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In response to
"Can you give a quick summary of why this whole UT/USC thing is so amusing?"
by
JaxSean
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He's a polarizing figure.
Posted by
David (aka David)
Jan 13 '10, 00:48
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He was the youngest head coach in NFL history when Al Davis hired him. After one season, Davis wanted him gone, but didn't want to pay him, which would happen for a termination. Kiffin refused to quit and the result was a first month of limbo before Davis finally fired him for cause, holding a rambling press conference wherein he repeatedly called Kiffin a liar.
Once he got here, Kiffin took on the SEC establishment as much as possible. He hired assistant coaches from South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama, taking less money for himself in order to create a dream staff. All of them are notoriously great recruiters, especially Ed Orgeron. Kiffin and him had been running the show during the glory era of USC, which was also the time the NCAA is about to bust them on over recruiting violations.
I'll let ESPN describe the Kiffin timeline as UT's coach:
Tennessee Timeline, 2009
Feb. 5: Kiffin forced by SEC to apologize for accusing Florida head coach Urban Meyer of recruiting violations.
Sep. 19: Loses 23-13 to No.1 Florida. Tennessee was a 30-point underdog because Vegas thought Meyer would pound Kiffin for his disrespect.
Oct. 24: Loses 12-10 to Alabama as Terrence Cody blocks potential game-winning field goal on final play. (Alabama's closest game of season.)
Oct. 26:: The SEC reprimands Kiffin for criticizing officials who worked the Volunteers' game against Alabama.
Oct. 31: Defeats South Carolina 31-13 in blackout game (Tennessee unveils black jerseys).
Nov. 12: Three freshmen involved in robbery (two were later kicked off the team).
Dec. 31: Loses 37-14 to Virginia Tech in Chick-fil-A Bowl.
Jan. 12, 2010: Becomes USC head coach.
Kiffin also leaves behind some unfinished business: Tennessee faces at least two more recruiting violations as the NCAA continues an ongoing inquiry into infractions, such the possible misuse of recruiting hostesses and impermissible visits.
In short, his tenure here was impressively turbulent, going the program massive media attention, for better and for worse. As a head coach, he had run an unusually clean program relative to SEC standards right up to the out-of-nowhere robbery at gunpoint. The composite grades of the players went up almost half a point as well. So, he preaches and receives discipline. Plus, he turned some underachieving players into legit NFL prospects, a couple of them moving from undrafted prior to the season into potential first rounders now.
It was a full 14 months he had at UT. I think USC got a great head coach, assuming he doesn't implode...something that can't be ruled out as a possibility.
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