Lane Kiffin (Head football coach of the University of Tennessee)

As far as the deal with Oakland, Davis wouldn't let him hire his father to run the defense--perhaps the most innovative defensive coordinator in the NFL in the last 20 years! That is a joke. Apparently, the decision-making process there was worse than he could have imagined when he took the job. Despite how Davis spins it, he allows absolutely no outside input for coaching or personel decisions, every decision that Kiffin "made" was subject to final approval by Davis and there was no saying what Davis was going to do at any given moment in the draft or free-agent market and Kiffin had to deal with the consequences at a moments notice. He had no say on Russell--who looks terrible, no say on Walker, who looks to be plain crazy and no say on Hall, who Davis basically pronounced a bust in his press conference. That team was a mess when Kiffin got there and if you actually watch the games, the team is playing competetively after 1 year. If he had another year there, they would be contending for the playoffs. And the offense improved by over a touchdown a game since he arrived with very little talent upgrade, a shaky O-line and a rookie QB. He is clealry interested in working in college and the SEC. The guy could work wonders with the recruiting base in the South and could still reach into California to steal some talent away from USC.
 
can you imagine Lane as HC and his dad as DC? That's a dream, but if you're going to dream.....dream big.
 
Thats true about Saban, you can take Carroll as an example too, but they do have what you would call youthful energy. I think that can only promise success sustained over a longer period of time. I would say to be fair that taking Kiffin on as a coach would mean some growing pains in the game management aspect of the job.

PS-A friend of mine from MN and a 2000 UT grad was the Kiffin's neighbor when Monte was linebackers coach for the Vikings while Tony Dungy was D-coordinator and their families are still close so I am getting some of this info from him...anyway, he just let me know that Kiffin's God-father is one of the long-time strength coaches at UT. I'll check back for the name...but I think that might help him integrate quickly with the tradition and the program. Just a thought.




I'm not picking on your post here but I always get a kick out of how people talk about "young, energetic coaches" and Saban in the same thought process since he is about 57 years old.

I guess my point is a coach doesn't have to be "young and energetic" to bring new life back to the UT football program.
 
can you imagine Lane as HC and his dad as DC? That's a dream, but if you're going to dream.....dream big.

Honestly, if Lane has half of what his dad got.......Lets hire him now.

Don't toast me if this is wrong, but would the Tampa 2 scheme be excellent against the spread option?

This is from the wiki:

Monte Kiffin is the mastermind behind the Tampa 2 scheme, which is a slight modification of Tony Dungy's Cover 2. His defensive philosophy has several hallmarks.

  • Speed over size and strength. Coordinators that employ Kiffin-style defenses will often replace linebackers with safeties and linemen with linebackers in order to put more speed on the field, an approach known as spinning down. In particular, linebackers must be able to cover receivers; in the Tampa 2 scheme, one linebacker frequently drops back into pass protection, turning what looks like a Cover 2 defense into a Cover 3. Kiffin's defenses also employ large but quick defensive/nose tackles as run-stoppers.
  • Preventing scores over preventing yardage. A Kiffin coordinator doesn't care how many yards an offense gains, as long as the team doesn't score, an approach known as bend-but-don't-break.
  • Multiple defenses from one look. Kiffin-style defenses try to use the same personnel (or the same kind of personnel) at all times, so that the offense cannot adjust its play call based on the alignment of the defensive personnel.
  • Attacking and causing turnovers. Kiffin-style defenses focus on getting the ball away from the offense by stripping the ball away from the ball carrier or reading the quarterback to make an interception. The risk is that if the ball is not stripped or intercepted, then the ball carrier on offense has a better chance of gaining more yards or scoring; the reward is that the offensive drive is stopped without a score more often, frequently giving good field position.
 
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I want to make an "about-face" from my comments yesterday.

I still don't think that Kiffin has done anything as a coach, but after watching his interview on ESPN.....He is a CLASS man that will be successful in the future. I called a friend last night that works in the NFL. He said Kiffin is a solid NFL coach that would be a stud in college.

I would hope UT makes a call to him if anything happens to CPF. Kiffin impressed me with how he acted, dressed, and his honesty. You can just look/listen to someone and tell they will be a success.
 
Im liking the sound of that Defense more and more. That is what College football is turning into. How much speed you have, and a Faster Defense to stop your weapons on offense. If we could use a lot of SPEED (Florida) with Kiffins Defense, we could stop Florida for less than 30 points for a change, and maybe win a Championship....something Fulmer will never do here again.
 
Lane Kiffin could be the next big thing in college football. Obviously, we don't know for sure, but he is young, will bring tremendous energy and has a lot of experience for his age.

Somebody within the program needs to at least talk to this guy. Others need to be interviewed as well (except for current and past members of Fulmer's staff), but the ball needs to start rolling now.
 
My personal opinion...

Lane Kiffin would be perfect fit at Tennessee with what we have to work with.

1. He ran a pro team. We run a pro style offense.

2. He was the offensive coordinator and wide receiver coach for USC when they had QB's with big arms. We need a new wide receiver coach desperately, and we have an up and coming QB with a big arm.

3. He's young. "The SEC is no conference for old men"

4. He's already developed "Wild Hog" style plays of his own. The G-Gun fits perfectly with it.

5. He has a history of being an offensive guy, but his defenses stand out pretty well with the Tampa 2, which we could pull off with our current personnel.

6. He has MASSIVE connections on the west coast for recruiting. We need to get back in the groove of things in recruiting.

Seems to me like he would be a GREAT fit at Tennessee. Again, only my opinion though.
 
With USC's offensive talent (R. Bush, Leinart, etc.) it's easy to look like a coaching star.
 
@ 11:32pm Colin Cowherd started the Kiffin to Tennessee rumor on his show while engaged in a converstion with Chris Mortenson. GO BIG ORANGE!!!
 
I went to High School with Kiffin at Jefferson in Minnesota where he was 2 years ahead of me and I graduated from UT in 2001. The guy knows football, especially offense and he would institute his father's Tampa 2 pro-style defense, which was actually the start of the rift with Davis. He may come across a bit arrogant at times, but all good coaches do, think Saban or Richt. And its proven that the guy can recruit--he was the head recruiter at USC for 3 straight classes ranked #1 in the nation. I think this would be the best hire the University of Tennessee could make. The program is stale, Fulmer and his staff have gown old and Kiffin's youth, energy and confidence would actually play well with the recruits--and in my humble opinion, that is where UT has fundamentally lost ground on other SEC programs.

My man
 
VolsRule,
Keep in mind what you said about recruiting at USC. The team under Paul Hackett from 1998-2000 had a record of 19-18.

" By 2000, some observers surmised that USC football's days of national dominance were fading; the football team's record of 37–35 from 1996 to 2001 was their second-worst over any five-year span in history (only the mark of 29–29–2 from 1956–1961 was worse), and the period marked the first and only time USC had been out of the final top 20 teams for four straight years."

Kiffin started at USC in 2001 as a tight end coach and the team went 6-6. He was named one of the top 25 recruiters and even took players out of Florida to go to USC. Getting guys like Leinert and Bush was not easy when USC was a crappy team. The team had to get better to aquire these recruits. UCLA was a better team in the late 90's.
 
Butch Davis sucked in Cleveland
Pete Carrol sucked in New England
Bobby Petrino sucked in Atlanta
Steve Spurrier sucked in Washington D.C.
etc.

A lot of college coaches suck in the NFL. Idk a ton about Kiffin, but I've always like his dad and thought he was one of the best DC in the league.

Edit: Maybe I was too harsh on Carrol. He did not suck, but I wouldn't of called him good when he was with the pats.

Yea I can't believe why Alabama would hire Saban and USC would hire Carroll. What moron's.

beat me too it. Dennis Erickson hasnt worked out either.

Pete Carroll sucked in the pros but you see what happened when he came back to college.

Saban, Carroll, Spurrier

Nick Saban, Steve Spurrier, and Pete Carroll were failures in the NFL

Isnt that a higher pct than Saban @ Miami?

satan, had been HC at two major universities before running for the pro money... with a decent winning % at each school.

Thats true about Saban, you can take Carroll as an example too, but they do have what you would call youthful energy.

:banghead2:
 
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The just said on ESPN Outside the Lines that he has a lot of connections to Syracuse...the AD there use to work at USC when Kiffin did..plus Syracuse is Al Davis's old school...so they speculate he might take it if offered...just thought Id throw that out there
 
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