Below are some thoughts on Kiffin from a USC writer. It might seem kind of disjointed and random because he was answering questions from UT fans on another site I look at. It kind of answers some of the questions Kotite had about Sarkisian, lots of stuff about Kiffin, and some stuff on Monte and Orgeron.....
When Kiffin was at USC as the Co-offensive coordinator he and Steve Sarkisian ran the offense. Though Pete Carroll still had his hands in everything like he usually does. We always would try and find out who was running the show, but it appeared they each had duties. Kiffin would be up in the press box so I always thought of him as more of the real offensive coordinator and Sark was down on the field talking to the quarterbacks.
The practices are run by Carroll and they are competition based. There is a lot of 1's vs. 1's and a lot of contact and hitting. Players must compete for their spots according to Carroll's philosophy and it appears that Kiffin is going to do the same thing at Tennessee.
I think Kiffin was a no-nonsense kind of guy as a coach. Some of the USC fans got mad that a five-star recruit could end up in his dog house. Well the kid was a 6-0 receiver that ended up over 240 pounds and got lazy. I think some of the USC fans hated that a top recruit like this wasn't playing and they blamed Kiffin instead of saying the kid was out of shape and lazy and 5-stars or not, he shouldn't be playing.
He was a polarizing figure at times at USC. He had a dog house and some players worked their way in there. Some thought that he was making up for being young, trying to be tougher, but I think that is just the way he is. He proved he was a very good coach, great talent evaluator and worked his way up from a very young age.
Carroll really likes Kiffen. Some USC fans think Carroll promoted Kiffin because of the relationship Carroll has with Monte Kiffin. Couple that with Kiffin replacing a legend in Norm Chow and Lane had a tall order to fill. Trying to prove he earned his position and also trying to live up to the offensive standards set by Norm Chow.
Kiffin is a great recruiter. He will work hard to evaluate players and go after guys all over the country. He went to Florida and found Mike Williams, a guy UF and FSU wanted to make a TE. He brought him in as a receiver and Williams was kick ass in college.
He will get 4 and 5 star guys, but also find the 3 stars that have great upside.
I think Kiffin will be happy to stay at Tennessee and in the NCAA. People gave him grief about taking the Raiders job but in my opinion it was brilliant. They were 2-14 when he took over and he made them competitive. Everyone knows Al Davis is insane and no one expected anything out of Lane. If he loses, no big deal. If he wins, he is the 2nd coming.
He now has head coaching experience in the NFL and it opened up opportunities he never would have had as a college coordinator.
I feel the NFL move was for his career and he would rather end up in college.
I think he will come off as a strong disciplinarian, especially early. He can be abrasive at times and some USC fans didn't like that. But he was a great recruiter so you know he could still relate to players. He was also well liked by the players in Oakland, even though they made more money and were older than he was.
My biggest question is how he does relate to players as a head coach on a daily basis. His approach worked in the NFL but dealing with millionaires and college kids is very different. I think he will be fine but certainly I would keep my eye on this and see how the players react.
Kiffin served as the recruiting coordinator after Orgeron left for Ole Miss. Even before then he was known as a tough recruiter and helped bring in some big names from out of state like Mike Williams, Keith Rivers and Dwayne Jarrett. Carroll LOVES to go out and get the best recruits and compete for them. He wants to keep the top local kids home and if he goes out of state, his philosophy is that the kid must have 1st round NFL draft pick potential. He knows out of state is a lot harder, so he only goes after the best. That makes it tough on his coaches and there have been very many near misses over the years. But on several occasions they end up getting the best player out of states far from CA.
The competition thing I think Kiffin will bring from Carroll. When other media members come to USC and watch practice (Carroll has open practices so Kiffin might as well) they usually comment on a couple of things. First is the tempo, they practice at a fast pace, going from one station to the other. He tries to make the practices harder than games, but without running sprints or anything afterwards. Mostly the pace of using that 2 hours or whatever as efficiently as possible, with players always on the move. Second is how physical they can be and how often the 1st team goes against the 1st team. You have an All-American defensive end and an All-American left tackle, they will go at each other on a regular basis. He doesn't have them beat up on scout team guys.
Some USC fans don't like this because guys can get hurt, but that competition is part of Carroll's philosophy and it has worked well for him. I expect Kiffin to do the same.
I really believe he will do well. Even some of the USC fans that didn't like him think that his style will work well in the SEC.
He will make some mistakes for sure, but I think he will bring in talent and a great staff and get things turned around or at least going in the right direction quickly.
I liked with Kiffin did and I will be interested to see how it works in Tennessee. I for sure think it can work. The game I watched vs. Florida was frustrating at times. I think Kiffin will put in a passing game that will be tough to defend.
Everyone at USC LOVED Coach O. They would all love him to come back. If Tennessee gets him it would be a huge get in my opinion.
He was down at the Senior Bowl as well and DeSean Jackson was there with his family. Coach O recruited him and Jackson actually committed and then changed his him. Jackson and his family were so friendly to Coach O and you could tell as a recruit Coach O left a great impression on Jackson, even though he decided to go somewhere else.
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