{"id":884506,"date":"2026-10-16T16:02:36","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T16:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/884506\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T16:02:36","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T16:02:36","slug":"lsu-football-adds-pink-locker-room-lane-kiffin-explains-lsu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/884506\/","title":{"rendered":"LSU football adds pink locker room, Lane Kiffin explains | LSU"},"content":{"rendered":"

A brush, two paint rollers<\/a> and a plastic Sherwin-Williams<\/a> bag sat in the middle of the floor.<\/p>\n

Non-adhesive masking paper protected the purple carpet from paint stains, and blue painter\u2019s tape held the beige paper in place. An unmistakable scent of fresh paint filled the air.<\/p>\n

The visiting locker room at Tiger Stadium \u2014 just days before LSU\u2019s<\/a> matchup against Mississippi State on Saturday (11 a.m., ESPN) \u2014 was undergoing a Barbie-styled makeover. Lane Kiffin was transforming these cramped quarters into a pink wonderland.<\/p>\n

The walls. The lockers. Everything but the bathroom, ceiling and floor was turning into Regina George\u2019s Wednesday outfit in the movie \u2018Mean Girls.\u2019<\/p>\n

Pink.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told you guys when I got here,\u201d Kiffin said in August. \u201cMy job is not for other schools, other people, media or any of that. My job is for the people that hired me, what they want me to do and the players in this room.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Mississippi State walks into the visiting locker room on Saturday, it\u2019ll be the first team to witness the entire dressing room doused in pink. The walls were painted pink before LSU\u2019s Week 4 matchup with Texas A&M, but this weekend the lockers themselves will wear the color for the first time.<\/p>\n

Kiffin isn\u2019t the first coach to use the pink visiting-locker-room trick. Iowa first came up with the idea in 1979, when then-coach Hayden Fry started a tradition that still stands today. Colorado State also colored its visiting locker room pink in the 1980s.<\/p>\n

Kiffin painted the visiting changing room in Oxford that color after reading what Iowa had done and learning from a study on how colors could affect the mind \u201cbefore a competitive match.\u201d He didn\u2019t specify which study he read, but the idea that color can affect a person\u2019s mood, behavior or physiology isn\u2019t far-fetched, at least according to Alaina Bruce, a licensed interior designer at Ritter Maher Architects.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can look at the tone of color and the intensity of color,\u201d Bruce said, \u201cand then when you put that into a built environment, which is what I do every day, then you really can control an emotional response. Which is crazy to think about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blues and greens, for example, are frequently used in healthcare buildings because they create calming atmospheres that correlate with nature. Food brands often use red in their logos, since studies show the color triggers hunger.<\/p>\n

\"NO.visitingpink.101726_2740<\/p>\n

Painting of the visitors locker room wraps up on Wednesday, October 14, 2026 in Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Staff photo by Michael Johnson<\/p>\n

STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON<\/p>\n

Bruce doesn\u2019t use pink often in her line of work, though she says it’s become trendy lately to paint certain spaces pink, like a reception room or bathroom. But since pink, depending on the shade, is typically a calming color, Bruce believes it could affect an athlete\u2019s aggression before a game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a science to back it up that (softer colors) lower blood pressure, heart rate, all of these things,\u201d Bruce said. \u201cAnd when you put this non-traditional color in a locker room or (use it in) a non-traditional application, the goal is to create an uncomfortable setting for the opposing team.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least one study also suggests Bruce\u2019s theory may be sound.<\/p>\n

In 1979, psychologist Alexander Schauss convinced the U.S. Naval Correctional Center in Seattle to paint one of its seclusion rooms pink in order to test whether a specific shade of the color \u2014 Baker-Miller Pink, named after the officers who allowed Schauss to conduct the study \u2014 could reduce aggression in inmates.<\/p>\n

After a 156-day period in which inmates\u2019 assault rates were tracked before and after they\u2019d been placed in the pink cell, Schauss found that their aggression was consistently reduced after spending time in the room.<\/p>\n

\u201cConfinees only required a maximum of 15 minutes of exposure (in the pink room) to ensure that the potential for violent or aggressive behavior had been reduced,\u201d Schauss wrote<\/a>. \u201cFurther, it was surprisingly discovered that the effects of color linger on for at least another 30 minutes after removal from the cell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schauss\u2019 findings gained popularity in Switzerland, where 30 jail cells \u2014 as of 2013<\/a> \u2014 had been painted pink to reduce inmates’ aggression. The country also has four police drunk tanks that are colored pink, specifically in the town of Bienne.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really seems to work,\u201d a police spokesperson told The Telegraph<\/a> in 2013. \u201cThey quieted down and go to sleep much more quickly in a pink room.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NO.visitingpink.101726_2758<\/p>\n

Painting of the visitors locker room wraps up on Wednesday, October 14, 2026 in Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Staff photo by Michael Johnson<\/p>\n

STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON<\/p>\n

Whether LSU can put its foes to sleep in its own pink room remains to be fully tested, but the football findings from this colorful experiment across the country are promising.<\/p>\n

LSU is 2-0 and outscoring opponents \u2014 Texas A&M and McNeese State \u2014 98-20 since implementing the pink visiting locker room. Ole Miss is 17-1 at home since the start of the 2024 season and has won 14 straight games in Oxford. Iowa\u2019s home record since 1979 is 207-89-3.<\/p>\n

Against LSU, Texas A&M missed 14 tackles, and McNeese State missed 14 more, according to Pro Football Focus. A reduced sense of aggression could have contributed to those mistakes, but not all Southeastern Conference coaches are convinced.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t know if it’s the color of the locker room,\u201d Ole Miss coach Pete Golding said, \u201cas it is; you\u2019ve got to go on the road, and you got to fight the crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides Golding, other SEC coaches also downplayed the potential adverse effects of getting ready for a game in a visiting locker room, regardless of its color. They said SEC changing rooms are typically nicer than those in lower-level conferences, and that other external factors like the crowd and travel make road games harder.<\/p>\n

Georgia coach Kirby Smart, when he was a Division II coach, rode an 18-hour bus to Arkadelphia, Arkansas, just to play in a stadium without a visiting locker room. \u201cWe just sat out on the field like high school teams,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Florida coach Jon Sumrall also wouldn\u2019t complain about the visiting locker-room amenities in the SEC.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as there’s a toilet in each one of them,\u201d Sumrall said, \u201cwe\u2019ve got a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NO.visitingpink.101726_2827<\/p>\n

Painting of the visitors locker room wraps up on Wednesday, October 14, 2026 in Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Staff photo by Michael Johnson<\/p>\n

STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON<\/p>\n

Coaches may be unsure how a visiting locker room affects their teams\u2019 road performance, but Golding appreciates Ole Miss’s pink locker room and acknowledges the studies suggesting that color affects mood.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was kind of like that when I got here,\u201d Golding said regarding the locker room, \u201cbut we’ll take any advantage we can get.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Kiffin, that\u2019s the name of the game: constantly searching for an advantage, any leg up on the competition. Whether it\u2019s trying to roster NFL rookies after they were cut in training camp, inviting the band to a preseason scrimmage to prepare for the home opener or painting the visiting locker room pink, LSU\u2019s new coach has stopped at nothing to gain an edge.<\/p>\n

Even if it\u2019s ripped straight from Elle Woods\u2019 closet in the film \u2018Legally Blonde.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we did it two years ago (at Ole Miss) and we never lost a home game, and we haven\u2019t lost a home game since,\u201d Kiffin said. \u201cMaybe it works.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A brush, two paint rollers and a plastic Sherwin-Williams bag sat in the middle of the floor. Non-adhesive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":884507,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,8803,398,396,397,99],"class_list":["post-884506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-football","tag-hardwall","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=884506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/884507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=884506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=884506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=884506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}