Semi OT: Lane Kiffin Proves Coaches Poll Is Dumb

Submitted by smwilliams on

So, there's this big thing about Lane Kiffin telling people he didn't vote USC #1 in the Coaches' Poll and then USA Today comes out and says "yes, you certainly did". Now, whatever, I don't care, but the crucial part comes at the very end of the story.

Asked if he plans to file future ballots, Kiffin was apathetic.

"I don't really care," he said. "Really, it doesn't make sense to me. The coaches vote, and the coaches I know, the good ones, they don't watch other games. They're trying to worry about their own team, watching film.

"Yet we vote on who's best."

My (somewhat angry) question is this: Hasn't the BCS been using this poll as a primary factor in determining the two teams who play for the title every year?

Can somebody get a petition going to permanently end the poll?

maizenbluedevil

August 10th, 2012 at 10:09 PM ^

I don't understand why he'd lie about it.

Voting USC #1 isn't a huge stretch or anything, and if he thinks they're best, who cares.  What, is he not supposed to vote them #1 since he's their coach?  If he thinks they're the best and votes them lower isn't that just false modesty?  

I do agree w/ you re. the BCS thing though.  Crazy that's 1/3 of their selection criteria but isn't that getting fixed?  Isn't it up to the selection committee now?  

k1400

August 10th, 2012 at 10:25 PM ^

He'd lie because he's Lane Kiffin, and that's what Lane Kiffin does.  Bringin' some SEC flavor out west to the PAC whatever.  That being said, I agree... voting USC #1 isn't a huge stretch.

Funny.... I was just thinking about how B.S. the coaches poll is on Tuesday while i was in Lincoln, looking up at Nebraska's stadium where they list their championships.

Charlie Chunk

August 11th, 2012 at 9:51 AM ^

Coach Hoke is about to complete the coach’s poll...

MSU ranked ahead of Michigan, NEVER. Ohio ranked ahead of Michigan, No Way. Iowa ahead of Michigan, Nah. Wisconsin?

You've got to be kidding.

It's self-defeating to claim another team is better than yours. The coach’s poll is a joke. At least Lane Kiffin said as much.

 

Tater

August 11th, 2012 at 10:52 AM ^

I know it's a different sport, but Bobby Knight used to constantly tell his team that other teams were better than them.  "A Season on the Brink" related how he told them that 14 year-old Damon Bailey was better than anyone on his current team was.  

I know that what Knight did is not "how things are done" in this era, but if every coach subscribed to the theory that it was self-defeating to vote anyone over them, everyone's tally would show one vote for number one: their own.

bronxblue

August 11th, 2012 at 10:47 AM ^

These polls have always been bunk.  I'm always of the belief that you let the teams play the first couple of weeks and then put out a poll.  I mean, LSU is the #1 team entering the season and NOBODY thinks they'll stay there, and they might be upset within the first two weeks.  But someone is going to be able to claim a #1 scalp by beating the #8 team in the country, and that's just idiotic. Right now, it looks like USC and Alabama and then everyone else, so why waste time ranking people until we see how that shakes out.

Also, Kiffin is a jerk, and I fully expect his team to implode this season.  He wins with overwhelming talent, but as an in-game coach he seems incredibly overrated.

TBMWolverine

August 11th, 2012 at 2:02 PM ^

I think it's BS that USA Today released his poll. Just trying to create a story. I don't understand why he lied, but I understand his justification for putting them number 1, but just do it right off the bat, LDL! That being said, I'm the very rare Kiffin fan sooo....take my opinion with a grain of salt.

Thunder71

August 11th, 2012 at 5:59 PM ^

I roomed with Steve Kragthorpe's son in college and played football with him for four years. For those of you who don't know, Steve Kragthorpe was the very successful head coach at Tulsa, moved on to Louisville where he had a tough go of it (Bobby Petrino had left the program in shambles, not surprisingly) and is now the quarterbacks coach at LSU. His son told me that his dad would let him fill out his Top 25 ballot because he didn't have time to watch games and, frankly, didn't care enough to put the time into it. So here is this kid, 9, 10, 11 years old, playing a role in who gets to play for the BCS National Championship. Crazy to me, and proves how silly the coaches poll is.