Ole Miss Football Coach Lane Kiffin is a huge Taylor Swift fan
Taylor Swift‘s popularity in the football world strikes again, this time at the collegiate level.
Avenue Kiffinthe football coach of the University of Mississippi Rebels, is a dedicated Swiftie.
“She has a lot of great songs,” Kiffin, 48, said during a Friday, Dec. 29, performance press conference prior to Ole Miss’ performance in the Peach Bowl. “I just think [it’s] really great that she can connect with so many people.”
He added, gushing, “I often think that movies and songs are like this these days: How quickly can people pump them out and make money off of them? I feel like they take a lot of time, there’s a lot of meaning in them, and they can relate to a lot of people.”
During the pregame Peach Bowl press conference — the football championship game kicked off Saturday, Dec. 30 between Ole Miss and Pennsylvania State University — Kiffin was even asked to pick (and sing) his favorite song by the 34-year-old pop star.
“I don’t know if I can pick just one,” Kiffin added. “I can not sing. I won’t do that now either.”
Kiffin is far from the only football star to publicly announce his Swiftie status. In the NFL, including athletes Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, Jared Goff And Carl Nassib have all been vocal about enjoying Swift’s music.
Avenue Kiffin
Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)Swift, meanwhile, discovered a newfound appreciation for the sport when she formed a close relationship with the Kansas City Chiefs Travis Kelce earlier this year.
“Football is great, as it turns out,” Swift joked TIME in her Person of the Year profile, published earlier this month. “I’ve been missing something my whole life.”
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Swift has had Kelce, 34, since late July. They made their romance public in September when she went to her first Chiefs game. The Grammy winner was often a fixture at Kelce’s games, often bringing her friends and family members along to cheer on the Chiefs.
“Saying a relationship is public means I get to see him do what he loves, we stand up for each other, there are other people out there and we don’t care,” Swift added. TIME. “We’re just proud of each other.”
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While Swift was happy to cheer on Kelce and the Chiefs — dressed to the nines in spicy team gear — she also faced backlash from certain fans who criticized her for taking attention away from the field. When Swift attended the Chiefs’ away game in Boston earlier this month, she was met with boos from diehard New England Patriots fans.
“I will say this: They showed Taylor during the game, and you don’t see an entire home team fan base going crazy when someone wears the other team’s colors. It just shows you how amazing that girl is,” Kelce recalled on the Dec. 20 episode of his “New Heights” podcast. “They went crazy when they showed Taylor on screen. … I tried to keep it calm, I was like, ‘Don’t show your cards.’”