Q&A: Kiffin on getting job done, players' accountability

Since being introduced as Tennessee’s football coach on Dec. 1, Lane Kiffin has been a busy man. He’s hired a staff, been on the road recruiting and spent time in California for the birth of his third child.

On Friday, Kiffin met individually with several members of the media. Here’s what he had to say the New Sentinel:

Q: This must have been a wild couple months, just looking at all the things that have happened since you met with Mike Hamilton in November. What has this month and a half, two-month period been like for you?

A: "It's been a great experience for us because I think that we're a lot better than we were two months ago, however many days it's been since we got the job. It's been a long process to put this staff together and at the same time trying to build a recruiting class that we were obviously miles behind on. Did it put us in a more difficult situation by waiting so long to get a staff? Sure it did. But for the long run, I think as everybody sees now, this is a tremendous staff, recruiting and coach. So to be able to put it together and to try to, even though at one point, there was just three or four guys here, and we're trying to hold down the whole country of some of the recruits that we have, trying to find new ones trying to find guys that fit our system. There's been a lot of work, and I'm really proud of our guys that were here early. And our new guys have come right in. Haven't slept yet."

Q: Anything that's surprised you so far in this process? What's been maybe the biggest surprise for you so far in that process?

A: "I wouldn't say it's a total surprise, but the reception of wearing the shirt. You know, wearing the shirt and going into schools. I figured what it'd be like in Tennessee, but around the country and how many kids, and how many young kids and parents and people around the school have such great memories of Tennessee. I believe five of the last 11 SEC championships Tennessee's been in. There's a lot of good memories about Tennessee, so it doesn't take long to spark them back up. We just had to get out and get to the right places and get to the right kids and parents. The reception has been great, and the mindset of Tennessee football, it's one of the best five programs in America, and there's a lot of people that feel that way."

Q: How have you grown most as a head coach since you started?

A: "I think the communication process with other coaches, with players is where you improve. The X and O background has been ever since I remember trying to learn as much as I can from as many people as I can, football wise. To have a background on offense and defense both, being around defense with my father and then also coaching at the Jacksonville Jaguars with Dom Capers on defense, that was something that was pretty set and you continue to grow. But learning to deal with people – and the NFL experience was so good in that way. To have to deal with that situation of the NFL in general, being the youngest head coach in the history of the NFL and being at the Raiders with all the issues that are there. That's very helpful. Because you have to go through all those situations and you have to learn – I've used the term before, 'crisis management' – you got to figure it out. There's nobody to help you. You figure it out, and a lot of the things I go through now on a daily basis seem extremely easy compared to what I had to do there."

Q: You mentioned the Raiders before when you were introduced. Is crisis management the biggest thing you learned there? What do you mean by that?

A: "You had to figure out a way to motivate a building and a roster of players that are pulled a bunch of different directions because of all the different things there. Not just in the NFL, all the things that go with that, the players making so much money and number of those players being older than me. You've got to figure out how to motivate them, but you've also got to figure out – you've got a building with people that have been there 25 or 30 years and no matter how little they do, they're not getting fired. That's not an easy thing to do. So try to find a way to win over and motivate people that you're not allowed to fire, no matter how poor they do at their job. Everything seems easy now compared to that."

Q: I'm sure you've read and heard about Tennessee's struggles on offense. They scored 208 points last year and finished 11th in the SEC in total offense. Have you gotten a sense of what the challenge will be like offensively?

A: "I'm not into numbers. I'm not worried about goals within numbers. We need to win games. So we'll do whatever it takes to put ourselves in the best position to win games. As we grow here, we'll figure out our roster. We'll figure out what's coming in and what's on it. The only way to do that is spring ball. You watch film from last year to get an idea athletically what you have, but you can't base it off of that because you don't know what they were told. If we start looking at that film and say, 'This guy can't play. This guy can't play.' Then they won't be able to play because you'll put your mindset that they can't, and that's what they'll become. Whatever you talk about, whatever you think about is where they draw to. So that's why we haven't given up on anybody. Everybody has a clean slate. There'll be some players here I'm sure that were thought of that maybe couldn't play that will be successful for us. And maybe some guys that were thought of that were great players maybe that aren't. We'll figure that out. You can't figure it out now. There's one way to figure that out, that's on the grass."

Q: You mentioned that you would probably call plays. Have you given that much more thought or do you still plan to do that now that (offensive coordinator) Jim Chaney is on board?

A: "I think being able to get Jim has been really good for me because it gives us even more variety in our offense. Jim has more of a college background, even though he's been in the NFL. He's had so much success at Purdue with a different style of offense. For two things, one to be able to take part of that and put it into the offense that I've run and then also because that will help our defense, being able to see some of the college stuff will help our defense practicing against that because the stuff that I run is basically all NFL stuff. It'll help us on both sides of the ball having him around, and we'll work together to figure it out."

Q: Did you miss the college game in the NFL?

A: "You do. I did. You're watching it on Saturday because Saturdays are slow days. I'm staying at the office preparing my Saturday night meeting and you get to watch it. There's so much energy in it. The NFL season's so long, and it's not as emotional. The wins and losses aren't as high and low in the NFL because you're basically going to always lose games in the NFL. Unless you're the '72 Dolphins you're going to lose some games. Guys deal with losses easier. It's not as big a deal. They shower up, they change clothes, they put their suit on and they go. In college, there's so much more that goes to it. You pick your own roster. In the NFL, someone else gives you your roster. Here, you pick your roster, you're much more connected with the players. You know them from when they were juniors in high school. I think it makes the experience a lot better and a lot more enjoyable."

Q: What's the tone you're trying to set with the players by dropping in on classes and through (strength coach) Mark Smith with workouts that are going on right now?

A: "Discipline and accountability. We need guys that are accountable in all areas. I don't believe you become accountable on Saturday. You become accountable by your actions on Monday through Friday. And that's not just practice. That's how you are on campus. That's how you are in the dorm rooms. That's how you are in class. We want our guys to be disciplined and accountable in all areas. I know they'll never be late for a football meeting, or an O-line meeting or a DB meeting. So I don't understand the mentality of you're late for a tutor or you're late for a class. It needs to be the same mentality towards football as it towards academics. We'll help cultivate that, and as you've seen some guys may not want to do that and they may not be here."