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What’s it like to coach under Lane Kiffin? Former Ole Miss DL C.J. Johnson explains
By Adam Spencer
Published:
Lane Kiffin was the head coach of the Oakland Raiders, Tennessee Volunteers and USC Trojans from 2007 to 2013 before hitting a bump in his career.
However, by all accounts, he learned a lot from spending three years as Alabama’s offensive coordinator under Nick Saban and is doing things differently now that he is Florida Atlantic’s head coach.
Former Ole Miss DL C.J. Johnson is a member of Kiffin’s FAU staff, coaching the defensive line as a graduate assistant, and explained what it is like working under Kiffin now (via 247Sports):
“It was fun, man,” Johnson said of learning under Kiffin. “It was a great experience. When it was time to work, it was time to work. When we had time to hang out, we hung out. He’s by far one of the smartest football minds I’ve ever been around. I was able to learn a lot of stuff from him and coach Kiffin was really great about preparing his staff week in and week out on all situations. He talked about being situational masters and mastering every situation in the game ‘cause, you know, sometimes you get a situation and you make a bad call and it costs you the game.
“The biggest thing that surprised me was how smart he was. You’d hear all this stuff of him being a guy that would kind of not work or kind of have fun all the time. He’s very sharp-minded when it comes to work. He did a really good job of being organized and making sure guys are getting rest and making sure we’re fresh to play in ballgames. That’s big-time stuff. I was impressed by everything about him.”
The results showed on the field, as Kiffin’s Owls went 11-3 with a Conference USA championship and a 50-3 Boca Raton Bowl victory over Akron to show for their efforts.
Kiffin signed a 10-year deal to remain at FAU, but if he keeps having success with the Owls, it’s unlikely he’ll remain there that long.
Meanwhile, guys like Johnson will continue to absorb all they can from the impressive head coach.
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
