This is a pretty good interview.
Kiffin is candid in his answers. He knows exactly what he is doing. He has some work to do but he seems pretty comfortable in his role.
Kiffin was also candid in the teams performance so far in Spring Practice, both on the radio and in the OCR.
Matt Barkley (four) and Mitch Mustain (two) have combined for six in the past two spring practices.
Granted, plays are still being installed, some picks have come on deflected passes and Mustain’s on Tuesday was more of a great play by Byron Moore than a bad decision by Mustain.
But it still isn’t what Trojans coach Lane Kiffin wants to see from his passers.
“We’ve been too loose with the ball,” Kiffin said. “We’ve been forcing the ball downfield too much when it’s not there.
“We need to improve on that. We did do a little bit better (Tuesday). Saturday was not very good.”
Kiffin has been pretty tough on players not being able to hold onto the ball. Guys are running a lot of laps when they fumble or throw an interception.
He is going to make sure that players remain focused.
Kiffin is also making sure the team performs at the highest level possible. As mentioned in the radio interview, he pretty much called the whole team out on Tuesday...
ust a couple of plays into the 9-on-7 rushing period Tuesday, USC coach Lane Kiffin halted practice, gathered his troops and let them know their intensity level was not up to par.
“They didn’t come out in the right frame of mind,” Kiffin said. “So we restarted practice at one point to get our guys to understand what our expectations are every day, regardless of what day it is.
“They had a different intensity Saturday, and that can’t be the case just because it’s Saturday. … If you want to be a championship team, you’ve got to play with championship effort every day in practice. You don’t choose when to go. We’ve got to continue to learn lessons and continue to improve.”
This team has a lot of ground to make up after last seasons difficult season.
The refocusing has to start now. The tone needs to be set now before Fall Ball.
It looks like and sounds like he setting that tone...
UPDATE: Here is Kiffin on the Petros and Money Show earlier today...