Bro, he took over a Ole Miss team that didn't break .500 for 4 straight seasons. In year 2 he has them at 9-2 in the SEC. As of right now, he's killing it there. Is it sustainable? We'll see.
FAU hadn't been over .500 in 8 seasons. In his 3 years there he won 10 or more games twice, had the best class in the conference twice, and won C-USA twice. If you don't think that would be considered "killing it", you have rather strange criteria.
100% agree that I would feel a lot more comfortable about hiring him if he had at least a 3 year sample. 2 years isnt much to go on. If someone took a snapshot of his time at FAU after year two, it would look like his year 1 success was only a fluke. His third year made it clearer that year two was actually the fluke. He could end up with a terrible year 3 at Ole Miss which would make clear that his success in year 2 was the fluke and his team isn't good. We do a have sample size of two programs though. He crushed it at the first one and at least for now, looks to be doing the same.
I think if you had been told about an obscure young coach that was brand new to CFB coaching ranks who became Sabans OC a few years years back, led Bamas offense to record setting years, then got his first HC job at FAU, won C-USA twice in three years with 10+ wins and landed the best class in the conference twice, then went to Ole Miss and in first full recruiting season landed their 2nd best class in almost a decade (best in a decade if you exclude the Freeze cheating) and had them at 9-2 in the SEC in just his 2nd year, you would be rather impressed. You aren't as impressed because you know the coach is Lane Kiffin and associate him with a lot of baggage. Am I wrong?
The last factor that makes favor Kiffin over Mario (again, they are close in my rankings but I'm leaning Kiffin) is downside protection. What happens if Kiffin looks like a flop after 3 years? An AD like Jurich isn't emotionally invested and would fire him without hesitation. What happens if Mario is a flop? He isn't going anywhere. You think the pro Diaz crowd on the BOT is clinging to power? That's going to be nothing compared to the pro Cristobal group on the BOT. He's effectively going to be the coach until he decides to quit. The BOT will try to fire Jurich before he tries to fire Mario if the experiment fails. We already see how it's virtually impossible to dislodge DiMare from baseball and there is a faction trying to get Diaz another year. If Mario is the HC- if he doesn't turn out to be the coach we all hope he is? We'll be stuck with him forever.
Ur last paragraph is the issue. Lane isn’t some obscure, young & upcoming HC. Ur last paragraph totally disregards history, & not just random history, but tangible NFL & P5 history.
Let’s back it up real quick; do u know WHY Kiffin was called up to the NFL?
-B/c he was an obscure, young OC on the most dominant program during its time, USC. Coaching under the tutelage of a widely successful Pete Carroll, who is not only a 2x Nat’l Championship Coach, but a SB winning NFL HC (and should have two if he would’ve just gave the ball to Beastmode).
That’s why his next job was The NF F’ing L, & he failed, epically.
Whatever, b/c what ppl chose to remember was his high powered offense at SC, winning Nat’l & Pac-10 titles. So UTK gave him a shot. Results? 7-6.
USC came knocking b/c of Kiffin’s connection to Carroll, as Carroll was bolting to the NFL. Yes, there were sanctions that happened from 2010 - 2012, but the fact is, USC was still pulling in recruits b/c unlike us, there was no “cloud” around SC. The punishment was known. In fact, he was very successful in yr 2 of his tenure despite the sanctions. His first class was top 3 in the nation, despite said sanctions; BUT, he was fired, not just from on field results, but he showed an air of immaturity, & smartest guy in the room behind scenes.
OK, so that’s the history we’re supposed to ignore b/c he coached at Bama (like he didn’t coach at pre Bama USC), he’s had 2 good yrs at a G5 program out of the 4 he was there, & he’s having “a” good yr at Ole Miss? Lol.
Kiffin reminds me of Russ Westbrook…a **** name, b/c the guy gives u triple doubles. Yet, his teams go nowhere besides 1st round exits no matter who the co-stars r, & his +/- on court is horrible. Somehow, he’s considered a top 75 player of all time by pundits b/c he puts up **** stats, though he’s a horrible PG.
I watch a ton of CFB, and I’ve been laser focused on Ole Miss & UO FB b/c of these two names. I can tell u just like Miami went 8-3 last yr, & ppl like myself pointed out how we were this close to being 5-6, Kiffin has been in 3 games where he’s literally been seen on the sidelines praying for a victory & Ole Miss is this close to being 7-4. Why? B/c his O moves the ball, and his D gives it all back.
That’s not an anomaly, that’s the norm. His father was once upon a time considered a defensive guru, and under his son, rep got smashed. So again, if u want Kiffin here, u can use any matrix or excuse, but be prepared for us to light up the scoreboard both in a good & bad way.
