Kiffin, Davis rediscover their coaching spirit
USC, everyone on those rosters thought of the NFL. We have some of those players. But most know this is it. They’re giving 100 percent without thought of draft status. And since they’ve never won, it’s like them opening a present each win. Watching these kids in the locker room after games — they’re so excited. It’s incredible to see.”
They faced similar problems. Losing cultures. Weak rosters. Hurricane Irma, too, put them in far-flung sites for a week — FAU in Wisconsin and FIU in Alabama. But the prime public question starting out for each was simply why they took these jobs. Kiffin, 42, started high in his career. He coached the NFL’s Oakland Raiders before collegiate jobs at Tennesee and USC. He had issues each place. He re-invented himself as Alabama’s offensive coordinator for two years but was at seeming odds with head coach Nick Saban. Davis, 65, hadn’t coached in seven years. He had Super Bowl and national championship rings as an assistant, set up Miami’s great run to open this millennium and headed the Cleveland Browns and North Carolina. But the UNC scandal that covered the entire school seemed to have ended his career.
“We’re starting two walk-ons in the secondary. One of them wasn’t even in the program when I got here. He begged me last spring, ‘Coach, let me come out.’ He’d been in the program, then dismissed. I did some research, saw he’s a good kid and had him come out. We gave both of those walk-ons scholarships. I did it to one, Bryce Canady, in the spring, and then to Brad Muhammad this summer. Watching them cry when you told them, seeing those kids’ dreams come true — every moment like that brings a little glow in my heart. That’s one thing I love about this season, what it’s been like.”
“I was walking off the field after a win and Abdol Moabery, who’s on our board of trustees, was so excited. When I got here, I came from Alabama, where we were 26-0. I hadn’t lost in years. But to see [Moabery] so excited — he was like, ‘You don’t understand. Not only have we never won here for years, we’ve never dominated people ever. This feeling of games being over in the third quarter is something we’ve never felt before.’ That struck me.”