As victims go, Lane Kiffin doesn’t seem like one.

He could have stayed at Ole Miss, made over $10 million a year, led his 11-1 team into a home playoff game and become an icon at a place where he supposedly found personal tranquility. Or he could’ve left for LSU to make over $10 million a year leading a program that has won three national titles this century.

Fortunate would be one description of such a fork in life’s road. The result of endless work and talent would be another.

But apparently no one knows a man’s burdens until they’ve walked a mile in his hot yoga pants.

Per his resignation statement on social media, it was spiritual, familial and mentor guidance that led Kiffin to go to LSU, not all those five-star recruits in New Orleans.

“After a lot of prayer and time spent with family, I made the difficult decision to accept the head coaching position at LSU,” he wrote.

In an interview with ESPN’s Marty Smith, Kiffin noted “my heart was [at Ole Miss], but I talked to some mentors, Coach [Pete] Carroll, Coach [Nick] Saban. Especially when Coach Carroll said, ‘Your dad would tell you to go. Take the shot.'” Kiffin later added: “I talked to God, and he told me it’s time to take a new step.”

After following everyone else’s advice, Kiffin discovered those mean folks at Ole Miss wouldn’t let him keep coaching the Rebels through the College Football Playoff on account of the fact Kiffin was now, you know, the coach of rival LSU.

Apparently quitting means different things to different people. Shame on Ole Miss for having some self-esteem.

“I was hoping to complete a historic six-season run … ,” Kiffin said. “My request to do so was denied by [Rebels athletic director] Keith Carter despite the team also asking him to allow me to keep coaching them so they could better maintain their high level of performance.”

Well, if he hoped enough, Kiffin could have just stayed and done it. He didn’t. Trying to paint this as an Ole Miss decision, not a Lane Kiffin decision, is absurd. You are either in or you are out.

Leaving was Kiffin’s right, of course. He chose what he believes are greener pastures. It might work out; LSU, despite its political dysfunction, is a great place to coach ball.

Kiffin should have just put out a statement saying his dream is to win a national title, and as good as Ole Miss has become, he thinks his chance to do it is so much better at LSU that it was worth giving up on his current players, who formed his best and, really, first nationally relevant team.

At least it would be his honest opinion.

Lately, 50-year-old Kiffin has done all he can to paint himself as a more mature version of a once immature person. In the end, though, he is who he is. That includes traits that make him a very talented football coach. He is unique.

He might never live down being known as the coach who bailed on a title contender. It’s his life, though. It’s his reputation.

One of college sports’ original sins was turning playcallers into life-changers. Yeah, that can happen, boys can become men. A coach’s job is to win, though.

A great coach doesn’t have to be loyal or thoughtful or an example of how life should be lived.

This is the dichotomy of what you get when you hire Kiffin. He was on a heater in Oxford, winning in a way he never did with USC or Tennessee or the Oakland Raiders.

That seemingly should continue at resource-rich LSU. Along the way, you get a colorful circus, a wrestling character with a whistle, a high-wire act that could always break bad. It rarely ends well — from airport firings to near-riot-inducing resignations to an exasperated Nick Saban.

LSU should just embrace it — the good and the not so good. What’s more fun than being the villain? Kiffin might be a problem child, but he’s your problem child. It will probably get you a few more victories on Saturdays. He will certainly get you a few more laughs on social media.

It worked for Ole Miss, at least until it didn’t. Then the Rebels had to finally push him aside. This is Lane Kiffin. You can hardly trust him in the good times.

If anything, Carter had been too nice. He probably should have demanded Kiffin pledge his allegiance weeks back, after Kiffin’s family visited Gainesville, Florida, as well as Baton Rouge.

Instead, Kiffin hemmed and hawed and extended the soap opera, gaining leverage along the way.

Blame was thrown on the “calendar,” even though it was coaches such as Kiffin who created it. And leaving a championship contender is an individual choice that no one else is making.

Blame was put on Ole Miss, as if it should just accept desperate second-class hostage status. Better to promote defensive coordinator Pete Golding and try to win with the people who want to be there.

To Kiffin, the idea of winning is seemingly all that matters. Not necessarily winning, but the idea of winning. Potential playoff teams count for more than current ones. Tomorrow means more than today. Next is better than now.

Maybe that mindset is what got him here, got him all these incredible opportunities, including his new one at LSU, where he must believe he is going to win national title after national title.

So go do that, unapologetically. Own it. Own the decision. Own the quitting. Own the fallout. Everything is possible in Baton Rouge, just not the Victim Lane act.

The Penn State coaching search, which has gone quiet in the past few weeks, has focused on BYU coach Kalani Sitake, sources told ESPN on Monday.

The sides have been in discussions, but sources cautioned that no deal has been signed yet. The sides have met, and there is mutual interest, with discussions involving staffing and other details of Sitake’s possible tenure in State College.

No. 11 BYU plays Saturday against No. 5 Texas Tech in the Big 12 title game, with the winner securing an automatic bid in the College Football Playoff. On3 first reported Sitake as Penn State’s top target.

Sitake has been BYU’s coach since 2016, winning more than 65% of his games. He guided BYU to an 11-2 mark in 2024, and the Cougars are 11-1 this year. This is BYU’s third season in the Big 12, and the transition to becoming one of the league’s top teams has been nearly instant.

Penn State officials were active early in their coaching search, which included numerous in-person meetings around the country. That activity has quieted in recent weeks, sources said, even as candidates got new jobs and others received new contracts to stay at their schools.

BYU officials have been aggressive in trying to retain Sitake, according to sources, and consider it the athletic department’s top priority.

BYU plays a style that’s familiar to the Big Ten, with rugged linemen and a power game that’s complemented by a creative passing offense in recent years.

This week, Sitake called the reports linking him to jobs “a good sign” because it means “things are going well for us.”

James Franklin was fired by Penn State in October after going 104-45 over 12 seasons. Franklin’s departure came after three straight losses to open league play. He led Penn State to the College Football Playoff semifinals in January 2025.

Sitake has won at least 10 games in four of his past six seasons at BYU. After going 2-7 in conference play while adjusting to the Big 12 in 2023, BYU has gone 15-3 the past two years and found a quarterback of the future in true freshman Bear Bachmeier.

Sitake has no coaching experience east of the Mountain Time Zone. He was an assistant coach at BYU, Oregon State, Utah, Southern Utah and Eastern Arizona.

Sitake, who played high school football in Missouri, played at BYU before signing with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2001.

He is BYU’s fourth head coach since his mentor, LaVell Edwards, took over in 1972.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo center Josh Norris matched his career-best single game points total in the Sabres’ 5-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Monday night, making a triumphant return to the lineup after suffering an upper-body injury in the team’s season opener.

Norris scored two goals and assisted on the opening tally 2:46 into the game. His second goal gave the Sabres a commanding 5-1 lead less than a minute into the third period.

It was Norris’ sixth three-point game and his first since Jan. 30 against Washington while playing for Ottawa.

That same game was the last time he also had a goal and an assist in the opening period.

Coach Lindy Ruff said Norris’ remarkable return wasn’t something that he anticipated.

“It’s speed combined with puck support,” Ruff said. “The puck support was real good, real evident it led to goals. It was a night where we were really connective.”

The 26-year-old Norris, a first-round draft pick by the San Jose Sharks in 2017, has struggled with injuries and appeared in only his fifth game with Buffalo since being acquired in a trade last season. The Sabres are his first new team after spending parts of his first six season with the Senators. They have been waiting for him to take on a larger role, so this game could give him some much-needed momentum.

Norris was injured in the season-opening 4-0 loss to the New York Rangers on Oct. 9.