Lane Kiffin Still Strangely Jealous Of Jimbo Fisher, And Here's Why | Glenn Guilbeau

Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin just can't help himself when the topic is Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher.

Perhaps, dad will have to step in. In this scenario, that would be Alabama coach Nick Saban, who dramatically shaped the careers of both men when they coached under him.

But even that topic draws Kiffin's ire. Last year on the Southeastern Conference teleconference, a reporter lumped Fisher in with Kiffin, Georgia coach Kirby Smart and Florida coach Billy Napier - all former Saban pupils.

Kiffin quickly pointed out that Fisher coached under Saban many years before and tried to distance Fisher from the sons who have coached at Alabama under Saban in recent years. Fisher coached for Saban from 2000-04 at LSU. But never mind that Fisher is the only Saban son to win a national championship as a head coach - at Florida State in the 2013 season. He also became the first pupil to beat him as a head coach in the 2021 season.

Kiffin is 0-for-5 against Saban.

Kiffin often has Fisher on the brain so much that he does not even wait for a question about Fisher. On Monday, he dove right in at his weekly news conference as his No. 10 Ole Miss Rebels (7-1, 4-1 SEC) host Texas A&M (5-3, 3-2) on Saturday (Noon, ESPN).

Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin (left) talks to his mentor, Alabama coach Nick Saban, after losing to him for the for the fifth time out of five tries this season. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

"These guys are absolutely loaded. It's actually a mind-blowing collection of talent," Lane Kiffin said in his opening statement. He loves saying how much talent the Aggies have. And they do, considering Fisher signed the No. 1 class in the country in 2022. Some called it the greatest class ever. Kiffin has found it more difficult to recruit at Ole Miss with a lesser budget and more distant proximity to high school talent. He had a No. 17 class in 2021 and a No. 27 and No. 23 the last two years by 247 Sports.

"As you watch them offensively, defensively, return game, special teams, it really is an NFL roster," Kiffin said with some exaggeration. "The collection of defensive linemen has to be one of the best ever. This is a huge challenge. They’ve done a phenomenal job of getting a collection of players that are extremely elite and talented players. Even better than a year ago. This is a big challenge."

Lane Kiffin Loves To Praise Talented Roster Of Jimbo Fisher

Through all that, zero praise for the coaching of that talent. Not that it deserves a lot, but coaches lauding the talent of an opponent is code for, "You can recruit, but you can't coach."

By using this ploy, Kiffin is saying he is a much better coach than Fisher by not actually saying that. This is because Kiffin clearly does not have the quality of recruits, but he has a better record than Fisher for the third straight year.

Kiffin is also ranked in a top 10 for the third straight year. Fisher has not been there since early last season. Someone served up the top 10 home run pitch to Kiffin, and he knocked it out of the park.

"I think that’s kind of neat to be in the top 10 three straight years," he said. "But it doesn’t matter to me, except for where you finish. It’s good that it brings attention to the program."

Here it comes.

"To be able to do that, especially when you’re going against a program that normally you would think would be in the top 10 three years in a row with their roster, says a lot about our players, our coaches and our fans," Kiffin said. "What really matters is where you finish at the end of the year. That’s our goal to keep getting better and keep winning games."

Kiffin does not say that his team did not finish in the top 10 last year. This is because it lost five of its last six to finish 8-5 and 4-4. That is is just a few games better than the Aggies, who finished 5-7 and 2-6. He doesn't mention that. Nor that A&M won its last two games, including a 38-23 upset over No. 6 LSU. Kiffin also doesn't mention he has never beaten a team ranked as high as No. 6 in his Ole Miss career.

But Kiffin is off to a better start than Fisher. This is clear, and he makes that clear.

"We’re going to try to achieve our goals and not let others achieve their goals," he said, and couldn't resist another shot. "I think Jimbo said their goal is to be bowl eligible, so if we can get in the way of that, that would be good for us too."

Jimbo Fisher (left) is consoled by Alabama coach and mentor Nick Saban after losing in 2019 at Texas A&M (Getty Images).

Fisher did say that this week, but Kiffin took it out of context, meaning he didn't say the very next sentence that Fisher said. Coaches often take other coaches, players and reporters out of context more than reporters do.

"The goal is to get bowl eligible," Fisher said. That is an understandable comment since A&M never got bowl eligible last year.

In the next breath, he said, "and then keep walking down the road."

He was not saying that a bowl game is the end all, be all.

"We have four more games," he said.

So, what is Kiffin's deal? Perhaps he is still jealous that Fisher makes $9 million a year to his $8.75 million a year? Or the fact that Fisher won a national championship as Florida State's head coach? Or because Fisher had the money in his program to buy Ole Miss defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin away from Kiffin after the 2021 season?

Kiffin is winning more games with less talent, salary and overall budget than Fisher, who could still get fired this season. Kiffin is also 2-0 head-to-head against Fisher at their respective schools. But, then again, Kiffin also struggled in a Texas A&M-type situation.

Lane Kiffin had all the talent and budget at USC as Jimbo Fisher has at Texas A&M, but he failed with the Trojans and got fired. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

While USC's coach, he attracted No. 3, No. 8 and No. 13 recruiting classes in 2011, '12 and '13. Yet, Kiffin went 7-6 and 5-4 in 2012 and was off to a 3-2 and 0-2 start in 2013 when he was fired.

In essence, Kiffin is ridiculing Kiffin by ridiculing Fisher. He was 28-15 (.651) at USC, which is barely better than Fisher's 44-24 (.647) at Texas A&M. Kiffin is 91-47 (.659) as a college head coach. Fisher is 127-47 (.729). Kiffin was also 5-15 as an NFL coach with the Oakland Raiders. Fisher has clearly walked into better jobs as far as that place's ability to win historically, but his record is still better.

And the key statistic here is when both went to places that had already won big with Kiffin at USC and Fisher at Florida State, Fisher did much better. Fisher was 83-23 (.783) at Florida State to Kiffin's .651 at USC.

So, now, it's clearer. Kiffin must just be jealous of Fisher. Fisher is trying to come back, while Kiffin is somewhat on the rise. Yet, Kiffin is yet to win a significant game against a top five opponent. That could come on Nov. 11 at No. 1 Georgia.

Until then, Kiffin is yet to be as good as Fisher and clearly not as good on the field as he is at press conferences.