Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Kiffin’s tweets spark laughs and interest
BOCA RATON — Florida Atlantic coach Lane Kiffin no longer works for bigname football programs.
He garnered plenty attention from fans and media at all his previous coaching stops, such as Alabama and Tennessee. At FAU, a program looking to improve on the field and attract fans, Kiffin has taken to Twitter to help stoke interest. His tweets keep his followers entertained — and, more importantly, keep Owls football on their minds.
“That’s obviously part of the plan,” Kiffin said. “It’s marketing. The more that you hear FAU … the more that you do really bad skits for whatever that was, it’s on SportsCenter and they’re talking about FAU.”
The skit Kiffin was referring to was the memorable offseason promotional video he did for FAU that drew attention because he appeared disinterested. Now he’s using 140-character missives to help FAU remain relevant.
It doesn’t matter if he’s taking playful shots at Alabama coach Nick Saban — Kiffin’s former boss — or inviting celebrities to Owls games.
“I guess it’s a way to kind of like to do things that I can’t say right here [in front of the media],” Kiffin said. “I just think it’s funny. I don’t really know.”
Kiffin set social media abuzz twice this week. On Wednesday, all it took was a two-word tweet to draw national attention to FAU. Video gamer Bailey Adams, a Central Florida student, used the Owls to defeat Alabama in NCAA College Football. Adams took a picture of the final score and tagged Kiffin on Twitter with the words, “I just hope @Lane_Kiffin is proud of me.”
A few hours later, Kiffin replied, “I am.”
The response was immediately picked up by a few media outlets across the country, including SECcountry.com and USA Today. One headline read: “Lane Kiffin at it again, trolls Alabama on Twitter using NCAA Football video game.”
“I didn’t really expect him to reply,” Adams said. “It turned into a lot more … I think he’s an interesting character in college football. I just thought it would be pretty funny because I know he’s fairly active on Twitter.”
A day later, Kiffin was indeed at it again. When Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Antonio Brown posted that he needed help finding teammate JuJu Smith-Schuster’s stolen bike, Kiffin chimed in with, “It’s in Boca. Both of u need to come to #thefau.”
Kiffin directed a similar series of tweets toward Louisville quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson, who, like Brown, is a South Florida native. After Jackson posted a photo with his mother, Kiffin suggested, “Come home for her. #thefau.”
He later deleted the tweet after Bleacher Report posted an article with the headline, “Lane Kiffin ‘Recruits’ Louisville QB Lamar Jackson on Twitter.” On Thursday, Kiffin clarified the comment.
“I saw Lamar and I knew he was from here and I thought maybe he was homesick and I’m like, ‘Come home,’ ” he said, laughing
The reality is Kiffin rarely plans his tweets. He says they are usually impromptu, thought of in maybe two seconds. His players call him a must-follow.
“I see some of the stuff that he’ll say,” FAU linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair said. “I think it’s kind of funny. You see somebody not as reserved as you might see from a typical head coach. He kind of speaks his mind. It’s kind of cool.”
If the Owls continue to turn things around, they may no longer need assistance from Kiffin. The program is getting more than enough attention for its three-game winning streak entering Saturday’s game at Western Kentucky.
“What’s good now is now that they’re talking about FAU football-wise and what’s on the field, if we keep playing well, we’ll get the other type of publicity,” Kiffin said.