Make no mistake: Lane Kiffin is a relentless competitor. Just below that, Lane Kiffin is a relentless social media commentator.
Which explains why, after Arkansas' Hudson Clark, then a walk-on, turned his three-interception performance in the Razorbacks' win against Ole Miss last Saturday into a scholarship from Sam Pittman, Kiffin's among those to have congratulated Clark.
If a decade ago at Tennessee Kiffin reluctantly was trolling the likes of Nick Saban and Urban Meyer in his Vols' press conferences, now he's simply showing in full a rebuilt, if not totally reconstructed, personality.
Rather than bemoan his team's seven turnovers in the loss to the Hogs, including six interceptions, Kiffin is touting the great nature of the walk-on-to-scholarship tale.
Arkansas also had uncorked a post-game Tweet Saturday that showed a cartoon train that mirrored 'Thomas the Tank Engine' with an Ole Miss mask-guard, similar to what Kiffin has donned for COVID-19 protocols, crashing off railroad tracks.
“Well, I don't think like a lot of coaches, as I think you probably know,” Kiffin said Wednesday afternoon on the SEC coaches' teleconference. “What would you do if you were not a coach and saw something neat like that? If you're going to joke about stuff like that on Twitter, if you're going to dish it out, then you better be able to take it.
“Most coaches would be too pissed about the game. The kid played a great game, did a great job and got a scholarship. It's pretty neat.”
Said Arkansas coach Sam Pittman on the SEC Network, “I called Hudson Clark, and we're out of scholarships right now at this day, but in January, we're going to put him on scholarship. I think he's earned that and we're awfully happy to be able do that.”
Kiffin already this season has poked fun at himself on the anniversary of his decision as coach of the NFL's Oakland Raiders to have Sebastian Janikowski attempt a 76-yard field goal and also chimed in on a bevy of other light-hearted Twitter debates.