Kiffin: Media twisting words
Coach clarifies that he loves Boca but didn’t say he’ll stay.
BOCA RATON — While headlines over the weekend screamed Lane Kiffin would stay at Florida Atlantic, the veteran coach could do nothing but shrug.
As always, Kiffin said Tuesday, the media twisted his words from an interview last week in which he mentioned how much he’s enjoying Boca Raton.
“In typical media fashion, like you guys do — which is why in my next life, I want to be one of you — you can write whatever you want, you can change what people say, too, and never be held accountable for it,” said Kiffin, who has led the Owls to an 8-3 record (7-0 in Conference USA) and their first C-USA Championship game. “You guys have a great job.”
Prior to Saturday’s 52-24 win over Florida International, Kiffin went on ESPN Radio and said, “When I say I am happy here, I really am. It’s a very unique situation (at FAU). We have a great team and a ton of them come back, and we love living here.”
But on Tuesday, Kiffin clarified his plan for next year.
“I did not make the statement that I will be here next year,” Kiffin said. “I plan on being here — I didn’t make that statement — and then, they write what I say and they title (the article) differently.”
In the past month alone, Kiffin has been mentioned as a potential candidate for coaching jobs at Tennessee, Florida and UCLA, all of whom fired their coaches during this season. Kiffin produced a 7-6 record in 2009 with the Volunteers before taking a job with the USC Trojans, a move that spawned couch-burning in Knoxville.
Kiffin, who will tie Charlie Partridge for the second-most wins in program history (with nine) with the Owls’ next victory, has not publicly commented on any of the jobs. On Twitter, Kiffin continues to troll and tweet at Tennessee fans.
“I do like it here (at FAU),” said Kiffin. “People would assume that you took this job to get the next one, and coaches do that because they want to get to that elite level ... (but) this is a very unique place in where we’re at as a team.”
Kiffin said that he has at no point discussed with his players the possibility of his leaving early. FAU put a buyout clause in Kiffin’s contract, where the school would be owed $2.5 million if he left after this season. The buyout would be $2 million if he leaves after 2018.
If Kiffin were considering leaving, the play of running back Devin Singletary might be enough to make him stay. Singletary leads the nation with 24 rushing touchdowns and was a Doak Walker Award (best running back) semifinalist.
“We got one of the most dynamic players in college football, and he’s only a true sophomore,” Kiffin said. “I don’t think he’d leave early for the draft so you get two more years of him. We got some really good quarterbacks, some that are playing (now) and some that are playing next year.”