Lane Kiffin on HBO's Real Sports

By now you have heard that USC Head Coach will be interviewed on HBO's Real Sports. The interview is set for tomorrow night and we are now starting to see some excerpts from the interview.

From The OCR...

Correspondent Andrea Kremer deftly details Kiffin’s whirlwind coaching career. The piece opens with the day Kiffin abruptly left UT, segues to his arrival at USC and includes snippets on his time with the Oakland Raiders, how he first got into coaching and his relationship with his father.

Here are some of the highlights:

** Layla Kiffin, the coach’s wife, received disturbing texts and other threats from angry UT fans, including one that said "(we) hope you die on the plane to California."

** Kremer asks Kiffin if he was insubordinate in Oakland. "Absolutely not," he says, "unless insubordinate is … fighting for what you believe will help your team win. If that’s insubordinate, then I’m insubordinate."

** Kremer describes Kiffin while coming up through the ranks as "smart, sure of himself and determined to make sure everyone knew it." Kiffin then discloses how his former boss, Pete Carroll, set him straight, telling him: "You have to stop thinking that everyone is like you. Everyone isn’t so driven to be this great, successful head coach that they spend every minute of every day thinking about that."

The comments by Pete Carroll are enlightening, in a good way.

Kiffin is driven!

As far as his time in Oakland goes I think the recent releasing of JaMarcus Russell vindicates Kiffin in the sense that he knew Russell would be a bust. Al Davis has more than shown his senility and the game has passed him by over the past ten years or so...case closed.

The actions of some UT fans shows blatant hypocrisy.

Is anyone really surprised?

While the threatening of Kiffin's wife is deplorable the overall bad behavior by some UT fans boggles the mind...either you hated Kiffin or you didn't. The overt way that some UT fans behaved in showing their anger at Kiffin's hasty departure would show to me that many at UT actually liked Kiffin. I mean the riots in Knoxville were not celebratory in nature, right?. But when you read what many have said about Kiffin in the press and on many blogs the general disdain for Kiffin reaches a high pitched fervor.

Kiffin made himself an easy target but he could not care less.

His actions at UT were calculated to get the program some much needed attention because they were disappearing into obscurity under the previous regime. Kiffin's actions were not unlike that of Steve Spurrier when he went to the NFL. Spurrier made a number of comments about some NFL coaches that were met with some raised eyebrows. Spurrier's time in the NFL was unremarkable to say the least...

In the end Kiffin made UT a little bit better and turned a miserable QB in Jonathon Crompton into a 5th round pick.

Kremer also asked Kiffin about loyalty...(via USAToday)

Kremer asks him about preaching loyalty and togetherness when he left after one season.

"I never once told any of those players I would be there forever," replies Kiffin. When Kremer presses whether that comforted those players he recruited to Knoxville, Kiffin admits: "No, but it's part of the business. You know, as they get older they understand. That's why they put buyouts in contracts, you know."

This is why I don't get attached to a coach or even a player. They can and will bolt if a better deal comes along. Welcome to real world business, time to your big boy pants on! I liked Pete Carroll but when he felt it was time to move on I simply tipped my cap and thanked him for his service and the incredible run we had under him. No hard feelings, no desperate disappointment, just gratitude.

I also laugh at the righteous indignation that some want to preach.

Lane Kiffin's 'dream job' will pay him $4 million. For ... what, again?

I really didn't see the need to quote anything from Hinton's piece because the title says it all.

What's funny is that I am pretty sure that Hinton didn't leave SBN for Yahoo! out of the kindness of his heart...so what is the big deal. Kiffin jumped for what he perceived as a better gig and got paid for it!

This happens in the Pro's and in all coaching ranks all the time.

Again, welcome to big boy business. You must be worth it if someone is willing to pay it!

Kiffin has sold himself well...as long as people continue to take an interest he will continue to get the attention.

Coaches and professional players get paid boatloads on one of two things, sometimes both...past results or future potential. There is always someone willing to take a flier on a guy because they think they see something that could reap future rewards. Plenty of guys have been paid big bucks for past results only to not come through in the future. It may not be logical to the masses but that's business.

Coaches get paid for results. The kids they recruit are means to that end. It doesn't make it right that the kids become secondary but until the NCAA actually takes an interest in the kids well being with real actions instead of the hollow words that they currently spew then it is all mental masturbation. We all know the NCAA is far from blameless here...

Many may not like Kiffin's answer on this just like they didn't like Pete Carroll's attitude when Mark Sanchez bolted for the NFL, but like McCarthy noted many coaches feel this way they just don't have balls to admit it.

Kiffin is no different than that quitter Bobby Petrino or that liar Nick Saban...he saw an opportunity and he took it. He just owns up to how he feels.

I stopped worrying about coaches motives long ago.

Kifin is USC's coach now and I will support him until he gives me a reason not to. Seems pretty simple to me, the rest is just noise...