Former Oakland Raiders coach Lane Kiffin interviewed for Clemson's vacant coaching position last week, according to the State newspaper.
Kiffin has also been mentioned as a possible candidate to fill Tennessee's vacancy.
Last Friday, Kiffin met with Clemson athletics director Terry Don Phillips in Detroit, a source close to Kiffin confirmed to the newspaper.
Phillips then flew the next morning to attend the Tigers' 41-27 loss at Florida State.
Kiffin becomes the second known candidate to interview with Phillips, joining Oklahoma defensive coordinator Brent Venables, whom Phillips traveled to see Tuesday.
Kiffin, 33, was fired Sept. 30 because of his severed relationship with Raiders owner Al Davis.
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Comments » 88
SportsFan4248 writes:
How about his former boss at USC instead?
ccjackson40#254643 writes:
UT needs to get him in Knoxville for an interview. Young a great recruiter. Offensive mind. He can bring the kind of players in that UT needs to win championships not 8-4 or worse seasons.
blitzshoot writes:
Hire him Clemson.
WeLoveTennesseeVols writes:
How about us? Where will we be? Who will interview with us? Doesn't this supposed to happen to us?
blitzshoot writes:
Go answer the door. Plenty of folks interviewing. Dont you worry. Is the bulb dim this morning?
rusty_shackleford writes:
Saw this story on espn.com yesterday afternoon. Attaboy, tuscaloosa john, scooped by Chris Low yet again.
FLVol writes:
Kiffin is not the answer. He will struggle here. I firmly believe Will Muschamp is the guy. He will bring in Mike Bobo from Georgia to be his offensive coordinator and we'll have a couple of former Georgia guys running our program.
GoVol writes:
No, please take Fulmer Clemson. We want him out of the state, unless he goes to the pen for fraud!
rockytoptilidie writes:
I agree with the "Hire him, Clemson" remark. I don't want ol' Lame here, as I think he'd get killed in the SEC.
Of course, being 5-7 in the SEC is like going 11-1 in the ACC, so if he has success there, people will lose their mind.
I want a proven winner, someone that has done it at this level. Just because he can "recruit and is an offensive mind" (and who knows that for sure, he had a good boss at USC), doesn't mean he can keep these young men in line, develop them, and bring championships to Knoxville.
With the talent they had at USC, I'd sure like to think he would be able to score points, especially with their schedule.
GoVol writes:
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
yeavols#228407 writes:
Muschamp, Petersen, Leach in the running...
tennisvol writes:
When is ole Phil going for his interview?
dfreeman writes:
Hey idiot, he's gone let it go!
voloffaith writes:
Classless ungovol!!! Some of you just won't let it go. He will be gone as you've screamed for! Get over it and move on like the rest of us who wait to see who gets next.
Kiffin is known for helping Pete Carroll at USC with excellent talent to scheme with against paltry Pac 10 defenses. Better candidates are out there and Mike Hamilton knows he needs a knockout punch on this hire.
lorenzo_williams#459181 writes:
TENNESSEE NEEDS TO HIRE LANE KIFFIN!
hotrodvol writes:
He has proven nothing, let someone else take a chance on him. He could be a great headcoach, but not worth the risk.
SFOrange writes:
Is UT now lukewarm on Kiffin? He was "top 5" a week ago.
If Davis and Gruden are off the table, who IS interested in the Vols?
Wilhelm16 writes:
UT can't afford to wait to get that knockout punch. If you wait too long the opportunity may pass you by.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Inquiring minds want to know.
Some coaches are bowl bound so that will take a while.
New Tenn day starts dawning Nov 29th.
blitzshoot writes:
15 days....clap,clap,clap
cjraney writes:
Name one coach "that has done it at this level" that would leave his current job. If you've been successful in the SEC you're not looking at the UT job b/c you're already making millions at a big program or in the NFL.
shipperman#280095 writes:
At this point, I agree with you. We will have a new coach soon, Fulmer will be gone soon, It is time for all of us to let it rest and let the AD do his job.
cjraney writes:
Look where some successful coaches came from.
Meyer was a HC at small program. Richt was OC at ACC school. Fulmer was OC at UT. Miles was HC at mid-pack Big 12 school & never won his conf.
Croom was an NFL RB coach w/3yrs as OC w/Detroit in the past. Spurrier was HC at Duke before UF. Petrino got his start as Auburn OC, then L'ville HC.
Bob Stoops was DC at UF before Oklahoma HC. Butch Davis was DC of Dallas Cowboys before HC at Miami.
Muschamp was DC at Aub, now Texas, and next yr he'll be a HC. Kiffin was OC at USC before HC in NFL.
Successful new HC's usually come from 2 places: (1)an OC or DC position, or (2)HC of a small program. Good coaches succeed no matter what their last job was.
TommyJack writes:
Chris Mortensen, on the Animal, is REALLY big on Kiffin.
Wilhelm16 writes:
Exactly! Head Coaches have to come from somewhere. If all head coaches hired were former head coaches then every team would have an 80 some odd year old coach like Joe Pa and when they croaked no one would know what to do because there would be no head coaches. It would be worse than the pre-Y2K paranoia!
pdowned writes:
That may be the most nonsensical, dumbest, off-topic post I have ever seen on this board, and that is saying a lot.
mattlock writes:
Kiffin is out of work, most coaches actually working either don't have the time to interview or certainly aren't going to publicize the fact that they are interviewing while still in the middle of coaching their team.
TommyJack writes:
agree, on both points. Too bad there is no way to filter stupidity on here.
woodwr#217203 writes:
On the average, Promoted from OC seems to succeed better than promoted from DC. Head coach promoted from Head coach at Championship division or Division II does the best on average. Saban and Carrol are about the only back from Pro Football coaches to succeed, unless you count Charlie Weis.
If Defensive coordinators were good prospects, Kevin Steele is at Alabama, and recruited very well for them & for Florida State in the places UT needs to recruit at the level UT needs to recruit.
Kevin Steele will a need a better OC than Dave Clawson, but he has been around including Head Coach at dead end career ruining Baylor. He might know someone to OC.
Striker writes:
Hey (im being serious, not saracastic)
To the Kiffin lovers, what has he done, and why would we want him. I havent researched him on the web much, i just know that he was on the USC staff for a bit, and a poor NFL coach.
ncvol17 writes:
horrible thought...when they lose 2 games in a row...bloggers will write of a major conspiracy of UGA to sabotage UT from the inside...didn't they say that of Battle at the end?
thesavageorange writes:
That's my guy too.
TommyJack writes:
And Bobo would leave his alma mater for a lateral move to one of the enemies camp
rbromley7#241642 writes:
How sadistic to keep pourning salt into the Fulmer wound. Have you no decency. I should know better than to criticize the critics.
SemperVol writes:
Recruiting question:
I noticed we have 5* Bobby Massie on our list of OL. Also noticed he's on the Hargrave squad and he hasn't committed anywhere yet.
At 6'8, 335 pounds, the guys is a meat vessel. I noticed we haven't sent an offer. What do you think gives?
Alabama has and with that other 5-star mountain D.J. Fluker at the other tackle position...should they land both, I don't think anybody will be getting to any Alabama QB for the next four years.
utorange98#256803 writes:
Change your name to GoBAMA
sameolvolalum writes:
Kiffin would do better at Clemson where he wouldn't have to compete on the SEC's level. Chris Petersen has proven he can take a small program and make it a winner. He should be interviewed (if he hasn't already)by Hamilton. Mike Leach WILL be picked up by a big name/dollar athletic program because Texas Tech can't compete dollar/recruiting-wise with Texas, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma, and he knows he's a hot commodity. You can bet he's high on Hamilton's list. Either Chavis or Tech's Ruffin McNeil would do just fine as DC's. UT has the bucks but there are other programs with some big bucks, too. Auburn just might be a'lookin', so let's hope Kiffin and Clemson are a match.
Greg18 writes:
What about Sylvester Croom or Charlie strong?
Greg18 writes:
Oh, I also like Muschamp. UT should also look hard at successful young assistants who know the southeastern conference from a recruiting standpoint, and Muschamp does. He is currently in talent rich Texas. He coached under Saban and whatever you say about Saban, the guy can flat out coach and is worth every dime the Tide paid him.
I don't think Fulmer deserved being fired in mid-season so Hamilton had his reasons on the timing knowing we were likely going to sacrifice one of the best recruiting classes in years(if you believe in the ratings.) So he must have his man identified, and if he does not work out, Hamilton knows the next coach may be hired by a new AD.
cjraney writes:
He's likely a long shot but if he is chosen, its hard to imagine he wouldn't retain his good friend Chavis as our DC.
cjraney writes:
Agree on Muschamp. He knows what SEC caliber talent looks like. He also knows what it takes on D to stop SEC offenses.
http://3rdsaturdayinblogtober.wordpre...
cjraney writes:
Kiffin is #2 for me, behind Muschamp, but here's a couple things:
He was TE & then WR coach at USC from 2001-2005. In 2005 he became OC, became recruiting coordinator, and kept the WR duties.
That year the team broke most of the USC offensive records. THey had a 3000 yd passer, 2 1000 yd runners, and a 1000 yd receiver. Another receiver was just a few yds shy of 1000.
He is credited with expanding USC's recruiting to a more national presence from west coast based.
He became the youngest NFL coach at 31 and had a 5-15 record. The record isn't great but considering how terrible Oakland is and Al Davis' almost immediate vote of no confidence, most observers don't see it as a negative. The Raiders have gone downhill even more since Kiffin left.
Also, he is available right now and has more SEC ties than one would think.
RoyaltyVol writes:
Hopefully Clemson hires him so we won't be tempted to
NOLAvol writes:
NEED YOUR HELP!
Totally off subject, but my browser is cutting off the left side of each page, enough that I have nothing to click on to take me to the 2nd page of comments on any article.
Could some kind soul copy/paste HERE ... the URL for the 2nd comments page under "Coleman lights up UT's offense (in junior varsity game)" article?
From that I should be able to type in the correct URL for any subsequent "hot" article. Thanks GoVolsXtra.Community!
pastorlee#372395 writes:
The more I look at it, the more I like Brian Kelly. The guy has an impressive resume, (more so than Leach), and he is also known as a offensive-minded coach.
Goggle "Brian Kelly Football" and see for yourself.
Yeah, he broke all those records against D-II defenses, but he had D-II players on offense.
His offense is always in the top 25 in some statistical category, (86 places higher than Tennessee), and his defenses play aggressive and force lots of turnovers, so the guy can coach. Yes, he's been playing in the Big East, but once again, he has been using players that committed to play at the University of Cincinnati. Give me a break.
I would like to see what he could do against SEC defenses with SEC caliber players.
Give him a chance.
GoVol writes:
You're the idiot if you think he's gone...look who was on the sideline last week and for the next 2 games. Just because he isn't coming back next year doesn't mean he isn't still damaging the program.
blitzshoot writes:
Try these:
http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2008/n...
http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2008/n...
GoVol writes:
So I guess because of your fake screen name you're better than anyone else....and certainly have more class. Keep telling yourself that and maybe one day in could come true?
Suing Fulmer for fraud is exactly what needs to happen!
GoVol writes:
If I did change...it would be NoBama!
Fulmer has been awful for this program for the past 5 years and now all of the Fulmer lovers are crying. True VOL fans support the program - you might want to try it - or not?
volroadwarrior writes:
Your logic is flawed. The best coaching candidates are presently coaching their teams to post season games and could not make a commitment at this time. I had rather wait and have a chance to hire the good ones than hurry the process and get a lesser candidate. Be cool!!!
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