BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — New LSU football coach Lane Kiffin attended the No. 5 Tigers’ women’s basketball game on Thursday night as his former team — Mississippi — was taking on Georgia in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal game at the Sugar Bowl.
Kiffin and women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey emerged from the tunnel holding hands before the Tigers faced No. 11 Kentucky. Kiffin and Mulkey’s appearance on the court drew a roar from the crowd, and Mulkey raised her left hand to point at Kiffin while the pair responded by raising their joined hands in the air.
“He was very gracious to come over here and let the LSU fans acknowledge him,” Mulkey said. “They have the (transfer) portal opening tomorrow, so I know he’s working. I appreciated him coming.”
Kiffin did not bring the Tigers any luck, however, as Mulkey’s squad lost its first game of the season after starting with 14 straight wins, 80-78, when Kentucky’s Tonie Morgan hit a last-second 3-pointer.
Kiffin’s appearance at the LSU game came at just about the same time as his old team, Ole Miss, was kicking off its CFP game. The Rebels went on to beat the Bulldogs 39-34.
Kiffin, after accepting the head coaching job at LSU, said that he wanted to lead the Rebels through the CFP. But, Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter denied his request “despite the team also asking him to allow me to keep coaching them so they could better maintain their high level of performance,” Kiffin said in a social media post.
Kiffin’s annual salary at Ole Miss was $9 million. LSU offered Kiffin a seven-year contract with an average annual salary of around $13 million and pledged to ensure the football program has ample financial backing to pay players.
Kiffin is taking over for Brian Kelly, who was fired midseason after a 49-25 loss to No. 3 Texas A&M dropped the team to 5-3 overall, 2-3 in the Southeastern Conference.
Kelly went 34-14 with the Tigers, even taking LSU to the 2022 SEC title game. But LSU did not qualify for the College Football Playoff in his first three seasons.
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