Adams: Kiffin can find clues in Petrino's work at Arkansas

Tennessee football coach Lane Kiffin proved he could hire by bringing together a staff of prominent assistant coaches this winter. He and his staff then proved they could recruit when they signed a top-10 class without any advance work.

Kiffin's next challenge? Improve a feeble offense.

If he's looking for an SEC role model, I recommend second-year Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino.

Unlike Kiffin, Petrino went to Arkansas with college head-coaching experience. But like Kiffin, his expertise is in offense.

That was quickly apparent with the Razorbacks, though you couldn't tell it by last season's 5-7 record.

You had to see quarterback Casey Dick before and after Petrino. You had to see how little offensive talent was available at Arkansas.

Petrino took one of the conference's worst quarterbacks, a group of pedestrian wide receivers and a 5-foot-7 running back in Michael Smith and somehow put together a respectable offense.

He reminded you that a new offense with new coaches doesn't have to yield the disastrous results you saw at UT and Auburn last season.

Almost any offensive strategist can appear competent when he has the talent Petrino had at Louisville or Kiffin had as an offensive coordinator at Southern California. But the best offensive coaches can have an impact even when they don't have the best offensive talent.

You saw that with Petrino at Arkansas last season. You saw that with UCLA offensive guru Norm Chow in Pasadena last September.

Chow had a third-string quarterback throwing to second- and third-string receivers; one of the worst offensive lines in recent UCLA history; and a starting running back, who began the UT game with a brace on his knee and ended the game on the bench with an injury. Yet Chow managed to orchestrate two long, game-deciding drives in a come-from-behind victory against an outwitted UT defense.

Kiffin and his staff will have more to work with this season than either Petrino or Chow did last fall.

UT's recruiting efforts will help provide the Vols with a deep corps of running backs. As ordinary as the wide receivers might look, they're superior to what Petrino had last season. And although UT quarterback Jonathan Crompton struggled terribly last season, he has more ability than Dick.

It's worth noting that Petrino, like Kiffin, runs a pro-style offense. It's also worth noting that Petrino is willing to shape that offense to match the skills of his quarterback.

"We have a huge playbook," Petrino said at last week's SEC spring meetings. "We try to put most of it in the first seven days of spring, then you try to mold it to what your quarterback can do.

"It becomes the quarterback's offense."

This season, Petrino's quarterback will be Michigan transfer Ryan Mallett, a 6-foot-7, strong-armed passer, who, according to Petrino, "can make all the throws."

But the best offensive coaches earn their money when they must build their offense around a quarterback who can't make all the throws.

Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knoxnews.com.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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