What is the "Lane Kiffin Rule" in Congress's new college sports bill?

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Congress is giving college sports regulation another go as United States Senators Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell reached a deal to propose bipartisan legislation. The bill is meant to address several issues affecting college sports, including NIL, revenue sharing, and the transfer portal.

One element of the bill tackles coaching moves in what's unofficially been dubbed the "Lane Kiffin Rule."

What does a congressional bill have to do with LSU football's head coach? Well, Kiffin caused quite a stir when he left Ole Miss for LSU ahead of the Rebels' College Football Playoff run last fall. Kiffin said he wanted to coach Ole Miss through the end of the season, but Kiffin and Ole Miss AD Keith Carter didn't see eye to eye with Kiffin accepting a job at a chief rival of Ole Miss. Kiffin took over at LSU and Ole Miss promoted Pete Golding.

A clause from the bill reads:

"An individual who serves, or has served at any point during a competitive season, as football athletic personnel for a varsity sports team for intercollegiate football at an institution shall not, during that same competitive season, perform for another institution any duties or responsibilities customarily associated with a head coach of a varsity sports team."

With the rule, lawmakers are trying to prevent another Kiffin to LSU situation — one where a coach accepts a job from another school before the end of the season.

The specifics of how the rule would be enforced are unclear. Most coaching moves happen behind the scenes anyway, and a coach rarely finds himself in Kiffin's exact position. In practice, this rule would essentially shift the entire college football calendar, which raises even more questions.

If the transfer portal opens in early January, coaches and schools won't want to wait until the official end of the season to start building their roster, and the academic calendar makes it hard to push the transfer window back. Despite the new bill, collegiate sports leaders still have a lot to figure out.

This article originally appeared on LSU Wire: Explaining the "Lane Kiffin Rule" is new US Congress bill

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