This Past Weekend with Theo Von - #575 - Lane Kiffin

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00:00:30.000 Today's guest is the head coach at Ole Miss, down in Oxford, Mississippi,

00:00:35.620 which is where we are taping today.

00:00:38.260 He's helped take that program to new heights in the past five years.

00:00:43.120 He's got his own group of fans called the Laniacs.

00:00:46.880 And it was great talking to him about his mentality on life, coaching, and leadership.

00:00:52.960 Today's guest is the one, the only, Lane Kiffin.

00:00:57.800 Shine on me, and I will find a song.

00:01:05.900 I've been singing such a girl.

00:01:08.480 Yeah, bro, so you invited, did you invite me to Pilates or did you invite me to yoga?

00:01:19.220 Yoga.

00:01:19.780 Okay.

00:01:20.160 Very big difference.

00:01:21.400 Yeah.

00:01:21.620 My daughter's actually a Pilates teacher, but yoga's like better, like the hot yoga part of it.

00:01:26.740 Yeah.

00:01:26.960 And the intensity, like make it so, so miserable.

00:01:30.440 You know, that's what I do.

00:01:31.220 I control the heat in the back.

00:01:32.440 You do?

00:01:32.900 Yeah.

00:01:33.320 At the yoga studio?

00:01:34.240 Yeah.

00:01:34.540 Oh, that's great, man.

00:01:35.720 Yeah.

00:01:35.920 Does it remind you almost of game day out there on the field?

00:01:38.120 Like, is it, because it gets pretty, I mean, you're in the SEC, so it's really, this is

00:01:41.560 really humid area.

00:01:43.580 Yeah.

00:01:44.100 So I make it that way, too, like that we're playing like in the swamp or in Baton Rouge,

00:01:48.840 like in our early September games.

00:01:51.120 So it's like really hot, so you got to like fight through it.

00:01:53.700 Yeah.

00:01:54.180 Yeah.

00:01:54.600 Bat and ratchet, dude.

00:01:55.640 That's what I call it.

00:01:56.440 Yeah.

00:01:56.640 I was trying to get you to go this morning, so then like you would have gone through the

00:01:59.820 misery and the experience, and then we'd like discuss it on air.

00:02:02.580 So you'd be like, man.

00:02:03.800 I did get my yoga in this morning, though.

00:02:05.540 Yeah.

00:02:05.720 A little slower, a little different.

00:02:07.220 Yeah.

00:02:07.500 Yeah.

00:02:07.720 Yeah.

00:02:07.940 I got it in at room temp.

00:02:09.340 This isn't like traditional yoga, like flow, which that's good.

00:02:14.000 Uh-huh.

00:02:14.380 And that's actually where I started with it.

00:02:15.860 Then I was like, I got to go to another level, like make this, put a heater in there, like

00:02:19.880 make it as hot, intense, and then like put cardio in there.

00:02:23.400 And I just like bringing new people, too, and then they struggle, so it makes me feel

00:02:26.600 good about myself.

00:02:27.340 Oh, I see.

00:02:28.040 Yeah.

00:02:28.060 That's part of it.

00:02:28.880 That's it.

00:02:29.340 Oh, yeah.

00:02:29.660 Yeah.

00:02:29.880 That was me just a couple hours ago, getting it done with my Cat Williams statue right there.

00:02:33.900 I didn't know what that was, like Nutcracker or something.

00:02:36.400 Oh, yeah.

00:02:36.880 That's a statue of Cat Williams that they have.

00:02:38.760 But yeah, so is that a big part of your, like, is yoga like a regular part of your

00:02:41.800 day usually or your week?

00:02:43.340 Yeah, every day, every morning.

00:02:45.460 It like starts my day that way.

00:02:47.700 And so there's no phone for an hour, you know, and you got to like, you got to get uncomfortable

00:02:54.460 and you got to sit in it.

00:02:55.820 So I figured if I can start my day, use it like six o'clock in the morning that way

00:02:59.560 and be so uncomfortable, that's the hardest part of my day.

00:03:03.040 The rest of it, man, I can deal with the rest.

00:03:04.960 Yeah.

00:03:05.080 And so that, you know, you just, you get in those poses too, in those positions, you're

00:03:09.840 just like, man, this is, I want to get out of this discomfort.

00:03:13.440 Right.

00:03:13.540 So I got to stay in the discomfort.

00:03:15.660 And over time, just, I'm able to stay in it longer and longer and more intense with

00:03:19.600 the heat.

00:03:20.280 And I feel like the rest of the day, man, I'm just kind of like chill for the rest of

00:03:23.360 the day.

00:03:23.660 And what, so the heat's been ramped up.

00:03:26.460 What's the next thing you think you would add into, um, to Lane Kiffin, like the Lane

00:03:31.440 Kiffin yoga experience, which almost seems like people should wear pads to be at it.

00:03:35.680 It seems like.

00:03:36.580 Yeah.

00:03:36.840 Well, we have playlists, so we got good music, good energetic music.

00:03:40.120 Uh, we put some cardio in there now.

00:03:41.900 And so we challenged the teachers, like come up with the hardest things possible.

00:03:45.220 So they just like make this list of stuff.

00:03:47.200 Like, you know, back when you were like young and you were like training in high school and

00:03:50.580 they just put up all the, all the different, like three by 10, three by 15, like all these

00:03:54.480 and keep going.

00:03:56.160 And then like some of the classes like are public.

00:03:59.500 So we got students in there.

00:04:00.820 We got other people in there.

00:04:01.920 So, and then we like, I feel like I'm trying to, I'm trying to take Oxford to another level.

00:04:07.040 So I'm like, I want for generations it to be tough.

00:04:09.840 Yeah.

00:04:10.120 And so sometimes they're like, well, open the door.

00:04:12.300 You know, I'm like, don't open the door, man.

00:04:13.780 We like keep them in the heat.

00:04:15.400 Yeah.

00:04:15.560 Hold the line.

00:04:16.340 Yeah.

00:04:16.640 So then at the end, like, I'm like, guess what?

00:04:18.780 We need overtime. 0.91

00:04:20.200 Like last week, I'm like, it's March madness.

00:04:21.980 We need an overtime. 0.77

00:04:22.860 And everybody's like, no, no overtime, no overtime coach.

00:04:26.120 And I'm like, kick the field goal coach.

00:04:27.520 We got to get out of here.

00:04:28.500 We're making these kids tougher.

00:04:30.140 Dang.

00:04:30.580 I can't believe I, the fact that somebody is trying to start generational yoga is, uh, that's

00:04:36.380 next level, man.

00:04:37.600 I guess that's the Lane Kiffin level, you know?

00:04:40.120 And I like the fact, yeah, you hit me up on social media.

00:04:41.980 I thought that was cool just to like, kind of welcome me into the area today.

00:04:44.820 So I thought that was, um, pretty cool.

00:04:46.380 You kind of have like a notorious, you're kind of notorious on Twitter for like being

00:04:51.480 like a unique, like kind of an outspoken coach.

00:04:54.320 Would you say that's a fair term?

00:04:56.300 Yeah.

00:04:56.620 I would say very different.

00:04:57.840 Yeah.

00:04:58.040 I looked at social media when I started, it was for recruiting because we weren't able

00:05:02.440 to text a kid. 0.97

00:05:04.180 It was a dumb NCAA rule. 0.99

00:05:05.700 Like most of them. 0.94

00:05:07.340 And you couldn't text him.

00:05:08.120 Could you mail?

00:05:08.760 Yeah.

00:05:08.940 You could, um, you could DM them.

00:05:10.840 You could, um, on Twitter, you can message them.

00:05:13.920 You can message them on Twitter, but you couldn't text them personally.

00:05:15.980 Yes.

00:05:16.480 Made no sense.

00:05:17.380 Right.

00:05:17.840 So that's why it was started.

00:05:19.520 And then I just kind of started being a normal person.

00:05:22.940 I was like, you know, I can't be a normal person as a coach in a lot of my life.

00:05:27.180 So I was like on social media, I'll just be normal.

00:05:29.740 And then buddies start sending me stuff.

00:05:31.380 I just retweet it or other coaches like in the sec, like Kirby smart.

00:05:35.080 He all the time.

00:05:35.820 Cause he's politically correct.

00:05:36.900 So he's like got stuff he wants to put out there, but he's like, they just send it to

00:05:41.440 me cause they know I will.

00:05:42.600 So I just kind of embraced it and ran on it.

00:05:45.220 Yeah.

00:05:45.600 I think it's, uh, I think it separates you from some of the other guys out there.

00:05:49.040 That's for sure.

00:05:49.600 I think, yeah, it makes you seem a little bit more kind of crazy and personable at the 0.63

00:05:55.340 same time.

00:05:55.780 I think the reason why I kept going with it was because I would go into home visits and

00:06:03.260 these parents would say, or they'd come into my office, like when they're doing a campus

00:06:08.120 tour and they would say to me, like, coach, we feel like we already know you.

00:06:11.280 We love your social media.

00:06:12.840 I love your Twitter.

00:06:13.960 I love your Instagram.

00:06:14.720 I'm like, we feel like we already know you.

00:06:16.540 And I'm like, well, shoot, how much is that worth that?

00:06:19.160 They're already coming to visit us wanting their kid to go here saying we already know

00:06:22.760 you because of it.

00:06:23.700 So then I just kept going with it.

00:06:25.960 Yeah.

00:06:26.400 I mean, look, you're the only, um, you're the only college coach that we've wanted to

00:06:29.940 meet up with.

00:06:30.520 So this has kind of worked out.

00:06:32.220 Yeah.

00:06:32.580 I think it probably does have an effect, you know, I've made it.

00:06:35.080 I feel like I've made it then.

00:06:36.800 Well, no, this college coach that Theo Vaughn wants to do a show with.

00:06:41.280 You don't lose your job by the time this is over then.

00:06:43.720 That's the, that's the goal.

00:06:44.780 That's the goal.

00:06:45.400 Yeah.

00:06:45.660 To keep you.

00:06:46.340 55 more minutes.

00:06:46.900 Yeah.

00:06:47.120 55 more minutes.

00:06:47.940 That's the goal.

00:06:48.840 Um, is there a difference between the, uh, kind of the Twitter lane and, and I'm, I'm

00:06:54.840 the one saying, putting you in a third person.

00:06:56.320 I know you're not doing that.

00:06:57.380 So, but is there a difference between the kind of the Twitter personality and the, the

00:07:00.780 personality of the actual personality?

00:07:02.640 Like what's kind of like offline lane?

00:07:06.380 I would say the Twitter is probably closer to it.

00:07:10.720 You know, um, people that are around me all the time and stuff say like, what was out there

00:07:16.860 early on, especially about me or what people think really isn't what he is.

00:07:21.280 And you probably hear that a lot, but yeah.

00:07:22.980 So I feel like Twitter is more actually how I am just kind of, okay, that's funny.

00:07:26.720 I'll just like say that or send that out, you know, like, and so, um, I'm not an old

00:07:32.380 school coach in many regards at all, just because I think you should always evolve.

00:07:37.700 You should always not do things.

00:07:38.760 Cause it was in a book of how to do it before and always kind of test things, you know,

00:07:43.460 like around here, we say, you know, instead of just thinking outside the box, we create

00:07:47.300 a new box.

00:07:48.260 We challenge everything, different ways of thinking things.

00:07:51.300 So, um, and social media is part of that because that's not, or how I do a press conference

00:07:55.940 or even doing this, probably some coaches that even if they, if you did call them up for

00:08:00.980 this, they wouldn't do it because they'd say, okay, well, that's not really the message

00:08:04.840 I want to put out, you know?

00:08:06.200 Yeah.

00:08:06.500 Um, yeah.

00:08:06.940 Kim Mulkey won't text me back.

00:08:08.760 I mean, that should be like a no brainer.

00:08:12.680 That's what I'm thinking in state.

00:08:14.160 I mean, you got to have amazing, like Louisiana following positive numbers.

00:08:20.000 I don't know how they track that, but it's gotta be amazing.

00:08:22.380 I mean, you're one of them.

00:08:23.620 Yeah.

00:08:23.840 I'm not at the flower day Johnson levels yet.

00:08:25.980 I'll get there though.

00:08:26.820 I think.

00:08:27.540 So why, why do you think like, cause yeah, you do have a unique personality, right?

00:08:31.340 And you, at least your personality is able to be seen these days.

00:08:33.920 And I think that that's something that just happens more over time with social media and more

00:08:38.440 just, we have more video of people in general now, you know?

00:08:41.900 So there's just like so many more little moments that get captured.

00:08:45.000 So you get to know somebody's personality.

00:08:46.780 And that's how I think a lot of fans, they, I think they gravitate a lot more towards athletes,

00:08:53.000 um, coaches, anybody really in the world because they get to know their personality.

00:08:56.640 Right.

00:08:57.460 Um, we were talking before about social media and how that kind of like, like why people

00:09:02.220 kind of gravitate towards certain people on social media.

00:09:04.340 And I think some of that's, that's just kind of the answer.

00:09:06.420 It's just, there's more out there.

00:09:07.520 And if people are willing to show some of their personality and not kind of follow like

00:09:11.060 this playbook of exactly how things are supposed to be, but remain within HR, HR has a box.

00:09:18.960 You have to stay in pretty much.

00:09:20.160 Yeah.

00:09:20.640 But, um, I think, I don't know if I don't make any sense as a head coach and got a lot

00:09:26.380 of people that you've got to please.

00:09:28.500 Right.

00:09:28.840 And that's challenging in these types of settings and these things, because you want to talk

00:09:33.200 to recruits and that age group, your current players, your fans, but then you also have

00:09:39.400 administration.

00:09:40.340 You've got old donors that have been around a long time, seen things done a certain way

00:09:44.920 for a long time.

00:09:45.880 So there's a lot of challenges in that.

00:09:48.020 Um, and you can't, you can't please everybody, which, um, you know, so I've kind of right

00:09:56.040 or wrong.

00:09:56.380 I've always said, Hey, my job is to wherever I'm working at, meaning my job is to Ole Miss

00:10:02.180 and not to potential future presidents or ADs at other places or other fan bases.

00:10:10.060 And so whether I was at Tennessee or USC, um, or here, wherever I was, it was like, okay,

00:10:15.600 a lot of what I say, other fans don't like, maybe even other athletic directors are like,

00:10:22.580 well, I don't like that.

00:10:23.300 He said that, but our own fans, our own administration really like it.

00:10:28.020 Cause it's usually me backing Ole Miss and saying what I think about the program, what

00:10:32.300 it should be.

00:10:32.720 And maybe sometimes taking shots at other programs or something like that.

00:10:37.020 Factual information blatantly, you know?

00:10:39.200 And putting it out there.

00:10:41.500 And so that, that upsets some people and upsets, um, a lot of other fan bases.

00:10:46.940 Well, that's not my job to worry about them.

00:10:49.360 Yeah.

00:10:49.580 Yeah.

00:10:49.980 You have one fan base.

00:10:50.960 Yeah.

00:10:51.200 They're not, they didn't hire me.

00:10:52.940 They're not paying the bills.

00:10:53.820 So, um, I've always looked at, and I think a lot of coaches don't do that.

00:10:57.760 And I'm not saying I'm right.

00:10:59.080 A lot of coaches say, Hey, I'm going to say things so that future employers potential that

00:11:04.500 they see it.

00:11:05.260 So then they're going to want to hire me.

00:11:07.140 Um, and I've just never thought that way.

00:11:09.500 Do you, um, you already had two experiences like coaching in the SEC, right?

00:11:16.160 At, um, Alabama and at Tennessee.

00:11:19.800 Yep.

00:11:20.380 Um, like, how's it been different here at Ole Miss?

00:11:22.660 Cause I mean, you know, some people call it the Yale of Mississippi kind of.

00:11:27.360 Well, I think, you know, I was, as you mentioned, the head coach of Tennessee, then the office

00:11:31.880 coordinator at Alabama.

00:11:32.660 Yeah.

00:11:33.520 So spent some time there.

00:11:35.120 Um, and those programs really over a long period of time, um, had won a lot of games,

00:11:43.580 Alabama, unbelievable championship runs, coach saving, probably a, you know, a decade there.

00:11:48.920 That's never going to be done ever again.

00:11:51.040 Yeah.

00:11:51.360 Too many wins.

00:11:52.200 I think for a school, not good for them at a certain point, but we're not, not good

00:11:56.200 for competitive environment throughout the conference when he was taking all the players

00:11:59.760 and winning all the games, no?

00:12:01.920 Um, and Ole Miss had been down.

00:12:04.340 Right.

00:12:04.960 You know, um, somebody said a stat the other day, you know, in the last four years.

00:12:09.420 So the seniors in college here, it's been a cool experience for them.

00:12:12.920 They saw a national championship in baseball.

00:12:15.260 You just saw both basketball teams go to the sweet 16.

00:12:18.080 And in four years of football here, we've had three top 12 finishes.

00:12:22.000 Well, they only had one in the previous 51 years.

00:12:24.820 Wow.

00:12:25.600 So there's been four in 55 years.

00:12:27.260 They've seen three of the four.

00:12:28.560 So the difference obviously in the programs was different, but I really liked that.

00:12:33.260 It was like a challenge because you can come in at the top of a place.

00:12:36.740 It's kind of always one.

00:12:37.880 And then you win.

00:12:38.660 It's like, okay, versus wow, let's like change what's happened.

00:12:43.100 Let's like create a new winning culture, a new way of thinking, um, in how the locker room

00:12:48.820 and the whole university thinks about football and the program.

00:12:52.540 And so we've raised the expectations to where we won 10 games and people are upset around

00:12:58.580 here, you know?

00:12:59.860 Right.

00:13:00.320 And so.

00:13:01.280 Yeah.

00:13:01.400 That's a different energy.

00:13:02.260 You guys were 13 points away from 13 more points and you guys are undefeated last year.

00:13:07.680 13 total.

00:13:08.720 Well, you need three to win.

00:13:09.980 So 16 more points last year and you guys would have been undefeated.

00:13:12.680 Yeah.

00:13:12.920 Pretty crazy.

00:13:13.660 Yeah.

00:13:13.840 We played 13 games, 10 of them.

00:13:16.120 We won by double digits.

00:13:17.280 And then the three losses were all one score games, um, right at the end of the game.

00:13:21.520 Um, what, what's, what's kind of different between coaching like in the pack 10 or I think

00:13:25.160 it's the pack 12 or something now, everybody keeps kind of like changing their names, but

00:13:28.660 I don't think it exists anymore.

00:13:29.800 It's like pack two now.

00:13:30.920 Yeah.

00:13:31.160 Pack two.

00:13:31.540 It was like, it was eight at one point and it was 10 and it was 12 and some of those teams

00:13:36.900 should not have been in there.

00:13:37.900 And now there's like two, everybody else left.

00:13:40.140 What was it like?

00:13:40.680 What do you notice different between coaching and like the pack, like a different conference

00:13:43.580 as opposed to the sec.

00:13:44.460 Like you coached at FAU, you coached at, um, you coached in the pack 10 to 12, eight, you

00:13:52.140 know, what's the difference you think?

00:13:55.660 Um, you know, there's a saying like in the sec day coin, like it just means more and it

00:14:01.540 really does like the passion in the towns, um, for the football programs, um, the attention

00:14:10.180 on it and really the play over time has been dominant.

00:14:14.940 The sec's had more draft picks, more championships, all, all those things.

00:14:18.640 It's just different.

00:14:19.920 It's a, it's a way of life down here.

00:14:22.200 Oh yeah.

00:14:22.920 And the people that can't even read and they can, but they're just yelling, go dogs.

00:14:27.240 Cause I feel if somebody come out of a coma and be like, go dogs or something, you know,

00:14:30.460 or somebody like come out of a coma and be like, and then just pass away.

00:14:34.240 Like people's last words, baby's first words, there's like 30 videos of baby's first words

00:14:38.160 being like sec chance or whatever.

00:14:41.200 It's a lot.

00:14:42.160 I was the head coach at USC.

00:14:43.980 You spend time out in LA.

00:14:45.380 So it's just a different world out there.

00:14:47.240 And I remember I was walking through campus and I was like, man, I bet like 50, 70% of these

00:14:55.860 students have no idea who I am.

00:14:57.500 I'm the head coach of the football team.

00:14:59.080 They got no idea who I am.

00:15:00.340 They just, they're going to school at USC, you know, getting their education.

00:15:03.460 Yeah.

00:15:05.560 And like here that, that like, like 100% know who you are.

00:15:10.020 You know, like the, the little kids, like the, you know, you go to like walk downtown

00:15:16.180 and like a four-year-old's like coach Kiffin, like they know who you are.

00:15:20.460 So it's like, they'll complain about your play for people that haven't been down here.

00:15:24.360 Maybe that makes sense to them, like to understand that, you know, like you don't go anywhere

00:15:29.000 without any, everybody knowing who you are, but also like that too, you know, kid will

00:15:34.440 be like, yeah, yeah.

00:15:35.300 They're like eight-year-old kid, maybe not four. 0.99

00:15:37.060 They just say, go to hell, Kiffin.

00:15:38.660 But eight-year-old, well, we've been winning this.

00:15:40.960 They don't say that, but that'll happen as soon as we lose a couple.

00:15:43.480 Yeah.

00:15:43.900 But no, they, they do.

00:15:45.140 They'll, they'll be like, coach, man, like, what about throwing that tight end on the

00:15:49.940 in route?

00:15:50.680 I'm like, you're like eight.

00:15:52.300 Like, how do you, how do you know that?

00:15:53.700 I'm like, well, it's 11 a.m.

00:15:54.820 What are you doing at this cafe?

00:15:56.080 You should be in school.

00:15:57.040 You should easily, obviously you're truant, but yeah, it's definitely, it's a lot more

00:16:01.460 intense in the South.

00:16:02.360 It's just, yeah, it's.

00:16:03.700 Yeah.

00:16:03.880 They're like, like coach, you're three for 14 on third downs.

00:16:06.840 I'm like, I didn't even know that.

00:16:08.480 Yeah.

00:16:08.620 And they do, but it's just, it just means more the passion for it.

00:16:12.020 And it's also why it's so awesome too.

00:16:13.760 It's why the stadiums are the way that they are.

00:16:15.960 The electricity before games as people walk into the stadiums, like it's just different.

00:16:21.080 It's awesome.

00:16:21.580 I love that.

00:16:22.240 Yeah.

00:16:22.520 Cause you guys have a walk.

00:16:23.580 I mean, I think a couple of teams do a walk now.

00:16:26.440 Do people ever try and tickle you or whatever when you walk by her?

00:16:28.700 That's crazy.

00:16:29.220 That's something.

00:16:30.680 Well, I like moved.

00:16:31.860 I, this happened at Tennessee and then here, and maybe this isn't like the best thing,

00:16:37.300 but I like moved it a little wider.

00:16:39.240 Like they didn't have like barricades on the walk and they're like, well, it's great,

00:16:43.800 man.

00:16:44.040 The fans are like, you interact with them.

00:16:45.620 And I'm like, well, this walk is like a half mile.

00:16:48.300 Like you're walking through like 40,000 people.

00:16:50.380 Yeah.

00:16:50.940 You know?

00:16:51.280 And like, you gotta wear a suit and everything.

00:16:53.100 And then like, they're like grabbing you and everything.

00:16:55.600 And so I moved the barricades a little.

00:16:58.380 There's people petting people, petting adults.

00:16:59.360 Yeah.

00:16:59.640 Like a little wider.

00:17:00.700 Plus, I mean, we are in the deep South, so there's a lot of great things.

00:17:03.740 And, but I mean, there's just some different things too.

00:17:06.380 Now, you know, they're like grabbing you and I got chew spit on her hand and stuff.

00:17:10.360 I've never hugged a man.

00:17:11.580 People just yelling stuff.

00:17:12.500 Like, yeah, there's a lot.

00:17:13.200 And it's like, whoa, can we like move these just back a little bit?

00:17:15.800 Maybe like, maybe I can just do the wave.

00:17:17.420 Yeah.

00:17:17.740 You know?

00:17:18.140 Hey guys, good to see you.

00:17:19.920 Put the defensive tackles along the outside.

00:17:22.860 Yeah.

00:17:23.220 I agree.

00:17:23.720 But you guys, yeah, it's definitely a ton of tradition here.

00:17:26.020 I mean, this is like Morgan Freeman's front porch down here in the South.

00:17:28.960 It's a slower lifestyle.

00:17:30.360 Was that a little bit tough for you?

00:17:31.560 I mean, what's, I mean, it is, Mississippi is the, it's a, it is like wandering back

00:17:37.840 through time, you know?

00:17:39.540 Yeah.

00:17:40.160 There's a lot there.

00:17:41.480 Yeah.

00:17:41.960 I can unpack there.

00:17:44.460 Yeah.

00:17:45.080 I mean, it's a lot of history.

00:17:46.980 I moved here.

00:17:47.360 A lot of tradition.

00:17:47.920 And everything you're giving me is just full disclosure anyway.

00:17:50.480 I moved here because it was SEC head job and I thought we could win and do a great job.

00:17:55.740 It wasn't, I wasn't like, man, I want to move to like, I'm just really dying to move

00:18:00.280 to Oxford, Mississippi.

00:18:01.680 Right.

00:18:02.280 But I also didn't know much about it either.

00:18:04.280 So I judged it that way, just kind of like a lot of people do about Mississippi.

00:18:10.460 And at first it was a lot because, because I'd spent most of my time before that in South

00:18:16.320 Florida or in LA at USC.

00:18:18.900 And I was like, at first I was like, whew, this is a lot.

00:18:23.360 Like, I mean, long winded, like a lot of conversations, slow moving.

00:18:29.760 Oh yeah.

00:18:30.120 But then you say, thank you.

00:18:31.900 Like, it's not over.

00:18:33.280 Right.

00:18:33.680 Hey, thank you.

00:18:34.540 Yeah.

00:18:35.080 And then like, no, they just keep going.

00:18:36.660 Yeah.

00:18:36.900 Oh yeah.

00:18:37.360 I'm like, no, but no, really, thank you.

00:18:38.820 I really appreciate it.

00:18:39.820 Like, I'm going to go to go now.

00:18:41.440 Oh, well, um, what are you, so what are you doing tomorrow?

00:18:44.900 Um, I just met you like, you know, like, oh yeah, you can make everybody's a friend.

00:18:51.500 Um, they, and there's also so many famous authors of that.

00:18:54.860 That's why the South is so full of famous storytellers because everybody is one, you

00:18:59.320 know, but then it took me some, I'm so glad that I've been here long enough now, five years

00:19:04.960 going on the sixth year.

00:19:06.280 And now I see it completely different.

00:19:08.940 Now I go back to like South Florida or I go to LA and I'm like, dang, these people are

00:19:13.340 rude.

00:19:13.860 Like everybody's moving fast.

00:19:15.820 Everybody's just into themselves.

00:19:17.020 Nobody's like saying hi.

00:19:18.140 So it's like what I thought really was kind of bad.

00:19:22.080 Now I'm like, man, I love it now.

00:19:24.560 You know, it's like a warmth, a sweetness, you know, hospitality and people being nice.

00:19:30.520 And I've, and I've learned to, that's actually slowed me down because I was always like, what

00:19:36.440 job can I get?

00:19:37.640 You know, how fast can I move?

00:19:39.340 Um, how many championships to win?

00:19:41.780 Like just always moving.

00:19:42.920 And, and I was like, maybe they're onto something here.

00:19:45.880 Maybe this slow down thing that I was judging at first.

00:19:48.700 Like I made jokes about the rocking chairs and people sit in rocking chairs.

00:19:51.840 Yeah.

00:19:52.460 And I'm like, at first Charlotte airport or whatever.

00:19:54.320 I saw that.

00:19:56.100 Yeah, I did when I was, and I was like, you'll see somebody has a 42nd layover and they're

00:20:00.000 like, I'm going to get a little rest in.

00:20:01.660 Yeah.

00:20:01.920 And I'm like, I actually saw some right away and people were in them.

00:20:04.800 And I said to some right away, I'm like, what are they doing?

00:20:07.940 That looks miserable.

00:20:08.760 Like, that's so slow. 0.77

00:20:11.480 And it's just two of them.

00:20:13.300 Yeah.

00:20:13.540 So there's one.

00:20:14.580 Like, what are you doing?

00:20:15.980 Well, they used to say.

00:20:16.480 They don't even have their phone out.

00:20:17.460 Like, what are you doing?

00:20:18.820 And now I'm like, hey, they're onto something.

00:20:21.520 Yeah.

00:20:22.180 Just slow down.

00:20:23.580 And so I've kind of said, hey, maybe there's something to the Mississippi lane.

00:20:26.980 And I just slow down, taking conversations, listen to people instead of just always talking

00:20:33.640 and moving.

00:20:35.000 And now I love it.

00:20:37.620 It's definitely like the program is, it feels a lot different.

00:20:41.500 You know, my best friend has been in hiding for years.

00:20:44.120 He's an Ole Miss like fanatic.

00:20:45.920 He will sit there and, you know, he's betting on test scores.

00:20:49.160 He's betting on all types of stuff.

00:20:50.340 He's betting on SAT over-unders for, you know, foreign exchange students.

00:20:53.980 So he gambles as well, obviously.

00:20:55.100 But now he's like out and proud, kind of, you know.

00:20:57.860 He's rocking that powder blue the past few years.

00:21:00.220 He's really feeling the vibes, you know.

00:21:02.200 I had some cool, a couple of cool things happen like that where I was with Landry, my daughter

00:21:07.320 at this.

00:21:08.200 With Landry?

00:21:08.840 Yes.

00:21:09.260 Okay.

00:21:09.600 At Jensei, the sushi restaurant.

00:21:11.440 And I'm at the restaurant with her in this, this kid comes up and senior in college.

00:21:17.140 And she goes, she, and like the South, because women know the football just as much as 1.00

00:21:23.040 the men.

00:21:23.660 Oh, yeah.

00:21:24.140 And she's like, I just want to thank you.

00:21:26.380 She's like, my four years here have been amazing.

00:21:29.200 Like, she's like, this was like a year ago.

00:21:31.780 So her first year had been bad.

00:21:33.140 So she's like, my four years, the first year the team was bad, then you came.

00:21:36.260 And then she's like, you totally changed my college experience.

00:21:40.040 I'm like, dang, that's really cool.

00:21:42.040 You know, that like, like you said, your buddy now like feels better about wearing an Ole

00:21:46.280 Miss shirt. 0.96

00:21:46.980 You know, there's like more pride into it, you know.

00:21:48.940 So that's pretty cool that we've been part of that change and part of that experience

00:21:53.760 for kids that like, now they're going to want to come back to games, you know.

00:21:58.120 And so that's pretty cool.

00:22:00.080 Oh, yeah.

00:22:00.540 I mean, it's like, that's when you want to be there.

00:22:02.120 You want to be there at the angle, you know.

00:22:05.880 That's when you want to be there.

00:22:07.300 Yeah. 0.92

00:22:07.480 Nobody wants to be like, man, when I was in college, man, our team sucked.

00:22:10.980 Like nobody went to the games.

00:22:12.320 It was terrible.

00:22:12.980 You know, like, so it's really cool that we've been part of that, again, coming into a place

00:22:17.220 that had been down a little bit.

00:22:18.620 That's another cool part of it.

00:22:20.300 Yeah.

00:22:20.500 And also like the players too.

00:22:21.920 When you come in and they've been losing, then the players in the locker room and you

00:22:25.520 come in and they just embrace everything and then you start winning and they're just so

00:22:30.160 excited because they're not used to it.

00:22:32.120 So that's a really cool thing about turning programs around and being in those locker rooms.

00:22:36.840 To see that happen?

00:22:37.800 Yes.

00:22:38.120 To see their appreciation for that.

00:22:40.040 Again, where if you're just coming in and places on top and they're just winning and

00:22:44.220 they're just winning again, it's just, they just expect it.

00:22:46.640 And so they're not as appreciative of those moments because they haven't had it taken away.

00:22:50.400 Right.

00:22:51.720 You're on a pretty famous like text chain with like other SEC coaches.

00:22:55.460 This is alleged.

00:22:56.660 Yeah.

00:22:57.880 Kirby Smart, Sarkeesian.

00:23:00.720 What are the vibes on the chain?

00:23:02.120 I feel like, like, what is it like on there?

00:23:04.280 I feel like I keep it together.

00:23:06.140 Like I keep the group together because like one will beat the other or they'll say something

00:23:09.680 and they kind of like get mad at each other and then they won't like text for a week.

00:23:13.780 If like you beat him, then he doesn't text for a week or if they're playing each other

00:23:17.740 that week, they certainly aren't going to say anything.

00:23:19.620 And I'm like, guys.

00:23:20.880 And by you beat him, it means you, when you guys beat Georgia last year, but go on.

00:23:24.040 I feel it.

00:23:24.620 But then I just say something that night.

00:23:26.120 Right.

00:23:26.320 You know, like, Hey man, like you'll probably get us next year.

00:23:29.580 You know, like they don't like, they don't think that's funny.

00:23:31.540 You know, like then one of them side texts me like, Hey man, you shouldn't have said that.

00:23:34.220 Kirby's pissed off.

00:23:35.000 You know, and I'm like, dude, it's just a game.

00:23:37.620 Relax.

00:23:38.220 We're buddies.

00:23:39.060 Do you guys vote on how another coach gets into the text chain or what is the.

00:23:42.640 Yeah.

00:23:43.420 There's been conversations about that.

00:23:45.340 Really?

00:23:46.220 Um, I just kind of, I actually have a, they may not know this.

00:23:51.960 We're giving a lot of information out today.

00:23:54.700 Appreciate you coming.

00:23:55.940 So, you know, kind of give you some special insight.

00:23:57.780 I have multiple ones.

00:24:00.820 So sometimes I'll say something that guy's not in it and that guy's, you know, then this

00:24:05.740 guy's in it.

00:24:06.260 And so like, I kind of make sure I know who's in them, you know, when I say certain things

00:24:11.180 and then, you know, every once in a while I've got somebody who does something and then

00:24:14.060 I like, I move them out of the chat.

00:24:16.560 No.

00:24:17.180 Yeah.

00:24:17.700 Yeah.

00:24:18.560 Yeah.

00:24:18.880 It's, it's happened.

00:24:19.800 You know, Jimbo Fisher removed from chat.

00:24:23.700 R.I.P.

00:24:24.520 And then like, then I'll like put them back in.

00:24:26.260 Yeah.

00:24:26.440 Yeah.

00:24:27.020 But, and, and, and they're like typical coaches.

00:24:29.640 They don't know how to remove somebody or add somebody.

00:24:31.640 Oh yeah.

00:24:31.860 So it's like pretty cool that I can do it.

00:24:33.240 And they're like, how do you do that?

00:24:34.420 Yeah.

00:24:35.260 Yeah.

00:24:35.780 Lane's one of them tech wizards.

00:24:37.580 Yeah.

00:24:38.060 Yeah.

00:24:38.460 Yeah.

00:24:38.840 Yeah.

00:24:39.060 Coaches are a little behind time.

00:24:40.300 That's a big deal to be able to remove somebody from chat.

00:24:42.620 Like, Whoa, he must really like have somebody teaching him this stuff.

00:24:45.720 Who is, uh, who's the most mysterious SEC coach to you?

00:24:50.200 Do you think?

00:24:51.740 Um, Hmm.

00:24:53.340 Um, maybe Brian Kelly, speaking of LSU, you know, like I like Brian, um, not a South guy,

00:25:02.340 you know, kind of came in.

00:25:03.540 Um, and so I think maybe people don't really understand him.

00:25:11.040 Um, you know, he's just kind of, he's a little bit different.

00:25:16.000 Um, then maybe your traditional, like Kirby smart.

00:25:20.820 He's like born and raised SEC.

00:25:23.020 Oh yeah.

00:25:23.560 He cuts his own hair.

00:25:26.120 It looks, it looks like it.

00:25:27.840 Yeah, it definitely.

00:25:28.720 He really does.

00:25:29.680 I'm totally putting that in the chat.

00:25:30.800 Oh, I don't know.

00:25:31.300 It definitely looks like somebody ran a slant with some scissors across his forehead.

00:25:34.840 Yeah.

00:25:35.000 Like a bowl.

00:25:35.640 Oh yeah.

00:25:36.320 It's unbelievable.

00:25:37.200 And here's the thing.

00:25:37.960 And he shows the same haircut from when he was like playing.

00:25:39.440 It's like, it never changed.

00:25:40.320 And it's a children's bowl.

00:25:41.440 Get an adult bowl.

00:25:43.580 What kind of, what kind of dishware are you guys using?

00:25:46.580 At the salon.

00:25:47.940 No, and actually beautiful man there too.

00:25:49.700 I wanted to say that Kirby.

00:25:50.840 But, oh, there you go.

00:25:51.560 But yeah, like, well, Brian Kelly, they also put him on that lazy Susan.

00:25:54.620 Remember when he first came in?

00:25:55.620 It's like, um, and that's a, it's a tough.

00:25:59.680 I retweeted that.

00:26:00.520 You what?

00:26:00.980 I retweeted that.

00:26:01.860 Like when he did that thing.

00:26:02.980 Yeah.

00:26:03.700 He was with the quarter.

00:26:04.560 It was terrible.

00:26:05.020 Look at that.

00:26:06.040 I thought this was for a strip club, to be honest with you.

00:26:09.000 I thought this was for.

00:26:09.660 Yeah.

00:26:09.800 I think I wrote something like, do you actually know they're filming you?

00:26:12.960 Like, did you put this out on purpose?

00:26:15.560 Like, like you, you know, they're going to film you when you're doing this.

00:26:20.420 I thought this was a gender reveal. 0.93

00:26:22.240 And I was like, well, what are we, what is it?

00:26:24.640 Yeah.

00:26:25.020 And it's not like his, his like first one.

00:26:27.160 He did it like the year before.

00:26:28.500 I'm like, do you realize you're like kind of grinding on the dude?

00:26:31.020 This was also a strip club advertisement near Natchez, Mississippi, I think as well.

00:26:34.960 No judgment outside of there.

00:26:36.280 I've spent time there, but yeah, maybe Brian Kelly is kind of mysterious.

00:26:39.480 I think also maybe it's just because he's from, he hadn't, had he coached in the SEC before

00:26:44.520 or not?

00:26:45.260 No, I don't think so.

00:26:46.400 And he's a nice guy.

00:26:47.020 You're like at Notre Dame.

00:26:48.440 Right.

00:26:48.920 You're at Notre Dame and then you're like LSU.

00:26:51.720 I know.

00:26:52.200 I mean.

00:26:53.320 I know.

00:26:54.060 I mean, you went from heaven to.

00:26:56.380 Yeah.

00:26:56.640 That's just like, that's as big a change as you can have South Bend to Baton Rouge.

00:27:01.680 Oh yeah.

00:27:02.420 And the SEC.

00:27:03.580 And so.

00:27:04.880 Oh yeah, dude.

00:27:06.360 South Bend just down there into the Mr. Weatherall belt.

00:27:09.220 Yeah.

00:27:09.500 I think that's about, I don't think they make a bigger change than that.

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00:30:30.980 The SEC has historic venues, right?

00:30:34.500 And a lot of historic, a lot of like, one thing that's interesting about the SEC is you'll have people that didn't go to college, but they will show up at the games as if it's their school.

00:30:45.000 And that doesn't happen like in as many other places.

00:30:47.580 It just does not happen.

00:30:48.600 Yeah.

00:30:48.860 You have people who can't read, people who can't see, but they'll show up and watch a game somehow.

00:30:54.720 Um, and you don't see that in other conferences.

00:30:58.500 So that totally happens.

00:30:59.800 And I, I remember, so my first taste of the South was going to Tennessee as the head coach.

00:31:05.820 And I'm coming from, I was the head coach of the Oakland Raiders.

00:31:09.560 And then I've been at USC before this.

00:31:11.080 I'm like coming from California to like Tennessee.

00:31:14.980 And I remember, I'm like, there's a lot of people.

00:31:18.400 They have a spring game.

00:31:19.280 There's like 70,000 people here at the spring game, like 50,000 there two hours before.

00:31:23.760 And they're like, yeah, at the, at the big games, like the thing will sell out.

00:31:27.260 Then there'll be another 20,000 outside.

00:31:29.700 And I'm like, oh, I went to school.

00:31:32.380 And I'm like, no, no, don't get it.

00:31:34.660 No.

00:31:35.040 And then when I went to Alabama, the same thing.

00:31:36.560 They're like, no, half these people didn't go to school here.

00:31:38.460 They just, they lived in the state at one point.

00:31:41.340 So they, it's their team.

00:31:43.740 It's not because they went to school there and like their passion is unbelievable.

00:31:48.140 And I'm like, wait, you didn't even go to school here.

00:31:51.180 No, no, no.

00:31:52.500 I didn't go to school at all.

00:31:53.920 But my daddy knew somebody that did.

00:31:55.740 Yeah.

00:31:56.760 And I'm like, wait, your dad went.

00:31:57.940 No, he didn't either.

00:31:58.760 So no one in your family ever went.

00:32:00.580 No, sir.

00:32:01.140 To Alabama.

00:32:02.020 No, sir.

00:32:03.020 But you like your whole week, your whole year is affected whether they win or lose.

00:32:08.340 Like just angry the rest of the year, whether they win or lose that like Alabama, Tennessee game.

00:32:13.800 Yes, sir.

00:32:14.260 That's it.

00:32:14.880 Yes, sir.

00:32:15.400 But it doesn't impact you like your job.

00:32:17.680 Do you work for him?

00:32:18.500 No.

00:32:18.980 I don't work, sir.

00:32:20.460 But I cheer for the Todd.

00:32:23.100 I mean, they got that one guy, that Roll Tide Willie now.

00:32:26.220 And he's, he was in the military with my dad's buddy.

00:32:28.900 But what is, what's your favorite place to play, do you think, in the SEC outside of Vaught-Hemingway?

00:32:34.740 Well, I don't know about favorite, because favorite would be like-

00:32:37.860 Anarchal, right?

00:32:38.580 It's anarchal for you guys.

00:32:39.500 Yeah.

00:32:39.720 You know, like favorite might be somewhere really easy.

00:32:43.000 Right.

00:32:43.220 Like, no, the most intense places.

00:32:46.520 Yeah.

00:32:46.880 Or just which one of you get out there and you're like, man, this is freaking majestic.

00:32:50.460 How about that?

00:32:50.900 Let's use that word.

00:32:53.520 This is why you have like such a different audience of like so many different areas of stuff.

00:32:58.640 Because like you use big words too.

00:33:00.500 Oh, yeah.

00:33:01.300 Like, yeah, you're educated.

00:33:03.240 Majestic.

00:33:04.740 M-U-H-F. 1.00

00:33:05.680 Majestic place.

00:33:06.700 Yeah, yeah.

00:33:07.040 What's a big-

00:33:07.580 Neyland Stadium in Tennessee is like amazing.

00:33:12.440 Like, it's just, like when we would bring recruits there, it is majestic.

00:33:16.880 Like, there you go.

00:33:17.820 Like, and then at night, and then there's the river and the boats, and then the intensity in there.

00:33:23.240 So, I was the head coach here at Ole Miss.

00:33:25.500 We went to play at Tennessee.

00:33:27.600 And it was like on from warm-ups.

00:33:31.100 Like, everyone was there.

00:33:32.660 Over 100,000 people.

00:33:34.220 And there was like this hatred towards me.

00:33:38.200 Like, I felt like the gladiator to a movie.

00:33:40.580 You know, like, they were getting ready for like a thumbs down. 1.00

00:33:43.160 You know, like, let's kill them. 1.00

00:33:45.280 Yeah. 1.00

00:33:45.680 And then it like-

00:33:46.960 And probably 12,000 people are carrying weapons in there at that time.

00:33:50.360 They had a real conversation with me during the week about bulletproof vests.

00:33:54.560 Like, but again, I'm like, there's no way, guys.

00:33:56.600 Come on, man.

00:33:57.020 It's football.

00:33:57.720 And they're like, they had like three cops with me and everything.

00:34:00.940 Like, it's deer season, sir.

00:34:03.020 They ain't going to really do that.

00:34:04.720 Maybe like a golf ball, you know, they're going to throw at me or a bottle or something.

00:34:08.160 Oh, no.

00:34:08.720 Yeah.

00:34:08.940 So, they're walking in, and I was like, this is awesome.

00:34:11.600 Yeah.

00:34:12.780 Like, now I could feel-

00:34:14.720 Ooh.

00:34:17.220 Yeah. 1.00

00:34:17.620 They were like chanting, like, you know, like, fuck Lane, Jeff. 1.00

00:34:20.800 Yeah. 0.99

00:34:20.980 And like, that was actually like, felt kind of like intense and cool.

00:34:23.860 Like, 100,000 people chanting that.

00:34:26.120 Oh, yeah.

00:34:27.180 If a bunch of people hate you at once, it's easier to go.

00:34:29.300 It's easier to digest.

00:34:30.600 And then they're like, the student section was like, hey, you know, last night we were with your wife.

00:34:35.680 And I was like, man, that's pretty funny, like, to come up with stuff, you know?

00:34:38.400 Like, so, it was intense, and it was like, and it just kept building.

00:34:43.600 So, maybe like, everybody didn't hate me at the beginning, but then, you know, it's like a crowd, like, storm.

00:34:49.020 They feel it, and then the hatred just kept building.

00:34:51.520 And then it was like, really close game at the end, and then we won.

00:34:54.720 You guys won?

00:34:55.300 Yeah.

00:34:55.500 And then they got pissed, and they like threw things at me, like, golf ball.

00:34:59.260 Oh, yeah.

00:34:59.820 And like, anything they could get, like mustard.

00:35:01.540 And school books, which we need in Tennessee, first of all.

00:35:04.200 They didn't have school books.

00:35:05.800 Oh, okay.

00:35:06.520 No.

00:35:07.080 Mustard bottles.

00:35:08.400 Oh, really?

00:35:08.820 Like, how do you even have a mustard bottle?

00:35:10.120 Like, you just brought that to the game?

00:35:11.500 Like, hey, hey, we're going to, like, go to the game and sneak the mustard bottle in. 0.99

00:35:15.840 Oh, you're in the damn condiment belt over there in Tennessee, brother. 0.99

00:35:17.520 Isn't mustard free, like? 1.00

00:35:19.880 There's not enough.

00:35:20.840 Like, are you saving money?

00:35:22.820 Oh, you should see where they keep their relish at, brother.

00:35:26.120 And the golf, like, and I was like, they throw this golf ball that became famous that, like, they throw at me, and I'm like, afterwards, I'm like, okay, mustard.

00:35:34.880 Like, okay, what am I sneaking in to the game?

00:35:37.880 A golf ball?

00:35:38.420 Like, what do you have a golf ball for?

00:35:41.400 Like, I'm carrying a golf ball?

00:35:43.340 Because I don't think they're thinking I'm going to throw it, like, I'm going to be pissed off in the fourth quarter and throw it.

00:35:46.980 Right.

00:35:47.400 They just had it on them.

00:35:48.240 Yeah, but then I looked closer.

00:35:49.060 It was a range ball.

00:35:49.780 So I feel like, you know what it was?

00:35:51.500 It's like the cheap guy that, like, steals the range ball.

00:35:53.980 So, like, okay, this way I had to, like, have these to hit, like, you know, instead of, like, having to buy a golf ball, so I'm going to steal the range ball, like, for next time I go and play a round.

00:36:02.220 So it was just in his pocket.

00:36:03.300 That was my guess.

00:36:04.380 I think that's probably accurate.

00:36:06.080 Oh, there you are.

00:36:06.580 Oh, that's pretty cool.

00:36:08.160 Yeah.

00:36:10.160 Did you keep that?

00:36:11.360 Yeah.

00:36:11.640 You still have it?

00:36:12.260 I did.

00:36:12.760 Hell yeah, dude.

00:36:13.440 That's cool.

00:36:14.180 How scary is it?

00:36:15.100 How quick do you want to get off the field when you beat a team in their stadium?

00:36:18.540 Is there a weird energy there for a little, like, is it kind of?

00:36:21.460 That one was.

00:36:22.480 Yeah.

00:36:23.120 Yeah, that one definitely was.

00:36:25.660 Most of the time it's not really.

00:36:26.920 Sometimes I kind of like it, you know, like, kind of walk off a little slow, you know, just so, like, you feel the, like, that wind, that you just, like, ruined 100,000 people.

00:36:36.240 Like, especially in the SEC, like, week, not just day.

00:36:39.880 Oh, yeah.

00:36:40.460 Their traffic home.

00:36:42.540 Yeah.

00:36:43.440 That's a lot.

00:36:44.420 And especially a woman who was going to give birth that week because her husband would be in a good mood and now she's got to hold it another week. 0.97

00:36:50.620 That's the toughest part.

00:36:52.020 Like, hey, we cannot have.

00:36:53.220 We lost this week.

00:36:54.100 Yeah, we ain't having a baby under these circumstances.

00:36:55.880 You keep it in there.

00:36:56.800 Yeah, yeah.

00:36:57.740 Hold the line, honey.

00:36:58.320 We got Bama next week.

00:36:59.920 We win that.

00:37:00.740 You can have it Saturday night.

00:37:02.060 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:37:02.800 We'll get that thing out.

00:37:04.680 We'll do the tush push. 0.99

00:37:06.000 That'll help.

00:37:07.880 What's one of the most aggravating traditions that you think and what's one of the best traditions you think in college football?

00:37:13.760 If you're even up on them.

00:37:14.920 I know there's a ton of them out there.

00:37:17.020 Well, this is, like, a big tradition, like, as far as everywhere, not specific places.

00:37:20.860 Like, I love the band thing.

00:37:22.780 You know, before, like, it's just really cool when they have the band out there and they spell things.

00:37:27.480 Speaking of the Tennessee, the opening of the tee and then run out, like, that was really cool to, like, see.

00:37:33.420 You're, like, right there and then, like, the band just opens up the tee and you run out.

00:37:37.280 Like, that's a really cool tradition.

00:37:39.480 And is there one that's kind of aggravating that you see at a place somewhere?

00:37:43.940 It could be SEC or anywhere.

00:37:45.060 The fan storming thing is a little bit tough.

00:37:50.980 You know, like, they don't do it in the NFL.

00:37:54.280 They found a way, like, I get it.

00:37:56.260 It's pretty cool.

00:37:57.880 Um, but then it can be aggravating because, like, they're storming and, like, and you're worried about, like, I'm hitting you.

00:38:05.080 What's going on?

00:38:05.780 What are they going to do?

00:38:06.320 It's, like, very, you know, very invasive at that point.

00:38:10.400 But, um, I think, like, if they could just let everybody out and then let the fans out so they still get to tear the goalposts down because that's the school and stuff.

00:38:19.400 Yeah.

00:38:20.180 Yeah, I was at that old, at the, um, Alabama Vanderbilt game and that was pretty sick.

00:38:23.960 And some guy on the sideline squeezed me so hard, bruised one of my ribs really bad or dislocated it, right?

00:38:29.440 So I was, like, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, doing like that or whatever.

00:38:33.360 And then every other player kept hugging me.

00:38:36.340 So it was just one after another, just the biggest guys you've ever even seen just hugging you.

00:38:42.760 Yeah, they're all excited.

00:38:43.900 Yeah, and it was just, oh, dude.

00:38:46.040 It was, that was a really tough day.

00:38:47.400 It was a tough year, actually.

00:38:48.880 That took about eight weeks to get better from.

00:38:50.880 Yeah, but you were at a historic, like, moment.

00:38:52.920 It was so cool.

00:38:54.020 That will probably never happen ever again.

00:38:56.020 I don't know.

00:38:56.380 I want to see.

00:38:57.260 It was a once in a lifetime.

00:38:58.580 Well, Diego Pavia got that sixth year, that eighth year, I think he got.

00:39:01.640 Yeah, you never know.

00:39:02.600 Did that, uh, were you surprised when he got that?

00:39:04.640 Did it affect any of the way that, were your players able to apply for anything like that?

00:39:08.440 Uh, we tried.

00:39:09.240 We didn't win it.

00:39:10.140 Um, Jack Starr actually tried to get another year, um, or at least see if the option was there.

00:39:14.760 And, um, you know, they denied it, but.

00:39:18.700 Hey, there we are.

00:39:19.500 We iced that dude up.

00:39:21.700 Clark Lee.

00:39:23.120 Good dude.

00:39:24.100 I like, I love Clark.

00:39:25.460 Yeah.

00:39:26.140 He is.

00:39:26.700 Old school, good guy.

00:39:27.420 They got a fun group over there.

00:39:28.480 And that's kind of an underdog energy over there too, you know?

00:39:30.880 Big time.

00:39:31.480 Is there an SEC team that you also cheer for on the low, kind of?

00:39:35.040 Them.

00:39:35.620 I do.

00:39:36.380 Yeah, Vanderbilt.

00:39:37.320 Because I think they have, like, so much stacked against them, you know?

00:39:39.960 Like, they got higher academic qualifications to get guys in, so they can't just get all

00:39:44.840 the players everybody else can, you know?

00:39:46.320 Like, um, harder, you know, because the stadium's usually half full and stuff.

00:39:50.660 So, um, I, I, I root for them, especially Clark, because that's a hard job.

00:39:54.940 Yeah.

00:39:55.240 And so that's, that's pretty cool for them to win like they did this year.

00:39:59.260 Yeah.

00:39:59.600 It's exciting over there.

00:40:00.640 Yeah.

00:40:00.820 They carry the goalposts and then they try to valet park the goalposts.

00:40:04.140 I heard they got tired of it or whatever.

00:40:05.740 I didn't know that.

00:40:06.340 And they try to valet them at a restaurant.

00:40:07.780 I'm like, you can't, who are you going to give it to those three guys up front or whatever?

00:40:10.900 Like, that's crazy.

00:40:12.000 Yeah, but that might be the only, like, SEC town that has valet.

00:40:14.800 That's a good, that's a good.

00:40:15.960 Like, when you say that, that doesn't fit.

00:40:17.540 They know valet in most of these towns.

00:40:19.260 Valet.

00:40:19.820 That's a great point, dude.

00:40:21.660 Spell valet.

00:40:22.240 Yeah, yeah.

00:40:22.900 Yeah, they tried to valet.

00:40:24.460 I'm at a, um, I think at a, at a McCormick and Schmicks or something over there.

00:40:29.060 So definitely kind of interesting.

00:40:31.040 Um, I want to talk about, uh, Coach Saban.

00:40:33.940 You worked with Coach Saban for a while.

00:40:35.820 I mean, you guys have had like kind of a storied history.

00:40:38.080 Yep.

00:40:38.520 Over the years, I think.

00:40:39.680 Um, have you, do you guys still communicate?

00:40:41.720 Yeah.

00:40:42.440 Yeah, we do.

00:40:43.340 Um, he's not a big, like, Tex guy.

00:40:45.680 Um, but we talk every once in a while.

00:40:48.060 Um, um, is he, what is he's not Tex?

00:40:51.520 He's like to write.

00:40:52.200 Is he more written kind of, or?

00:40:53.780 No, you got to call him.

00:40:55.000 Okay.

00:40:55.420 Um, he did just learn how in the last, like, two years, two Tex,

00:40:59.840 he had never text before.

00:41:01.140 Wow.

00:41:01.640 Ever.

00:41:02.220 Like when I was just in coach, Sarah, and just like, I'm not Texan.

00:41:06.200 Like, he just refused.

00:41:07.280 It was like that old school.

00:41:08.500 Like, he's got those old school things that aren't changing.

00:41:10.600 And, um, and then I like got a text like two years ago from that said, good luck or something

00:41:17.260 like that.

00:41:17.860 And I was like, to the group, I was like, dude, I got a saving text.

00:41:21.240 Like, this is amazing.

00:41:22.560 This is like, yeah, about beating Alabama.

00:41:23.960 Like, this is supposed to happen.

00:41:25.860 Never thought I'd see this day.

00:41:27.680 And, um, and then Kirby's like, yeah, I got one or this year too.

00:41:31.960 Like, he's like learned how to text just like you get one or two words, but, um, but that

00:41:37.520 relationship's like almost in a way, kind of like how you can struggle sometimes, like

00:41:43.000 maybe when you're in it with like a parent and then you get out, like you get older and

00:41:47.360 you get away, get out of the house.

00:41:48.840 Yeah.

00:41:49.600 And then you're like, dang, man, he, he was onto something.

00:41:52.460 He was right on those things. 0.96

00:41:53.980 So I look back and I was there for three years and there was friction initially.

00:41:58.360 And I look back, there's all my, I'm the assistant, I, you know what I mean?

00:42:01.800 Like he's the head coach, you know, whatever he says goes.

00:42:05.340 Oh yeah.

00:42:05.500 You supposed to keep it classy over there.

00:42:08.000 Yes.

00:42:08.460 And that's not, his way is very like, this is the way, like there's not open discussions

00:42:14.560 about it and stuff.

00:42:15.500 And, and I was, I'd worked for Pete Carroll as assistant.

00:42:18.260 So that's all I knew.

00:42:20.260 And it's just totally different.

00:42:22.700 So like you come in, you have an open conversation and you're questioning the process.

00:42:26.060 No, I just was asking like, we looked at this, you know, like, so I didn't really know how

00:42:31.380 it worked right away.

00:42:32.440 And so it took a little bit of time.

00:42:34.000 Like he didn't want a lot of suggestions.

00:42:35.960 No, no, no, no.

00:42:37.040 It's not like a suggestion box.

00:42:38.260 Like, Hey, let me pull this.

00:42:39.200 Oh, here, here's a good idea.

00:42:40.520 You know, like, so it was, um, it was just something I wasn't used to that way.

00:42:45.860 And so it took a little bit of time, but now that I look back, I'm like, okay, he was

00:42:50.040 so strict on everything kind of like in apparent way, like with his team, with the players,

00:42:55.200 it was the coaches, like nothing, nothing changed.

00:42:58.000 Even we won national championship and there's seven 30 staff meeting the next morning.

00:43:01.600 I'm like, what are we meeting on at seven 30 the next morning?

00:43:03.860 He's like, we're behind, you know, because we won the championship, everybody else was

00:43:07.540 recruiting or behind.

00:43:08.560 And I was like, well, what are we doing?

00:43:10.580 But now I look back and be like, that's why he is what he is.

00:43:13.480 That's why he was so great.

00:43:14.600 Cause it was like the standard never changed no matter what.

00:43:18.280 And then that took me some time to understand too.

00:43:21.480 Like when you, when we were winning and playing really well and coaching really well, he was

00:43:27.340 harder on you because he didn't want you to have relief syndrome, you know, like, oh man,

00:43:32.040 we we've made it.

00:43:32.980 And I didn't really understand that syndrome.

00:43:35.380 I saw he was on the pivot like a month ago.

00:43:38.920 And I listened to it.

00:43:39.620 My son knocks and he talked about it in there.

00:43:42.080 He'd never explained it to us, but it was interesting to hear.

00:43:46.480 And he said, most people are born with a relief syndrome.

00:43:49.460 He wasn't, he just always had this way of thinking like, Hey, you never relax.

00:43:54.320 Like, but most people are.

00:43:55.720 So he went above and beyond to make sure people didn't have that.

00:43:59.460 Like we'd win a game.

00:44:00.940 And then he comes in and just like rips us.

00:44:03.320 Yeah.

00:44:03.700 And we're like, man, we played great.

00:44:04.700 Like coach great.

00:44:05.860 That was because he was guarding against that because he knew that that could happen.

00:44:09.800 Dang.

00:44:10.360 Yeah.

00:44:10.580 He wasn't letting anything be a possibility.

00:44:14.940 When I left, we'd won 26 straight games.

00:44:17.300 So I'd only hadn't had many losses, but I do remember the three losses that we had over

00:44:23.220 the three years.

00:44:23.900 Like he actually, after those was calm.

00:44:28.660 Like that's when we didn't get ripped because he's like, they're going to get ripped anyway.

00:44:34.480 I don't need to, you know, like I need to, when they're feeling good about themselves,

00:44:39.440 bring them down. 0.52

00:44:40.580 So, um, I didn't really understand that at first.

00:44:43.080 And now I look back on, man, he was, there's a reason he's the greatest.

00:44:46.940 Wow.

00:44:47.600 Yeah.

00:44:47.860 Do you regard him as the greatest?

00:44:48.840 Yeah, I do.

00:44:49.840 Um, I think because, um, you know, to bear Brian's to like legends back then, no offense,

00:44:56.040 they had like unlimited scholarships.

00:44:58.100 Coach Saban did an error where there were reduced scholarship numbers.

00:45:03.440 He also did an error when you're losing coaches left and right.

00:45:06.360 You know, he lost so many assistant coaches and he just kept winning.

00:45:09.320 And, and I don't think anybody will ever be able to do that again.

00:45:12.320 And he couldn't even do that again, the way that it's going anyway.

00:45:17.280 And now this with the money part and all that stuff, that's, that's like evening things

00:45:22.220 out that people can't stack the teams like he did because now your second team and third

00:45:29.100 teams, maybe before where they had to sit there and wait, they, they couldn't leave back then.

00:45:33.120 Now they leave.

00:45:34.100 So you lose your backups because someone gives them more money.

00:45:36.760 And, but how was he able to convince players to sit there, be just as good and sit second

00:45:40.620 or third position?

00:45:41.280 That's tough.

00:45:41.940 I feel like.

00:45:42.440 Yeah.

00:45:42.820 Well, that's what I'm saying.

00:45:44.140 Part of his time, they couldn't leave yet.

00:45:46.980 Oh, he couldn't transfer.

00:45:48.580 Now you can transfer twice, twice a year.

00:45:51.080 So he still was able at the end to convince some guys to stay, but he started losing so the

00:45:55.780 teams weren't as deep.

00:45:57.100 Did he have to recruit the whole time or at a certain point did the, did the acumen of their

00:46:00.640 coach of their winning just to be the recruiter for him?

00:46:03.440 Do you think that helped a lot, but he never changed?

00:46:06.460 That was him.

00:46:07.400 Like there was no release.

00:46:08.540 And it never changed.

00:46:09.540 Like he recruited every day, no matter what.

00:46:13.900 And he was nonstop.

00:46:15.260 And he's relentless.

00:46:15.800 People always say, okay, well, why did he win so many championships?

00:46:19.460 Why was he so good?

00:46:20.480 And I was like, well, there's the process.

00:46:22.020 There's the assistant coaches.

00:46:23.580 There's the discipline, all these different areas.

00:46:26.060 Right.

00:46:26.240 But really the number one thing that mattered the most, he out-recruited people.

00:46:32.060 He got better players.

00:46:33.460 Right.

00:46:33.520 When you get better players, you win a lot of games.

00:46:35.460 And it wasn't, they weren't just coming there just to come there.

00:46:37.900 They came there because he recruited really hard.

00:46:39.980 Got it.

00:46:41.140 Did he, what was he like?

00:46:42.240 I mean, did you ever get to spend any time with him?

00:46:43.860 Like, was he good at cards or anything like that?

00:46:45.520 Or was he, did he do anything else besides, like, did he ever take his whistle off?

00:46:50.100 You think?

00:46:51.040 Like even in the shower, you know?

00:46:52.560 Coach didn't do a lot of other things.

00:46:56.180 I know he golfed.

00:46:57.340 I never golfed with him, but he golfed.

00:47:00.100 Did he ever invite you, or did he ever dress up for Halloween?

00:47:02.720 Like, was there anything you ever saw Coach Saban do that was like, felt a little bit more,

00:47:07.860 not as much like, who's that guy, Robert Downey Jr.?

00:47:12.960 What's the character he plays?

00:47:14.500 Iron, that was outside of Iron Man, you know?

00:47:17.740 It's interesting.

00:47:18.460 You know, Nick Saban, and people would joke, Nick Satan, you know, he was born on Halloween.

00:47:23.820 Was he really?

00:47:24.720 His birthday every year is Halloween.

00:47:26.260 No.

00:47:26.780 Yeah.

00:47:27.360 So maybe his whole frickin' existence was a costume.

00:47:30.520 Maybe.

00:47:32.260 But he did not, there was not, he wasn't gonna wear a costume or something like that on Halloween,

00:47:37.200 so there was no like, he didn't have like Halloween parties and stuff.

00:47:40.180 On your own birthday, even put on a little cattail or something.

00:47:43.100 Um, because it was, no day was different.

00:47:47.580 Every day was the same.

00:47:49.380 Wow.

00:47:49.640 I will say this, I went to Easter one time at his house, and my kids, they were still living

00:47:55.260 in California with my wife, and, because I took the Alabama job, and then they came for

00:48:01.200 Easter.

00:48:01.740 Yeah.

00:48:02.080 And he invited us over, and, um, we went over there, and he was different.

00:48:08.940 Now, he didn't put on like a bunny costume, but, like, he was helping the kids with like

00:48:13.200 the Easter eggs, and he had one grandkid at the time, um, and he was like carrying around,

00:48:18.380 and like, and it was totally different than the office Nick Saban that we would see all

00:48:22.880 the time.

00:48:23.560 You know, like, so that, that was pretty cool to see that side of him.

00:48:26.720 Now, he's also so competitive that he, his grandkid was like one, and all of a sudden

00:48:31.680 the grandkid found the golden egg, you know, like, while he was with coach way over there,

00:48:36.480 you know, so coach also was going to make sure that he won.

00:48:39.000 Yeah.

00:48:39.380 Um, but it was pretty cool to see him like that.

00:48:42.180 Yeah.

00:48:42.740 Yeah, you got to be different.

00:48:44.020 You can't, when Jesus is making a comeback, you can't play defense on that day, you know?

00:48:47.920 That's when you got to just call the dogs off, I feel like.

00:48:51.640 Yeah.

00:48:51.800 But it is definitely skeptical that a one-year-old found a golden egg.

00:48:55.520 Was he playing against other kids, of kids, like of age children?

00:48:59.120 Yeah.

00:48:59.380 Mine were like eight, 10, and 12.

00:49:01.740 Oh, God.

00:49:04.080 That's sad.

00:49:05.500 But yeah, winners win, you know?

00:49:07.160 That's what they say.

00:49:08.400 Do you think that, um, coach Saban misses coaching?

00:49:11.260 I do.

00:49:12.220 Um, I think that, and he mentioned that in that pivot podcast, but I did always think,

00:49:17.460 okay, if he was going to do this, he was going to have to have, and I, and I used to say

00:49:20.520 he's going to have to kind of have that college game day spot because he's going to want

00:49:24.740 to still, like, be involved.

00:49:26.800 You know, he's just so wired to all day long to do something for his entire life.

00:49:30.640 Now he ain't, he, he's not going to sit around and just, you know, be a grandpa.

00:49:36.340 Yeah.

00:49:36.660 That's not him.

00:49:37.720 Um, so I think because of that, that's helped a lot.

00:49:40.720 But I wouldn't actually be surprised if he came back in the NFL, even, you know, as head

00:49:45.620 coach, um, because he just, he's so good at it and so in him that, um, I'm not sure

00:49:51.180 he won't come back.

00:49:52.940 What, um, I want to talk about the NIL and then I want to talk about your team and, uh,

00:49:56.980 and Ole Miss here.

00:49:58.080 Um, does, um, God, I sound like a sports guy or something.

00:50:01.740 What am I even doing today?

00:50:02.660 Yeah.

00:50:02.680 You're getting really like, um, I feel like going into this, I was going to, we were going

00:50:06.840 to go a lot of different directions and now you've come back to like, I think people

00:50:10.640 will probably have turned off by now.

00:50:12.100 I know.

00:50:12.720 Oh, dude.

00:50:13.360 Hey, tell us about your, uh, depth at safety this year.

00:50:17.240 Yeah.

00:50:18.160 How do you guys feel about third down package?

00:50:21.820 Nobody wants to hear that.

00:50:23.200 I don't know.

00:50:23.640 My first down package is pretty small.

00:50:25.600 I'll tell you that.

00:50:26.240 That's an old wiener joke.

00:50:28.520 Um, here we go.

00:50:30.180 Now we're more.

00:50:31.160 There we go.

00:50:31.620 Yes.

00:50:31.900 They're turning back on.

00:50:32.780 I want to tell you about the, like NIL, do you have to spend more time recruiting players

00:50:36.660 or boosters these days with NIL?

00:50:39.760 Yeah.

00:50:40.220 Um, a lot of booster part, um, because they got to get the resources to pay.

00:50:45.280 Now that's going to get a little bit moved now with revenue sharing and, um, coming from

00:50:49.260 the school.

00:50:49.760 But these last few years has been, okay, well, the boosters have to create these collectives

00:50:54.740 and have to source the money to pay the players.

00:50:57.660 So if you don't have the money, you don't have the payroll, it's hard to get players.

00:51:00.720 And if you see, it's, it's not hard.

00:51:03.000 Look at who just won in basketball, the programs that made the final four, look at what, you

00:51:08.480 know, the final four, um, college football teams, like they're, they're major programs

00:51:12.340 that have a lot of financial resources.

00:51:14.100 So, um, yeah, you gotta, you gotta do a lot of that and then you gotta convince the players.

00:51:20.160 Now where it's different is the old school, unfortunately, kind of the old school recruiting

00:51:26.000 of the relationships and having a relationship three years since the kid was a sophomore in

00:51:30.380 high school and stuff.

00:51:32.080 It's not as important anymore because now I'm like, okay, well, what are you paying me?

00:51:37.140 You know, the school is this, the school is this, the school is this.

00:51:39.620 And most of them usually go to the higher, higher number.

00:51:43.560 And is that just a real question out of the gate is what is the offer?

00:51:45.740 Yeah.

00:51:46.360 Wow.

00:51:46.880 And do most of them have agents or they have to do that directly by themselves?

00:51:50.120 Yeah.

00:51:50.280 They now, it's now just transitioned to where most of them agents. 0.99

00:51:53.080 Oh, that's trash. 0.89

00:51:54.260 It's really, you know, we're in my office right here. 0.97

00:51:58.100 So I sit here all the time and the recruits sit over there where your guys are and the

00:52:02.380 parents.

00:52:02.940 And I said, this is our staff the other day.

00:52:04.860 Like I've sat in so many of these meetings, like whatever, say the last hundred.

00:52:09.520 And do you know, I never hear anymore.

00:52:11.380 What's your graduation, right?

00:52:12.880 I never hear anymore.

00:52:13.960 Like what's the academic plan.

00:52:16.560 And it's just kind of sad.

00:52:18.340 These are the parents.

00:52:19.620 It is what it is.

00:52:20.820 And then I go, okay, well, when's our NIL meeting?

00:52:23.320 Yeah.

00:52:24.100 What's the number?

00:52:25.360 What's the second year number?

00:52:26.580 Like, I'm not mad about it, but it's just kind of sad.

00:52:30.000 You just recognize it.

00:52:30.800 And I'm also recognizing it to say, I don't believe long-term that's good for the kids.

00:52:37.300 So this has been great for players to make some money, but it's so much money and it's

00:52:40.900 so much focus on the money that then it's like, okay, well then what's next?

00:52:45.420 If I'm already getting the money when I'm 18, then what?

00:52:48.280 But you've seen this all the time.

00:52:50.660 People get too much too early and then what?

00:52:54.060 They crash.

00:52:55.400 Crash out.

00:52:56.380 Yes.

00:52:56.720 And I feel like we're creating a lot of that in this.

00:52:59.560 And now a kid's sitting there listening to his parents that and they want to know the

00:53:02.460 money.

00:53:02.680 Like, so what's the kids supposed to want to know?

00:53:05.840 Yeah, it's crazy.

00:53:06.980 I agree.

00:53:08.900 Yeah, it's bonkers, dude.

00:53:10.800 Yeah. 0.99

00:53:11.200 If I'd have had some money, I'd have fucking left school. 0.98

00:53:13.280 Well, the second you gave me that chat, I'd have driven across country and got me some 1.00

00:53:17.020 damn dope, boy. 0.99

00:53:18.100 But I'm sure at that time you thought, man, if I just had a million dollars, man, I'd have 1.00

00:53:22.520 no problems.

00:53:23.500 Yeah.

00:53:24.000 Yeah.

00:53:24.560 Then life would be great.

00:53:26.280 I heard all the time of these players.

00:53:27.480 I just get money, man.

00:53:29.720 Players I hear from adults.

00:53:31.380 If I get money, man, all my problems, then I'll be good.

00:53:34.140 Okay.

00:53:35.280 We'll see.

00:53:36.000 We'll see.

00:53:36.500 And I go in the homes in recruiting over all these years.

00:53:38.860 I see the most problems in the families with the most money, most money, most success.

00:53:45.400 And then I don't feel any warmth in that room.

00:53:47.860 I don't feel the connection with the kids.

00:53:49.820 Like, and then I'll go to a house here in Mississippi or Louisiana, you know, and there'll

00:53:54.740 be 10 people living in this two bedroom house and you just feel like the warmth and like the

00:54:00.600 closeness and everything.

00:54:01.780 And then you got hardly anything financially, but then they have this love and this family.

00:54:07.160 And I've just done this for a long time and I see it usually the other way around.

00:54:12.300 The bigger the houses, the more cars, the more money, the more problems.

00:54:19.940 Yeah.

00:54:21.080 Yeah.

00:54:21.540 That's what they said.

00:54:22.760 Jay-Z said it, didn't he?

00:54:25.600 Biggie said it.

00:54:27.180 Somebody, yeah.

00:54:27.860 Whoever said it got murdered.

00:54:28.880 I remember that.

00:54:29.480 Um, you know, April is financial literacy month and that makes me think, well, how did I first

00:54:38.100 learn about money?

00:54:40.280 Well, I guess, um, well, I got a little job that a lady paid me to catch these cats.

00:54:46.800 She had, and she gave me a little bit of money and I would take that money and I would store

00:54:50.760 it.

00:54:51.260 I had one of those crown Royal bags, one of the purple bags that came in and I'd put all my

00:54:57.000 money in there and save it.

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00:57:36.880 What's one of the biggest things that keeps players that are good players from succeeding, do you find?

00:57:43.760 Their minds.

00:57:45.280 Yeah?

00:57:45.520 Yeah, a lot of them run fast, jump, throw, and it's their minds and then getting in their own way.

00:57:53.480 You know, and then here comes this.

00:57:54.560 Now you got money, too.

00:57:55.720 Here comes this ego coming in because I'm a five-star.

00:57:58.720 I got all these scholarship offers.

00:58:00.900 Like, the entitlement of that and the ego comes in and out.

00:58:04.500 Now they got the money, too.

00:58:05.480 So it's like they had this drive to get to the NFL because they want to play in the NFL and they want to get the money.

00:58:10.180 Well, I'm getting the money already.

00:58:11.440 So now that's – now I've lost some drive there.

00:58:14.700 Right.

00:58:15.200 And they just get in their own ways, you know, and they get so much attention so early and so much.

00:58:23.360 And then it's like they just think it's going to last forever.

00:58:26.700 Yeah.

00:58:27.220 And they just like – they just screw it up.

00:58:29.860 So they get in their own ways.

00:58:31.380 Dang, boy.

00:58:31.720 And it's usually that one-word ego.

00:58:34.400 So what's the craziest thing a player has ever asked you for just like point blank?

00:58:39.280 Have they ever been like, I need a – give me a Jaguar, coach, or something like that?

00:58:43.520 Like the animal or the car?

00:58:45.920 Not the animal.

00:58:48.440 I wouldn't say – like I don't have a good story, like a crazy thing, you know, like.

00:58:52.320 Like, but it just – what continues to blow my mind nowadays is they want more when they haven't done anything new.

00:59:03.000 Meaning like, okay, here's what I got.

00:59:04.300 I got this to come, you know, to transfer or to come out of high school.

00:59:07.600 And then they come in like, okay, well, I need more.

00:59:09.800 And they're like, well, you didn't do anything.

00:59:11.940 Like, you didn't have a good year.

00:59:15.220 Well, why would you get more?

00:59:16.860 Like, it's just that mindset of like, I just deserve more.

00:59:21.860 Like, I deserve more and more because there's no appreciation in there for where they're at.

00:59:27.220 Or like, man, I got to play better to get more.

00:59:29.080 Just I'm supposed to get more.

00:59:30.640 And that happens all the time.

00:59:32.480 There's two transfer portal windows.

00:59:34.340 So like if you could negotiate your contract twice a year, every year, but then for six months you haven't done a show.

00:59:40.920 You haven't done anything.

00:59:41.740 But after that six-month period, you want a new contract and a new deal bigger than what you had, but you hadn't done anything.

00:59:47.440 Yeah.

00:59:47.680 Or maybe you screwed the shows up.

00:59:49.280 Right.

00:59:50.200 Through interceptions, but you still want more.

00:59:52.340 So it's just, and it's not even their fault.

00:59:54.480 There's the parents.

00:59:55.240 Now you got agents.

00:59:56.320 Like, do you still feel like a coach or do you feel like a banker more?

01:00:01.680 It's not really like a banker, but you spend so much time not coaching.

01:00:06.840 And I think that's part of the Nick Saban and, you know, getting out.

01:00:10.480 It's just like, it just changed, you know, because these conversations, these things, and you see the like greed for it, you know, like, but it's, it's a, it's unique because from someone that's been fortunate to make money, have success, get to the highest levels.

01:00:27.440 Like, it's like, I keep trying to tell them, like, that's not going to be the answer.

01:00:33.060 Right.

01:00:33.140 Like that new contract, getting that much more money isn't going to change anything.

01:00:38.480 You're not going to, you know, be happier because of, but it's like, they don't.

01:00:43.280 You can't hear it.

01:00:44.340 Yes.

01:00:44.980 You just can't hear it.

01:00:45.600 Cannot.

01:00:45.980 I can sit in these two chairs right here to some, some, most of them, some will, but most of them.

01:00:52.620 And they just look at me like, there's no, I'm like, listen to me until you fix these internal problems, until you fix how you think that everybody's against you or whatever it is, these issues that they each have.

01:01:03.380 And I'll try to like work through them with, I'm like that, that money, that new contract, that next car, that next girl, like, that's not going to fix that. 0.90

01:01:11.880 And I'm like, if I get picked in the first round, I got that contract, everything is fixed.

01:01:17.740 Yeah.

01:01:18.140 Coach, I don't care what you say. 1.00

01:01:19.540 Type shit. 1.00

01:01:20.080 Trust me. 1.00

01:01:21.520 Yeah.

01:01:21.880 They say it's all a wrap.

01:01:23.560 That's yeah.

01:01:24.380 Everybody thinks they'll have it figured out.

01:01:26.220 I get more bands.

01:01:27.280 It's good.

01:01:27.880 Yeah.

01:01:28.300 Yeah.

01:01:28.820 Oh yeah, boy.

01:01:29.940 Give me a grand right now.

01:01:32.040 That's all I need.

01:01:33.380 I run a 50 right now.

01:01:35.700 I run a 6-150.

01:01:37.200 How fast is that?

01:01:38.240 6-150.

01:01:39.220 We don't really grade 50.

01:01:40.440 You mean 40?

01:01:41.320 I don't know.

01:01:42.720 That's good.

01:01:43.300 You confuse people.

01:01:44.220 It might be good.

01:01:44.960 It might be bad.

01:01:45.460 I don't know what I mean.

01:01:46.160 I don't know if you're slow or fast.

01:01:47.920 6-150.

01:01:49.400 So what is some of your push for players to come here to Ole Miss these days?

01:01:53.180 Like, what is it, you know, what do you sell them on about being here?

01:01:57.520 Yeah, this is a really cool place to go to school.

01:02:00.100 And so I got to see that as a parent.

01:02:02.440 My daughter, Landry, is a sophomore here.

01:02:04.420 So...

01:02:04.660 Oh yeah, I've seen her on TikTok before.

01:02:05.960 I've seen y'all on there doing makeup or whatever.

01:02:07.740 Yeah.

01:02:08.460 Yeah.

01:02:08.740 Like, just like I said, the social media thing.

01:02:11.300 I kind of live like a young person in a lot of ways.

01:02:14.780 Like, just enjoy.

01:02:17.360 Yeah.

01:02:17.520 You know?

01:02:18.100 Like, I just try to have joy.

01:02:19.140 It seems like kind of sweet.

01:02:19.940 And I'm like, again, back to a lot of people.

01:02:22.320 You're supposed to be old.

01:02:23.340 You're supposed to be an adult.

01:02:24.260 Like, you can't do like a makeup TikTok with your daughter.

01:02:26.900 And I'm like, I'm going to be gone someday.

01:02:29.300 I'm going to be dead or I'm going to be at the end of it.

01:02:31.680 You know?

01:02:32.720 Those last couple of years, you think I'm going to be like, man, I wish I would have spent...

01:02:35.780 Yeah, I think I'm going to be like, man, I wish I wouldn't have done that with my daughter

01:02:38.320 because some fans think that's like, I'm soft.

01:02:43.080 Yeah, dude.

01:02:43.740 I think a lot of, also a lot of, I bet four of the first round picks this year will be

01:02:48.500 wearing blush.

01:02:52.080 Like, now they're wearing like nail polish and stuff.

01:02:53.880 Oh, have them wear nail polish, eyeliner, booty liner. 1.00

01:02:57.060 Some guy had on the other day they caught him.

01:02:59.400 Some guy, I think, that played for Northwestern or Nickel State or something.

01:03:03.340 But, and I'm like, what is that? 0.75

01:03:05.380 Who's putting rouge on their butt cheeks, you know? 1.00

01:03:07.500 So, I think you're way safe here, coach.

01:03:10.260 But that's just kind of like how I, like, I, and I don't know you, like, it seems like

01:03:15.040 you have that too where it's kind of like, man, we're supposed to be growing up and there's

01:03:18.680 certain aspects we are.

01:03:19.820 But then these other areas, it's like, what's wrong with having youthful fun?

01:03:24.560 And, you know, like we go out and play pickleball and somebody's like, I see some old people 1.00

01:03:28.040 look at me like, man, he's playing out there with his kids and like, he's like dancing to

01:03:31.700 the music, you know, to like Taylor Swift playing or something.

01:03:35.380 And, you know, like, I'm like, why?

01:03:36.460 Just because I'm like getting older, I'm not supposed to like have fun.

01:03:39.640 Yeah.

01:03:40.040 You know, or like when you come to yoga in the morning and like we're crushing you in 0.99

01:03:43.400 yoga and I'm kind of like dancing back, like talking shit, celebrating over you. 0.99

01:03:47.080 Like, if that happens in the morning, you might crush it in the morning. 0.99

01:03:50.220 I don't know.

01:03:50.720 I mean, look, I don't worry.

01:03:51.780 I don't worry.

01:03:52.100 I don't worry if you do yoga or I have to wear cleats is the only thing that I'm thinking.

01:03:54.480 There's no cleats.

01:03:55.040 Okay.

01:03:55.240 No cleats.

01:03:55.900 No socks even.

01:03:57.000 But no, I think you're right, man.

01:03:58.320 Yeah.

01:03:58.540 I think, well, it also goes back to what you said.

01:04:00.160 It's like, you know, you don't like to follow this old playbook about things.

01:04:02.800 You'd like to have this new playbook about things.

01:04:04.840 What's kind of like part of that that you offer your players or people that want to come

01:04:07.920 down here?

01:04:08.540 Do you sell them like, hey, this is a team that's like, this is a program that's obviously

01:04:12.900 it's gone.

01:04:13.880 You know, the trajectory has gone up, you know, especially in the past five years, for sure

01:04:18.120 in the past decade.

01:04:19.660 Yeah.

01:04:20.040 What do you kind of push them on?

01:04:21.200 How do you get players to come here to Ole Miss?

01:04:23.500 Because it's always been a little bit more of the underdog in the SEC.

01:04:26.420 Yeah.

01:04:27.460 I think the kids really like, we create an atmosphere that you want to be at, not have

01:04:32.200 to.

01:04:32.540 Same with our employees.

01:04:33.980 You know, like I feel like in the morning, if you ask them when they're getting up and

01:04:37.340 they're driving their cars over, whether it's players or staff, like they want to be here.

01:04:41.960 Yeah. 0.99

01:04:42.080 The GM had a damn Zen in, I think. 0.99

01:04:43.900 Yeah. 1.00

01:04:44.300 Yeah.

01:04:44.480 He does.

01:04:44.880 He's working on it.

01:04:45.700 Yeah.

01:04:46.000 He's trying to quit.

01:04:46.460 He's trying to quit some other things.

01:04:47.640 Yeah.

01:04:48.300 We've all been through things, coach.

01:04:49.760 Been there, done that.

01:04:50.360 Yeah.

01:04:50.560 Yeah.

01:04:51.520 But that atmosphere of comfortable and like the players,

01:04:56.120 like I've, I've been around both and I've been around as an employee where you're miserable

01:05:00.460 driving in like, oh, another day.

01:05:02.140 Like, and it's just like, to me, you're not very productive that way.

01:05:05.200 Like I want our players to come here and like, they play their own playlists, like in practice

01:05:10.120 and stuff, you know, like it's a player's team with discipline, but the same thing around

01:05:14.520 the office, like people, when you have hours, like you don't even have, like you leave when

01:05:18.160 you're done with your work, you know, like, okay, you leave at this time.

01:05:21.200 Um, cause then people just sit there and guard their desk, you know, until the time goes.

01:05:26.220 So I just try to create an atmosphere that people really want to be at and they, they

01:05:30.440 have a lot of fun doing it.

01:05:31.820 And it's really, to me, it's awesome if you can win and have fun.

01:05:35.820 Cause some programs like they win and, but they're still miserable and I've seen that.

01:05:40.660 So we try to create this atmosphere and I think people love it.

01:05:44.240 Is it tough to be like a coach and a dad?

01:05:46.060 Cause you have three children, right?

01:05:47.440 And is it tough to be like a coach and a dad and a coach and a husband?

01:05:51.880 Like what's that, what is the cross of like those jobs like for a coach?

01:05:56.680 Cause it takes a lot of time.

01:05:58.500 Yeah.

01:06:00.640 I think like a lot of questions, I answer them differently now than I did five, 10, 15 years

01:06:06.020 ago.

01:06:06.920 Um, I think, you know, as I look back and I use my failures and experiences now it's awesome

01:06:15.320 cause I get to use to help others and I help our players when they're going through it.

01:06:19.220 So I liked that.

01:06:20.460 I had a lot of stuff happened to me or self-inflicted stuff.

01:06:24.520 Oh yeah.

01:06:25.180 Um, that like I struggled for a long time, but then as I like now see, like I get to help,

01:06:32.000 like, cause a coach knows my story or players and they come in and I can help them with

01:06:35.640 things.

01:06:35.840 Like when you say, okay, how did like the balance of a husband, father and head coach?

01:06:40.660 Well, I failed at that because I'm as a head coach, like I was a head coach, Tennessee USC

01:06:48.460 and I was like, that was my higher power and I'm the head coach USC.

01:06:53.120 Yeah.

01:06:54.360 That's who I am.

01:06:55.880 Not like, Oh, I'm a husband, not I'm a father.

01:06:58.660 Like that became my higher power.

01:07:00.540 That was the most important thing to me.

01:07:02.620 And I could feel it.

01:07:04.840 Cause I'd be like, Ooh, we'd win.

01:07:06.260 And so then like the LA times Sunday morning, man, coach Lane Kiffin, you know, like, and

01:07:10.580 like, well, what do you want?

01:07:13.720 And I remember him asking me like, what do you want someday?

01:07:18.780 I'm like a statue like Nick Saban.

01:07:21.940 Cause then, then I made it like they built a statue of me cause I won so many games and

01:07:26.120 championships.

01:07:27.060 Yeah.

01:07:27.480 That's what I want.

01:07:29.420 But I was totally missing it.

01:07:31.520 Cause if you asked me that now, what do you want?

01:07:33.280 You know what I want?

01:07:33.960 I want to be a really good dad.

01:07:35.840 I want to be a really good boss, a really good friend, a really good neighbor.

01:07:40.820 The other stuff happens with the wins.

01:07:42.820 That's fine.

01:07:43.360 But I was so focused on that, that it, it controlled everything.

01:07:47.740 I just slept at the office all week long.

01:07:49.840 Cause like we had to win.

01:07:51.000 That's all that matters.

01:07:52.700 And like John Daly used to sleep at a Hooters.

01:07:55.260 Yeah.

01:07:55.460 That was a little different.

01:07:57.360 Yeah.

01:07:57.880 That's very different.

01:07:59.320 It's not like he was, you know, working on chipping at Hooters.

01:08:03.740 Short game.

01:08:04.840 Yeah.

01:08:05.100 You're right.

01:08:05.620 That's a good point.

01:08:06.380 So I don't know why I said that, but yeah, yeah.

01:08:08.660 People sleep at the office.

01:08:09.900 Yeah.

01:08:13.520 I think John Daly still goes to Hooters for like John Daly, two hour, like signing special.

01:08:18.660 I love JD, by the way.

01:08:19.900 He's awesome.

01:08:20.740 He's awesome.

01:08:21.340 We tell, no, we talk about him every single week.

01:08:23.240 There he is right there.

01:08:24.440 Huh?

01:08:24.700 Yes.

01:08:25.320 Yeah.

01:08:25.880 Oh, he's got a, he's got that two pack.

01:08:28.620 Right.

01:08:29.380 Boy, he's off a couple of honey packs right there.

01:08:31.340 Look at him.

01:08:32.560 Yeah.

01:08:32.920 That's where I won't comment.

01:08:34.760 Head coach.

01:08:35.460 Okay.

01:08:35.900 Okay.

01:08:36.320 Okay.

01:08:36.680 So anyway, so that's where this failure came in because it was like, okay, if you're going

01:08:40.900 to put all, if this is going to be the most important thing to you, then I like look back

01:08:45.140 and shoot, no wonder, like I ended up getting divorced.

01:08:47.520 No wonder that, you know, I ended up having a strained relationship with my kids.

01:08:51.620 And then I kind of figured this out later on and started going, okay, wait, wait, wait

01:08:56.260 a second.

01:08:57.000 This is just part of who I am, you know, being a coach.

01:09:00.940 And then I started to work on the other areas of my life.

01:09:04.960 Got sober from a lot of things really.

01:09:07.000 Um, just not just physical sober, like stop drinking, but like emotionally sober, you know,

01:09:13.880 like, and that's still a constant battle, like working on that, like, and things not

01:09:17.400 making me go way up, way down, like every day, but, and people say, okay, well, what

01:09:23.360 do you do?

01:09:24.080 You don't drink.

01:09:25.020 Like, what do you do like Thursday?

01:09:26.140 And I was like, what's replaced that is like amazing.

01:09:30.020 Like going to dinner with Landry or watch a movie with her friends.

01:09:33.560 Like, you know, like you just, I just had this shift and it really helped me.

01:09:40.880 And actually I'm a better coach out of it, which you wouldn't think would be like, cause

01:09:44.220 you think, okay, well, if you put everything into it, but then you lose balance and you're

01:09:47.980 just kind of off and everything is so defined on a win or loss that like, it's everything.

01:09:53.360 I remember like losing a really, really important game.

01:09:57.580 Um, and I remember at the time, like seeing why she's like, and I'm like, I don't want

01:10:01.120 to wake up.

01:10:02.700 We actually lost USC.

01:10:04.020 We lost to Texas.

01:10:05.360 We were in our third straight national championship.

01:10:07.540 I'm lost in the Rose bowl national championship.

01:10:10.020 Vince young can tackle him.

01:10:12.460 And I'm like, I don't want to wake up tomorrow.

01:10:13.740 She said, what is wrong with you?

01:10:15.420 We had one kid at the time, Landry.

01:10:16.700 And she's like, you have a kid, like you have a whole life.

01:10:19.120 Like we lost the game, third straight national championship.

01:10:23.120 How, how long is it going to take to ever get there again?

01:10:25.380 Yeah.

01:10:26.000 But I was just so out of whack on that.

01:10:28.500 Um, because that's, I mentioned earlier that the ego had gotten so big when I became a head

01:10:34.300 coach and all the money and success and attention that like, it just built and like, you got

01:10:40.640 to keep feeding it.

01:10:41.900 And so it's really been cool to, to get out of that spot.

01:10:45.760 Yeah.

01:10:45.980 And what do you attribute to helping you get out of it?

01:10:47.400 Probably lifestyle change.

01:10:50.320 Um, you know, I came to Mississippi and decided like, okay, I started eating more food, not

01:10:59.440 working out.

01:11:00.140 Like, um, and I just was like, man, I'm not the best version of myself.

01:11:03.720 I didn't have this like rock bottom moment, you know, that people have.

01:11:06.600 Sometimes I just was like, man, I don't really like this lower version of myself.

01:11:11.940 I want to be the highest version of myself.

01:11:13.820 So I changed my diet.

01:11:14.980 I stopped the alcohol.

01:11:16.160 I started working out.

01:11:18.160 Um, and really what I started to do is to pour into other people instead of just pouring

01:11:23.460 into myself.

01:11:25.360 Dang coach. 0.92

01:11:26.220 You're making me feel bad about my life, bro.

01:11:29.000 You're younger than me.

01:11:30.200 Used to get there, but it's a daily battle.

01:11:32.420 It is, man.

01:11:33.840 And especially that emotional sobriety.

01:11:35.280 That's my biggest issue, dude.

01:11:36.600 Yeah.

01:11:37.040 I mean, my, I have a certain emotion and I get literally drunk off of it or half of it

01:11:42.300 or the other way I get depressed.

01:11:44.020 It's like, it's like, those are like my drugs.

01:11:46.580 A lot of times, any feeling that I have, I'm still there.

01:11:49.720 Like I, that's a daily battle.

01:11:51.400 God boy.

01:11:52.480 And I really got on this after the physical sobriety after a couple of years of, okay,

01:11:56.100 well, okay.

01:11:56.880 I got really healthy working out all the time and don't drink, but it was like, okay.

01:12:00.720 But I still was letting people situations like, man, well that, that went my way.

01:12:06.720 So everything's good.

01:12:07.600 Yeah.

01:12:07.960 You know, like, oh, that didn't go that way.

01:12:09.520 We lose that recruit or have an argument with this person.

01:12:11.780 And like, everything's terrible.

01:12:12.840 And I was like, man, and I had somebody tell me like, just remember the tide goes in and

01:12:18.140 out every day.

01:12:19.540 Like it's going to.

01:12:21.400 And like, do you just get freaked out by that?

01:12:23.720 Or are you just like, Hey, the tide came in, tide went out.

01:12:26.160 And so I really try to do that.

01:12:28.360 Cause like, I'll do the yoga.

01:12:29.900 Everything's good, man.

01:12:30.880 And then I'll come in here and then this player has this issue, you know, or a kid has this

01:12:35.840 issue, you know, and then it's like, or this doesn't go this way that, especially like

01:12:40.100 if you're like me, which I feel like you are from your last answer, when somebody doesn't

01:12:45.040 do what you want them to do, like, wait, everything would be good, man.

01:12:49.000 If he just wouldn't say that.

01:12:50.480 Sorry.

01:12:50.900 And I'll bleep this.

01:12:51.880 If she does this, if he does that and they do that, I'll be good.

01:12:54.920 Yeah.

01:12:55.360 Well, wait, they don't.

01:12:56.980 And it never is going to happen.

01:12:58.280 It's just total unrealistic expectations of what I have a lot of times.

01:13:01.400 Yeah.

01:13:01.940 And, um, that's one of my biggest things is unrealistic expectations.

01:13:05.780 Like expecting the tide not to come in.

01:13:08.160 Yes.

01:13:08.400 Or expecting everybody to do things exactly.

01:13:10.480 I want to expect that people know how I want things done after I haven't shared how I want

01:13:13.840 them done.

01:13:14.240 That's my biggest thing.

01:13:15.720 Like expecting somebody to know what I want them to do, but I've never even told them

01:13:18.880 exactly what I want.

01:13:19.860 Yeah.

01:13:20.180 That's it.

01:13:20.760 And that's a crazy person would think that way.

01:13:22.760 So yeah.

01:13:23.340 Or I did this.

01:13:24.480 I'm not doing good.

01:13:24.860 And then they don't deal.

01:13:26.200 And then they don't, they don't act how I want them to act after what I did.

01:13:30.540 Yeah.

01:13:30.720 Haven't I been, haven't I, haven't I, have you been, haven't I shared with you?

01:13:33.360 Yeah.

01:13:33.820 Yeah.

01:13:34.020 But there is a major problem that when you become, and you're in charge of company, your

01:13:38.220 head coach, you know, like, and all the people are working for you.

01:13:41.040 So your whole day, they really are doing what you want.

01:13:44.660 And then now in your personal life outside of it, maybe somebody doesn't do what you want

01:13:49.860 and then you lose your mind.

01:13:51.660 And that's where I was off with the emotional part.

01:13:54.760 Yeah.

01:13:55.240 You know, and had to like work on that part.

01:13:57.800 Yeah.

01:13:58.260 I can't imagine I'm going to be a coach.

01:14:00.360 It would be hard.

01:14:01.000 I can't even coach myself.

01:14:03.280 Oh, so you've really taken the Oxford coach.

01:14:05.720 I noticed that your son is moving here, right?

01:14:08.080 Mm-hmm.

01:14:08.440 Is that true?

01:14:09.300 Yeah.

01:14:09.740 So my daughter goes to school here.

01:14:12.000 Okay.

01:14:12.460 And she's a sophomore.

01:14:13.500 She's a sophomore.

01:14:14.260 Okay.

01:14:14.420 My other daughter's going to college at USC.

01:14:16.100 And then my son is moving here.

01:14:18.480 He's actually on a spring break here right now.

01:14:20.260 Mm-hmm.

01:14:20.700 And he's moving here next month.

01:14:22.520 And he's going to go to Oxford High?

01:14:23.940 He is.

01:14:24.740 Nice.

01:14:25.000 Yeah.

01:14:25.640 And he plays football too or no?

01:14:27.680 He does.

01:14:28.380 Yeah.

01:14:28.960 Yeah.

01:14:29.340 He's quarterback.

01:14:30.940 He's got a chance to be good.

01:14:33.000 So that'll be exciting to be able to watch all his games here.

01:14:35.700 And he's always up here working out with his buddies.

01:14:37.900 Oh, that's going to be great just to be around that many other players and stuff.

01:14:42.200 It's awesome.

01:14:42.720 My dad was a coach.

01:14:44.440 I grew up as a coach's kid.

01:14:46.220 To be around those locker rooms and to be around those players and to learn from them,

01:14:50.060 it's so awesome and so motivating.

01:14:52.680 Yeah.

01:14:53.300 Do you have a good relationship with your dad?

01:14:54.680 I know your dad was Monty Kepin.

01:14:55.960 Yep.

01:14:56.440 And did you guys have a good relationship?

01:14:58.200 Amazing.

01:14:58.740 Oh, nice.

01:14:59.220 So he passed in July and-

01:15:01.440 Was he sick?

01:15:02.500 Was he pretty sick at the end of his life?

01:15:03.420 He had dementia.

01:15:04.220 And so he slowed down a lot.

01:15:05.820 But here's what's really cool.

01:15:07.420 You know, I'm just saying like the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.

01:15:10.960 Like, we probably have the pain of regret from things we weren't disciplined at in life.

01:15:16.960 You know, if you look back, man, if I would have done that or like I would have got, you

01:15:21.140 know, made different decisions.

01:15:22.480 So now we have the pain of the regret of that.

01:15:25.220 Yeah.

01:15:26.200 Well, I think a lot of times people with parents sometimes like when they pass, you

01:15:30.660 know, they have the pain of regret.

01:15:31.700 Man, I wish I'd been around him more.

01:15:33.220 I didn't go to see him.

01:15:34.880 Well, my dad worked for me all the way up until then at 84.

01:15:39.340 So all these last three stops, he was here in the building helping us coach.

01:15:44.060 Oh, that's cool.

01:15:44.920 So every day I would see him 15 times a day.

01:15:47.660 Oh, yeah.

01:15:48.300 And he was such a coach that like, even as doctors say that was keeping him alive because

01:15:52.820 he could come into the office every day.

01:15:54.540 He was 84 years old with dementia, still coming in the office.

01:15:57.680 Yeah.

01:15:57.940 And he just was like, he was the ultimate coach, the old school coach.

01:16:01.260 And so I got to be with him every day all the way up.

01:16:05.700 So because of that, of bringing him to all the places, making sure he was at work every

01:16:09.720 day and everything like.

01:16:10.980 That was here at Ole Miss.

01:16:11.640 Yeah.

01:16:11.940 Wow.

01:16:12.720 Yeah.

01:16:12.900 So if you don't come here, who knows if that even setup is even kind of perfect for that.

01:16:16.400 Yeah.

01:16:16.680 But that's where I've gotten to like, who knows what's supposed to be perfect?

01:16:22.040 What I thought, what we thought as a plan should be, I was like totally off.

01:16:27.620 You know, like I'd have been like, there's no way I'm going to like want to move to Oxford,

01:16:32.820 Mississippi, have my kid go to college here, have my other kid go to high school here and

01:16:38.560 love it.

01:16:40.220 And now I do.

01:16:41.360 And who would have thought they would have ever wanted to come here?

01:16:43.340 Like, it's like, you know, God's plan obviously makes a lot more sense than ours because

01:16:47.880 every time I take that and I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait, maybe he wants to, let me

01:16:51.900 turn that over here and go my way.

01:16:54.000 This is what I want to happen.

01:16:55.400 Like these people need to do this.

01:16:57.620 I need to go here.

01:16:58.380 I need to get that job.

01:16:59.660 Let me control everything.

01:17:00.900 Yes.

01:17:01.080 Yeah.

01:17:01.480 And then, then it just doesn't work.

01:17:04.260 It really doesn't.

01:17:05.520 And then when I just, which is hard, when I just let go and just let it go and whatever

01:17:11.680 is going to happen is going to happen.

01:17:13.120 And that tide is going to come in and it's going to go out.

01:17:15.940 I'll just float along with it.

01:17:18.880 The HOV lane, dude.

01:17:21.020 Hmm.

01:17:21.720 What, um, who caught that clipboard?

01:17:23.720 Do you know?

01:17:24.660 I don't know.

01:17:25.900 They brought it back.

01:17:26.860 They did?

01:17:27.560 Yes.

01:17:28.240 Mississippi nice.

01:17:28.900 Oh, that's so sweet.

01:17:30.660 Told you the people here are amazing.

01:17:33.700 God, that was great.

01:17:35.060 There's nothing as good as SEC footballers there.

01:17:36.340 Because it's like when the plays work, it's like a video game for me.

01:17:39.160 I feel like I'm playing a video game on the sideline.

01:17:41.300 So think like when you play in a video game, you score a big touch and you throw your controller.

01:17:44.380 That's really what I'm doing.

01:17:45.520 It's still the kid in me right there.

01:17:47.100 Yeah.

01:17:47.340 You know, like throw my clipboard like your controller.

01:17:50.060 Out of the box.

01:17:52.180 You've had quite a life, you know, you start, you started kind of, you know, you didn't start,

01:17:56.980 but you kind of came on a lot of people's radar in coaching at the highest level, right?

01:18:00.540 Step back into college football.

01:18:02.860 You've been a player.

01:18:04.340 You've, uh, you know, you've had like you kind of a polarizing people would say type figure,

01:18:10.360 very unique in your own way.

01:18:12.140 And I think after talking to you, I learned a little bit more about how you operate so

01:18:15.540 I can understand.

01:18:16.620 But what is like a message you would get?

01:18:19.540 You know, you've had, you've been through divorce.

01:18:21.560 You've been through, um, you have children.

01:18:23.760 Um, you've had a lot of just experiences in your life.

01:18:26.080 Yeah.

01:18:26.520 What, um, for somebody out there who's getting into their middle age and is kind of struggling,

01:18:31.620 um, with having a setback or something, what is, what is something you think you would share

01:18:36.720 with them from your experience or a thought or statement or.

01:18:41.240 Yeah.

01:18:41.880 Yeah.

01:18:42.780 I think that like they can do it.

01:18:44.860 Like these things happen, you know, in life, these major obstacles that seem so horrible at the

01:18:50.460 time, a divorce, firings.

01:18:53.060 Um, maybe you have a health scare, like these things that seem so terrible and they're really

01:18:59.340 not, they just feel like it in the moment and they're going to pass and you're going

01:19:02.880 to actually look back later on and be glad for them.

01:19:05.800 Like my kind of major thing was I got fired as a head coach at USC and like my career is

01:19:11.020 over.

01:19:11.360 Well, that wouldn't happen.

01:19:12.520 I wouldn't have gotten to work for Nick Saban for three years, you know?

01:19:15.300 So like whatever those things are, or your career's been over like four times.

01:19:19.180 Yeah.

01:19:20.020 That you can do it.

01:19:20.920 And it's actually feels way better than like, let's say you come out, like I came up and

01:19:26.300 got a lot of breaks cause my dad and stuff.

01:19:28.240 And so it's like, okay, I got to the top.

01:19:30.900 Okay.

01:19:31.300 Well that felt good.

01:19:32.560 But then to actually have it torn down and all taken away, some by circumstances, some by

01:19:37.920 your own decisions and rebuild from the bottom personally and professionally, it feels so

01:19:43.640 much better.

01:19:44.080 It's like instead of buying the house, you build the house from the beginning.

01:19:47.740 And so just for people that are struggling in whatever one of those areas may be, like

01:19:52.920 you can do it, but don't get overwhelmed.

01:19:54.920 Like it really is one day at a time.

01:19:57.640 Like, Hey, just start working out today, you know, or stop drinking today, you know, or start

01:20:03.800 being a better person today.

01:20:05.660 Whatever those areas are.

01:20:06.960 Yeah.

01:20:07.100 Just today.

01:20:07.520 Just today, man.

01:20:08.540 Cause other stuff's overwhelming.

01:20:10.060 We don't know what's going to happen next week or next month or next year and just be

01:20:15.440 really good at it today.

01:20:17.740 Hey man, man.

01:20:18.480 I needed to hear that.

01:20:19.300 Yeah.

01:20:19.420 There's something I've been like, I just feel like kind of the world is ending cause

01:20:22.420 it's something that's kind of like just work stuff.

01:20:24.460 And I'm like, what do I do?

01:20:25.360 But I just have to look at it as a challenge, adjust the perspective.

01:20:29.540 Zoom out.

01:20:30.080 Yeah.

01:20:30.480 Zoom out.

01:20:31.260 See, so watching my dad pass through the last couple of years of dementia, but also watching

01:20:36.400 him on what was important to him.

01:20:37.680 He'd been a head coach.

01:20:38.500 He'd been fired.

01:20:39.600 He'd been through all these.

01:20:41.120 It didn't matter.

01:20:41.920 Like what, whatever that is right now that you're starting, you know, you're going to

01:20:45.440 look back toward him and be like, what was I even like losing sleep for or having anxiety

01:20:50.940 about that for?

01:20:51.680 Yeah.

01:20:52.040 It really ain't that big.

01:20:52.900 If you zoom out to later on, you're going to look back and be like, man, that wasn't

01:20:57.100 a big deal.

01:20:57.560 I'm glad it happened.

01:20:59.260 Hotty toddy, man.

01:21:00.540 Hotty toddy.

01:21:01.320 Lane Kiffin, thanks so much, dude.

01:21:02.740 I really appreciate it.

01:21:04.060 I hope that you stay as entertaining as ever.

01:21:06.760 And I'm glad that you're in the SEC, man.

01:21:08.640 It's one of the greatest conferences to watch.

01:21:10.680 And congratulations on what you guys have done here at Ole Miss, man.

01:21:13.980 I want to thank my friend Scott Sackfield and Richie Haik, who helped me think up questions

01:21:17.200 today to talk about as well, because they went to school here and yeah, I'm looking forward

01:21:21.740 to spending, having a good show here tonight.

01:21:23.800 Yeah.

01:21:24.080 Excited for your show tonight.

01:21:25.400 We'll be there and our whole team's coming actually.

01:21:28.040 Oh, really?

01:21:28.700 Yeah.

01:21:28.720 The whole team's coming.

01:21:29.720 Oh, dude.

01:21:31.140 Yeah.

01:21:31.480 We told them in the team, we had a team meeting today and said, we're going, we're going

01:21:34.600 tonight.

01:21:34.980 We're like, we got you in free.

01:21:36.440 So like, yes, cause we don't have any money.

01:21:38.200 We're like, wait, you make like a million dollars.

01:21:39.860 Like these guys, but they still, they still just want something for free.

01:21:43.280 Yeah.

01:21:43.640 We told me you're really funny and free.

01:21:45.120 So something to know you are.

01:21:46.220 At the end, they're still college students.

01:21:48.180 She just wants something for free, you know?

01:21:49.700 Lane Kiffin, thanks so much.

01:21:50.860 All right, man.

01:21:52.020 Now I'm just floating on the breeze and I feel I'm falling like these leaves.

01:21:57.700 I must be cornerstone.

01:22:03.060 Oh, but when I reach that ground, I'll share this peace of mind.

01:22:07.660 I found I can feel it in my bones, but it's going to take.

01:22:16.220 You could just leaping.

01:22:16.900 I can feel it in my mind.

01:22:22.460 I can feel it in my mind.

01:22:23.900 And I'm watching it.

01:22:25.160 I can feel it in my bones like a baby.

01:22:27.200 I can feel it in my body.

01:22:29.520 And I can't feel everything.

01:22:29.980 I can feel it in the waters where it's going in my life.

01:22:32.040 It's going to have this deep down.

01:22:33.060 But when I can feel it, I can feel it in my mind.

01:22:35.080 I can feel it in my bones.

This Past Weekend with Theo Von - April 16, 2025

#575 - Lane Kiffin

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