Kiffin: "I don't know if it was the right thing to do..

Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin says he's not sure announcing his intention to follow his son Lane to the University of Tennessee was the 'right thing to do,' in the wake of the team's four-game collapse.

Kiffin made the decision before the Bucs' Dec. 8 game at Carolina and told the team the following Wednesday.

Kiffin, 68, is an easy scapegoat for the Bucs becoming the first team in 15 years to start the season 9-3 and fail to reach the playoffs.

"I don't know,'' Kiffin said of the timing of his announcement. "I do think back to Mike Holmgren, you know, with Seattle. I said to myself when Mike announced that this was his last year, because Mike's a heck of a football coach and I have a lot of respect for him. And then you think back and he thought he maybe shouldn't have announced it at the time, you know.

  "And I didn't know. Like I said, I would've liked to have had my choice. But there was so much speculation, I tried to put it to rest. In the same sense, I don't know if it was the right thing to do or not. I really don't. It's hard to look back at that.''

   

Comments

[JC]

"I don't know if it was the right thing to do.."

Gee, ya think? 9-3 before the announcement, 0-4 after. Complete collapse of the Bucs D, no motivation, giving up halfway through the game.

Announcements like this should have to wait until the end of the year, it's completely unethical.

[Squid]

JC, you know darn well that Monte would have been asked every day if he was going to be leaving. If he would have lied and said no and then left at the end of the season, you'd be complaining about not being able to trust anything the coaches say. Monte is a stand up guy and there's no way he could have bs'd his way through the entire month of December. The players are professionals and if they let his announcement affect them, they really need to look at themselves in the mirror.

[DR]

Thank you squid. These players do get paid millions of dollars for a reason. Men aren't supposed to cry about other men and their decisions.
the Bucs were not a good team. It took a lot of luck for them to get to 9-3. It was just the water leveling out. The Bucs weren't any better than a 9-7 team all season.

[plasticman]

I blame LANE Kiffin. Dude, should have waited to ASK his father.

He sucked as a coach out in Oakland, and he sure sucked asking his Dad to come with him until the season was over.

Selfish Jerk.

[Valrico Rick]

Monte Kiffen tried to do the right thing and be honest, his son Lane attempting to do some early reqruiting opened his mouth to a kid with a bigger mouth. Can't change it now, and after all Monte has done for the Bucs let him go respectfully. I have to address something else and this is as good a place as any. Everybody keeps going back and forth about who is the better coach, Gruden or Dungy, and there is no basis for saying Gruden. Both went to Championship games and lost close games. Bucs-Rams for Dungy, Raiders-Patriots for Gruden. Both won Super Bowls. However, Dungy and the Colts just completed their 6th straight season with 12 or more wins, Gruden isn't even in that neighborhood. You can say well anybody can coach Manning, but Dungy is a defensive coach, and Gruden is supposed to be a quarterback coach. So where is Gruden's "Manning" type super quarterback. Dungy beats Gruden hands down, and, oh nevermind...

[graydon]

@plasticman

Amen. I agree. Do the old man a service and simply don't ask him until it's over. We are all not idiots but this could have waited. Classless at best.

I hate Tennessee anyhow and this will just pile on the bad feelings. Still love Mont for all of the great games and I can hate him over 4 bad ones.

[OAR]

Oh heavens almighty DR the great speaks again.
First, how bout dem Cowgirls?
Second, how can you say the defensive players were to fault(which I agree but it was a mental break down the last 4 games due to Kiffins annoucement), not Kiffin and in the same breath hate on Gruden, when it is the same thing you're defending Kiffin with(Kiffin's not out there missing tackles, assignments, etc; something I read in one of your other blog spews). Gruden is not out there dropping catches, fumbling, not blocking, missing open recievers, etc.
Back to dem girls, they were no better than a 9-7 team all season either. Hope you go to some of there sites/articles and rag them, you hater.

[OAR]

Valrico Retardo read the above comment and insert your own name!

[BBFan10]

This post is directed at all of those who hammered me and the others who did not like that Kiffin announced his decision in the middle of a play off run:

I AM VINDICATED!!!! Even Kiffin himself questions the timing of his announcement! For all of those who pounded me on this forum for suggesting Kiffin should have kept the news to himself until after the season, up yours! Gruden questioned it yesterday, each talking head on TV has mentioned it and now the man himself. Proves us right, maybe next time you will temper your responses to something like, "well, that is your opinion, but I disagree" instead of "go F yourself, idiot". Actually, only an idiot would think that this news dropped on the Bucs with 4 games left in the season would NOT have some sort of an impact and it would most likely be negative.

Plasticman, I agree, Lane should have had the class and forsight to say, "Dad, I want to talk to you about UT, but not until the season is over for you guys". My opinion of Lane has never been very high, but I wish him the best as well as Monte, but this whole thing ticked me off and I knew the second I even heard the rumors that we were in trouble. Monte should have told the media IMMEDIATELY that he will not be thinking about or addressing his future until AFTER the last play of our season. PERIOD.

[jerseybuc]

It was a no win situation. If Monte keeps quiet, his status becomes the story, not the team and our playoff run. If he lies, he risks ruining his credibility, and if he says, yes I am leaving, well....we know the downside of that don't we? Plus he couldn't keep it quiet anyway, UT was banking on his presence to lure recruits, who were already asking who was running the D and what sort of scheme they were implementing. Sorry, but our downfall is squarely on the shoulders of the players who didn't perform like a playoff team. We will be lucky to win 5 games next year if changes aren't made.

[drspb]

Funny stuff OAR.

[John]

Just all about Tennessee recruiting at the expense of the Buc's.

[Jay]

I blame Monte Kiffen for the whole debacle.

See, on 3rd and 5, with the Raiders light years away from the endzone, Monte Kiffen followed a streaking WR on the left side, and since he was playing a soft cover 2, he got there early and was called for pass interference.

Oh wait, that was Will Allen.

Ok, the other time was when Antonio Gates split off the left side on 3rd and goal, and Monte Kiffen played the match up man to man. When the ball was thrown immediately, Monte didn't get a jump on the easily interceptable ball, and the Chargers scored a touchdown.

Oh wait, that was Philip Buchanon.

Well, there was that one time when DeAngelo Williams ran right up the right side of the field and Monte...

Who am I kidding, that was Cato June out of position.

The point I'm making is that Monte designed the scheme, got them to practice, and learn the plays for the week. He didn't put players out of position, get them to give up their gap discipline, or make them miss tackles. Nothing about any of the defensive performances gives me a reason to believe that the Bucs were ever unprepared, but rather incapable of executing. That's not on Monte. That's on the defense.

It's also on the offense, for not holding up their end of the team. And Gruden isn't responsible for that either, but there are a lot of players who need to reconsider whether or not they earned their paycheck the last month or so. Then again, maybe it was just the season of giving, and after years of having a stingy heart when it came to points, Monte the Grinch decided that the Who's really needed a bunch of presents before he left.

[Garick]

I don't hate Monte for the his decision, I just hate the decision itself. First Lane should have never asked him until after the season. In other sports, that's called "tampering." Once he did ask Monte, the decent thing to would have been to tell Lane..."please don't ask me to make a decision until the season is over." Lane is the coach, if Monte wasn't going to recruit until the season was over (he says he hasn't recruited one player), then why did couldn't he just wait to make his decision?

Anyway, still like the guy and believe there were no bad intentions on his part. It's just one of those things you wished wouldn't have happened in the first place. The numbers since the decision don't lie and it cost us the playoffs in my opinion.

[shane]

You guys can talk about how these are million dollar athletes and how they are paid to play this game at their best but face facts would you play your hardest for a guy that just announced that he quit on coaching pro football so he can go coach for his son at college(where i hope the gators run up and down Tennessee's defense). What comes around goes around and when you quit on me i quit on you. Monte's to blame for this mess and with that said yes his timing was horrid with his announcement, newsflash monte you don't make those kind of announcements during the middle of a playoff run!

[TriplePlay]

If you believe Kiffin announcing that he was leaving was the demise to this defense then reach again for your crack pipe.

This defense was banged up and the last 4 games showed how weak the bench is. Yeah blame Gruden he IS the head coach. My hunch is the Bucs knew we would stink this year and I believe we will see a spending spree next year which will determine Gruden's fate. If next years adds don't improve this franchise then it's new coach and wide spread roster changes namely called "ReBuild". If McNabb doesn't end up in Tampa next year then Philly spent their till to keep him.

[Jay]

Shane, to answer your question, yes, I would play my hardest, because I would be a professional.

Truth is, I work my hardest, and I don't get the option to mail it in because my boss is leaving for another position elsewhere. In fact, I currently work for complete morons, but that doesn't give me a right to act equally moronic. But it all comes down to professional pride, and if you don't have that, then no coach in the world is going to get your full potential, regardless of his job status.

[Hoopinit]

Does anyone here have more sense than the St Pete Times and their lousy sports editors. Jon Gruden is the cause of everything this team has gone through. He took Tony Dungys team won a superbowl then dismantled it. He picked these players, calls the offense and is the head coach. The Bucs stink in every phase he is involved with. Kiffin has kept this team afloat and kept Gruden a job with his defense for 7 years. Now he is gone and the Glazers are to stupid to fire Gruden. The guy is skilled at making cute faces and using the F word, but he flat out stinks as a coach! Its time to become a Lions fan because Gruden will soon have us there!

[JH]

I know that this may not be a popular viewpoint, but I feel that Rod Marinelli (recently fired from the Lions after an 0-16 season) should succeed Monte Kiffin and be hired as the defensive coordinator of the Bucs. With all due respect for Raheem Morris, I question his experience at this point. He has had only one year of experience as a defensive coordinator. Marinelli will also put more emphasis on the defensive line, which is crucial for the so-called "Cover 2". I always felt that Marinelli was Monte Kiffin's true successor. Another (less appealing) option would be to re-hire Marinelli as D-Line/Assistant Coach and also bring back Joe Barry as LB coach. Just wishful thinking!

[Big Pat]

Marinelli might work as a d-coordinator, except he has led his team (and defense) to the worst record ever. He should be given an opportunity to redeem himself, and would be a good fit with us-- if we didn't already have a rising star in Morris. We should not let the next (potentially) Mike Tomlin leave in order to look backward.

[Opinion Master]

Jay, nice response to Shane.

Shane, that is the bs attitude that is dooming this country. "oh wah, he ain't working hard, why should I??'

for one, it is their job. The bucs organization is paying these guys to play football, not Monte.

and two, knowing this guy is leaving, wouldn't you as an employee, want to put on tape for the next guy, what you can do?

[BucFandango]

I am a devoted Bucs' fan, but I only come to this site to read the DR vs OAR fights. They are much more entertaining than watching a Monte Kiffin Cloned Defense. Monte can say all day long that his announcement did not hurt the team, but the truth is in the results. Monte finally called a couple blitzes yesterday that were very effective, but then stopped blitzing. Jamocus Russie is young and would fall prey to the continued blitzing pressure, but Monte's head wasn't in it. Raheem was yelling at Monte on the Sidelines to no avail, but Monte was playing for the field goal, just like Jon was on offense. I'm sick of field goals and a Kicker that has no leg. Monte says "bend, don't break". Well they broke it off in yer ahrse, Monte, again and again. Wait til the SEC gets ahold of ye, ye be wishin for leprechauns named Gruden. Again, I say ye, hire Steve Spagnola and let him do his thing. OAR & DR, thanks for the entertainment and keep up the good work.

[Mediocrity]

As Sapp, who detests Monte, said in an interview about a week ago...."Monte forgot about the horses who pulled the golden carriage..."..When you have a Sapp, a Brooks, a Lynch, a Simeon Rice, a Barber all in their prime, it tends to make a coach look very good...what has MONTAY done with a Hovan, a Carter, an aging Brooks & Barber and a Gaines Adams???.and I forgot..a Jovan Haye..(who would not have been good enough to make the team in 1999-2002)...Oh, He had his team get run over and embarassed...Bye, Monte..now take our ego out of here but leave the lying little midget coach..cause I want to stay in tampa and will be here as long as he is...Happy New Year, Sucs losers, and your season will be more of the same next year....(Gaines, try to get your bench up into the high 3's!!!!)

[Larry]

As frustrated as I am with the last month of the season and the situation with Monte Kiffen I don't blame him, I blame Bucs management.

As soon as he decided to go and made it official they should have released him to pursue his new opportunity. Instead of making a clean break they fiddled around with it, then panic and offer the DC position to Raheem Morris without waiting to see who else might come available.

I have no idea whether or not Raheem Morris will be a good DC, I guess time will tell. Regardless of which way it goes the Glazers and Bruce Allen were deer in the headlights. They seem to have spent the last couple of years in this position, hope they wake up in '09.

[John]

It was Lane Kiffin's fault for the distraction, not Monte's. Once it was out in the media, Monte had no choice or it would have been a bigger distraction.

But the Monte move was not what caused the collapse, it was Earnest Graham going down. We were 8-2 with him, and 1-5 without. That says it all.

[John]

9-7 was not too bad for a team that was predicted to win 7 games at most.

[Larry]

You have a point John. If you'd have told me the Bucs would finish the '08 season 9-7 in August I'd have said it was a good year. The way the last month ended sure does leave a bitter taste though.

[Brandon]

Hey guys, you know, after all these freaking years... it's K-I-F-F-I-N... ok, KiffIn with an "I" after the "F"s. Unbelievable that after 13 freaking years you dummies still can't spell the man's name. Now I guess it is time to spell the new DC's name incorrectly (hopefully for another 13 years)... what's his name... oh yeah, Ruh-heame Moarriss...derrrrrrrrr

[shane]

Brandon its Raheem Moreass