USC head coach Lane Kiffin was apparently a little confused by comments made last month by Tennessee Athletic Director Mike Hamilton. Hamilton said Kiffin wound up not being a “good cultural fit” for UT.
From GoVolsExtra.com:
“I don’t really know exactly what that means,” said Kiffin, who was UT’s coach for just 14 months. “I don’t think at the end of day that has anything to do with whether you score points or whether you win games. Where you’re from? I don’t know. That’s just my opinion.
“Is Nick Saban from Alabama? Is Urban Meyer from Florida? Those are two of the best coaches in the country. So I don’t think that really means anything.”
What’s funny about Hamilton’s comments is that he never would have made them had Kiffin stayed at Tennessee and won. Had Kiffin won with the Vols, he probably would have done so in the same brash manner he exhibited when he first set foot on UT’s campus. But since he was a cocky, abrasive loudmouth that didn’t fulfill his promises, all of a sudden he wasn’t a “good cultural fit.”
I’m no Lane Kiffin apologist, but I think Hamilton is reaching here. Steve Spurrier is from Florida and was one of the cockiest head coaches the SEC had ever seen. Yet the conference embraced him because they either loved him or loved to beat him.
Was he not a cultural fit in Gainesville?
Photo from fOTOGLIF
