As Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) went through negotiations about a Senate bill related to college sports, the “Lane Kiffin Rule” became part of the final text. The provision would prohibit teams from hiring coaches until after their respective seasons.
While Kiffin’s name does not directly appear in the 111-page bill, titled the Protect College Sports Act, Cruz confirmed his departure from Ole Miss from LSU before last year’s College Football Playoff led to the provision. It also draws inspiration from the NFL’s rule on coaching hires.
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“It is absolutely the Lane Kiffin provision,” Cruz said on Andy & Ari On3. “That is how we envisioned it and that’s what we drafted. It says that a university cannot recruit or hire a head coach or an offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, while the season is happening or during the playoffs.”
When it comes to enforcement, Cruz said it’s about giving the authority to prevent schools from hiring coaches before the offseason. He also said coaching changes before season’s end should not happen, considering it doesn’t in the pros.
“I think what happened with Lane Kiffin was really unfair to the student-athletes,” Cruz said. “It’s not fair, if you’re playing, to suddenly have your coach leave in the middle of the season as you’re going into the playoffs and have your coach go to a competitor. I just think that’s bad for the system.
“It’s enforced by giving enforcement authority to prevent any other school from hiring them or bringing them on board. By the way, you can still compete for coaches. Just don’t do it in the middle of the season and screw up the season for the student-athletes and for the fans.”
How ‘Lane Kiffin Rule’ would fit in calendar
The “Lane Kiffin Rule” also came up during discussions about the SCORE Act, which publicly collapsed last week and was once again pulled from the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. It was the included in the Senate’s bipartisan bill, which is drawing attention from across the college sports world.
Of course, the current calendar creates questions about how the provision would apply. After the 2025 college football season, the transfer portal opened Jan. 2 – the same day 16 teams played their bowl games. Four programs were also left standing in the CFP competing for a national championship, but had their own window to enter the portal if they played beyond the two-week slot.
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When asked about how the bill would apply to the calendar, Sen. Ted Cruz said the carousel would become part of the offseason. He pointed to the NFL’s approach to barring interviews until teams are done competing.
“The way we set it up is that you can’t hire or recruit during the season or until the end of the playoffs,” Cruz said. “So you’ve got the whole window of the offseason, and that’s the way the NFL works right now.
“The NFL is the most successful sports business in the world, so I think if it works for the NFL, it would work just fine in college and there’d be plenty of time to recruit coaching talent in the offseason.”
