On adding Joe Houston as special teams coordinator
Reporter: I don’t think we’ve had a chance to ask you yet about Joe Houston. Can you talk about why you added him and what makes him an effective special teams coordinator?
Kiffin: Yeah, I think Joe has done a really good job. I personally knew Joe. Joe was actually a walk-on kicker for us when I was the coach at USC and we put him on scholarship. And then I actually tried to hire him one time before when he was with the Patriots and Belichick and it didn’t work out. So I followed him. Then he also worked for Joe Judge. I knew a lot about how good Joe was and so glad it worked out.
On Stacy Gage and coin-toss decisions
Reporter: Can you talk about Stacy Gage? What kind of camp he’s had? How do you see him in the offense? And what is your criteria or process when you win the coin toss—whether to take it or defer?
Kiffin: Two very different questions. Normally they kind of have something to do with each other. Stacy’s done really well. It’s a good spot by you. He’s had a really good camp. Really done things for not kind of a marquee name coming in, and that’s how we do it. We just open it up and evaluate guys from scratch regardless of what they’ve done before. So really pleased with him and he’s gotten reps to show that.
Coin toss is discussed every week. Analytics are referred to as far as where we are playing, what are the rankings of offense and defense, what are the success of our first drives, the opponent’s first drives, the opponent’s defense, our defense. It’s not the old days where you just say tails never fails. We go a lot into that. Our numbers over time would show us the majority of the time we end up taking the ball outside of a few certain criteria, but a lot of that’s due to the performance of our offense, especially in the first quarter of games. It has done as well as anybody in the country over time.
On where the team stands now (defense vs. offense)
Reporter: Earlier in the spring you talked about where your team was and you felt like it was a defensive team. Where would you assess that your team is now?
Kiffin: I feel the defense is still performing really well, especially the ones. Princewell’s really been a dominant force and especially in the ability to catch the quarterback, which I think is very important nowadays—not just being good rushers. More people have turned to athletic quarterbacks in college football. A big part of third downs is when you get there, can you get him down? That was in our favor a lot last year on offense. He made a number of plays today like that. I feel like our defense is playing really well. We still have a lot of work to do with depth. We still have work to do at the defensive tackle spot figuring that out.
Our offense has started to improve. Sam has been awesome. Really has been. I don’t say that very often, but he made two throws back to back today that I call adult throws that not many people in the country can make. Really pleased with him and now we got to make more plays around him. We’re going to talk to Charlie tomorrow.
On OC Charlie (hiring story and relationship)
Reporter: Just kind of tell me the evolution of that. How did you meet him and was there a moment where you really began to trust him enough to run the offense the way he does now?
Kiffin: I love the story. I feel like it’s kind of one of those things you get older, you eventually have stories where people kind of come along with you and grow up. He was brought to our attention. There was a guy named Eric Heaw that had been at Kansas when we were at Alabama that had been at Kansas with Charlie’s dad. Charlie was just probably a student on the staff hanging around and helping out at Kansas and he just said, “Hey, I think you’d really like this guy. We had a spot open. The guy’s a genius and I just think you’d really love finding this guy at this age.” Came on interview and did great.
I’ve told the story before—photographic memory. I was told about it and I challenged it with an ID and credit card at dinner and then brought it up the next day and he could remember all of it. It’s just been a really cool story. Him and I talk all the time about some things you think are bad are good and some things are good or bad. If you reserve judgment eventually they may be opposite of what you think.
We’ve had where he’s left me. I actually brought him to FAU with me and then he left after a couple weeks and went with Sark to the Falcons. Then I brought him back and then in a way I left him—I didn’t bring him to Ole Miss. His wife holds that against me at times, but it all worked out and then we brought him back and almost lost him again in this last transition. Really cool that he came back to us. As we talked about the other day, his stats are amazing and his ability to coach the quarterbacks. I think this quarterback’s going to play really well and if he does, at some point people got to say, okay, what’s the common denominator here of these last three quarterbacks? I would say they’re Charlie.
On preparing for Clemson
Reporter: I know you guys have two weeks until the game, but when does that process start of maybe starting to prepare for Clemson? Having an extra week before that game—is that something you guys like to take advantage of?
Kiffin: We will next week. We go through a mock week really with mostly Clemson focus, especially being a bigger opponent than some that we’ve opened with over the years. That will be really a mock week with a mock game and go through all those, especially with a new team—from the hotel to Saturday mornings to everything to the band. I think we got everything on there to make sure that when we run out there on Saturday in Tiger Stadium that, outside of the fans, we’ve gone through everything else.
On the Louisiana eligibility ruling / TRO
Reporter: You may have seen the ruling yesterday in Louisiana that some football players, Ole Miss players, and there’s one as a former LSU player. They’re eligible now, but it’s a temporary restraining order. How much clarity do you need before you even look into something like that?
Kiffin: I think there’s a lot into that and the questions that come from that. Fair question, but I’m just not going to comment on any of it because there’s just too many directions of questions I can go to.
On Bo Bordalon
Reporter: Bo Bordalon started at Ed White Newman, was dominant all through high school. Then for four years he had to play some special teams, got in a few games here and there. What kind of example does he show to some of the younger guys? He was a beast in the weight room that he’s finally getting his shot…
Kiffin: Yeah, I think we’ve, for whatever reason, kind of a lot of times in our first year at the [places we’ve been]… guys who stay and keep working get their opportunities. (He continued on Bordalon’s perseverance and example.)
On work-life balance
Reporter: Just in terms of work-life balance of a major power coach… Is there anything interesting or particular about this job or this place or the way of life in Louisiana that has caused you to change or re-evaluate things in how you manage everything—from parenting to hobbies to the football stuff?
Kiffin: That’s kind of a really deep question in a lot of ways. I’ve struggled over time with that and tried to figure it out. Actually Tim Grover, as you bring this up, is coming tomorrow to speak to the team and he writes about that. A lot of times there’s people that don’t have it and that’s okay. I’ve tried to at times and now that two of the kids are in college… once they get in high school they’re really busy, especially Knox with football. I wouldn’t say I really have much of it and that’s okay. Almost all my waking time is here and especially in a first year of a program. I think that’s paid off in a lot of ways over time and the success we’ve had in programs, but there’s always a cost-benefit to everything. Whether that’s right or wrong, that’s really the path I chose. I’ve tried to kind of get out of it and it doesn’t really work very well with the way that I guess I’m wired.
On Dominic McKinley and Steph Green
Reporter: Your thoughts on the progression of Dominic McKinley, Steph Green. Those two are getting some more reps. Primarily Dom McKinley—what have you seen from him over the course of fall camp?
Kiffin: Dom’s had a really good camp. Really kind of challenged him in spring. Didn’t tell you what I told him. Didn’t really have a good spring in my opinion of what he should for his size and his ability and really has stepped up especially in the last probably week and a half. It’s been great to see he’s run with our ones and done a really good job. Steph has battled some injuries, which he’s done a lot in his career, and so he’s flashed but we’ve told him that we need more consistency. Now as he’s getting healthy, we’d expect that.
On young coordinators and staff
Reporter: Both your coordinators are pretty young. You’re talking about finding Charlie when he’s just a student. How important is finding youth in your coaching staff while building one up to compete for a national championship?
Kiffin: I kind of over years have moved on that. When I was younger, so young as a head coach, I tried to find a good balance of veteran coaches because I thought that was important, especially with me being young. I think now that that’s kind of moved the other way and I have more experience, I’m able to do that and have really young coaching staffs. They’ve really been really young for a while now. I think that’s important. I think relationships with kids and ability to relate to them in college is really big. It usually helps in recruiting sometimes, but I think it really helps when the players are there and their ability to understand players and how they think nowadays.
I know probably every 10 years every coach is going to say kids are different. We’re all going to say that kids are changing. But I feel like they really have changed how they think, how long they can pay attention. Evolving in the way that we teach them is big. And I think younger people a lot of times are more open to that.
Follow-up: Both being coaches’ sons
Reporter: Since we’re on the subject of Charlie, you are both coaches’ sons. Do you think that’s another reason why you have such a good working relationship?
Kiffin: I think that is. Having both grown up in it and really successful fathers that are very public-figure coaches. I think that’s a common thing that we have together. It’s been cool walking him through where in a way he’s a younger version of me in some ways—being so young with so much success, mistakes that I made or balance things maybe that I would try to change if I could. I’m able to discuss those with him.
On offensive line depth (Harper and Satarite)
Reporter: What do you think of your offensive line depth, particularly Harper and Satarite? Do you think you’re going to play more than five in a game?
Kiffin: It’s a concern and something that is high on our list of concerns right now. We’ve got to continue to get guys better. They got to improve so that we feel more confident with that. I mean, I guess before yesterday, normally we’d say our team is our team and so it’s what we got, but I guess that potentially changes yesterday. Other than that, we got to get the guys better.
On Sam (QB) surprising him
Reporter: You mentioned a couple of those throws that Sam had today. He had a lot of success at Arizona State, but is there anything you’ve seen from him through camp so far where you thought, “I didn’t know I was getting that,” or ways that he’s surprised you?
Kiffin: I think going through spring where he couldn’t really push off and move around, that’s hard to throw and be in rhythm. As much as I disliked it at the time, kind of has been awesome because now you see all these things. It’s like they’re new. We’d seen them on film and then they were gone and then they came back. It’s been great. He’s doing a great job with Charlie and Dne and really seeing the field really well and getting us in and out of things. I’m excited to see him play. I just want to get everybody else making enough plays around him.
On touchdown celebrations
Reporter: Your teams have had some unique touchdown celebrations over the years—on the sideline last year dunking on the basketball goals. Is that something you just kind of let the guys decide what’s going to be the fun thing this year?
Kiffin: No. I just kind of over years have thought of things and tried them in spring and stuff—just kind of way outside-the-box things that just create. There’s a plan when we go to places that are specific for those places. Sometimes I feel like a place needs to create an identity, create a national interest from recruits around the country and the way people see it. Then they come in and we do some things and then obviously the offense when it’s working like it has works into that and you have a unique product so that you can fill a stadium and you can get people to come to the games and have record crowds and get national recruits to come. All that stuff goes into that. It’s all one of the things that is really thought out. Sometimes we just fall into some things, but those have been really thought out.
Wrap
Kiffin: All right, guys. Thanks.
That’s the complete presser. A few spots in the auto-captions were slightly garbled (especially the Bo Bordalon answer), but the substance is all there. Geaux Tigers.
LSU Football Report 