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We can argue, until we're all blue in the face, about whether or not the SEC is the best conference in America. What we can be sure of, however, is that they have the most entertaining Media Days. When you have a part of the country like this, which lives ball on autumn Saturdays, zaniness inevitably ensues.
Yes, all Media Days, by definition, are an exercise in talking without saying anything. But when fanbases are this passionate, and media corps this dedicated, the end result will not be corporate. There's too much energy and emotion involved here to keep it PR friendly.
By now, you have likely heard that LSU Head Coach Lane Kiffin referenced the death of Hulk Hogan (which occurred on July 24th of last year), as well as the loss of his father, one of the greatest defensive coordinators in NFL history, Monte Kiffin (who passed away on July 11, 2024) while answering a reporter's question at SEC Media Days.
(Additionally, his mother, Robin Kiffin passed on June 17, 2025)
You will likely be very amazed at the context in which he brought up these topics.
Watch the video below, with the sound on, and note how this set up, and question, led to that. Or if you can't watch the video, we also cited the transcript, as published by Saturday Down South, below
"When you were at Ole Miss, you led them to the third most wins in the conference since ’22. You had ten players drafted or signed as free agents in the ’25 draft, eight players drafted or signed as free agents in the ’26 class. You had a top-4 portal class each of the last three portal cycles you were there. Jaxson Dart, first round pick. Yet, in a “Vanity Fair” article, you said Oxford diversity hurt you in talent acquisition.
"Is it your belief that if there was a little bit more diversity, all those numbers I cited could have been even better?"
LANE KIFFIN: "I had a feeling that was going somewhere. You were doing really positive stuff the whole way through. I was like, man, this guy is good. Sounds like you should work for Jimmy Sexton, man. You were going a good direction there.
"I made a challenging decision in change. I think as I look back to that, I thought I could find a way for everybody to understand. Now as I look back later on, that was never going to happen.
"I made a decision that I changed jobs, and as I get older and I go through things and losing both parents — I was actually talking to Ross Dellinger, and I kind of said something that might sound kind of funny to you, but, you know, I watched the Hulk Hogan special. I realized something. I was, like: We’re all going to die. And so some of the things that we put importance on, we worry about, and what this person says and that, really aren’t going to matter.
"When I lost my dad I started thinking that. I really started thinking, when I grew up there were two people that I thought just wouldn’t die… my dad and Hulk Hogan. Then I watched that special, and Hulk Hogan died too. Like, there was no way that Hulk Hogan was ever going to not wrestle and die, and he did.
"It just made me reflect on I can’t be so concerned about little things and what people say and this. You got to make decisions; you got to go with them. You do things, and you make really good decisions, and you make poor decisions. That was a poor usage of a term that I believe, just like many coaches that have been there before, was factual, but over the course of a long interview, was bad timing and bad usage of the word.
"It is what it is. I apologized when I said it, and moving on."
First off, kudos to Mike Bratton for asking the tough question that needed to be asked. Second, kudos again to SEC Mike for setting it up in a way that could have, hypothetically, elicited a real response. Using flattery to prelude a sensitive topic is a solid strategy.
Meanwhile tjose are some very impressive NFL Draft statistics that Bratton cited there. You can't say that Kiffin doesn't know how to acquire and develop talent- the numbers tell the story perfectly. This is why Baton Rouge handed him a $91,000,000 deal.
Unfortunately, he still deflected the question. It's astounding how we got from "look at all the guys you've sent to the draft" to "what about that controversial thing you said in May" to answer of "we're all going to die someday, so who really cares about what is said in magazine interviews" is quite the journey.
Kiffin seems to be as good at evading questions as he is at sending college players to the NFL.
This article originally appeared on Draft Wire: Lane Kiffin's 'Hulk Hogan' exchange included stellar NFL Draft stats
Continue reading...
Yes, all Media Days, by definition, are an exercise in talking without saying anything. But when fanbases are this passionate, and media corps this dedicated, the end result will not be corporate. There's too much energy and emotion involved here to keep it PR friendly.
By now, you have likely heard that LSU Head Coach Lane Kiffin referenced the death of Hulk Hogan (which occurred on July 24th of last year), as well as the loss of his father, one of the greatest defensive coordinators in NFL history, Monte Kiffin (who passed away on July 11, 2024) while answering a reporter's question at SEC Media Days.
(Additionally, his mother, Robin Kiffin passed on June 17, 2025)
You will likely be very amazed at the context in which he brought up these topics.
Watch the video below, with the sound on, and note how this set up, and question, led to that. Or if you can't watch the video, we also cited the transcript, as published by Saturday Down South, below
"When you were at Ole Miss, you led them to the third most wins in the conference since ’22. You had ten players drafted or signed as free agents in the ’25 draft, eight players drafted or signed as free agents in the ’26 class. You had a top-4 portal class each of the last three portal cycles you were there. Jaxson Dart, first round pick. Yet, in a “Vanity Fair” article, you said Oxford diversity hurt you in talent acquisition.
"Is it your belief that if there was a little bit more diversity, all those numbers I cited could have been even better?"
LANE KIFFIN: "I had a feeling that was going somewhere. You were doing really positive stuff the whole way through. I was like, man, this guy is good. Sounds like you should work for Jimmy Sexton, man. You were going a good direction there.
"I made a challenging decision in change. I think as I look back to that, I thought I could find a way for everybody to understand. Now as I look back later on, that was never going to happen.
"I made a decision that I changed jobs, and as I get older and I go through things and losing both parents — I was actually talking to Ross Dellinger, and I kind of said something that might sound kind of funny to you, but, you know, I watched the Hulk Hogan special. I realized something. I was, like: We’re all going to die. And so some of the things that we put importance on, we worry about, and what this person says and that, really aren’t going to matter.
"When I lost my dad I started thinking that. I really started thinking, when I grew up there were two people that I thought just wouldn’t die… my dad and Hulk Hogan. Then I watched that special, and Hulk Hogan died too. Like, there was no way that Hulk Hogan was ever going to not wrestle and die, and he did.
"It just made me reflect on I can’t be so concerned about little things and what people say and this. You got to make decisions; you got to go with them. You do things, and you make really good decisions, and you make poor decisions. That was a poor usage of a term that I believe, just like many coaches that have been there before, was factual, but over the course of a long interview, was bad timing and bad usage of the word.
"It is what it is. I apologized when I said it, and moving on."
First off, kudos to Mike Bratton for asking the tough question that needed to be asked. Second, kudos again to SEC Mike for setting it up in a way that could have, hypothetically, elicited a real response. Using flattery to prelude a sensitive topic is a solid strategy.
Meanwhile tjose are some very impressive NFL Draft statistics that Bratton cited there. You can't say that Kiffin doesn't know how to acquire and develop talent- the numbers tell the story perfectly. This is why Baton Rouge handed him a $91,000,000 deal.
Unfortunately, he still deflected the question. It's astounding how we got from "look at all the guys you've sent to the draft" to "what about that controversial thing you said in May" to answer of "we're all going to die someday, so who really cares about what is said in magazine interviews" is quite the journey.
Kiffin seems to be as good at evading questions as he is at sending college players to the NFL.
This article originally appeared on Draft Wire: Lane Kiffin's 'Hulk Hogan' exchange included stellar NFL Draft stats
Continue reading...
