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Tuesday Question: One of Allegiance

A new head football coach has a lot on his hands in his first year on the job.

NCAA Football: Western Kentucky at Florida Atlantic Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

When a new head football coach gets a job, what he does in his first season often shapes what his entire tenure will look like.

After all, he’s usually inheriting a depleted roster and supplementing that with a transition class that leaves a lot to be desired. Most fans are usually jubilant, but many wish their school had hired the other guy.

He has to scramble to find assistants and make inroads with high schoolers who weren’t considering his previous school. On top of that, there’s all the administrative side that fans don’t really see. The coach has to get used to a new system at a new school. Where is his office? Where does he live? What does he eat?

So then he blinks, and it’s his first season. He’s trying to fit the last coach’s roster into what he wants to do. Sometimes it works immediately, and sometimes it doesn’t.

Sometimes the honeymoon period for a new coach doesn’t make it through the first few weeks, but Ole Miss fans are hopeful the excitement around first year coach Lane Kiffin carries over well into the fall.

So the question is...

“What does Lane Kiffin have to accomplish in year one to ensure he maintains fan buy-in?”