ESPN’s Ryan Clark was deeply involved in Lane Kiffin’s LSU hiring

Although Lane Kiffin was announced as LSU football's new head coach a month ago, there’s still news about the situation emerging.

ESPN’s Ryan Clark made an appearance on the Club 520 podcast earlier this week, where he shared news of his involvement in Kiffin’s decision to leave Ole Miss for LSU.

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“Let’s just say I knew Lane was gonna be our head coach a long time before the rest of the world,” Clark said. “As soon as BK was fired, that was my pick. That was who I wanted, had conversations with people at the school who were going to be decision-makers. I would probably say once the process started, there wasn’t a day I don’t have a text with Lane Kiffin. I’ve got more group chats with Lane Kiffin than I do my real home boys.”

Although Kiffin was the name most closely linked to the LSU job from the moment Brian Kelly was fired earlier this season, Clark wasn’t just gathering information for ESPN. He’s an LSU alumnus, having played for the team from 1998 through 2001. He parlayed his impressive tenure as a Tiger into a 13-year NFL career that included a Pro Bowl selection and a Super Bowl victory.

Clark was either knowingly or unknowingly working with another former Tiger and ESPN employee, Nick Saban, to persuade Kiffin to take the job at LSU. Having these two names involved is admittedly a bit of a conflict of interest, given their roles at ESPN, but it’s also a positive sign that LSU hired the right man for the job.

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There’s still a while until next season, when it will be easier to see whether that’s actually the case, but it’s good to have things seemingly leaning in the right direction this early.

This article originally appeared on LSU Wire: ESPN’s Ryan Clark was deeply involved in Lane Kiffin’s LSU hiring