes, I don't believe in the guy. I'm going to ride the ride as long as it'll take me, and then when Lane Kiffin rolls out, it's over. That's fine. But the whole situation feels grimy and gross, and it's just a big picture issue with college football. Like, I'm hearing these stories about guys having to get in the portal if they're still in the playoff, if they want to declare themselves for the portal. Everything about it's awful.

You got guys that are getting involved, like trying to get their guys to come to their school. Everything about it feels icky. It's just not a good situation. I hate it. And like I wish I were excited about Lane and I wish I felt good about it. And by the way, I don't feel, to my main point is a lot of these college dudes get way too much of the, oh, they're just kids and we got to win this for the kids. The number of people who I see tweeting this sanctimonious Pauliana bullshit about the quote unquote kids, Trinidad Chambliss is going to go make $5 million next year if he stays at Ole Miss.

If he gets another year, he's going to make $5 million. He's 24 years old. Lose me with the fucking kid stuff. He's a professional athlete. Lose me with that shit. That's number one. Number two, that's the case for most of these players. Even if they're not making a million dollars or millions of dollars,

they're making thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars. So if you wanted to feed me this 10 years ago when a coach would leave for a better job and abandon the kids before they. There was a transfer portal and NIL. I'd listen to it, right? I'd go, okay, fine, that's fine. Like, I get it. These guys are assholes.

They chase a bunch of money, and then they try to lure kids to their school just to abandon them the second a better job gets available. All under the guise of saying they should be loyal to their school and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? Totally. Understand it? Cool. Not the case anymore. Oh, what about all those kids at Ole Miss? I'd like to know the number of kids, kids, quote unquote.

that are playing at Ole Miss right now that were brought in from another school because it was a better opportunity and there was more money for them than their previous school. And considering that Ole Miss has a deep checkbook and we got Lane Kiffin who's a portal G, there's a lot of dudes that are just going that are in that world because they chased greener pastures and more money and more success and everything else. Same thing Lane Kiffin did. I understand where it looks like shit and I'm not someone accused me of simping or whatever whatever the fuck that means for Lane Kiffin. Look I don't even like Lane Kiffin. Like I feel dirty and

kind of icky about the situation with LSU and you know what if he starts winning and they win titles at LSU I'll feel less icky but right now I certainly feel icky about it. It just doesn't feel right to me it feels kind of gross it feels kind of ugh right like I don't feel any kind of commitment to Lane

I should be excited that LSU sign this this huge name they sign the biggest name out there, it feels gross because, you know, I get that the way the system works, it's bullshit, and the way the calendar works, it's bullshit, and I get all that and the fact that, you know, your coach has to leave before the poor. I get all that. It's a messy situation, and it sucks. But I root for LSU, and I feel no real energy or excitement over it. I feel gross. Like, I'm watching this Pete Golding, and I like this guy. Like, I'm like, good for him. Like, you know, he looks, he's got that looked like the gray hair and the gray beard.

He's got like a fucking dip in. And like he just, then they're winning and people are rooting for them. And I'm like, fuck, man. I don't feel that same way about LSU. And this is a one off deal. Maybe Ole Miss loses this week and they never make it back to the college football playoff again. Maybe Pete Golding's a dud. Or maybe he's fine, but they never really get back to these heights. Like, that's one thing people, the one annoying aspect of this is the number of people who are now like, well, Old Miss wouldn't have done this with Lane. Well, they wouldn't have gotten there without Lane because they wouldn't

have gotten the players and they wouldn't have the offense and they want to run the team that they had. So it's such a bullshit dick swinging thing that people are doing talking shit to each other about it. LSU people, the rest of the country. I need Ole Miss to lose so LSU can just figure out what the fuck they're doing with their lives. Because it's to a point now where I'm like, what the fuck.

But I feel icky. Like, I just feel gross. Like, college football used to be a place where, yeah, Yes, there was cheating, and yes, there was a bunch of bad shit. But I now feel like I constantly need like a bath, like a very deep bath. Like I need to be scrubbed because it's gross. And that's how I feel rooting for LSU right now. Just everything about it feels icky.

Then you throw in the fact that LSU does not have a quarterback on the roster that's a scholarship quarterback. Then you throw in the fact that you're like, well, Lane's probably going to go out and get his quarterback if Chamblis can. continue to play. Right now, it doesn't look like that's the case. Looks like he's going to stay at Ole Miss if he gets another year. Because how do you leave that? Like, that's the other question. If you are Trinidad Chamblis, and like you've won two college football playoff game, how do you just up and just chase the money and go somewhere else? How do you do that? You can't. When everybody at your universities talk shit about Lane for doing that exact same thing. So if you're already now a legend at Ole Miss, how do you line up and reconcile it with yourself

to be like, you know what? I'm a legend here. I've built this thing here and I've become this guy that's won two playoff games and I was awesome against Georgia. If we're going to shit on Lane Kiffin for leaving us, how the fuck do we win two college football playoff games? Maybe win the whole fucking thing and then just leave. So there's a lot of factors in that, man. But I just feel gross about the whole thing. I don't think I like Lane Kiffin. I know I have no choice because he's the coach at LSU and I think he's a good coach.

And obviously he was a good offensive coach and he's all that shit. I feel gross about it. Like I don't feel joy out of it. And maybe that's just an overall college football thing. You know, we talk about it a lot. Like, I just don't feel a ton of joy as it relates to the, you know, the overall, like, it's scummy. It's a scummy profession or a scummy world. It's always been a scummy world.

But I'm watching this and I'm like, this is absurd. LSU coaches flying back and forth to coach at Ole Miss and Lane like posting about Trinidad Chambliss winning games. Then Lane trying to show up at the fucking Sugar Bowl to try to like hijack the booth allegedly with the ESPN. It's like I don't think he's vile for the decision he made. Like you had to make a choice. You wanted to coach at LSU. You think LSU is a better job. And you had to make the decision when you made it because your employer didn't want you coaching or doing two jobs.

Okay, fine. So you had to make that choice. I don't think he's scummy for that. But just the whole thing overall just feels gross. And it's a big picture issue with the portal and NIL. And it's not like you have collective bargaining going on with any of these. There's not a union. It's just the Wild West.

And like everybody's full of shit. And it's just, the whole thing is gross to me. That's, I just find the whole thing disgusting. And if someone who roots for LSU, I'm just kind of like, like I feel gross I don't feel good about it I don't sit here today and feel good about LSU I feel like LSU just paid a guy

shit ton of money and they hired the best coach that was out there even when I look at Lane and maybe this is how he'll look anywhere because this is just who Lane is like I'm looking at him and I'm like is this guy here because he wanted to be here or is he here because he had to make a choice in the moment and he thought this would be a good job

but he's you know does he truly want to be there Or is it one of those kind of like things where he just took it because he had to at the moment? Because he didn't have time to think about it. I don't know. It just, it feels gross to me. And I hate it. Like, I hate feeling that way about the sport.

I just do. Like, I don't know. And just like, and I find myself, I do root for this Pete Golden. Like, I root for their coach. Like, I like the guy. Like, again, he may suck next year and win eight games. I don't know. He may not be the guy that can run the actual program, you know, but I don't know, man.

The whole thing is just gross to me.