Hour 2: Where will Kiffin Go?

0:00Dan Scwartzman:This Father's Day, do more with Dad and spend less with low prices guaranteed at The Home Depot. Get him fired up with a new grill and accessories, like the Nexgrill 5 Burner for just$299, so you can spend more time together while he becomes the grill master he was always meant to be. Or build memories with savings on top brand power tools so you can tackle projects side by side. Gift more and do more together this Father's Day with help from The Home Depot. Exclusions apply. See homedepot.com slash price match for details. Are all batteries the same? That's like asking if all soccer players are the same.

0:37Dan Scwartzman:Take Messi, the most decorated player ever. Is there any other player who has achieved that? No, just him. Now take Duracell. Is there any other battery with Power Boost ingredients inside? No, just Duracell. Goats only trust goats because they're built different. And Messi only trusts Duracell. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Hey, everybody. Can't get enough of the Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere. Watch us weekdays on Disney Plus from noon to 3 Eastern. Miss the show? We've got a podcast so you can listen anytime. But here's the best part. Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com slash richeisenshow and you'll never miss a moment.

1:27Now, on with the show. Oh my God, you guys are my favorites. This is The Rich Eisen Show. Rich Eisen. I know what I'm talking about. That's the headline. The Rich Eisen Show. With guest host, Dan Schwartzman.

1:41Dan Scwartzman:I mean, honestly, he's brilliant. He's a poet. Dan Schwartzman. Oh my gosh. Live from The Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Dan Schwartzman.

1:59Our number two, the Rich Eisen Show. That's right. I am Dan Schwartzman in for Rich on this Black Friday on ESPN Radio, the ESPN app, and Sirius XM Channel 80, presented by Progressive Insurance. You can reach us at 888-SAY-ESPN. That's 888-729-3776. And I'm all over the place because I've had a lot of coffee today, and it is starting to kick in, my friends. It is absolutely kicking in. And I watched a lot of NFL football yesterday. Turkey Day it was. But my eyes today, yes, 3 o 'clock Eastern time in a couple hours as the show ends, I'm going to watch a little NFL again. Why not? You got the Bears.

2:40You got the Eagles, 2-8-3 teams matching up. Great, great game. Anytime you have teams with winning records playing, it's a lot of fun. But I'm kind of right. It's funny. I'm looking at this Egg Bowl, Mississippi, Mississippi State, And I'm actually watching today, not because the outcome is of interest to me. It's the fact that we are potentially watching Lane Kiffin's last game coaching at Ole Miss. And he's in this enviable position where he is the hottest woman at prom right now. Okay? Everybody wants to dance with her. Everybody wants to dance with Lane Kiffin right now. And they all seem to be SEC teams, right?

3:29Florida, LSU, Ole Miss trying to retain Kiffin. He's turned that program around. They're 10-1. They win the Egg Bowl. They're 11-1. College football playoffs, you know, I mean, they're a good team. The guy clearly can coach. He's an X's and O's guy. He can recruit. We saw him do it when he was on his redemption tour as Nick Saban's offensive coordinator. And I do have to say this for all the haters out there. If it wasn't for Lane Kiffin, Nick Saban never would have modernized himself as a head coach. All right? You have got to give Lane Kiffin a lot of credit for the change in offense at Alabama.

4:10They went from a running, run first, pass second, boring old school offense to lighting it up. Heisman Trophy winning quarterbacks, wide receivers, lots of yards in the air. And that was due to Lane Kiffin. So give the guy the credit that is due. I understand if you're a Tennessee fan, you can't stand Lane Kiffin. He abandoned you after one year. If you're a Raider fan, I understand. They brought him in at 31 years old. Incredibly arrogant. Out of there. Didn't last very long. He was not the right guy for that job. The redemption at Alabama under Nick Saban brought him back. And he's done an incredible job at Ole Miss.

4:55He really has done an awesome job. And now he's got to make a decision. And from what we hear, that decision will come tomorrow. And he's relishing in this. He's loving it. the attention he is getting because look it's Ole Miss if you want to break down the SEC and the sexy jobs in the SEC Ole Miss ain't it right Alabama that's a sexy job Tennessee maybe the sheen is a little off but it's still Knoxville 105 ,000 at Neyland Stadium it's a big job Oklahoma, Texas, we forget they're now in the SEC, right? Ole Miss will never be that top upper echelon type of college job that you strive for. It's not the end-all job like Michigan or Notre Dame or Alabama, right?

5:46Ohio State. Those are the jobs that you strive for. You start small, Mid-American Conference, Maction on a Tuesday on ESPN, right? You start at one of those jobs, like an Urban Meyer, somebody like that. Nick Saban, of course, did the same thing. Then you win there. You get that next job. Maybe make the big jump to a Florida. Or in Urban Meyer's case, you went to Utah, kind of a slight step up, and then, of course, being successful there, he made the jump to Florida. That's a big job. So my point is, for Lane Kiffin, he's not at that big job where it's, I've done it. This is where I want to be.

6:26this is where I want to end my career. He can, no question, recruit there. He's done it. But it's still a little bit more difficult to recruit to Ole Miss than it is to, say, Alabama or Notre Dame or Ohio State or Michigan or Texas or Oklahoma, USC. A legacy type of place, right? It's not like Ole Miss has had a ton of success to where you're walking a recruit through and say, look at that national championship trophy. Look at that national championship trophy or this Hall of Famer, that Hall of Famer. It's not quite the same. But when you have a school like LSU who is clearly after you the way that he does, I think you've got to take that job.

7:12Even Florida. Florida has not had a ton of success. They haven't. They haven't been very good. But it's still the swamp. It's still Florida. It's also a better state to recruit than Mississippi. There is talent coming out of Mississippi, but it's not the pipeline that a Florida gives you if you keep all the talent in state. So really, if you're Ole Miss watching Lane Kiffin right now, coaching you potentially to a victory over the in-state rival, the Egg Bowl, Mississippi State, this is probably it for Lane Kiffin. I would be surprised if he stays there. And if he does, it's because he feels he's making the right decision.

7:54but I have to tell you, it's not the right decision. It's time to take that step up. Everybody wants to step up in their role. Everybody, whatever you do out there, whatever job that you have, you strive for more. You want to make more money. You want to get to the managerial position. You want to become a director, a vice president, president, whatever it is, you want to make more money. You want the bigger title. and Lane Kiffin is a guy who has always craved bigger bigger bigger and here's an opportunity success at Ole Miss it's now time to move on bigger the big boys that job that you strive for the end all job and LSU to me is that job and as much as Brian Kelly did not work out the work you know in Baton Rouge and I was surprised he didn't I thought he would succeed in Baton Rouge I thought for a guy to do what he did at Notre Dame where it is harder to recruit because academics does play more of a role, I thought he was going to succeed at LSU where maybe he had less strings to deal with in terms of getting guys to go there.

9:05Didn't work out. They had to pay 50-some-odd million dollars in a buyout. That's going to become probably an ugly situation as it continues. But if you're Lane Kiven, how do you turn down LSU? I don't think you can. How do you turn down Florida? Sadly, Ole Miss is the third best job of the three. Him staying where he is now is probably the third best job of his options. But did you see kind of the interesting aspect of this courtship from LSU and Florida? So Lane Kiffin has been saying the right things. He's not thinking about this. He's just thinking about coaching the next game, coaching the Egg Bowl, whatever it might be, the next opponent on the schedule.

9:47like any good head coach would say, I'm not letting the outside noise bother me. We are just going to talk about the next opponent. Okay, that's the right thing to say. But yet, like, he's had the private jets that have taken his family to do, like, the recruiting trip, right? And his ex-wife apparently has been one of the people that has been brought to Baton Rouge or to Florida to check out the area, check out the campus, probably check out the living conditions there. The ex-wife has played a role in doing that. The first time I saw that, that boggled my mind. I have an ex-wife. I wouldn't send her out to go look for a place for me to live.

10:35Apparently they have a very good relationship. Okay, that's awesome, by the way. and I believe Lane Kiffin's daughter is dating a player on LSU. Does that play a role in a positive or negative manner for him going to take the job at Baton Rouge? But you've got to take that job. You've got to be out of your mind to turn down LSU or Florida to stay at Ole Miss because it's about making sure the next job you take in your progression is a better job than the one you have now. And those two jobs are just, no offense, if you are an Ole Miss grad, if you are there currently, I am not ripping you. I am not trying to speak ill of the school or the football program.

11:21It's the reality of the situation. If you're at Ole Miss and Auburn is calling, or Arkansas is calling, or a middle SEC school like those two I mentioned, then I say, stay at Ole Miss. It's a lateral move to go to Auburn or to Arkansas or Vanderbilt or a school like that. It is a lateral move. You don't leave Ole Miss for those jobs. Those, to me, are not the end-all, be-all jobs. But you're talking about, I mean, these are big offers he's getting. and if the money's equal if it's right there maybe lane kiffin in his life at this point has calmed down to where he doesn't care about getting higher and higher in his career he's really truly happy where he is although when a coach speaks you can never take them seriously when they talk about how they love a place do you remember the whole tommy tuberville thing where he was at texas tech i think it was uh i i believe that no maybe he ended up there but he It was before he took the Auburn job.

12:32Tommy Tuberville was asked about the job when there was a flirtation going on. And I think he said that they would bury him where he was, and a day or two later he literally took the Auburn job and he left. So you can never trust a head coach when they tell you how much they love a place and they would never leave and it's where they want to be and raise their family and retire there and all that nonsense. You never believe him. So when Lane Kiffin tells you he hasn't thought about it, he's not interested, he's just worried about the next opponent on Saturday or, of course, today being Friday, you never believe him.

13:07They think about these things. They talk about these things. You know, when players are transferring in these portals and leaving schools and going to three colleges in a six-year college career, coaches are just as bad. Coaches are terrible, too. They will leave in a lurch. They're gone. Better offer, they're gone. Sometimes you can't blame them. Lane Kiffin leaves Ole Miss tomorrow for LSU or Florida. I hate to tell you this, I would not blame him. It is a better job for him to take if he decides to leave. You cannot hold that against him right now. Ole Miss is winning the Egg Bowl 14-7 over Mississippi State.

13:51On their way to being 11-1 if this continues. now reports are coming in florida may be looking away from lane kiffin and you have to believe maybe because lsu is where he would rather be i wouldn't blame him lsu is the place to go but if you're lsu how much money are you investing in these guys right the governor of the state talking about the guaranteed money situation it's cost him 50 some odd million dollars i have to pay out brian kelly because the strategy is you want a coach to always have five years in terms of a length of a contract because when he goes to recruit he can tell a recruit hey i'm gonna be here for your entire college career i still have five years left on my contract doesn't mean anything frankly right but that's what they tell guys but if you're gonna sign lane kiffin away from old miss if you're gonna hire him away you're gonna have to give him a lot of guaranteed money you're talking 10 11 12 he's gonna be potentially the highest paid head coach in college football actually i'm gonna tell you this right now everybody listening you guys in the control booth lane kiffin will be the highest paid college football coach of all time when this contract either to remain at old miss or go to lsu is announced he will be the highest paid head coach in the history of college football because that's what it's going to take these days because it's like the quarterback position in the nfl you don't have to be the best you just have to be available at the right time and with lane kiffin he is the hottest thing right now in coaching that is available and for LSU they have to make a big splash you get a guy like him to come to Baton Rouge that's the big splash we're talking about and he will be the highest paid head coach in the history in the history of college football when he makes his mind up I guess tomorrow as to where he will be I guarantee you that no question about it he will be and if I'm a betting man and it's dangerous to say that these days, but thankfully I have no money so I don't bet.

15:47I really don't. Scouts honor, if that's what you want to call it. Pinky swear. I don't bet. I will tell you Lane Kiffin tomorrow is going to LSU. Because he should. And they can pay him more. Those boosters will gladly open the wallets and bring in Lane Kiffin and he will be the highest paid head coach in the history of college football. Alright, let's get back to the NFL. Let's do it. Let's get back. I cannot, cannot avoid talking about the Ravens and the Bengals. I cannot avoid it any longer. Joe Burrow made his return yesterday, and it shows you what it means to be a competent quarterback and how you turn the fortunes of a team around.

16:27I will explain that next. Dan Schwartzman in for Rich Eisen. It's the Rich Eisen Show on ESPN Radio, the ESPN app, and Sirius XM Channel 80.

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17:17And we're still doing it every day because the future isn't some far-off concept. It's already here. Next starts now. Hyundai, an official partner of FIFA. Rich Eisen here, and summer's here too. And that means it's travel season. My favorite summer trip last year was to Sao Paulo, Brazil. With so many fans traveling for the Los Angeles against Kansas City game, they got to see how lively the city is. I love the culture and the amazing food that I'm still craving. Those memories remind everyone that it's that time of year to plan a little getaway. And that's why summer has a way of turning weekends into big events.

17:53One minute, it's a normal week. And then all of a sudden, a huge concert, sporting event, or festival brings people in from all over. And when that happens, visitors start looking for places to stay all across your city. So if you're already planning a summer trip of your own, you could list your space on Airbnb and earn a little extra cash while you're away. It doesn't have to be some big year-round commitment. It's about making the most of a busy weekend when your place would just be empty otherwise. I can tell you, people love finding a place that helps them feel connected to the city that they're visiting.

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19:03888-SAY-ESPN, 888-729-3776. That is actually one of my favorite Christmas songs, I'll tell you right now. That's one of the good ones, Jose Feliciano. Although, Rene, you said it with a beautiful accent before. Jose Feliciano. It's like watching Telemundo. You say it, and, oh, it's like, wow, you throw in that beautiful accent.

19:26Dan Scwartzman:Telemundo, Univision, yeah, man, I got it all for you here. You can roll the R's probably well, right? Yeah, I can, actually. Rene. Very fancy sounding. Thank you. All right. Now I'm back in the Christmas mode. All right, let's talk about this Bengals win yesterday. Surprising. Got to tell you, surprised. All right, Bengals have struggled this year. Joe Burrow out two and a half months, was expected to come back in December, but he came back earlier, and he played yesterday on Turkey Day. Baltimore coming off five straight wins. They looked terrible to start the year. They rebounded. You thought, okay, all right.

20:08Now they're playing like the Ravens of the John Harbaugh era. And I'll tell you what, Bengals, especially in that second half, have absolutely dominated. And, you know, as a Jet fan that has struggled to find a competent person to play the quarterback position all these years, yesterday is the exact reason why the quarterback position is the most important position in all of sports okay i understand how important a pitcher is in baseball i get it okay but you got five starters you got a lot of guys in the bullpen these days one starter struggles other guys can pick up the slack the goalie in hockey is a very difficult incredibly important position but these days a lot of teams have very competent backup goalies okay but the quarterback position is the hardest position in all of sports to replace because the drop-off any team has from their starting quarterback to the backup is literally mountains in between right talent-wise If your team loses their starting quarterback, chances are your season is wrecked.

21:26You are done. You are not going to recover. You could have Super Bowl aspirations in training camp. Your quarterback goes down with a season-ending injury. You are done. You're not going to recover from that. Because the guy who's replacing your starting quarterback, I guarantee you, isn't half the player that your starter is. Very rarely do you have a situation where a Tom Brady goes down, Matt Castle takes over, you still win 11 games, although they missed the playoffs that year. They won 11 games amazingly with Matt Castle. That was a surprise. Very rarely is there an instance where a team has, at least wins and losses-wise, not a massive drop-off.

22:11When Aaron Rodgers, two years ago, when I finally thought the Jets had found the quarterback, with the talent they had elsewhere to win something. I'm watching that Monday night, I think it was, when he's running out with the flag at MetLife Stadium, and I told my wife and kids, leave me alone. I'm going to watch this Jet game. Aaron Rodgers' era is beginning. This is where my Jets go from being laughingstocks to actually being Super Bowl contenders. And I'm pumping my chest out. I'm excited. Four plays in, he goes down, and I am cursing up a storm, and my wife comes in and goes, what happened?

22:57What's wrong? And I'm like, you're not going to believe this. That's a serious injury. They are done, because the guy behind Aaron Rodgers is not remotely close to being Aaron Rodgers. He can barely carry his water. And then she gives me the whole, well, why are you rooting for this team. It always happens, right? Like, if it's going to happen to any team, it's going to be the Jets. I'm like, honey, you're right. Nucky, leave me alone. I'm miserable right now. So the Bengals were 3-8 going into this game, and why? Because they didn't have Joe Burrow for two and a half months. He went out week two, by the way, during that game.

23:33That's how long he's been out. Without Joe Burrow, and if they're playing a Joe Flacco or somebody like that, they're not winning in Baltimore yesterday. They're just not winning that game. It's not happening. but here he comes back and remember when Joe Burrow is healthy he is a superstar quarterback he is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL and he comes back yesterday throws for two touchdowns dominates again and they win the game and he has had a tough time staying healthy remember back in 2020 his rookie year he goes down in 2023 he goes down he's off to a big start he went down this year again he goes down but when he's healthy people forget last year joe burrow threw for almost 5 000 yards 43 touchdowns nine interceptions talk about a touchdown to interception ratio 43 to 9 okay this is a guy that's thrown almost 100 more touchdowns in his career to interceptions legitimate superstar when joe burrow is in the bangles are a legit team when knees out like any other team losing their starting quarterback, they're in trouble.

24:45And my whole point is this. Once again, it shows you that you need to have that position filled. And as a Jet fan, okay, I can't tell you. Look, Chad Pennington showed promise. Unfortunately, he couldn't stay healthy. He was probably the guy that potentially could have been something for them. but besides you know they drafted what sam darnold wasn't good for them zach wilson wasn't good for them mark sanchez wasn't good for them three guys drafted in the top five of their drafts and none of them panned out and by the way anybody sitting there saying well look at sam darnold now how good he was with minnesota last year and how good he is with seattle let me tell you something wouldn't have happened with the jets okay he never would have been this quarterback with the jets because of the fact they don't have the coaching.

25:37You have to coach the talent out of Sam Darnold. He came into the NFL from USC with flaws, people forget. He did turn the ball a lot. He did turn over the ball a lot his last year at USC before he came to the NFL. I remember that whole suck for Sam thing they did. It was a big deal. I remember that. When the Jets got him, I was very excited. They won that first game against Detroit. Remember his first pass, I think, was picked off. And after that, they dominating that game. And I thought, well, there you go. We've turned the corner. We have ourselves a quarterback. Three years later, they got rid of him.

26:05And rightfully so at the time. And probably did him a favor. Okay? My whole point is, yesterday is exactly the microcosm of why the quarterback position is the most important position in all of sports. And I'm jealous. And I'm envious of teams that fill that position with a competent player. If you're a Packers fan, I wish you a lump of coal in your stocking. Because you went from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love. I went from Sam Darnold to Trevor Simeon to whatever slop the Jets put at quarterback to Zach Wilson. I'm about to cry here. To, who am I missing? I mean, Justin Fields. Jack, open your mic, Renee.

27:08Again, Jackson Smith. In Jigba. Has more receiving yards than Justin Fields has passing yards this year. I'm not joking. That's an incredible statistic. That a wide receiver has more yards than an actual starting quarterback in the NFL. so you look at teams that have been able to judge talent at that position and it is hard to do so and it is a crapshoot i understand that and i am envious because it's the biggest difference in the world you could have a heck of a running game you could have great wide receivers you put joe okay listen you put garrett wilson on another team like say seattle or cincinnati or dallas and you look at the numbers the seedy lambs of the world are putting up jamar chase jackson smith and jigba i did it there you go okay was that right yes i'm yes i'm getting a slow clap slow clap nice thank you guys but you put garrett wilson in another situation he's gonna put up these types of ridiculous yards he's that good So the quarterback, you put Joe Burrow back into that Cincinnati lineup yesterday, and it is a different story.

28:27They win the game. They win it in incredible fashion on the road. Domination over a former league MVP, Lamar Jackson, a Hall of Fame running back in Derrick Henry, a coach who's done nothing but win at least regular season games in Baltimore and Harbaugh. Cincinnati without Joe Burrow they don't win yesterday doesn't happen you put Joe Burrow in there look at the difference that's why if you're Cincinnati you gotta keep the guy upright as good as the statistics were for Joe Burrow last year almost 5 ,000 yards 43 touchdowns nine interceptions completed almost 71 percent of this of his passes do you know what number stood out to me the most 48 sacks you cannot let your quarterback be sacked 48 times if you want to keep them upright and win games you have got to protect your quarterback that's a bad job and it's not like Joe Burrow is a running quarterback he's not this athletic running quarterback that's going to be like a Justin Fields or a Lamar Jackson or somebody of that caliber in terms of being able to use their wheels for success.

29:44That's not Joe Burrow. But you have to keep him upright. 48 times he's being sacked last year is atrocious. It's a different story in that city if you keep this guy upright. Meanwhile, for the Baltimore Ravens, it's head scratching. What is this team? Honestly, what is this team? team they've been known for so long for their defense right they've been known so long to be this juggernaut defensively that keeps you in a game that regardless if it's joe flacco at quarterback or whatever the situation is they're going to run the football down your throat and they're going to win with their defense that's how they won a super bowl they won with their defense Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Haloninata, guys like that.

30:29They won with defense. I'm looking at that team yesterday defensively, and I'm thinking to myself, who are these guys? Marlon Humphrey, really good player. Kyle Hamilton, great player. But they're just not getting to the quarterback like you expect a Baltimore Ravens defense to do so. That was the calling card. You had a dominating secondary that allowed guys to get to the quarterback because receivers recovered. You had dominating defensive linemen, right? You weren't going to run up the middle on this team. Quarterbacks were fearing this defense. That's not the case anymore. I don't think anybody right now is really fearing the Baltimore Ravens defense.