playMark SchlabachSep 17, 2026, 07:00 AM ETCloseSenior college football writer Author of seven books on college football Graduate of the University of GeorgiaMultiple AuthorsOpen Extended ReactionsBATON ROUGE, La. — As LSU and the SEC found themselves locked in an unprecedented game of legal chicken over coach Lane Kiffin’s plan to roster two former NFL players this season, Kiffin routinely reached out to his friend, attorney Tom Mars, for legal advice.When Mars urged Kiffin to back down, the LSU coach texted him screenshots of legal opinions from an unlikely source.ChatGPT.”Usually, when I would express an opinion about what LSU was doing, Lane would reply with a screenshot from ChatGPT that supported LSU’s position, which was almost always wrong,” Mars said. “Lane ignored most of my unsolicited advice, but I don’t think he’ll be using ChatGPT anymore for legal advice.”Even though former Ole Miss players Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris prevailed in Louisiana state court and obtained a preliminary injunction that prevented the SEC and NCAA from keeping them off the field this season, LSU ultimately chose to not add them to its roster.The SEC had threatened to impose stiff penalties to any school that rostered former NFL, NBA or WNBA players, including a fine that equaled 50% of the sport’s annual operating budget and a half-season suspension for the head coach.The SEC also filed a federal lawsuit against LSU in Alabama — on the same day commissioner Greg Sankey was testifying in state court in Baton Rouge — and later scheduled a vote of its member university presidents to consider booting the Tigers out of the league.If Kiffin hadn’t backed down, LSU might have been punished severely, perhaps even kicked out of the league, if the SEC prevailed in federal court or a state appeals court.”Eventually, I told him that a guy with a $91 million contract ought to have a top-notch lawyer on speed dial and not be using ChatGPT for legal advice,” Mars said.It was another bizarre turn of events in a legal showdown that pitted one of the most powerful conferences in college sports against one of its most storied and successful programs on the eve of the 2026 season.With dueling district attorneys, grandstanding politicians and a cast of characters as colorful as anything simmering in a Louisiana gumbo pot, the LSU-SEC faceoff was an unexpected plot twist even at a time when anything seems possible in college athletics.The fact that Kiffin, a polarizing head coach who seems to pitch a tent and build a campfire in the gray area of the NCAA rulebook, was at the center of the dispute made it even more dramatic.The drama goes from the courtroom to the football field Saturday night when Kiffin returns to Ole Miss, the school he left for LSU as the Rebels were preparing for last year’s College Football Playoff, in one of the most anticipated games of the season (7:30 p.m., ABC).”One reason I like Lane so much is that neither of us are risk averse, and we’re both willing to take chances others might not take,” Mars said. “But Lane takes it to the next level. Borrowing a line from ‘Star Trek,’ you might say Lane is willing to go where no man has gone before.”Mars has never represented Kiffin in a legal case.
In February, Mars helped Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss obtain an injunction from a state court judge in Mississippi, which allowed Chambliss to return to school for a sixth season.Mars describes Kiffin as “just different.””I think his IQ is probably off the charts, and head coaches have told me that Lane is a savant on game day with the ability to see things during games that no one else sees,” Mars said. “That said, I think most people would agree that Sunday through Friday is what makes Lane both interesting and newsworthy.”Take, for instance, Kiffin’s reaction to excerpts of John Talty’s book, “Lane Being Lane: The Story of Lane Kiffin, College Football’s Agent of Chaos,” that were released Sept. 2. An excerpt in Vanity Fair detailed the alleged off-field behavior that led former Alabama coach Nick Saban to fire Kiffin as the team’s offensive coordinator a week before the Crimson Tide played Clemson in the CFP National Championship in January 2017.”I can save you $33 and lots of reading time by summing up the book this way,” Kiffin wrote to Mars in a text message, which was shared with ESPN. “Old unnamed sources say Lane used to argue with Saban, drink alcohol and hang out with hot women.
New unnamed sources say Lane gets along with Saban, doesn’t drink alcohol, but still hangs out with hot women.”KIFFIN HAS BEEN public enemy No. 1 in Oxford, Mississippi, ever since he left for LSU two days after the Rebels’ 38-19 victory over rival Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl. Defensive coordinator Pete Golding was promoted to replace Kiffin, and Golding guided the Rebels to their first two CFP wins before falling to Miami 31-27 in the CFP semifinals.Kiffin’s return to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium and the showdown between his No. 7 Tigers and the No. 8 Rebels have been circled on the college football calendar ever since.”One thing no one has ever said about Lane Kiffin is that he can’t coach,” said political consultant and author James Carville, an LSU alumnus. “They went all-in on him; he better win.”Kiffin didn’t help matters this spring when he told Vanity Fair that some Black recruits wouldn’t sign with Ole Miss because of the school’s history of racial segregation. Kiffin said he doesn’t have those problems at LSU.
He later clarified his remarks.Trying to add Wright and Harris to his LSU roster was another instance in which Kiffin seemed to be trying to throw salt into Ole Miss’ wounds. He was again more than willing to be labeled the bad guy to get what he wanted.”I don’t worry too much about that [being a villain],” Kiffin said on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Aug. 25. “I think as you talk about villains, sometimes the difference between a hero and a villain isn’t very far apart, and it changes very often. I’ve heard Hulk Hogan before.
Villain, then a hero, then a villain, then a hero again, and then a villain. So, you know, it happens sometimes.”During the legal tug-of-war with the SEC, however, Kiffin seemed to be viewed as a villain to everyone outside of Louisiana for attempting to cross a line that had never been traversed before — bringing back players after they’d signed NFL contracts.”They’re not professional players,” Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said. “I mean, it’s ridiculous.”Landry argued that it wasn’t fair that Texas offensive lineman Cole Hutson is back on the Longhorns after he participated in minicamps with the Cleveland Browns and Dallas Cowboys (although he didn’t sign a pro contract).
Last season, Alabama’s basketball team had center Charles Bediako for five games after he played in the G League and signed multiple NBA contracts.”It’s hard to argue that LSU isn’t being unfairly targeted,” Landry said.Wright and Harris are two of more than 600 former student-athletes who are part of lawsuits seeking an extra year of eligibility in the wake of the NCAA’s new “five-for-five” rule. Wright, a tight end, signed with the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted free agent in April, then was claimed on waivers by the Browns, who cut him Aug. 23. Harris, a defensive tackle, signed with the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent and was waived Aug. 8.On Aug. 19, Louisiana state court Judge William Jorden granted a temporary restraining order to Wright, Harris and about 30 other athletes allowing them to return to college for one more season.The legal battle came to a head during a hearing in a Baton Rouge courtroom Sept. 3. The players were represented by Ryan Downton and Tony Clayton, the district attorney for Baton Rouge and two nearby parishes.
The SEC’s legal team included Jason Williams, a former Tulane football player and the current district attorney of Orleans Parish.Jorden’s courtroom gallery was packed with several dozen lawyers, reporter
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