Kiffins' flight to Florida, sales pitch able to seal deal for Orgeron

A plane trip to Florida. A surprise visit by a pair of Tennessee coaches. And a deal-sealing conversation in the living room.

Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin and his father, UT defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, did it all on Wednesday.

Even during the NCAA's dead period for recruiting, the Kiffins still found a way to sway one of their most prized prospects - Ed Orgeron.

Gathered with his family in Destin, Fla., the former Ole Miss coach sat down to choose among his top three suitors: Tennessee, LSU or a return to the New Orleans Saints, where Orgeron spent 2008 coaching the defensive line.

Soon, though, Orgeron's wife informed him of a call from Lane Kiffin asking for the address where the Orgerons were staying.

"I said, 'They're coming. I'm telling you, they're on the plane. I know this guy,' " said Orgeron, who coached with the younger Kiffin at Southern California and hired Lane's brother, Chris Kiffin, as a graduate assistant at Ole Miss.

Sure enough, the Kiffins knocked on the door and delivered their pitch - and likely a sweetened financial package - that pushed Rocky Top over the top.

"I was really leaning towards coming to Tennessee the whole time, but when him and Monte showed up at my doorstep, it just sewed the whole thing up," Orgeron said Friday after being announced as UT's assistant head coach, recruiting coordinator and defensive line coach. "It just goes to show you. He'll talk about my recruiting. He's a fantastic recruiter himself."

It wasn't long ago that Monte Kiffin was being recruited.

Despite a genetic connection to UT's new head coach, the 68-year-old Kiffin still took a little selling.

Since 1983 - when he chose a job with the Green Bay Packers over an offer from former UT coach Johnny Majors to run the Vols defense - Monte Kiffin has been in the NFL. His "Tampa 2" defense became a football standard, and he'd been with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers since 1996.

The Kiffins never really discussed coaching together until Lane became the Oakland Raiders coach in 2007. But that situation, as has been well documented, wasn't a good fit for the elder Kiffin.

Neither was the University of Minnesota, where Lane interviewed following the 2007 season or with the University of Washington, where Lane interviewed in November.

The chances of his father joining him were almost nil at either of those two jobs.

"It had a lot to do with the University of Tennessee," Monte Kiffin said Friday. "But I also base that on the fact that I really believe Lane could do it. It's not just the son-father thing why I'm here... I didn't come to Tennessee to lose. That doesn't mean we're going to go undefeated next year, I know that."

But Monte Kiffin also knew the subtext of the conversation each time his son would call, telling him how "you won't believe this or that" about Tennessee.

"It's just every day he would call," Monte Kiffin said. "It's kind of like recruiting. I was kind of back and forth. He recruited hard."

After swaying his father, Lane Kiffin found a way to land another coach vital to his plans for Tennessee.

"Ed was a big hire, now," Monte Kiffin said. "At one time, he was going to go back to the Saints. LSU made a big, big push. You're probably going to hear in the next few days the push that they made."

Reports out of Orgeron's native Louisiana had that push valued at more than $500,000 a year and a similar title.

Still, when Orgeron sat down to make a list of each destination's positives and negatives - the same way he tells recruits to make their decisions - Tennessee and the Kiffins won out.

"UT came out plus-17," Orgeron said, "just to let you guys know."

Drew Edwards covers University of Tennessee football. He may be reached at 865-342-6274.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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