LSU Tigers head coach Lane Kiffin has given his stamp of approval to St. John’s college basketball head coach Rick Pitino’s philosophy on what stops people from being great.
In an interview with AJ Kings, Pitino opined that ego is the downfall of many and of their potential for greatness. Kiffin took to X to repost the clip from Pitino’s interview, with a “100” emoji commented on it.
“Ego stops greatness. I call it edging greatness out. Ego, in the spiritual sense, is edging God out. But edging greatness out, ego’s always… I’m not talking about confidence. You have to be a confident person,” Pitino said.
“But ego really gets you to, you think you’ve arrived, you think you know it all, you stop learning, you stop listening. Learning and listening are important for great leaders. Great leaders have to listen, and they have to continue to learn and surround themselves with people who are better than them,” he added.
Check out the clip and Pitino’s comments below.
Pitino certainly knows a thing or two about greatness. The 73-year-old holds a 912–317 career head coaching record at the collegiate level, which includes dozens of accolades, topped by two NCAA Division I tournament victories. He has been the head coach of the St. John’s Red Storm since March 2023.
Lane Kiffin Looks To Bring Greatness Back to the LSU Football Program
In December 2025, Kiffin inked a seven-year, $91 million contract with the Tigers to serve as the program’s next head coach. He was signed away from Ole Miss, where he went 55-19 as the program’s head coach, making him the third-winningest head coach in the program’s history.
He’s hoping to end the once-great program’s College Football Playoff tournament drought in 2026. The Tigers are certainly off to a great start after signing players such as offensive tackle Jordan Seaton from Colorado, quarterback Sam Leavitt from Arizona State, and defensive end Princewill Umanmielen, who is following his coach from Ole Miss.
With a top quarterback prospect in Leavitt, an anchor at left tackle to protect him in Seaton, and having brought over his defensive sack leader from the Rebels in 2025, the future is looking promising for a solid SEC run from Kiffin and the Tigers.
Of course, they’ll have some tough competition from fellow elite programs, such as the Texas Longhorns, Georgia Bulldogs, Alabama Crimson Tide, and more, all of which they’ll need to get by if they want to end their six-season playoff drought.
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