How LSU football coach Lane Kiffin relates to Will Wade

BATON ROUGE — Lane Kiffin had not met Will Wade until the latter’s return to Baton Rouge and the LSU men’s basketball program.

The first-year LSU football coach said the decision-making process Wade just went through was something he could relate to after his departure from Ole Miss this past November.

“I talked to him to the other day,” Kiffin told reporters Tuesday after LSU’s spring practice. “Obviously, he’s extremely excited about it. I did not know him personally. I just know he’s been very successful wherever he’s been. And I think too, if you’re about a place and you’re a really good coach, you know, that’s a really good combination.

WILL WADE BACK AT LSU Will Wade says there’s ‘unfinished business’ with LSU men’s basketball

“There’s a lot of judgment about whether you should go and he just got there and all those things. I probably have a unique view of that.”

Much was made about Wade’s exit from NC State, where he coached one season and led the Wolfpack to the First Four of the NCAA Tournament before deciding to return to LSU. Wade was officially announced as the Tigers coach Monday.

Kiffin’s departure from Ole Miss was a winding several-weekslong saga that played itself out in the public eye. His family was seen visiting Florida and LSU while he was still the head coach of the Rebels, which were in the middle of a push for their first College Football Playoff bid. Kiffin wanted to stay with Ole Miss through the playoffs after accepting LSU’s offer to become the next head coach after Brian Kelly, but Ole Miss leadership refused.

“I just think everything his everybody’s story. They got one life to live and what they want to choose to do and what they believe their story is after they get the best information they can from the people that are closest to them and they make their decisions, then it’s my opinion it’s that person’s job to go prove that decision right,” Kiffin said. “I know people here are really excited about (Wade’s return).

“It speaks volumes of LSU because to me there’s somebody that understands everything about LSU, understands the power of LSU, went through a very unique situation, kind of had a breakup and then makes a decision to come back. To me that says a lot about LSU.”

Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: How Lane Kiffin relates to new LSU men’s basketball coach Will Wade