The Josh Innes Show - Lane Kiffin Drama Continues

Episode Date: November 18, 2025

You know, I'm on Lane's side. Yeah, he's kind of being a douche to some degree. But, what is he supposed to do? He's coveted. He's got a big life decision. I think us average folks struggle with this. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You know, I think it's really easy for people to look at the Lane Kiffin situation and view him as some sort of dickhead for the way he's handling this. And I do think there are elements of it that are dickish, right, like some of the tweets and some of the other stuff and sending your family to Baton Rouge and Florida and all that stuff. And I'm well aware, and I fully understand that some of it looks shitty. But, like, one thing he's being criticized for is not giving a straight answer about whether or not he's going to be coaching Ole Miss. next year. But like, it's a damned if you do, damned if you don't. If he gets up there on the podium and says, yep, I'll be here next year, then takes another job, then he's an asshole. And if he goes up there and says nothing, then he's probably going to leave and he's an asshole. So I don't think this is a situation that's as easy to handle and navigate as some of the people

make it seem like it is. I think it's easy for the world, which most people have never been coveted, never been sought after for multiple gigantic jobs. I don't think it's as easy. On a much smaller scale, I've been in situations similar to that. Look, I'm nothing close to this. But it is a tough spot to be in when you've got multiple people pursuing you and you've already got a job so you've got to tread that lightly. And obviously, this is magnified by a thousand. So I think people view this and are doing it poorly. And it's just easy to throw a blanket over and say, He's being a total dickhead. And yes, there are some things he's doing on social media and other stuff that make it seem like he's just enjoying the attention of all of this and screwing with people.

And maybe this is just one giant ruse and he's going to stay at Ole Miss the whole time. I've read people say that the idea is that he's going to do all this kind of stuff just so he can come back and say, fuck all that. I'm staying at Ole Miss and be a hero like he's, you know, the Wolf of Wall Street. I'm not leaving thing. And I could totally see him doing that exact thing. but let me play a couple of commercials and let's continue. So my buddy Matt and Baton Rouge likened the Lane Kiffin thing and his non-answer and

his not being able to commit to Ole Miss in that press conference, he compared that to a husband and wife or someone in a relationship. If somebody asked you, do you love your wife? Are you going to be with your wife next year? Then you say yes or you say no. This is not a comparable situation, though. In theory, let's just start with the obvious. When you're married to somebody, you're in a relationship.

In theory, that is supposed to be a forever binding thing. You guys have told yourself that you're going to be together forever. There's no such thing as a forever contract with any of these football coaches. Like, there's always something else. Like, the idea of comparing this to a real-life situation and that real-life situation is, well, if someone asks you, are you going to be with your wife and you say no? Well, I get that. But I think it's a preposterous comparison.

I just, I can't get down with that comparison. So that's number one. But number two, I think it's easy for people to look at this and say he's handling all this poorly. Remember, he's got a job. Everybody has jobs. These college coaches have jobs. But no matter what happens, when somebody reaches out to you about another job, unless you've got the greatest job in the world, it's the job, the perfect job, the job you're in love with, you'll at least listen. I like the job I have now.

Look, I can't leave, so it wouldn't matter if somebody reached out to me. I have a three-year deal here. I can't go anywhere. I know they could fire me tomorrow. But, like, I have a three-year deal. So I couldn't leave anyway unless somebody were just totally desperate to have me. And they're like, listen, we must have you. What do we have to do?

Like, maybe there'd be some way to do something. But I don't even think it's possible. But Lane Kiffin can go somewhere. Lane Kiffin can leave. Lane Kiffin can take other jobs. So, you know, Matt, who I listened to every day, I was listening to his breakdown. And it was, well, when Dan Lanning was asked if he was going to be the coach at Oregon, he said definitively, yes, as long as I keep winning, I will be the coach. But he's the coach at Oregon.

They've got Nike money. They're a dominant program. They're a consistent college football playoff contender. They are one of the big dogs. I know that they're in the Big Ten now, so it's not as easy to bully around the Pack 12 teams or whatever. But they're in a legit conference. They are a legit contender in that conference every year. They have a history of being a very good program.

for decades so like why would he leave it's a good job it's a very very elite job you could argue that oregon is one of the top 10 coaching jobs in college football you could argue that old miss is not now if you wanted to make a case for it like i see a bunch of old miss people saying right now it's a top 10 yes it's a better job than it was five years ago when lane kiffin took the job he has made it a better job who's to say that the next person that coaches at old miss does anything like what Lane has done? Is it really a good job, or has Lane Kiffen come in and made it a

great job? Is it a job that someone would take, now, if they paid $14 million, like they reportedly were going to pay Lane, if they'd pay a great coach, a lot of great coaches would take that job. But is it that great of a job? Is it a top 10 job? No, Ole

is not a top 10 job. It's never been a top 10 job. They get a bunch of big boosters, all that shit. But let's look at it from this standpoint. Because a lot of the stories I'm reading is that Lane is treating these poor people in Oxford, Mississippi, like shit and all this kind of stuff. Woe is me. Like, oh, what about the poor fans? Those poor fans will turn on this guy in two years if he goes three and nine, right? So, like, cut the shit. These are not relationships built on actual love. These are transactional

relationships. And that's what college football has created. There is no love. There's no love affair that these people have with each other. This is not real, like, this is not a place where, you know, a guy coaches for 20 years and you fall in love with the guy and he loves you and he's committed. That's not what this is anymore, man. Like, that's not the world we live in. Everything is transactional. So all these fans that love Lane Kiffin today and are going to cry about how he spurned them

and he's a piece of shit if he leaves, they are the same people that if he's not 10 and 1, 11, and one going to a playoff will want him fired. And no matter how many games this guy win. at Ole Miss, the second it turns south, they will want him fired. Look at Dabo over in Clemson. Dabo has won tons of games and he's the most successful Clemson coach in history. He basically resurrected the program and created the modern era of Clemson football where he is dominating over there.

He's had a couple of down years. This year's been his worst and they're all ready to bring in somebody else. So, like, don't make the mistake if you're a coach or a player or anybody, if falling in love with the idea of, boy, I just love these fans and they love me. because it feels good in the moment, feels really good. I'm sure getting a blow job from some hook around on the street probably feels good at the moment. Then the second it's over, you're like, boy, I really regret doing that. So I get why you get caught up in and I get why the moment matters to you.

I get why, you know, you want to believe that these people love you and in the moment they do. But as quickly as you might turn on them and go to LSU or Florida, they will turn on you the second you have a couple of down years because you've created an expectation there. And if you don't live up to it, all these people that are in love with you will hate you very fast. So let's cut the shit. All these stories I keep seeing from people, oh, these poor Ole Miss fans. Like, no offense, fuck the fans. I'm a fan, right? Like, we've created too much of a world where we know too much of how the sausage is made.

We know too much about the way these franchises work, the NFL, college, everything. We know now that it's all about the money. We know that the guys who are coming to your school is because they're getting the most money. They don't have any ties to your school. Most of them don't give a shit about your school. school. They're not invested in your city or your school. They're going to your place because you're giving them the most coin. These coaches are chasing the biggest contracts like Lane Kiffing gives a fuck about Baton Rouge or Gainesville, Florida, anywhere else. He's looking for

the place that gives him the best shot to win so he can put a national championship on his resume. So this is all transactional. This is not real love shit. So anytime people want to tell you about that, laugh at them because it's stupid. Anybody wants to write a holier than now sanctimonious bullshit little story about how this is awful what Lane Kiffin's doing to these poor fans. Most of those fans say vile shit about other teams, players, and about Lane

Kiffin. So like, cut the shit. That's all I ask of you. And that's why it's so hard to be a sports fan now because we know so much of how the sausage is made and we are so inside now that it's impossible to be naive to all of it. That's the worst part, man. That is the worst part about all this.

I hate it. I wish we could be naive about it. I wish we didn't know every detail of everything that happened. But let me, and I'm going to defend Lane here. Because you're the hottest commodity on the planet. And if you have options, you know who doesn't cheat people who don't have options? You know who cheats people who have options? Johnny Cash, it didn't seem was fucking around on his wife before he became Johnny Cash.

Then all of a sudden Johnny Cash can fuck anybody he wants because he's Johnny Cash. When he's just a guy trying to make it out there and his wife's got kids and everything else, He doesn't have options. The guy who cheats is the guy who has options. Now, that doesn't mean that everybody who has options cheats. But what I'm saying is, like, it's easy to not cheat if there's nothing else going on. It is easy to cheat if nobody else wants to fuck you. It is a lot harder to not cheat if people are throwing themselves at you.

And you see this with people who become famous. They get married early. They become famous. That's a more real-life comparison. So when I hear people like, you know, my buddy Matt, who I adore. Matt is the best. But when I hear people like Matt say, well, I mean, if you love your wife, then you just say, I love my wife and I love my spouse. That is a very polyana way to view it. And I'm fine with that. If you want to view it that way, view it that way. But the reality is this is not a marriage thing because in your marriage, you may not have those options. Lane Kiffin has a $14 million LSU option. He's got Florida $14, $15 million option. He has to weigh those options, whether you like that or not. I know in a perfect world, Lane Kiffin, would come out and say, I love all of you and I'm not leaving, like Dan Lannin did. Dan Lannin feels like he's got the perfect scenario.

If you're Ryan Day at Ohio State, you have the perfect scenario. Like you view those as perfect jobs. Obviously, Lane Kiffin doesn't or he wouldn't be talking to these people. Also, he'd be making a major mistake to not entertain these offers and at least listen to these people. Because he will never be hotter than he is right now. It's a lot easier for us as people to sit back and judge people like this and go, How dare you? Because we're honest to God, we're just simple fucking people.

We are average Jemokes. He is an elite football coach who is coveted by five different programs that all want to pay him $15 million a year. So for you to sit back and be like, how dare this son of a bitch go talk to other people? How dare you judge him for that? Now, if you want to judge him for being kind of a, you know, a cryptic tweeter, I'm fine with that. He's a cryptic tweeter, judge him for that. But the idea that you're going to judge somebody because they have options and they are exploring those options is preposterous to me. Like, what are we doing?

Like, I get that there's a bunch of drama and I love the drama. That's where I've become more as a sports fan. Like the outcome of the games, we talked about this yesterday. Like, I don't care about the outcomes. I care more about the interesting story. The Lane Kiffin thing is a sexy, fun story, man. It is a great story. And he's providing us with elite level drama for the story.

It's great. But like, we got to feel bad for the fans. These poor fans that Lane is stringing along. Like, get over it. I'm sure that there was a time that if James Franklin would have left Penn State, they would have said he's stringing the poor fans along. Guy loses some games this year and they're ready to kick his ass out of town and they fucking hate him. So cut the shit.

Let's stop acting like we as fans are this infallible. group of people. Yes, we pay salaries. Yes, our money that helps do that. That's all fair. Like, there's a power in being a fan. But let's stop acting like, like, woe is me, poor, poor pitiful fan. Can you believe Lane is going to leave us? Yeah, he might. And if I hired Lane, if I were a school that hired Lane, I'd be concerned that he'd do it again. Because that's who Lane Kiffin is. That's his vibe. He's a job hopper. That's who he is. And that's his vibe, and that's the person he is and that's the character he portrays. But like judging the guy, like he's some piece of shit because he's weighing his other options.

Like you're fucking your heifer of a wife. You're committed to your heifer of a wife because you're a heifer too. But if for some ungodly reason, Kate Upton wanted to blow you tomorrow, would you say no to it? Or would you just like shut it down like, like immediately? No, you wouldn't. It's an obvious answer. Anyway, more to come.