To be an LSU fan is to embrace chaos. It is in the DNA of the institution and the state, really.<\/p>\n
However, this summer has brought levels I cannot remember in my 30-plus years of sentience.<\/p>\n
Consider that Tigers football coach Lane Kiffin is the lead face<\/a> of a controversial movement<\/a> to recruit NFL rookies back to the college ranks via an eligibility ruling giving players from the recruiting class of 2022 an extra year to play \u2026 and that his arrival in Baton Rouge from SEC rival Ole Miss came during the Rebels\u2019 Playoff run last year \u2026 and that men\u2019s basketball coach Will Wade is also engendering legal battles by recruiting a player who\u2019s spent time with two NBA teams \u2026 and that women\u2019s basketball coach Kim Mulkey, who won a national title three years ago, recently lost a Ukrainian player who objected<\/a> to the program\u2019s recruitment of a Russian player.<\/p>\n Whew.<\/p>\n Why are LSU fans unequivocally behind Lane Kiffin?<\/p>\n Chris Branch<\/p>\n All of it has turned LSU into the villain du jour<\/a>. Kiffin has long been a needlepoint for college football fans, and it\u2019s clearly something he embraces, if not even enjoys. This is the same guy who left Tennessee in a lurch, who got fired on a tarmac at USC, got pushed out of Alabama\u2019s staff during a national championship run and departed Ole Miss during the best season in school history. He elicits big feelings.<\/p>\n The same goes for Wade, whom LSU fired the first time after getting caught on an FBI wiretap talking about a financial offer to a recruit (which is, funnily enough, allowed now). Mulkey vacillates between loved and hated nationally. And, in true Louisiana fashion<\/a>, the state\u2019s governor is deeply involved<\/a> in all this.<\/p>\n It is, frankly, exhausting. I am a proud LSU alumnus and remain a Tigers fan, as any reader of my newsletter<\/a> can attest. I will be in the stands Saturday as No. 11 LSU plays Clemson in the premier game of college football\u2019s Week 1, but all of this gives me pause.<\/p>\n I keep coming back to a question I still don\u2019t have an answer to: Is this all worth it? It sure would be nice to wonder how Sam Leavitt will look Saturday rather than whether LSU will be kicked out of the SEC. Am I in the minority on that?<\/p>\n There was a time when LSU, and in particular LSU football, felt quite ordinary. It was the mid-1990s, when a once-proud football program slid into mediocrity, its glory years long past despite strong fan support. Men\u2019s basketball was on its way down, too, the height of the Dale Brown era fading quickly. Women\u2019s basketball was also mired in a slump under another legendary coach, Sue Gunter.<\/p>\n I started attending games in Tiger Stadium in that era, at just 3 years old. My biggest memories are mostly blobs of sports misery.<\/p>\n The modern rise of LSU football is well-documented. Things changed. A guy named Nick Saban got hired as football coach, and the team has had one losing season in the following 26 years. Meanwhile, the women\u2019s basketball program became a powerhouse. Men\u2019s basketball \u2026 has had stretches of fun.<\/p>\n Now, all three have made LSU the nexus in college sports\u2019 raging storm of change. There is a lawless feeling right now, where any rule can be litigated and overturned by the right judge. LSU\u2019s aforementioned trio of coaches push the limits of doing whatever it takes to win further than anyone right now, which is saying something in 2026.<\/p>\n \u201cI think if you talk to 10 LSU fans right now, three or four of them are completely fed up and frustrated with it, a couple have tuned it out completely and a couple think it\u2019s a really bad look for LSU,\u201d Hunt Palmer, a radio host in Baton Rouge, told me. \u201cI do think all 10 are fired up for Saturday. Once game day is here, no one will be thinking about court cases, restraining orders or appeals. It\u2019s Saturday night in Death Valley.\u201d<\/p>\n Most of the fans I talked to in Baton Rouge welcome the villainy, at least in part.<\/p>\n Over a breakfast at Louie\u2019s Cafe this week, steps from campus, all diners could talk about was Saturday\u2019s game. Remember when LSU beat Clemson last year? Boy, I bet there will be a ton of folks here Saturday. I didn\u2019t hear a thing about a court case, despite the massive one happening right down the road.<\/p>\n \u201cI kind of like it. Some part of me feels like Kiffin and the program likes it. Nobody\u2019s even talking about how they\u2019re going to win,\u201d Trey Carraway, a 2003 LSU graduate, said. \u201cThis is the most excited I\u2019ve been for a season since 2019. Not even close. The hype around us, us against the world, it\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019s not far off. This week, LSU displayed a sign inside the football facility that read: \u201cIf you want to win at the highest level, you have to become the villain in someone else\u2019s story.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s emblematic of the line LSU is toeing right now. Am I rooting for the bad guys? Or is my favorite team trying to win at any cost, more than any of its contemporaries?<\/p>\n \u201cStudents are accepting that this is what LSU is now. Lane Kiffin is going to push buttons and make this work,\u201d Alex Sheesley, sports editor at the Reveille, LSU\u2019s student newspaper, said. \u201cLSU is trying to improve their team. LSU has a right to explore this. If it\u2019s going to ruffle feathers, that\u2019s how it\u2019ll be.\u201d<\/p>\n Again, are we sure this is worth the hassle? LSU is risking its conference affiliation<\/a> for a few players that couldn\u2019t make an NFL roster.<\/p>\n My colleague Stewart Mandel wrote this week that it\u2019s not close to worth it<\/a>. Fellow Athletic college football writer Manny Navarro pointed out that LSU had a $40 million roster<\/a> before this. It\u2019s a compelling point, even if Kiffin says he got permission<\/a> from his current players to pursue NFL talent.<\/p>\n I\u2019m tired, but I do have faith that the product, both at LSU and in college football overall, is still excellent. Kiffin, despite his reputation, is an excellent football coach.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople see what Lane went through to get here,\u201d Steven Bosworth, a 2015 LSU graduate, said, referring to Kiffin\u2019s messy departure from Ole Miss. \u201cWe\u2019re going to stand behind him.\u201d<\/p>\n I suspect more than 100,000 people packed into Tiger Stadium will forget all of this, at least temporarily, if LSU wins Saturday. Is that good? I can\u2019t say, but it\u2019s where we are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To be an LSU fan is to embrace chaos. 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