Lane Kiffin's family tree has footballs hanging from most every branch. It remains to be seen if any family follows him to Knoxville.
The 33-year-old Kiffin is the son of Tampa Bay Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, the longest-tenured assistant coach in the NFL.
Kiffin's brother, Chris Kiffin, 26, is a graduate assistant at Nebraska.
Kiffin's wife, Layla, is the sister of South Carolina quarterback coach/recruiting coordinator David Reaves and the daughter of former Florida quarterback John Reaves.
Monte Kiffin, 68, is considered one of the top defensive minds in the NFL. He's been an NFL assistant for 26 years and is in his 13th season running Tampa Bay's defense.
He signed a contract in January for a reported $2 million per year with the Bucs. He's considered the most valuable member of coach Jon Gruden's staff because his defenses ranked in the top 10 of the NFL in 10 of the Kiffin's 12 previous seasons.
Monte Kiffin played at Nebraska from 1959-63. His only head-coaching turn was at North Carolina State from 1980-82. He's been in the NFL ever since.
Lane Kiffin was born in Minnesota in 1975 and graduated from Jefferson High School in Bloomington, Minn., in 1994. His father was on the Minnesota Vikings staff all but one year from 1986-94.
Chris Kiffin played defensive line at Colorado State and was a grad assistant at Ole Miss under Ed Orgeron before moving to Nebraska.
Chris was arrested in July of 2006 in the Tampa area on misdemeanor burglary charges for breaking into two vans.
Brother-in-law David Reaves has been at South Carolina since 2002. He was named recruiting coordinator in 2006 and quarterbacks coach in 2007.
Reaves played quarterback at Appalachian State. Columbia is his hometown.
Another brother-in-law, Stephen Reaves, played quarterback at Southern Miss.
John Reaves was a record-setting quarterback at Florida from 1969-71 under Doug Dickey, the former UT coach and athletic director.
Lane Kiffin comes to Tennessee with one piece of unfinished business with the Oakland Raiders, his most recent employer.
Kiffin was fired Sept. 30 by Raiders owner Al Davis. Davis stated the firing was "for cause" which meant the Raiders declined to pay about $2.6 million owed Kiffin on his contract.
Kiffin filed a grievance with the NFL in late October. Commissioner Roger Goodell is expected to rule on the case, but probably not until after the first of the year.
Kiffin and Davis were at odds by the end of Kiffin's first season, 2007. Kiffin reportedly wanted to replace defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, but Davis refused.
Davis drafted a letter of resignation for Kiffin in January, but Kiffin refused to sign, according to published reports.
The spat continued over the summer. Davis fired Kiffin four games into the season, then attacked Kiffin for being a "flat-out liar" and for criticizing players, assistant coaches and Davis in public.
It wasn't new ground for the Raiders. Davis fired Mike Shanahan in 1989 claiming "cause" and refused to pay off Shanahan's contract. Shanahan later won a grievance.
Kiffin's collegiate background includes time spent with two respected coaches.
When he was a backup quarterback at Fresno State from 1994-96, his position coach was Jeff Tedford, currently coach at California.
In 1999, Kiffin was a grad assistant at Colorado State. That's when he met Layla Reaves, who worked in Tampa Bay's special-events office.
In 2000, Kiffin was in charge of defensive quality control for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Pete Carroll hired him at Southern Cal in 2001 to coach tight ends.
Kiffin moved to wide receivers in 2002-03. In 2004 the title of passing-game coordinator was added. In 2005, he assumed the role of offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator.
In 2005 the Trojans led the nation in total offense and averaged 49.1 points a game. In 2006, a rebuilding year, they averaged 391 yards and 30.1 points.
At that point, the Raiders made Kiffin the youngest head coach of the modern NFL era at 31.
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Comments » 62
staf101#341843 writes:
The truth is that as a head coach he has won only 5 games in his life. The EVIL ONE = MIKE IS CRAZY!
eutefan writes:
But he's the best Tennessee can get. Let's play ball!
serenehunter#668900 writes:
Bad hire! other coaches will eat him up on the rcruiting front using his lousy resume against him to the hilt. Not to mention the fact that he doesn't know the area. What a stupid hire. Good thing is that this may finally get Mike"Play Money" Hamilton fired
jax3333 writes:
People with comments like the ones above are never satisified.
FeelVol writes:
Maybe Kiffin will do until Peyton comes home,its a crazy thought but I can't deny it.I do believe Lane Kiffin will bring an element we've been missing for a while.
bleedzorange writes:
Glad to see all this positive energy flowing. What the heck is the matter with some of you guys? We're getting a fresh start and so far we're undefeated for '09. If we've got the guy as all reports seem to agree, the very least you can do, if you're a REAL FAN, is to give him a chance. If I were a team member or recruit and read some of negative remarks you post, I would get away from Knoxville as fast as I could. Lighten up and show some enthusism for the Big Orange!
golfnut0517 writes:
Give Kiffin a chance, you Bozos cry if Fulmer is still coaching and you cry whoever Hamilton hires unless you think it is a good hire.Well the world doesnt revolve around just your opinions..............GET OVER IT GIVE HIM A CHANCE AND IN THE MEAN TIME GET A LIFE!!!!
kantanuuv writes:
You guys should get behind Coach Kiffin. He's already proven he can develop Raider-level talent.
HonoluluVol writes:
Don't cry and whine because your coach wasn't the one selected to coach the team. I also thought there were better qualified coaches, but he was on my short list. Mainly, of his youth, and what he could potentially bring to the table with Assistant coaches and recruiting. Just get on board and support OUR NEW COACH, or root for Carson Newman, Tusculum, ETSU, Vandy or any othe TN school of your chose.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
They are still clutching their charts and thinking of how to stay the course.
knoxvegas75 writes:
Good Hire!!!
Please dont bring Coach O though.
Dad, Brother, Brother-in-law fine but no coach o. His poor excuse for time at Ole Miss proves his lack of respect, talent and coaching ability. I don't want him to even wear an orange t-shirt let alone anything with a power T on. University of TN deserves a moraly respectful coaching staff and he would not fit.
Now to Kiflin. He hopefully will do great. I hope his connections to Caly are not dried up and that he can build a great foundation to build from. TO all the hters that use the 5 win excuse. HE WORKED FOR OAKLAND!!!!! They have the worst idiot of an owner in Al Davis. They have had like 30 (ok maybe not that much) coaches and all have quit or been fired because AL davius thinks it is still the 70's. I am glad we got him before any other school or NFL team.
PS> I Agree we need to support any coaching hire since we are fans and we are suppose to give people a chance.
GO BIG ORANGE.. (beat kentucky on sat)
smokyredbone writes:
Amen!!!!!!!!
hotrodvol writes:
An exciting time in TN.
Lets hope for the best asst. coaches, and salvage a good recruiting season. GO VOLS!!!
smokyredbone writes:
Coach O was not a good head coach,but D-line coach and recruiting coordinator he will be hard to beat. One of the best recruiters in all of college football!!
smokyredbone writes:
your an idiot! must be a bammer fan!!!!
knoxvegas75 writes:
true but he did have a few moral issues with dealing with players. I don't want someone who lies too and miss treats young players. We need a well respected program that anyone would be proud to play for. We have plenty of good people that will be able to recruit.
txvolsfan writes:
I will support the hire because it can be bad or good no one knows!!! The Good Bob Stoops, Mark Richt were both coordinators. The bad Mike Shula, Ron Zook!!!
I like the youth even with the lite resume!!! We need energy and this guy will be hell bent to prove Al Davis wrong and will recruit his ARSE off!!!
GO VOLS
GET A DAMN QUARTERBACK AND KICK BUTT!!!
dpbleedorange0011 writes:
bill battle (a bama boy)never could get rollin,johnny majors was railroaded,some say backstabbed by phil,but he got fired for going 9-2or10-1 every year(just couldnt beat bama).now 4 phil.i know a guy that is a friend of randy sanders & says that sanders claims his hands were tied(by fulmer).now it seams that clawson is hinting @ the same thing.also seems that when cutcliffe left for ole miss so did the discipline &when he came back so did the discipline but now lets look @ the other side.i know it's "what you done lately?",but if you hire anybody that hasnt won a national championship or 75% of his games then the few people on the list would be really old ,or dead,or havent hit thier wall yet.think joepa,bobby(bowden not knight,thats a whole other story),beamer,even arch nemesis spurrier.there are many more but im trying to prove a point.jerry green was fired,why i dont know.buzz i dont know, but pearl won his first year with buzz's players.dont get me wrong.i think pearl is unreal and i hope we never let him go, but we have people out there who think if we dont make tha ncaa tourney one year then bruce needs to go.hell,weve even got a few dumb----- out there that would have pat's head if she had a bad year.delmonico went to the college world series once every 4 or 5 years.was that enough?,evidently not.were any of these decisions right or wrong?i dont know,and niether do you.ive coched very competitive baseball for 26 years and think i know a little about it. iknow a little bit about basketball.what i know about basketball would be like a drop in a 2 liter bottle of pepsi.what i know about football would be like throwing that bottle in the ocean.what if every orange fan would admit that?what if every vol fan would just support the teams?what would that do for our image?what would that do for our recruiting?what would that have done for fulmer or majors or delmonico or buzz or jerry?lets let them coach.let them make the decisions,and show the world that we are the "orange nation",behind our coaches and kids,because thats what they are....our kids,no matter what.dont you think these kids being recruited would rather come to someplace they know they are loved and not blamed every time something goes bad.so if our new coach is kiffin lets get behind him,there are more people out there watching than just a bunch of spoiled fans that cant see the big picture.
TNPilgrim writes:
I also think they could have done better, but on the other hand Bob Stoops went to OK from a coordinator position - look what he's done. If he can bring his dad and some good assistants (NOT Coach O), he might do great things. The difference between Kiffen and Stoops or Richt is that they were experienced and proven coordinators. This guy was only a co-offensive coordinator at S.Cal. However, it's not like he coming into a situation where there's no talent on the team to deal with. Personally, I think it was a bad decision on his part to take the job with Oakland. Al Davis is a nut case, and he was getting into a no-win situation. Hopefully, things will be different here.
tngilmer writes:
I agree wholeheartedly with you. I hope he turns into a Stoops. I fear any coach who comes from the NFL, though. I just hope he does not become another Callaghan(?) and do to UT what he did to Nebraska.
CoffeeCup76 writes:
Al Davis shouldn't call anyone a liar. He's the one that says the Raiders are a vision of excellence. Now that's a lie.
WeLoveTennesseeVols writes:
That's right, play ball, get the recruits here, and look forward to next year. (And you betcha, who'll be in the stands rooting 'em on? Yep , oh yea, ole, Coach Phil Fulmer!!") The X Factor!
WeLoveTennesseeVols writes:
The "X" Factor, More Dangerous Dead than Alive!!! CPF
FWBVol writes:
We Tennessee fans want to think our football job is the best in the country, and it is one of the best. Some people get upset when coach X, Y or Z isn't wasn't mentioned for the job. They find fault with something about every coach...Kiffin is too young, Davis is too old, Leach is too strange (agree on that one) and then wonder why people don't see the Tennessee job as being as wonderful as we do.
Tennessee has had tremendous success with young coaches in the past, and I think we will have great success with Kiffin.
chrisw2967 writes:
I second that.
Give the man a chance.
chrisw2967 writes:
you missed your therapy session again didnt you.
the count down is on for you and fulmer , better double up on your meds
utclassof1992 writes:
Come on now, you know you will love you some Orgeron gettin his yaw-yaw on with the UT defense.
MidTennVol writes:
Congrats, Mike Hamilton, on uniting the Big Orange Nation with this hire. Your choice is certainly popular with the fans, eh?
Thank you for the completely inept and graceless way you've handled this coaching transition.
Thank you for bringing in a "project" coach to this program rather than a proven winner. Thank you for betting your career on Kiffin.
Thank you for disrespecting Coach Fulmer so much that you couldn't wait until the end of the season (Monday) to announce his firing.
Thank you for continuing to disrespect Coach Fulmer so much that you leaked this news about his replacement on the eve of his last game and "Philip Fulmer Day" at Neyland Stadium.
Your behavior over these past few weeks clearly indicate you are not a Tennessean, sir. You apparently have little respect for the history, traditions, character, and integrity of Tennessee football.
The way you have handled Coach Fulmer's exit will follow you the rest of your days.
hotrodvol writes:
Denmark, how do you know Hamilton leaked this? It's not like it was a insider trading, or watergate. There had to be at least ten people, if not more, that already knew. Maybe it was Haslem, or Petersen? Anyone that knew probably told someone and someone told someone else.
britt writes:
wonder if we could hire his dad as HC and let him bring Lane as OC? Dad is more experienced and respected
bigorangebolt writes:
The Vol Fans:
We must get behind Coach Kiffin! Yes, I agree Coach KIffin has:
No college head coaching experience
No SEC recruting experience
No record of anything in college football.
Coach Kiffin must open the offense up and bring back discipline!
I don't see a record of Coach Kiffine on either of these two
areas. I definitely agree Mike Hamilton has handled this coaching change very sloppy. Mike Hamilton's job should be on the line with the hiring of Coach Kiffin. I hope Mike Hamilton
knows somehting, which we don't know at the moment.
Go Vols!
DingoVol writes:
I was at a Gator/FSU party last night down here in Tallahassee. I can tell you from Die hard - Bull Gators that they are not excited about what we are about to assemble. They said they would have happily ponied up an extra million or so to keep Fulmer. They loved Fulmer being at UT. They are nervous right now. They are extremely scared of Coach O coming in from a recruiting standpoint. They said if Monte comes, we will be back way too soon for their liking. Just thought everyone would want to know that this is being viewed as a huge plus for UT among Gator fans that know the game. They were impressed that we took a young coach from outside the family.
tripper writes:
Denmark, the point is Coach Fulmer is NOT Tennessee football. You will never undersatnd this concept. Coach Fulmer has had the "privelge and honor" to serve Tennessee, not the other way around. The Tennessee football program will continue with or without him. Enjoy Coach Fulmer Day, enjoy the game and enjoy the press conference on Monday!!! The Tennessee football program is moving on. You can either get on board or stay behind and suck your thumb.
carsontwin writes:
I think Lane will be fine. He is going to organize this team and the best of the best will be on the field. He will recruit his butt off and get this team back like it is suppose to be. We were a power house years back and he will hopefully bring that back. Tennessee has everything to work with plus more and there is no reason why we shouldnt be in the top 10 every year. Lane, as a vols fan from virginia i got your back 100%. Go show them how you do it.
tripper writes:
dingo- I heading to the GA/Tech game and it is unaninous that this was the best hire UT could have made. GA recruiting borders have been shutdown over the past few years and these fans are worried that they are about to be pried open once again.
zqvol writes:
Kiffen needs a staff, not the family reunion.
As long as his dad (who is too old) doesn't come and Orgeron doesn't show up the Vols should be good.
carsontwin writes:
It will be a suprize who he will bring with him. whoever it is i hope they do well and not disappoint...like Clawful.
southernson writes:
THE NEW GENERATION VOL NATION , COME ON BOARD OR MOVE OUT OF THE WAY...
asleep#212036 writes:
NFL under Al Davis - completely irrelevant. More to the point is coaching under Pete Carroll, a proven winner with a proven system. Not saying he is,or will ever be, Pete Carroll but he knows a winning system and how to recruit. It's a good start. Go Vols!!!
cardinalvol writes:
Early on, I did not think Kiffin was the best choice, but now he deserves our support. Only time will tell if it was the right hire which is no different then if we would have hired another coach.
So, welcome on board Coach Kiffin, good luck and Go Vols!!!!!
jack_2222#231746 writes:
Pearl had a track record. Kiffin does not. Pearl was experienced. Kiffin is not. Pearl was hired after a thorough search. Kiffin was hired in a rush. Is Pearl's dad a coach with a big rep? Being recruiting coordinator at Southern Cal is like selling water in the desert, like being Tiger Woods' booking agent. What else has Kiffin done besides being his father's son?
What a s-t-r-e-c-t-h.
Colliervol writes:
Denmark, I've been a long time and stubborn supporter of Phil Fulmer but it's time to understand that this is not the University of Phil. Sooner or later, everybody's time passes.
Hamilton handled this mess about as good as could be expected. I've been a UT fan for over 40 years and an alumnus and I have no problem with the process. To me, it would have been more cruel to not announce it and let Fulmer twist in the wind for the rest of the season.
Last note. I don't believe Hamilton leaked it. Somebody else in the department or a booster did.
leedsvol2007 writes:
The fact is we will not know whether Kiffin is a great hire or bust for a couple of seasons.
First lets talk some facts. Those who wanted Gruden or Cowher were not realistic in their thinking. Cowher is being rumored as the next head coach for the Cowboys. The Cowboys are paying Jason Garret close to 4 millon dollars a year to be their offensive coordinator. Its rumored Cowher might be paid as much as 10 million to come back to pro football. Gruden is secure in Tampa and makes a ton of money. He can afford to fly to his home in Tennessee by private jet. So neither of those guys were ever coming.
Butch Davis has a great situation in NC he was always unlikely to come. That left essentially Kiffin, Kelly and Leach.
To me Kelly had the best resume, Leach had the most dynamic offensive system, and Kiffin had the best potential.
I would have chosen Kelly,but despite him being my first choice I think Kiffin as a hire is very good. He is bright, young, and can keep some of our better assistants along with bringing in guys he knows and wants to work with. Only time will tell if he is the right hire.
Tennessee has won as many or more games than any other program since 1926. The only coaches we hired with real head coaching experience over that time period were Bowden Wyatt and Johnny Majors.
General Neyland was an assistant at Army and then at Tennessee for one year prior to being named head coach. Bill Britton, John Barnhill, Jim McDonald, Doug Dickey, Bill Battle, and Phillip Fulmer all were assistant coaches without head coaching experience.
I personally think it was a mistake to force Fulmer's resignation. But the die has been cast. As a Tennessee alum I suggest if its Kiffin we get behind him because there is one thing we all want to see at Tennessee is to field a competitive football team with yearly contention for a championship game berth and more special years where an SEC/National Championship is within our grasp.
We can only get this done if we rally around Kiffin if he indeed has been hired.
GoVols!
joshuataber#650687 writes:
I am looking forward to seeing this new coach in action. I believe that he will do great in recruiting and let's give him a chance. All of you who are calling this a bad hire are probably the same ones who thought hiring Bruce Pearl was a bad hire. How's that working out for ya? Pete Carroll has been quoted as saying that Kiffin is ahead of his time, mature, and will be a great coach.
newtonrail writes:
Hamilton takes big gamble in choosing Kiffin as coach---He's a young coach who certainly benefited from his famous NFL dad. He's a good offensive mind, a former quarterback, with an NFL background, but no college head coaching experience. But enough about former Alabama coach Mike Shula. Quoted from beginning of today's Editorial in Chattanooga News Free Press by Darren Epps.
I am sick of this mess when we could have gotten Brian Kelly. We would have lost a weeks recruiting, and possibly more if he stayed up there through Bowl game. Although he could have held over one or more coaches, and covered most bases. But Mikey the liar has done the deed so I will be there cheering them on as I have since 1956. And I have to finish getting ready to go say farewell to backstabbing Coach Fulmer. Johnny won't forgive him, but I have. But Hammy, I'll never trust anything he says again. In addition to all these big things, he's promised to fix the towel dispenser in Section Q for 6 years. Not yet. I had a boss one time try to enforce a point to me in managing people: you don't always shoot for the coveys, you have hit the singles too. Now if you haven't quail hunted, you may not follow that, but Hammy spends almost all of his time with the big dogs or coveys. Singles add up.
sgtvols writes:
don't know of a single coach in the nation who did not start out as an assistant somewhere. i'm sure some people at oak. critized stoops. i have just called my bookie and placed a bet to win evry game next year. bet we win more than we lose, even with the talent we have.
Alwaysthinknnextyear writes:
Besides what anyone thinks no one else of any count would take the job after the program reached the point it is. Kiffen looked at it as a second chance and he will come in to prove all the doubters wrong including those on the "left" coast. From that respect he will bring energy and maximum effort. Fulmer=Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
Hamilton=Do something totally different and expecting a different result. Now which one is the most logical?
blitzshoot writes:
Welcome Kiff. Wish you the best.
volfan69 writes:
lane kiffen is an excellent choice to replace fulmer, to bad their are alot of fair weather fans out there, also known as band wagoners, that won't give him a chance just like al davis who hired kiffin as head coach and then wouldn't let him do the job, because al davis thinks that al davis should coach the raiders, just like all you fair weather fans think you should coach the vols. If the vols fail it is because of all you so called vol fans who helped fire one of the greatest coaches in college football, hopefully fulmer doesn't go to another sec team because it's already the toughest conf. to win in.
TNVols157 writes:
Moral issues! What about Fulmer? Some players should have been terminated because of off-field charges.He couldn't control his players.He made it seem to me that it was ok to have d.u.i's, drug posession, assuault, and need I go on... Some players had multiple charges. Seems to me that he had moral issues too. Or is that ok to do now and not a moral issue?
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