There would have been no tarmac. There would have been no bolting in the middle of the night. There certainly wouldn’t have been mustard bottles.

Had Lane Kiffin, who will lead Ole Miss into SEC Media Days on Monday stayed at Tennessee, I can only think of one word to describe it: rough.

There are two camps of thought in the great Kiffin debate, which is “What would have happened to the Vols had he not left in 2010 for Southern California?”

One group of people are certain that Kiffin would have had immediate success. That isn’t true. Another thinks he would have flamed out at Tennessee had he not reeled in some of his rogue, recruiting ways. That is probably true. However, there is one thing that is absolutely fact: Kiffin is a far better coach now than he was – or may have even been – for the Vols.

Kiffin’s offense is as much Bama as Lane

Kiffin isn’t the first coach that has changed his career trajectory by working with Alabama head coach Nick Saban, who has often employed out-of-work coaches as analysts.

Kiffin was one of those wayward souls. However, he was certainly not in charge of overhauling Alabama’s offense, as he has often gotten credit for doing. Kiffin and everybody else that preferred fast-paced offenses were already doing that. Alabama was the next in line, but they wanted more.

Kiffin was tasked with building the offense that Saban wanted, not the one that he ran at Southern California, which was much more pro-style. Saban wanted to take advantage of the lax rule in college football which allows offensive linemen to run downfield in running and, more importantly, passing scenarios. That led to the run-pass option offense, which has had much more of an impact on college football offenses than just getting a few plays off a bit quicker. 

Alabama still runs RPO’s today. So does Kiffin. Saban, let’s say, suggested that college football might be heading in that direction. He was right.

Lucky clock management

Kiffin getting fired on the tarmac by Southern California made every Tennessee fan happy. Kiffin had left the Vols suddenly after one season for his “dream job” and then that was taken away from him. Sadly, Tennessee rejoiced in Kiffin’s failure. They should have celebrated that Kiffin wasn’t fired on the tarmac of Tyson-McGhee Airport. Kiffin would have had the same struggles at Tennessee that he had with the Trojans.

Kiffin was the only semi-known coach at the time that would take the Southern California coaching job because most believed that major sanctions were on the way for USC. Kiffin didn’t care, he wanted the job. However, the eventual punishments placed upon Southern California where much more serious than initially thought.

Kiffin spoke publicly that his roster at USC was depleted and it got worse over time. There’s no guarantee that Tennessee’s roster would have improved dramatically given Kiffin’s short time at Tennessee. As a whole, his one signing class floundered on and off the field – and often in jail.

Southern California taught Kiffin that he had plenty to learn about how to run an organization. He improved and ran a tighter ship at Florida Atlantic. However, he may have never gotten that chance had it not been for the odd timing of his firing at Southern California.

Timely tarmac termination

It’s safe to assume that Kiffin wouldn’t have remained the head coach at Southern California even if he would have lasted past September 2013, when he was fired. The timing couldn’t have been better for Kiffin.

With no gamelans to draw up, Kiffin had time and Saban knew that. Had Kiffin been fired at the end of the season, Saban could have reached out to any number of analysts to re-direct the Crimson Tide’s offense. Instead, Kiffin had a head start.

Saban probably overlooked some things that Kiffin is known for, such as being late to meetings, because Saban had a team to coach and Kiffin was often on his own, cooking up the next Bama offensive phase. That time gave Kiffin time to show off some of that offensive genius that he’s now known for and adapt to Saban’s strict style. It took time and it took his willingness to adapt and learn from his peers.

That may have happened at Tennessee. However, patience would have been required and it would have been rough.