Change in motivation may keep Kiffin at FAU
BOCA RATON — For those handling the invisible countdown clock of when Lane Kiffin is leaving Florida Atlantic for a Power 5 school, the veteran head coach’s recent comments may be enough to freeze time.
In an interview with ESPN. com, Kiffin acknowledged how much he has enjoyed living in Florida and that the things that previously drove him — pride and money among them — are in the past after FAU went 11-3 last season.
“I’m not driven by ego, or the attention of being a head coach at one of those (Power 5) places,” Kiffin said. “I’m very happy here on all fronts. The only drive is when you do see Kirby (Smart), you see coach (Nick) Saban walk out on that field before the game, the national championship, holding that trophy. It’s the drive of, ‘OK, I get to play against the best, let’s see if I can beat the best.’ It’s different. That would not be what I would have answered even five years ago. Because your ego … once you get rid of that, you have different motivations.”
Kiffin, 42, won a combined three national titles as an assistant coach at USC (2003 — though that title was split with Saban and LSU under the old BCS rules — and 2004) and Alabama (2015), but he was only 35-21 in five seasons as a head coach at the Power 5 level from 2009-13. Kiffin went 7-6 with Tennessee in 2009 before infamously leaving to replace former mentor Pete Carroll at USC, going 25-13 in his first three seasons with the Trojans despite heavy sanctions levied on the program for allegedly paying 2005 Heisman Trophy-winning running back Reggie Bush.
After a 3-2 start in 2013, Kiffin was fired and did not hold a head coaching job again until FAU hired him in December 2016.
FAU won more games last season under Kiffin (11) than they did from 2014-16 (nine) and fielded seven first-team All-Conference USA players. Kiffin is in the second year of a five-year, $4.5 million contract, though he verbally agreed to a six-year extension in December. As of last month, the contract has yet to be finalized.