Not defending him either and we don't know the full story but y'all know Kiffin wasn't the one publicizing most of this shit right? It was the media covering his family's flights TMZ-style, Ole Miss giving an ultimatum, everyone in the media asking him what he's gonna do, etc. Short of straight-up lying, not sure how he could've possibly taken attention away from it.
It sounds like he handled this weekend extremely poorly but it seems like most of the stuff before now has been other peoples' fault.
All else equal, you don't want to replace good young starters if at all possible. Continuity matters (for both sides). There's a lot more risk and learning curve for all involved if you swap someone out. And he should get better given lack of experience.
Yeah Eric Morris is literally doing this as we speak (assuming they make it). It's not a bitch move to recognize someone has other goals and still work together to finish things right. The ultimatum was dumb especially coming from a position of weakness. The only caveat was that maybe they were just sick of him behind the scenes, who knows
NFL Draft decisions are going to be interesting to follow. Looking briefly at some of the draft "experts":
Goosby is rating mostly day 2 but possibly late round 1.
Jelani's stock seems to have fallen quite a bit. Not even in ESPN's top safeties list.
MM's stock isn't super high anymore. Round 3-4ish.
Endries and Kanu could be round 3-4 type guys.
Hill looking like Round 2.
So, looking at that, Goosby would seem like the iffiest one (and at the most important position, unfortunately). I'd still expect Hill and MM to leave. Jelani should probably stay. Endries and Kanu, who knows.
Sounds like Kiffin handled this poorly but I still don't understand why Ole Miss put an ultimatum on him in the first place when they were heading for the playoffs.
The other interesting side of portal season is who becomes a "cap casualty"? Some guys might be good players but not worth their NIL. I don't know who makes what but based on recruiting rankings etc, you could imagine some guys not being worth their money compared to what's available in the portal.
Based on recruiting rankings, I assume guys like Baxter and D Williams are highly paid backups. And some starters may even be in that camp.
Can we take a second to laugh at Florida for basically hiring Billy Napier 2.0 to replace Billy Napier?
Also why won't Ole Miss let Lane finish the season? I understand they're pissed but now they're completely throwing away their chance at a NC this year. Seems stupid to me.
2-loss Miami, Utah and ND ahead of 2-loss Vandy is so dumb if you look at schedule strength. They're getting punished for their name being Vandy and for the Utah AD being head of the committee.
Texas is 100% getting punished for playing tOSU. As Sark said, Texas would be a shoe-in if that game was against a cupcake. It was also tOSU's closest game by far all season, only a 7-point loss on the road. Texas is 2-2 vs current/final top-10 teams and 3-2 vs top 15. Remove tOSU and it's still a tough schedule that no other bubble team can match.
Bubble team records vs top 10/15 along with Massey SOS:
Texas: 2-2 / 3-2 / 5
Bama: 1-1 / 2-1 / 13
ND: 0-1 / 0-2 / 40
OU: 1-1 / 1-2 (assuming Michigan drops) / 10
Vandy: 0-1 / 0-2 / 19
Utah: 0-1 / 0-2 / 42
BYU: 0-1 / 1-1 / 39
Miami: 1-0 / 1-0 / 48
Keeping Goosby in school is gonna be critical. Outside of that, iOL is the biggest need. Wisner is solid but another RB would be good. I also think a solid veteran LB and S would be huge, even if not superstars.
Feeling better about CB with the emergence of Phillips alongside Littleton but a veteran take wouldn't hurt.
Agreed. Gotta maximize the Arch/Simmons window. Not saying to ignore HS recruiting completely but portal and retaining key players should be the priority this offseason.
It's a job and with people he knows well. He was Sark's DC at UW and followed to USC. He was PK's boss at Boise before that (DC while PK was DL coach. PK became DC when he left). But yeah analyst would probably be more likely unless he wants to coach DBs
I just realized he was also DC at Boise while PK was DL coach. PK got elevated to DC when Wilcox went to Tennessee to be their DC.
Would love to add him as an analyst or DB coach. If Lupoi replaces him as you suggested, wonder if swaps places as DC at Oregon (his alma mater). But a lot of HCs seem to want a break for a year so analyst might make sense.