Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Lane Kiffin’s QBs share insights.
Former QBs opinions of FAU coach mirror his uneven career
BOCA RATON — Jonathan Crompton spent the last week of October 2009 in a state of doubt and suspicion. The forthe mer Tennessee quarterback had been hearing about the game plan for the Volunteers’ upcoming game against South Carolina.
His coach, Lane Kiffin, was telling him all about the second play of the game, when the Gamecocks would run a cover zero defense and the Volunteers would send the fullback on a go route up the middle.
“The whole week, I’m going ‘Man, how do you know they’re going to play cover zero on the second play?’” Crompton said. “He said ‘Trust me, I’ve done enough film study. By tendencies and by the formation we’re going to show them, they’re going to go cover zero.’ He said it whole week.”
With the ball at South Carolina’s 38-yard line, Kiffin — now Florida Atlantic’s coach — got his chance to show off his preparation. As Crompton dropped back and faked a handoff to running back Montario Hardesty, fullback Austin Johnson ran directly down the
middle of the field.
The linebacker responsible for Johnson was absent, and Crompton hit Johnson for an easy 38-yard touchdown pass. Kiffin’s plan had worked to perfection.
FAU hopes Kiffin’s tenure leading the Owls can be just as successful.
In Boca Raton, the 41-year-old sometimes-controversial coach has landed his fourth head coaching job, following stints atop the Oakland Raiders, Tennessee and Southern California. In his wake, Kiffin has left an owner who called him a liar, NCAA allegations and a town burning mattresses because of his departure.
While his celebrity has continuously grown off the field, Kiffin’s offenses have continued to produce on the field. Perhaps no one has worked more closely with Kiffin than his quarterbacks, who shared different insights and memories about him.
Crompton listed Kiffin as one of three coaches he would like to work for again. John David Booty said “Kiff” made things fun as USC’s offensive coordinator. Mitch Mustain, meanwhile, said Kiffin sometimes looked “wholly disinterested” in coaching USC in 2010. All three quarterbacks praised Kiffin’s gameplanning and said he is among the smartest people in college football.
“When it came to Xs and Os, Lane Kiffin was the guy to have,” Mustain said. “He knows what defenses are doing. He can make adjustments. … I just think Lane, for whatever reason, struggled with the entire picture as a head coach.”
Mustain’s final season at USC was Kiffin’s first. It was Kiffin’s third head coaching gig in four years, and he was taking over for beloved coach Pete Carroll. Mustain, who began his career at Arkansas, entered the season in a quarterback competition with Matt Barkley, who eventually won the job.
“There was nothing unique about what he did,” Mustain said. “It just seemed to us, there was no effort for it. It was almost as if he was wholly disinterested in being the head coach. You can tell he enjoys the play-calling. He enjoys working with the offense and making that run. He was very good at it. As for the whole thing, it seemed that maybe it just wasn’t really where he wanted to be.”
Given that it was Kiffin’s fourth year as a head coach, the attitude surprised Mustain. He had heard from other people how much they enjoyed Kiffin as a receivers coach and offensive coordinator previously at USC. As an assistant, he knew who his players were, what they needed and would fight for them, Mustain was told. But “that just didn’t come across as a head coach,” Mustain said.
Mustain only started one game for the Trojans: a 20-16 loss to rival Notre Dame. Kiffin was fired in the middle of his fourth season as USC coach in 2013. He has not led a team since, but takes over a program that has gone 3-9 in each of the last three seasons.
“I think a lot of people think of him as this buffoon figure,” Mustain said. “I’ve heard it 10 times: ‘He’s spoiled. He’s riding on his dad’s coattails.’ I can understand why that stands, but I think a lot of people don’t understand that Lane Kiffin is honestly a very intelligent, very capable football coach.
“Honestly, I hope that Lane can rebuild it. In terms of his head coaching reputation, I hope he can iron it out. I hope he can come up with something that works and do a better job. I don’t know. It’ll be interesting.”
Crompton’s tone is drastically different. He lauded Kiffin’s ability to connect with his players and get the most out of them. In Kiffin’s only season at Tennessee, Crompton improved dramatically, throwing for 2,800 yards and 27 touchdowns in his senior season.
“He knows what he’s doing,” Crompton said. “He knows how to relate to young kids, to get them motivated. He knows how to relate to get freshman to be able to play, get them ready early. And he can adjust on the run, especially in-game, very, very well.”
There was the week of meticulous game-planning, but then there was also how Tennessee finished daily practices. According to Crompton, the Volunteers would hold an unscripted 20-play period at the end of practice, offense vs. defense. Whoever won more plays got to pick the music for the next day’s stretch.
“I loved him,” Crompton said. “He was the old cliché of a players’ coach. Truly, truly was, though. I’m assuming he still is. His work ethic game planning was second-to-none.”
Booty never played for Kiffin when he was a head coach, instead learning from Kiffin the offensive coordinator in 2005 and 2006 at USC. He remembers Kiffin’s humor on the practice field and in the meeting room. Even now, he recognizes the coach’s dry tone in interviews.
“I watch him do interviews now and I’ll laugh at something he says that other people around the country might take a little offense to it, or think he’s pushing the wrong button, or doing this or that,” Booty said. “It’s just who he is and, in my experience with him, I have nothing but high praises for him and the things he’s been able to accomplish.”