We Still Don’t Know What Lane Kiffin Wants

Every happy head coach is alike; every unhappy head coach is unhappy in his own way. This is true in every sport, but it’s especially true in college football, where the cult of the coach defined the landscape for generations and where that culture has recently eroded as seismic shifts in the sport—the introduction of NIL, the rise of the transfer portal, the debut of the 12-team playoff, the birth of megaconferences—have made coaches much richer but have stripped them of some elements of control. College football coaches, famously, do not respond well to losing control.