WitheringPlant
Seasoned Veteran
- Joined
- May 15, 2005
- Messages
- 1,136
- Reaction score
- 3
I agree the system sucks. The players are getting screwed and the school is left scrambling. You can't put that all on Kiffin shoulders though. The job came up when it did. Like Carroll said, there never is a good time.Going to USC is the easy way out. Once he became Tennessee's coach, he dedicated himself to the program. He took a lot of high profiled recruits with him to Tennessee, and people believed in him at Tennessee. To leave all the guys you recruited out to dry, and take your DC, really does leave Tennessee out to dry.
I never stated anywhere that it wasn't the smart move for him. I think it worsens his overall reputation, and shows that he really is a punk that will jump at the first chance he can to another job. Building a contender at Tennessee would've taken a few years, but if he could do that, it would've shown that he really is a very good coach in college football.
Going to USC, and taking one of the best DC's, OC's, and recruiters in college football along with you is a punk move because it really doesn't establish anything for you as a coach. He's going to a program that basically recruits itself. He took a bunch of guys around him that could be head coaches in their own right. Outside of the possible sanctions, he probably put himself in the safest spot possible, but he did it at the expense of the Tennessee Volunteers program. What he did wasn't right, the school dedicated themselves to him, most of his recruits will probably transfer, and it may lead that football program into a dead hole for a few years. Lane Kiffen always has and always be as big of a ***** as Nick Saban, the only difference is Saban is 100X the coach Kiffen is.
I don't see this as a punk move to run away from a challenge. Call me naive, but I believe Kiffin when says this is the only job he would have left for. This isn't Kiffin moving to Alabama or Florida just because they're already set for championships. This is Kiffin returning back to the school that brought him up and first gave him a shot on a big stage. Every coach, especially in college, has their dream job. This was Kiffin's. I can't blame him for taking it.