Lane Kiffin called back to his time in L.A. and brought out the stars for the LSU-Alabama game on Saturday. Shaq, Angel Reese, Paul Skenes, Livvy Dunne and Kevin Costner all joined Kiffin for the Tiger walk. Kiffin says he met Costner years ago, and it was great to introduce him to the passion and tailgating in the South.
“So he really enjoyed it. He actually was, we were down in the locker room and he said, ‘Hey man, I want to get back out there,’ because he brought his kids with him too; ‘Get back out there and tailgate with everybody.’ So it was cool that he was really enjoying it,” Kiffin said.
With the 31-13 loss to the Crimson Tide that followed, Kiffin says he expects to catch some heat from fans about all the flashy gameday activity. He says that performance is part of the program, though, and doesn’t really change anything on the field.
“I don’t consider not doing it; I don’t consider doubling down, either. It doesn’t have to do with winning or losing games and who walks in. Now we’ve won every game at home so far, so who walked in wasn’t the reason we didn’t execute in the red zone,” Kiffin explained.
Kiffin says the celebrities and sideline smoke machines and basketball hoops are just the visual part of the team. He says their main purpose is for recruiting.
“You create a program when people watch from far away, and not just 12th graders; 8th and 9th graders that they see and they go, ‘That place is cool, I want to go there.’ So there’s a lot that goes into that. And it does not have to do with winning or losing the game,” Kiffin noted.
