Another Sip Opinion- The REAL Reason Kiffin Left UT

[Alasippi]

Hey Tidefans

I think Kiffin's cocky self strutted into Knoxville, spouting off about other coaches, making bold predictions, thinking his young self could conquer the SEC and the world.

Then, after a totally humbling first season I think he saw the writing on the wall.

That as long as Florida is in the East and Bama is in the West, he was going to pretty much be viewed as an average coach in a great conference.

So USC calls. Why? I have no idea. But how could he pass it up?

He knows he can go out West and do an adequate job and be perceived as a good to great coach, because, with the talent base he has available, let's face it, he won't have to do very much coaching to appear in a BCS Bowl every year or so.

I think the challenge of actually having to BUILD or RE-BUILD a program in the SEC scared him away. He realized that he simply wasn't up to the task.

Was he going to out coach or out recruit Saban or Meyer? NO

Was he going to out coach or out recruit all the other coaches in the conference? NO

So he ran like a scared little blue tick hound puppy.

Ultimately he's where needs to be. Close to Hollywood and far away from reality.

Cause reality truly says..."This guy ain't really that good of a coach".

Admission is two cents.....drop it in the hat at the door...

SIP

 

[bamanut_aj]

u$c may have called him, but the rumor around K'town is that Papa Kiffin called Pete and told him to throw in a word for his boy.

Plus, in all honesty, I think he just wanted to be in L.A. at his 'home'. Nothing wrong with that. I mean, my God......you're in Knoxville and the u$c job opens up and gives you a chance to be higher profile, live in L.A. and be a rock star as the head coach of the highest profile team in America? Sure, maybe he got scared off, but I don't blame him for bolting.

Now, he did a poor job of bolting. No question.

 

[JeffAtlanta]

The bottom line is that the Southern Cal job is a big step up from the UT job.

This is especially true for a guy like Kiffen who considers LA home. It should have been clear that UT was only going to be a stepping stone for Kiffen.

People from LA tend to hate living in the south. While transplants from New York, New Jersey and the Mid-West really like Atlanta, those from LA or SF think it country and totally devoid of any culture.

Given that, just imagine how miserable he and his wife (who want to live like rock stars) must have been in Tennessee.

Anyway, unless a coach has strong ties to UT or the south, he is going to leave UT for Southern Cal.

 

[Alasippi]

u$c may have called him, but the rumor around K'town is that Papa Kiffin called Pete and told him to throw in a word for his boy.

Plus, in all honesty, I think he just wanted to be in L.A. at his 'home'. Nothing wrong with that.

If that was his goal...and "home is home"...he never should have made the commitment to UT. That simple.

I don't like UT at all, but he put the screws to their program big time.

sip

 

[BLAKE55]

So USC calls. Why? I have no idea. But how could he pass it up?

I don't agree with or quote Charles Barkley often...however, today on the Round Table on WJOX Barkley stated that it is obvious to him that Kiffin has pictures of someone important having relations with a monkey. I almost had a wreck laughing...and then I realized that he has a point.

I don't know who Kiffin has some bad pics of but I don't know of anyone else who has failed so much but has been rewarded with so much...The U.S. Congress excluded.

 

[Alasippi]

The bottom line is that the Southern Cal job is a big step up from the UT job.

This is especially true for a guy like Kiffen who considers LA home. It should have been clear that UT was only going to be a stepping stone for Kiffen.

People from LA tend to hate living in the south. While transplants from New York, New Jersey and the Mid-West really like Atlanta, those from LA or SF think it country and totally devoid of any culture.

Given that, just imagine how miserable he and his wife (who want to live like rock stars) must have been in Tennessee.

Anyway, unless a coach has strong ties to UT or the south, he is going to leave UT for Southern Cal.

I'll repeat....then he shouldn't have accepted the UT job. They expected a rebuilding plan. He did a below average job for one year, took all the assistants, cost them a a large part of their recruiting class....

I have a hard time believing that anyone can even think about siding with Kiffin here...

He is a total brat selfish scum bag who has made Al Davis look like the most prophetic and truthful man in the history of football.

Think about that.

sip

 

[CapitalTider]

Kiffin may have gotten scared facing competing in the SEC year in and year out, especially with the thought of his dad retiring in the near future. However, I don't think it was a great leap to assume that Kiffin viewed the UT job as a stepping stone and Hamilton should have seen that. Hamilton wanted a splashy name to mollify the fans who didn't like him running off Fulmer, Kiffin was the best he could do. I think Kiffin was U$C's Mike Shula, they are facing an NCAA investigation and had already been turned down by at least one former player, Lord knows how many behind the scenes, so in desperation they go for Kiffin, who they know won't turn down the job. U$C was trying to avoid the embarrassment of numerous rejections; just like UT is doing by offering the job to Cutcliffe. Of course UT already has a couple of public rejections.

 

[bamanut_aj]

I'll repeat....then he shouldn't have accepted the UT job. They expected a rebuilding plan. He did a below average job for one year, took all the assistants, cost them a a large part of their recruiting class....

I have a hard time believing that anyone can even think about siding with Kiffin here...

He is a total brat selfish scum bag who has made Al Davis look like the most prophetic and truthful man in the history of football.

Think about that.

sip

I don't disagree with any of what you're saying, except for the part of siding with Kiffin. I clearly stated that he bungled his departure. But again, who can blame him for leaving?

 

[miggy402]

I really think its much more simple than that. Kiffin came to UT cause that was the best paycheck he could find at the time. He left cause it was the EASY road. Anybody that buys in to the smoke he's blowin deserves what they get. He has no genuine feeling about anything. Heck, when his wife gets a few wrinkles he'll probably be lookin for an upgrade out there in hollywood.

 

[JAXFLBAMAFAN]

Kiffin may have gotten scared facing competing in the SEC year in and year out, especially with the thought of his dad retiring in the near future. However, I don't think it was a great leap to assume that Kiffin viewed the UT job as a stepping stone and Hamilton should have seen that. Hamilton wanted a splashy name to mollify the fans who didn't like him running off Fulmer, Kiffin was the best he could do. I think Kiffin was U$C's Mike Shula, they are facing an NCAA investigation and had already been turned down by at least one former player, Lord knows how many behind the scenes, so in desperation they go for Kiffin, who they know won't turn down the job. U$C was trying to avoid the embarrassment of numerous rejections; just like UT is doing by offering the job to Cutcliffe. Of course UT already has a couple of public rejections.

Now Cap..... Mike Shula DID NOT deserve that slap in the face. He never treated Bama like LK treated UT. Give CMS his due.

 

[JeffAtlanta]

I'll repeat....then he shouldn't have accepted the UT job. They expected a rebuilding plan.

Too bad for them. While you're busy crying them a river, I'll enjoy this for quite a while.

Look, according to the Vol boards, the UT administration always knew that Kiffen would bolt if the USC job was offered, but they just didn't think that it would become available this soon or that Kiffen would be the prime candidate.

Kiffen may be a tool, but in this case he did nothing wrong by taking the USC job.

 

[Hankster2]

Opinion - The reason USC hired Kiffin

IMHO - The bigger question isn't "why did Kiffin leave?". It seems there's no shortage of answers to that question: Going home, easier job, chance to "reset" the "production" clock, he's an apparatus associated with feminine hygiene, etc.

The real question is why did USC, who in theory could cherry pick a coach from all but a handful of programs, choose Kiffin?

Opinion: This is their Mike Shula hire.

Any experienced coach worth his salt would know that the USC job isn't all that prestigious once the NCAA shows up with the dump-truck full of sanctions. Any potential hire would want to thoroughly review the investigation to determine what may be coming down the pipe.

If scholarship restrictions are coming, no coach would want to be the guy at the helm as USC slipped into mediocrity. It's a career killer.

So you're USC and you know you have some really dirty laundry and you're no longer as pretty as you used to be. Now what do you do? You go out and find a stary-eyed alum who will stick with you through the bad times. If he has no ties to the school and has a decent resume, even if you can hire him now, there's a good chance he'll leave when the times get tough (Carroll, Franchione). Let's face it, if Kiffin left USC in the next few years it would be career suicide.

There aren't any championship-caliber coaches available right now anyway so this is the perfect scenario to take a risk on an up-and-comer. He'll see you through the rough patch and he'll either learn on the job or you cut him loose when your program is back on its feet and there's a REAL gem out there ripe for the plucking.

All this to say: The Kiffin hire may be a sign that USC believes they are going to get hit pretty hard in the next few months. 2010 USC might be the new 2003 Alabama.

 

[CaliforniaTide]

I think there is some truth to Sip's words, but we'll never know the real truth obviously. I think there was a similar thought that passed through Meyer's head as well when he went through his media circus - Tebow leaves, several coaches leave for other opportunities, however many number of his juniors that end up leaving - and he would have to rebuild (in a way) the team.

This is my take on the whole situation - I had previously felt that although transgressions may have taken place at USC, Carroll/USC wasn't going to get punished by a lot because they didn't know that it'd happened. But the continual actions of not talking at all to anyone by Carroll and Co. certainly makes it possible that something deeper was lurking. By Carroll leaving for Seattle suddenly, that makes me think two scenarios: 1) Carroll thinks USC is about to get hammered OR 2) Carroll didn't want to rebuild USC (in a way) like Meyer and Kiffin. Either scenario is definitely possible, and heck, I wouldn't be surprised if it's a combination of the two.

Having said all of that, I still can't (for the life of me) connect why USC hired Kiffin. On one hand, he can definitely be a better hire than the others being listed - he was a former USC coach under Carroll, he can recruit, and it is easier to maintain a position of dominance from Los Angeles than in the middle of the SEC. However, his repeated negligence for the NCAA rules would make me (if I was AD) very hesitant to hire the guy. But that's me, I'm not the one being paid the big bucks. I do know that a good number of USC fans did not want Garrett making the hire. Maybe Garrett is able to catch lightning in a bottle twice.

 

[Mav^]

Re: Opinion - The reason USC hired Kiffin

I believe that sanctions are coming to USC, but not really because they hired Kiffin, but moreso the fact that several coaches turned down the job. Sound familiar?

Also, let's give Mike Shula a break. He brought some balance and ease to the program when it needed it. Sure, he wasn't a very good disciplinarian at all, and was very hard-headed, but he showed a LOT more class than that complete waste of a man known as Lane Kiffin ever will.

 

[CaliforniaTide]

Re: Opinion - The reason USC hired Kiffin

I'd argue that their Shula hire was Paul Hackett, the coach that Pete Carroll succeeded, but I can see where you're coming from. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me that much.

 

[THE BAMA IRISHMAN]

Re: Opinion - The reason USC hired Kiffin

It is a cost savings move on the part of USC. He is currently a cheap date and USC is about to fall into probation. Pete Carroll knew the ax was about to swing and got out. Pete Carroll was making approximately 4.8 million dollars. Getting Kiffin-kins for less than half of that was a bargin. :BigA:

Note: Kiffin runs a system at UT that looked like USC.

 

[teamplayer]

Re: Opinion - The reason USC hired Kiffin

I believe that sanctions are coming to USC, but not really because they hired Kiffin, but moreso the fact that several coaches turned down the job. Sound familiar?

Also, let's give Mike Shula a break. He brought some balance and ease to the program when it needed it. Sure, he wasn't a very good disciplinarian at all, and was very hard-headed, but he showed a LOT more class than that complete waste of a man known as Lane Kiffin ever will.

I've always given Coach Sheila credit for running a clean program and displaying class. I don't think he would ever embarrass us off the field. I again applaud him for that, and I won't even say anything about the negative stuff. I thank him and will now move on.

 

[Relayer]

As aluded to above, Kiffin was out of work and he got an offer to make a couple of mil a year, so... "Tennessee, here I come...". He said what he needed to to get a check. I doubt he thought for one second that he would be there for very long.

USC, despite some trouble on the horizon (probably, not that much trouble, anyway), is always going to be a better job/program than UT. Additionally, there's tons of recruits right there and tons of celebrity adoration just waiting on a successful USC coach. Kiffin sees himself as way more Hollywood than hillbilly, so when USC (out of desperation) makes the call, he's out of there lickity-split! See ya, wouldn't wanta be ya!

Think wifey if happy with that decision? Oh, yeah.

 

[Padreruf]

I can understand why Kiffin took the job. I cannot understand why they offered him...unless there was a deal about the assistant coaches, etc. Or, this may be a Terry Bowden deal. CTB was not supposed to succeed; he was the sacrificial lamb and when he succeeded they had to figure out a way to get him out of there. He never fit the "Auburn" image, i.e., he wasn't CPD's boy. Time will tell -- but this is really ludicrous.

 

[AlexanderFan]

Re: Opinion - The reason USC hired Kiffin

But why hire the recruiting coordinator who orchestrated the Reggie Bush scheme that U$C is about to get punished for? Kitten and ogre were both there during the time in question and U$C hires them back? ***?
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