All week long, the writers at Crystal Ball Run have been tackling the interesting and controversial questions around college football, in a segment called Meeting of the Minds. They’ve discussed who’ll get back to the top first, Texas or Florida, debated the merits of Terrelle Pryor and the NFL’s supplemental draft, and even tackled what conference realignment may look like in 4-5 years.
But today they attack their toughest question yet: What to make of college football’s most controversial coach, Lane Kiffin.
Aaron Torres: It only seems appropriate that after a fun week of debate, we go out with a bit of a bang, so here goes:
Over the past 30 or so months in college football, there has been no lightning rod quite like Lane Kiffin. He set message boards ablaze within seconds of accepting the Tennessee job (of course famously promising to ‘Sing Rocky Top All Night Long After We Built Florida’), then burned bridges all across the Southeast on the recruiting trail in the waning months. Kiffin eventually accused Urban Meyer of a secondary violation with Nu’Keese Richardson (when there wasn’t one) and promised Alshon Jeffery that he’d be “pumping gas someday” if he went to South Carolina. After a 7-6 first year on Rocky Top, Kiffin exited the back-door to his self-proclaimed “dream job,” at USC, where he unknowingly walked into a bear trap of NCAA violations, bowl bans and scholarship reductions. USC went 8-5 in his first year on the Pacific Coast.
Now, to the question: When it comes to Lane Kiffin, there is no middle ground. As I mentioned before, he’s the lightning rod to end all lightning rods. You either think that:
A) He’s a daddy’s boy who rode Monte’s coattails to the top of the football world, using his last name to land an undeserved NFL gig, which in turn landed him an undeserved college gig, which led to another college gig 12 months later;
B) Or you think that Kiffin is actually quite a good coach, who took a messy situation at Tennessee and improved it by two wins, before going to USC and doing a commendable job under less than ideal circumstances.
Personally, I believe it’s the latter, and that because of all his shenanigans (and “shenanigans” is the only appropriate word) it takes away from the fact that Kiffin is actually a really coach. Tennessee was markedly better in their one year under him, Jonathan Crompton turned into an NFL quarterback under his tutelage, and the Vols were about 10 lbs. of Terrence Cody’s arm fat away from upsetting the eventual National Champion Alabama Crimson Tide on the road.
I’m riding with Kiffin.
But you?
Michael Felder: I’ll take Laner. He’s one of my guys. His game-plan for ‘Bama and Florida sold me that he knows what he’s doing. Sure they are moral victories that don’t count, but they do reveal that he’s got a vision and a plan.
Personally the outrage over him being a “Daddy’s boy” who benefited from nepotism does not sit right with me. For one, who cares? Secondly, schools aren’t in the business of handing over large sums of money for sucking, regardless of who your daddy happens to be. Ask Jeff Bowden how having a legend as a dad helped his suckitude out. Or Terry Bowden slogging it away at North Alabama. Sure your daddy might help get your foot in the door for an interview but it is on you to get the job and keep it.
With regards to the whole jerk-ish behavior, unless you’re a legitimate Tennessee fan, get over it. Spare me the “he’s a brat” rhetoric. Some of the same people who hate Lane Kiffin for being loud, boisterous and cocky at Tennessee will turn around and shout the “Mike Leach needs a job in college football.”
What matters to me is his recruits seem to like him and his players love him. The situation at Southern Cal is in no way ideal but he’s trying to mold this team, that’s largely built on finesse, into the smash mouth type of squad that he wants. I think he’ll be successful and I’ve got no shame in rooting for the kid to succeed.
Tom Perry: I guess I ride the fence with Kiffin.
There’s no question the last name has helped and he shot up the coaching ladder much faster than he would have on his own accord. And if you look at his two seasons in the college game, you can find a lot of positives with the way his teams played. But I give a lot of the credit to his great assistant coaches. What Lane is adept at doing is actually being the face of the program. He closes on recruits, is probably outstanding in front of the big donors and even does well with fellow coaches in the USC Athletic Department.
Michael’s point about the players loving him is fine, but WVU’s players loved Bill Stewart and he was a joke.
Kiffin may never live down his exit from Tennessee. It was hasty and uncomfortable. So the reputation will always be sullied.
Allen Kenney: I loved Lane Kiffin’s shtick when he first got to Tennessee. I loved that he went in and took a shot at King Urban right off the bat. I loved the way that he stayed under Meyer’s skin into the season. He did a great job injecting some life into a program in Knoxville that really needed it after the Fulmer malaise. I definitely don’t fault him for taking the USC job when he did.
As a coach on fall Saturdays? Meh.
Everything about Kiffin’s career as a head coach has been surrounded by such weird circumstances. Anyone who claims to have a good handle on his skills as a head coach needs to tap the breaks. I’ve seen just as many cases where his teams have played above their heads as below them.
I really don’t want to feel like I’m punting on this one, but until we can see what he does at a job for more than a year – no, the Raiders gig doesn’t really count – I’m not going to make a call either way.
(It would appear that you managed to find the one person without a strong opinion, Aaron.)
Aaron Torres: AK, I’m highly disappointed that I couldn’t get you a bit more riled up. This is very unlike you
As for everyone else’s points, a few things here. To Tom’s point on Kiffin’s assistants: Name me any head coach who doesn’t succeed without surrounding himself with great people. You can’t. It’s impossible. Nick Saban won a title with Jimbo Fisher as his offensive coordinator and Will Muschamp as his defensive coordinator. Urban Meyer was never the same after Dan Mullen left his side. Pete Carroll took a step back when Steve Sarkisian and Nick Holt left for Washington. Hell, forget Cam Newton. Does Gene Chizik win a title without Gus Malzahn? Every coach needs assistants and really, really good ones. (Well except Les Miles. Somehow he managed to win 11 games last year with Gary Crowton as his offensive coordinator!)
And I agree with Mike’s point too. I’ve never understood how the last name “Kiffin,” got Lane the Raiders job, the Tennessee job or any other job. Something that he did or said in the interview room must’ve made Pete Carroll take a chance on him, then bump Norm Chow out to give Lane the play-calling duties a few years later. Something must have impressed Al Davis (Ok, maybe not). Something must have impressed Mike Hamilton. Remember, after the Phil Fulmer years, Mike Hamilton’s job more or less rested on the Kiffin hire. You think he was taking a chance on someone who he didn’t feel was the best candidate because he had a familiar name? Let’s get real here.
Honestly, I believe Kiffin is one of the better young coaches in the game. He’s got a lot to learn, but at the same time, how many guys his age have had the chance to even be where he is? No he’s not Saban, Meyer or Carroll yet. But he’s all 10 years younger than any of them, and all things considering, I think he could’ve done a lot worse (in college anyway) given what he had to work with over the last two years.
Michael Felder: To Tom’s point about Bill Stewart I agree that Stewart’s guys loved him. His issue was the actual running of a program. You know, the whole coaching part.
Allen I think you can get a read on what he can do as a coach. Have there been moments where his teams have been outplayed? Sure. Were there instances such as Notre Dame last year or Virginia Tech 2009 where he was overmatched from a coaching stand point? Sure. I buy that it means you can’t tell what he is as a coach.
Getting outcoached by Brian Kelly, Frank Beamer, Jim Harbaugh or Chip Kelly doesn’t exactly spell “see he can’t coach” to me. Outcoached? Sure but in his 10 losses he’s lost to 3 schools; UCLA 2009, Washington and Oregon State 2010, that he shouldn’t have.
The other 7 losses?
#1 Florida, Auburn an 8-5 team with more in the tank for their first year coach, #1 Alabama, Ole Miss in their 9-4 Cotton Bowl year, #12 Virginia Tech, #4 Stanford, #3 Oregon and a Notre Dame that was hitting it’s stride late.
That’s not exactly a crap track record.
Allen Kenney: I don’t know – I just find the guy completely uninteresting at this point. He’s like Watch the Throne, in a way. I’ve heard more over-analyzing and nitpicking of that album than any in recent memory, and the reality is that it’s not some masterpiece or a bomb. The reason we’re talking about it so much is the flash and the hype surrounding it, and now everyone is looking for stuff to say because it is supposed to be this big deal.
Really, the amount of energy dedicated to talking about Kiffin – either condemning or defending him – far exceeds his true gravity on the college football scene.
Matt Yoder: Lane Kiffin is such a mystery to me. All I really know about him is that people from Tennessee hate his guts and would like to inflict terrible pain upon him… and he has a hot wife. Besides that, nothing too definitive either way in my book.
Aaron Torres: Clearly I didn’t hit on the right demographic with this question. We’ve got too many non-partisan people involved. If I had asked this question in a bar in Florida, Georgia or- dare I say- Tennessee- I would’ve gotten a much different, more hateful response than I am here.
Mike did a much better job of arguing my point with actual facts (who knew it was possible!), than I did. Basically I don’t put him in that top tier Saban-Chip-Stoops class, but probably right in the one below. He’s a well above average recruiter, an above average teacher (again, look at Crompton) and still figuring it out on game-day.
But to Allen’s point, the media has probably made him into more of a caricature than anything else at this point. I wonder how much of the disinterest comes from the fact that he had an average season in the Pac-10 last year, as opposed to the SEC?
Michael Felder: Average season? Sure. But he also hasn’t done anything wrong at Southern Cal. Everyone still has a hard-on for things he did while leaving Tennessee. Outside of UCLA, Notre Dame and maybe Oregon or Stanford folks no one has heard a peep out of Kiffin in a negative fashion.
Like I said, let it go people, he’s a young coach who is starting to come into his own and has shown flashes of how good he can be.
Aaron Torres: Michael, you know what I meant when I said, “average,” season. By USC’s unfair standards, 8-5 is average. Of course just as easily as they were 8-5, they could’ve beaten Notre Dame if Matt Barkley were healthy, and with a few breaks, Stanford and Washington too. Just as easily as they were 8-5, they could’ve been 10-3 (Then again, I suppose you could say that with close wins over Arizona State, Arizona and Virginia, they could’ve been 6-7 as well.)
The point that I will close with is what Mike said: At his age, Kiffin has all the peripheral stuff down. He’s an ace recruiter, is smart enough to bring in good coaches around him and knows the game of football. He’s figuring things out on the sidelines, which is something that no one has a full grasp of in their mid ‘30’s.
Is he a finished product? Nope.
But do I believe USC’s program is in fine hands, I’d say so.
Agree with what the guys said? Disagree? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below, or hit the boys of Crystal Ball Run up on Twitter @CrystalBallRun
