Ole Miss Coach Lane Kiffin Compares Coaching In SEC To USC Trojans: 'Passion'

“There’s a saying in the SEC they coined, like, ‘It just means more.’ And it really does,” Kiffin said. “The passion in the towns for the football programs, the attention on it, and really, the play over time has been dominant. The SEC has had more draft picks, more championships, all those things. It’s just different. It’s a way of life down here.”

Kiffin went on to reference his time with the USC Trojans, comparing the then Pac-12 to the SEC. Kiffin said despite being the head coach, he felt like no one knew who he was.

“I was the head coach at USC. You spend time out in LA. It’s just a different world out there,” Kiffin said. “I remember, I was walking through campus, and I was like, ‘Man, I bet, like, 50, 70 percent of these students have no idea who I am. I’m the head coach of the football team. They got no idea who I am.’ They’re just going to school at USC getting their education.”

“Here, like 100% know who you are. You go walk downtown, and a four-year-old is like, ‘Coach Kiffin!’ They know who you are.”

Before his time as the head coach, Kiffin’s tenure with USC began in 2001 as the tight ends coach. By 2005, Kiffin was the team’s offensive coordinator before moving to the NFL with the Oakland Raiders. 

In Kiffin’s four years as the head coach of the Trojans, he had a 43-28 overall record. Kiffin was famously fired from his head coaching position at the airport after a 62-41 loss against Arizona State. Kiffin is now having a successful career with the Ole Miss Rebels, and the Trojans have coach Lincoln Riley.

Riley began coaching the USC Trojans in 2022, and while it has been an up-and-down career, the hope and energy in the program is rising. With USC, Riley coached Heisman-winning quarterback Caleb Williams, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft.

In USC’s inaugural season in the Big Ten conference, the Trojans ended with a 7-6 record. The team went 4-5 in Big Ten conference play. Two of USC’s wins were against SEC opponents, one being a bowl game. Even with a slightly disappointing season, the Trojans had three players drafted, keeping an 87-year streak of players being selected.

Through the conference realignment, the Big Ten conference has gotten more competitive. The Ohio State Buckeyes won the College Football National Championship last season, but there were four teams from the conference to make the College Football Playoff. 

While the Trojans are coming off a season with six losses, with their recruiting momentum and the staff they have brought in, USC is setting up to be another Big Ten team contending for a national title for the next several years.

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