Kiffin knows he must win Florida turf wars

Competition for area recruits grows with new wave of coaches.

BOCA RATON — Lane Kiffin spent years trying to get top Florida players to travel far from home when he was head coach at Tennessee and Southern California.

Now he is going to try to convince them to stay nearby.

Kiffin, who was named Florida Atlantic’s fifth head coach Tuesday, takes over a program that has struggled to compete for players from South Florida, losing out on some of the top players in the nation to in-state and out-of-state teams alike.

“I took the mindset — I didn’t know any different — I’m going to go beat Florida, Florida State and Miami in their own backyard,” Kiffin said. “So that’s just how I think.”

Not only will Kiffin have to compete with Florida, FSU and Miami in the coveted recruiting grounds of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, but he will also have to fend off new South Florida coach Charlie Strong, new Florida International coach Butch Davis and second-year Central Florida coach Scott Frost.

Kiffin must lure players to a program that has gone 59-97 since joining Division I in 2004, but he said he thinks he offers a strong profile that will help bring top players to Boca Raton

“These kids have now, for 10 years, they’ve seen Lane Kiffin, they’ve seen me on the sidelines,” he said. “They’ve seen the great offenses and great players.”

Kiffin said he reached out to local high school coaches and did not rule out hiring South Florida high school coaches for his staff, which he plans to put together by the time the NCAA recruiting dead period ends on Jan. 11. Several high school coaches from Palm Beach and Broward Counties attended Kiffin’s press conference, including Boca Raton’s Eric Davis, Seminole Ridge’s James Parson, Spanish River’s Bill Ceasar and Wellington’s Tom Abel.

Parson has a particularly large stake in the Owls’ fortunes going forward, as five Seminole Ridge alumni are on the FAU roster. With Kiffin as the new coach, Parson said he is happy to encourage players to continue that pipeline.

“(You’ve) got to go,” Parson said. “I c an see you on Saturdays, which i s selfi sh on my part, No. 2, he’s going to make the guys better. He seems like he’s going to keep them accountable.”