Less than a day after former Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher called Lane Kiffin “selfish” and “stupid” for the way he has handled his coaching staff during his transition from Ole Miss to LSU, ESPN’s Ryan Clark has come to Kiffin’s defense.
Clark, an LSU alum who recently revealed he was in constant communication with Kiffin during the program’s pursuit of him, responded to Fisher’s comments Thursday morning on First Take.
At issue is Kiffin prohibiting members of his coaching staff from coaching the Rebels during their surprise run to the College Football Playoff semifinals. Just two members of the Ole Miss staff following Kiffin to Baton Rouge will be in Phoenix on Thursday night to coach the team in the Fiesta Bowl, which led Fisher to accuse Kiffin of “changing the rules” to the detriment of his former players.
“It’s selfish, that’s what it is. It’s stupid,” Fisher said Wednesday evening on ACC Network. “Here’s why I say that. He wanted to coach and thought he didn’t get his way. So everybody get on the plane with me, you don’t have a job. He makes them all go. Then he gets down there and takes a PR hit because it looks bad that you really don’t care about the kids.”
Back on ESPN, Clark framed the conversation differently. The former Tigers defensive back said it was always part of the plan for the other four coaches to leave Ole Miss between the quarterfinal and semifinal, and that Kiffin and new Ole Miss coach Pete Golding are in constant contact about the transition.
Clark also knocked Fisher, who was the offensive coordinator at LSU while Clark played there, for calling Kiffin stupid and fake.
“Jimbo called (Kiffin) stupid, he’s actually not – he’s extremely intelligent,” Clark said, per On3. “Jimbo called him fake, I think that he’s probably problematically authentic to himself.”
Still, Clark agreed that Kiffin was acting selfishly. To Clark, though, the selfish move — of Kiffin leaving for Baton Rouge — was also the right one.
“And he called him selfish, and that part is true – the selfishness is going to LSU,” Clark said. “It’s understanding that it’s a better job, it’s knowing you’ve been 10-3, you’ve been 11-2 and you didn’t get opportunities to be in the College Football Playoff, and when a team like LSU gets to that point, they get in.”
Clark has outed himself as a biased messenger about LSU, revealing that he was pining for Kiffin to get the job all fall. But that won’t stop him from continuing to defend Kiffin on-air.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.