The Fine Line Between 'Wanting It Badly' And Being A 'Toxic Fanbase'

The back-and-forth race between LSU, Florida, and Ole Miss to win the services of head coach Lane Kiffin continues to be a tight one, but everyone is probably getting sick and tired of hearing about that.

Don't worry, this isn't another one of "those" types of articles, but it involves two of the teams currently in the running for Kiffin as their next head coach.

When Florida and LSU fired their respective coaches, the media narrative could not have been more disparate between the two programs.

On one hand, Gator fans were considered "toxic" by national media members like Tim Brando for wanting Billy Napier, a coach with a 22-23 record, out of Gainesville.

It's fine to hold the opinion that Florida Gator fans are a little spoiled.

Speaking for myself as a Florida fan, we can definitely seem impatient at times.

But what really bothers me is when those same people completely changed their stances after LSU fired a far more successful coach in Brian Kelly just a week later.

I fail to see how one fanbase can be considered "toxic" while the other "has every right to be pissed" and gets a fluffy video segment in their honor.

And he isn't the only one.

I get it, Brando is a Louisiana guy, and I'm not trying to pick on him either, because I've always liked him, but everyone seems to have this weird double standard towards LSU as well.

Florida fans have caught onto this act as well.

Here's the truth of the matter: both fanbases possess the same level of "toxicity," and they both have every right to.

LSU and Florida both have three national championships in the last 30 years, they both have three Heisman trophy winners in their school's history, and they both fired their most recent coach less than four years into each of their tenure because they weren't living up to a championship standard that had been set in the past.

They're more mirrors of each other than either would like to admit, but one gets treated with kid gloves while the other is painted as an unreasonable also-ran.

Why?

I said the same thing about Penn State when they fired James Franklin, and it applies to these two programs as well.

When you have a past history of winning championships, that should be the expectation.

Florida, LSU, and Penn State had every right to move on from their head coaches after it became painfully obvious they weren't going to bust through that championship ceiling.

And the fans had every right to be impatient in the process.

That's what "big boy" football is, and these coaches knew the game when they signed on the dotted line.

It's not "toxicity," it's a championship mentality.