Lane Kiffin - Why?
I'm not an expert on coaching, but I am truly confused as to why Lane Kiffins name was thrown around for so many coaching jobs? And I'm also not quite understanding why big time program like tennessee hired this guy.
He has no experience as a college football head coach, his one job as head coach in the NFL turned sour and he got fired, yet for some reason this guy is coveted for a head coaching job.
What am I missing about this guy? What makes him so special?
November 30th, 2008 at 11:27 AM ^
USC
If you have that on your resume, then you carry weight with anyone. It's like being a Pats asst. in the NFL now.
November 30th, 2008 at 11:37 AM ^
And he has really purty hair. And nice teeth. And firm, squeezable buns.
November 30th, 2008 at 11:39 AM ^
Real answer? No idea. The USC stuff carries a lot of weight, just like working with Bill Belichick at New England or with Bill Walsh back in the day. How many people from those coaching trees have been successful would be an interesting case study for someone who has more time than I.
November 30th, 2008 at 11:39 AM ^
Yeah I believe he was assistant offensive coordinator with Sarkesian and also recruiting coordinator. Something like that.
November 30th, 2008 at 11:46 AM ^
KRK, I really need to start checking for your answers before I post my own. It's like we're from the Department of Redundancy Department. Only you forgot about the squeezable buns.
November 30th, 2008 at 12:09 PM ^
I wanted to leave something for you and I know how you love the buns. He's like a young, less angry Gruden. Which makes him a pussy in my book.
November 30th, 2008 at 11:57 AM ^
He was the OC at USC after Norm Chow left. While he was extremely successful as an OC, it isn't that hard with all of that ridiculous talent (Leinart, Bush, White, Mike Smith, Jarrett...).
As the Raider HC, he completely sucked (he won 5 games in 1+ years and was fired.)
I guess if he brings in his dad and some other NFL guys that the hire may be a good one, but I don't think he has recruiting ties in the South and he doesn't have the resume of Miles, Saban, Urban, Spurrier...
November 30th, 2008 at 12:11 PM ^
Rumor has it he is bringing in Orgeron to do recruiting and probably coach DL. That will be a huge help to recruiting since he has a ton of ties to the south. He almost got Joe McKnight to go to Ole Miss. Ole Fuckin' Miss!!!!!!!!
November 30th, 2008 at 12:19 PM ^
he is actually a pretty good football coach and a great offensive mind. he was a starting quarterback at fresno st for three years and his dad is a hell of a defensive coordinator...one of the best in the nfl. he wasnt given a fair chance at oakland b/c owner al davis is a senile old man who has made the oakland raiders the laughing stock of the afc. when its all said and done, lane kiffin will have a successful career at TENN....if his dad joins him as the defensive coordinator then he will win a national championship if not more
November 30th, 2008 at 1:28 PM ^
While al davis may be a senile control freak, the picture he painted of Kiffin was less than favorable. I doubt he made up the examples of Kiffin's lack of character.
Highly doubt he will win a NC, even if his dad joins him. His Dad can coach one side of the ball, but cannot do the HC job for him. The SEC is full of killer HC's. Lane Kiffin hasn't really proven anything.
Dumb hire, IMO.
My guess is that Kiffin interviews well. How else would a guy with this lack of credentials talk his way to the top of these major organizations?
November 30th, 2008 at 12:27 PM ^
He, along with Steve Sarkisian were also one of the main cogs of the USC offensive machine, not just Norm Chow as its widely believed. Kiffin and Sarkisian were the ones who came up with the "new" USC offense, Trojans ran Chow's "BYU offense" in 01 and had "spectacular" results. Carroll said no way, junked the BYU stuff and consulted with Alex Gibbs and Gruden. Chow was still the one that called the plays on game day but much of the preparation, tendency charting and game planning were on Kiffin's and Sarkisian's shoulders.
IT was also rumored that Ed Orgeron was also a part of the Kiffin deal, The Orge is a ruthless recruiting machine and a good D coach. Kiffin's O prowers and good enough recruiting connections make him a attractive choice.
Also, Lefty was supposed to have spent time with the USC coaching staff prior to the 06 season learning about passing schemes and formations, Carr was pulling a Carroll 02 and it almost worked!!
Here is the article talking up Kiffin, scroll to the mid part of the article where they talk about 01 and 02 seasons
http://www.trojanfootballanalysis.com/chow_file.html
November 30th, 2008 at 4:06 PM ^
After Norm Chow left NC State for USC, he apparently was pretty disgusted about what happened during the first couple of weeks in LA. He called back to Raleigh and talked to some of his offensive assistants and said, "They have no idea what they're doing."
That speaks to what Original C was saying. Obviously, they managed to get it worked out.
November 30th, 2008 at 12:47 PM ^
Monte is joining his son at Tennessee!!, we have to see if this indeed happens. Should be real interesting if it does though.....Carroll cut his teeth under Monte at Arkansas and Minnesota (NFL) and swears by the "4-3 under front" that Monte ran back in teh day (and still does i guess), Carroll is not that much of a cover-2 guy though.
November 30th, 2008 at 2:32 PM ^
Is a highly-regarded offensive mind and an elite recruiter. If you think coaching at USC is a piece of cake, check out their offensive ranks since he left - and that's with technically better recruits than when he coached there. He's very, very coveted in the college ranks. Ignore the Raiders stint.
November 30th, 2008 at 3:29 PM ^
Personally, I think Kiffin makes a lot of sense as a college head coach. He's supposed to be a great recruiter, he was apparently a big part of Southern Cal's success, and I'm not at all surprised that he was being considered for collegiate head coaching jobs.
However, he has no real track record as head coach. I think you can safely ignore his time at Oakland, because it's a pro team and because of interference from Al Davis. However, it's not clear to me that he really is head coach material. He might be the next Pete Carroll or the next Rick Neuheisel or Charlie Weis.