Inside Lane Kiffin's LSU 'ghost' mode and the Michael Jordan meme
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Lane Kiffin went “ghost,” but what’s that got to do with Michael Jordan?
Well, that’s where this gets interesting.
Inside Kiffin’s office, he keeps a printout of a black-and-white photo of Jordan. He showed it to me when I sat down with Kiffin for an extensive interview May 11.
Above the MJ photo are these words: They have no idea what you are becoming. Time to go ghost.
Punchy quote, but did Jordan actually say it? There’s no evidence he did.
I searched newspaper archives and sleuthed the internet. I found no record of Jordan ever saying it.
Best as I can tell, this meme circulates on social media within the life coach, fitness trainer, motivational guru, and content creator communities. Aside from the words being slapped above a Jordan photo, there’s no connection between the quote and MJ.
Hey, whatever it takes to get some likes, right?
In any case, Kiffin’s gone “ghost.”
Lane Kiffin’s ‘ghost’ mode
Kiffin’s only tweet in June — and, in fact, his only tweet since May 11, the day Vanity Fair published its deep dive — was his June 18 post of the Jordan photo with the “ghost” quote.
That post became Kiffin’s way of explaining his social media silence to his more than 844,000 followers.
As for why Jordan might be on Kiffin’s brain? Well, Kiffin has connected with and taken inspiration from Tim Grover, the motivational speaker and personal trainer who worked with stars like Jordan, Kobe Bryant and currently Paul Skenes, the former LSU pitcher who’s in the MLB.
A coach not tweeting normally wouldn’t be a big deal, but this is Kiffin. Social media and voice memos make up his preferred communication methods.
Kiffin previewed his “ghost” mode during our conversation in May.
I asked Kiffin then: How did he plan to handle spending this season being cast as college football’s villain?
“Probably quieter than you think,” Kiffin told me. “I don’t want to give away the movie. I feel I’m giving it away. Probably quieter than you think.”
Kiffin did a couple of podcast interviews since our conversation, but, mostly, mum’s the word from LSU’s lightning-rod coach since a few of his quotes in Vanity Fair sparked a fresh round of blowback in Mississippi and beyond.
Can Lane Kiffin maintain his silence?
Kiffin relishes saying things other coaches won’t. His look-at-me personality worked for Ole Miss, and his jabs are (sometimes) humorous. The Rebels, after the forgettable Matt Luke era, needed a spark. They heartily signed up for the Kiffin Experience.
At LSU, Kiffin stepped into a readymade spotlight. The Tigers will be a magnet for attention, and Kiffin will face a mountain of pressure, even without his usual hijinks.
“Ghost” mode looks good on Kiffin, but can he stick to it once the season arrives — and after a loss or two inevitably occurs?
Going “ghost” is not Kiffin’s natural state. His mom called him “Helicopter” for how he likes to stir it up.
Kiffin is TNT: He knows drama.
He creates drama. He gravitates to it.
Kiffin wants you to be thinking about him, and he likes to shape narratives. Social media helps him achieve those goals.
Kiffin didn’t just leave Ole Miss for LSU because he’ll have a better chance to sign elite recruiting classes in Baton Rouge. That’s true, but he also left because he craves the stage of coaching against Alabama and Texas on the home sideline inside Tiger Stadium.
Coaching LSU offers an ego stroke Ole Miss could not match.
Lane Kiffin: ‘I bet I just coach.’ Hmm, we’ll see
With an opportunity of this magnitude comes mass scrutiny, especially after Kiffin left Ole Miss on the playoff’s doorstep and traded his hero status in Oxford for a villainous exit to rival LSU.
Kiffin will face a cavalcade of barbs if he wobbles.
Kiffin, like many coaches, is sensitive to criticism. Is he ready for the deluge of blowback and vitriol that’ll come if LSU stalls in his first season?
That’ll be a moot question, if he wins.
Regardless of what you think of Kiffin’s Ole Miss exit, he’s never been a better coach than he is now. But, he’s shifted from the underdog lane to a job with more pressure and expectations than he’s faced since Southern Cal. I don’t need to remind you how that went.
To take Kiffin at his word is to believe he’ll handle the scrutiny in stride and operate in “ghost” mode, quietly working on restoring LSU to giant status and ascending to the next step in his career arc.
“I won’t probably do what you think. I know me, and I’ll be like, ‘That (attention and spotlight are) already there. I don’t need to keep going on it,’” Kiffin said in May. “I bet I just coach.”
You believe that?
He’s probably already got his next meme cued up, for whenever “ghost” mode ends.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Inside Lane Kiffin’s LSU ‘ghost’ mode and the Michael Jordan meme
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