Two seasons in Mississippi's big name hires are getting it done
Nov. 30—In the days after Jackson State hired Deion Sanders late in September of 2020. there was a cartoon by Marshall Ramsey picturing Sanders with new Ole Miss and Mississippi State coaches Lane Kiffin and Mike Leach.
It showed a sports writer in a bar with his laptop open and the three coaches seated beside him.
The thought bubble coming from the sports writer said, "I'm in Heaven."
The implication is that these three high-profile coaches with gigantic personalities would always give the Mississippi sports guys something to write about, and how could that be anything but wonderful for the sports guys?
It's a common misconception.
The dry wit, the one-liners, the willingness to say things that other coaches might not, yes, all of this can be entertaining.
But they're not saying these things only to you, so all of a sudden something the coach you cover says in a national media setting becomes a national story, and you're hustling to catch up. It happens.
Sometimes something a coach says can be perceived different ways on social media — We're a touchy society in 2021 — and that has its own ripple effect.
Leach had this issue with a joke on Twitter early in the pandemic. Kiffin's get your popcorn comment followed by tossing the mic to a sideline reporter — so he could rush to get in place for the kickoff against Alabama — created a stir. I'm still trying to figure out that one.
Sometimes gigantic personalities mean shrimp-like media access to those personalities.
There's fun to be had, but for me Heaven means a lot more than three football coaches sitting down to together.
And while we're all here on the planet you'd have to be World Class Funny all the time to keep your job if you're not winning.
Kiffin, Leach and Sanders all have their teams moving forward.
Kiffin's rebuild job for a program not far removed from NCAA sanctions and upon his arrival mired in apathy is ahead of schedule.
The Rebels should indeed celebrate 10 regular-season wins for the first time in their history.
More impressive is the fact that they're 14-3 in their last 17 games.
Sanders' record has to include 4-3 in the SWAC's COVID spring schedule in 2021. It was different and strange and impacted by the comings and goings of the virus, but they kept score so the games counted.
This season Jackson State is 10-1 and playing for the SWAC championship on its home field on Saturday.
Sanders, like Kiffin, is being mentioned for other jobs.
Leach's team was inconsistent early and paid the price in losses to Memphis and LSU and nearly to a Louisiana Tech team that would finish 3-9. Even within that span the MSU defense dominated in a win over a ranked opponent, North Carolina State.
Leach held firm to his position that the Bulldogs were young and inexperienced and would be better with more practice and game reps. They were.
A seven-win season isn't anyone's goal, but right now it shows growth.
All three of these programs have shown growth from where they were when the big names were hired.
The newness from the hires has faded. These guys have time-in-grade with these programs, and if they walked into a Mississippi bar today the sports writer would be more interested in the content for his stories than the one-liners.
PARRISH ALFORD is the college sports editor and columnist for the Daily Journal. Contact him at parrish.alford@journalinc.com.
