Why Lane Kiffin has an advantage over Tennessee when it comes to landing transfer players
If it seems like Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss Rebels are making more progress in landing players from the NCAA transfer portal than the Tennessee Vols, there's a reason. It's because Kiffin has an advantage over Tennessee when it comes to landing transfer players. Josh Heupel and the Vols place a huge importance on […]
If it seems like Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss Rebels are making more progress in landing players from the NCAA transfer portal than the Tennessee Vols, there's a reason.
It's because Kiffin has an advantage over Tennessee when it comes to landing transfer players.
Josh Heupel and the Vols place a huge importance on culture. That means they're extremely picky when it comes to which players they offer. Tennessee has also been hesitant to throw obscene amounts of NIL money at players just to lure them to Knoxville (to be clear, the Vols aren't being frugal with NIL money, they're just not offering up absurd amounts to just any player….that's the type of thing that could impact a locker room).
Kiffin, meanwhile, has accepted that his culture at Ole Miss is never going to be great. And that's a sacrifice he's willing to make to land some of the top talent out of the portal (this week, it appears that Ole Miss is leading the way for former South Carolina WR Juice Wells…and Texas A&M DL Walter Nolen will visit Oxford this weekend).
"I think, kind of accepting that you’re going to not have phenomenal culture,” said Kiffin last August. “Doesn’t mean I don’t work on it, but I think I have to realize like hey, it just is what it is. Like, one, we don’t have many kids who are dying to be here. They didn’t grow up wanting to go to Ole Miss. These transfer kids are going to a place that fits them best at that time. It’s not about the school and you don’t really have them on their third, fourth, fifth year with you to where they know how we do it, they know expectations, the culture, the other players. Unfortunately, now it’s like plug and play.”
Kiffin said something similar last spring when he noted that he doesn't preach "family" at Ole Miss.
"These coaches sell parents on — especially in the south — come here, it's family, we're gonna treat you like family," said Kiffin to ESPN. "I'm like, 'No, they're not.' If it was family, then why do coaches bring kids in and say, 'Hey, we want to help you transfer, it'd be better for you to transfer.'? You don't do that to your family. So the whole family thing, I said, 'We have to teach some reality that there's a business side.'"
When you're not worried about culture, you can go after any player in the portal without worrying about the locker room. But that's not how Heupel chooses to do things at Tennessee.
Now, is that the right decision? For now, it seems to be. Heupel has created (and sustained) a strong culture at Tennessee since arriving in early 2021. But will that culture lead to championships?
We'll have to wait a couple of years to truly know which approach is best.
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