Haha, I agree with all 3 points. Lost in the media sniping between Kiffin and Urban Meyer was the fact that Kiffin brought the Vols back to a bowl game in his first season and recruited one of the best classes in the country. I know that he's a USC guy, but I just can't believe that he's willing to give that up so quickly. Sucks for Rocky Top. Especially because they missed out on being able to pursue Tommy Tuberville by just a couple of days. They probably need a big name to be able to salvage at least some of their recruits...maybe they can throw enough money at Jon Gruden to make him leave MNF.
For gods sake man, It was Oakland. Kiffin may have been a mediocre 7-6, but that includes a bowl game, and a winning record.. both things Tennessee didn't have the year before. He also did a heck of a job recruiting, and has done a heck of a job recruiting his entire collegiate career. He gave Tennessee a tremendous class last year, and was doing so again this year. Let's not forgot, he did sway recruits away from Urban Meyer. You're being ultra hard on a guy who can definitely thrive at USC. He's largely credited for bringing in the top talent during his last stint at USC, and he was extremely successful as the OC after Chow left. He's arrogant, sure, but I think you're heavily underestimating his ability.
there is nothing to indicate he is. sure, it is easy to say he didn't succeed at Oakland because it is Oakland, but Tom Cable won more games in a season with them than Kiffin, and nobody is claiming he is a great coach. and his one year at Tennessee he was barely above average, losing to UCLA and getting waxed in his Bowl Game. not sure how that translates to being a great coach. fact is, Kiffin's greatness as a coach is a marketing creation. everywhere he went the story around his hiring and employment has been greater than his success. In Oakland, it was the kid genius being hired as the youngest in the NFL. had he just failed and was fired like any normal coach, nobody would ever have thought twice about him again. but then Al Davis turned his firing into a story as well, only contributing to his legend, which was twisted in to him being a victim and his failure embellished as success because the team was competitive in their losses (so was Cable's teams, who also won more games yet he doesn't get the same treatment). his hiring at Tennessee was a repercussion of his treatment as a media darling, then he stayed in the spotlight with his mouth. no publicity is bad publicity, right? now his departure again is a big story. except those stories come without any tangible evidence of success as a coach. this was a great hire for USC. they needed a big hire, either by the credibility of the coach or the story surrounding it. USC got the latter. that should help with recruiting in the short term, but if he isn't any better as a coach at USC than he was anywhere else, that won't last long, especially if they end up on probation. but there is not one tangible bit of evidence that reveals he is great as a head coach. if you have some, I'm more than happy to change my POV. but Lane Kiffin has been blessed by great stories surrounding his coaching moves that have created a perception of him that he has yet to actually exemplify.
What matters is not your recruiting, but whether you can turn those good recruits into wins. Kiffin left before he accomplished anything, and making a bowl game is not an accomplishment unless it's a serious bowl. Charlie Weis took his team to two BCS bowls and they received bowl invitations in four out of five seasons. Kiffin took his team to the Chick Fil A Bowl, not exactly an accomplishment. Tennessee makes a bowl game basically every season. Just have to go .500 and you're a big name, someone will invite you. Kiffin's tenure in Tennessee was ultimately a huge failure, because his legacy there will be as a big mouth and a quitter. He left before he did shit, after all his braggadocio. Maybe he'll be successful at USC, a program he knows well. The facts are that he's failed in both of his head coaching jobs. Yeah, they missed a bowl game once. One year. And that led to Fulmer getting fired. If you look at the whole picture, though, Fulmer had many seasons that were more successful than Kiffin's one, and will go down as the better head coach as far as Tennessee goes. Going to a top program and getting to a bowl doesn't make you a hero, or even a success. Let him take a program Duke to a bowl game, and then we can start talking about how he's a success. And the talk about recruiting is irrelevant. You have to actually do something with the recruits. There have been coaches who brought in recruiting classes that were hailed as top 10 and then ended up having mediocre seasons and getting fired. He didn't turn the recruits into anything, and that's his own fault, for quitting on the program. Let him accomplish something as a head coach before I start singing his praises.
Lane is a douche but you nailed it on the head, hell of a recruiter and with Monte manning the DEF there will actually be a legit defense in the Pac-10 for once.
Pretty good summary. USC was put in a difficult position, and it wasn't a bad hire because of the success they had when he was there under Carroll. Gets you some form of continuity, makes for an easier transition, and creates a big story. I'm not convinced that they're going to be as good as they were under Carroll, but I'll have to wait and see like everyone else.
Kiffin "doesn't believe" Orgeron called UT recruits...congrats USC. Not only is Kiffin a blowhard but a terrible liar to boot. This is not going to end well for USC. I give it a year before the sh*t really hits the fan out West. And if Monte ever decides to retire and leave lil' Lane by his lonesome then it's going to get really bad, really fast for him.
he doesn't believe it because he knows it is just one more violation for the NCAA to consider. sorry, Lane, the rest of the world isn't as stupid as you need us to be so you can continue to do as you please thinking nobody notices. Orgeron admitted calling recruits. please tell us, Lane, why he would lie about that other than it only benefits you if he was. this is going to end very badly for USC.
Now they go and hire Dooley from La Tech. This is BS big time. The guy went 17-20 at La Tech and UT hires him..
I'm pretty sure any coach that took over Louisiana Tech would have a similar record. I mean they're a south east team that plays in a west coast conference. Their travelling expenses were ridiculous. Derek Dooley isn't as deserving as some coaches, but he's the son of a successful coach and he's a favorite of Nick Saban - he was a coordinator and great recruiter for Saban's very, very successful LSU team.
Yeah but Saban is at Bama, he supposedly put in a good word -- begs the question-------why would he want the Vols to have a good coach??
They don't want to play in the Sun Belt, which is a retarded excuse. Tech would dominate that conference.
