One of the main reasons that Lane Kiffin agreed to become the new head coach of the LSU Tigers this past winter is because he wants to consistently compete for championships.

LSU is one of the top jobs in college football thanks in large part to the elite in-state talent. It’s one of the few places where competing for a championship on an annual basis is realistic.

And considering all the hype that’s surrounded Kiffin over the last few months, it goes without saying that he’s on the clock at LSU. If he doesn’t deliver a championship, or at least a deep College Football Playoff run, within his first few seasons in Baton Rouge, then his tenure will be a massive failure.

Kiffin, after all, passed on a chance to compete for a national championship last winter with his players at Ole Miss so he could take the LSU job. Instant results are the expectation.

ESPN’s Jake Trotter seemingly agrees.

“Lane Kiffin bailed on Ole Miss and his Rebel players ahead of the playoff to bolt to rival LSU (and yet, people really still fault players for making decisions in their own best interest?),” wrote Trotter this week. “LSU is paying Kiffin $91 million to win national championships. Given the way he left his former team high and dry, and what the Tigers have invested in their roster, anything less won’t — and shouldn’t — be acceptable.”

It’s championship or bust for Kiffin. If he can’t at least get the Tigers to the College Football Playoff in year one, then he failed massively.

Lane Kiffin is already shying away from expectations

While it seems like everyone in the national media rightfully has high expectations for Kiffin, he’s already trying his best to distance himself from those expectations.

“I think expectations can be really scary,” said Kiffin on Tuesday while meeting with reporters. “So, we don’t really look at it that way. We don’t have goals and say, ‘Okay, we need to have this many wins or [get to the] playoff.’ We don’t talk that way because that’s really outcome-based, not process-based. A lot of those things are determined by things out of your control. I was actually sitting there during an offensive meeting today and Charlie [Weis] was up here running, and I looked up there. I don’t know how good my math is, but in 18 years, only three times has this program been to New Year’s Six games. It kind of shocked me. Those are right up there. It’s a hard thing to do.”

Kiffin quit on his players at Ole Miss to take this job because he thinks he can win a championship more easily with the Tigers than he could with the Rebels. He can run from expectations all he wants, but they aren’t going anywhere — the pressure Kiffin is facing is there because he brought it on himself with the way he bolted on his players in Oxford.

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Zach Ragan