Kiffin Takes Shots At Meyer

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Yesterday, Urban Meyer got himself in trouble with his mouth during the SEC teleconference.

Later in the day, Lane Kiffin — who’s already on thin ice with the commissioner — took up the Meyer subject with the Knoxville media.

Asked about Meyer’s criticism, Kiffin said, “Urban Meyer?  Criticized the officials, wow, that will be interesting.  We’ll see.”

Asked if he thought public criticism was supposed to stop, Kiffin said, “You guys got the same memo that I got.”

Kiffin also commented on the Brandon Spikes eye-poke play.  “I did see the rerun.  It was pretty bad but we’ll worry about our team and what we can control.  We’ve got a lot of work to do.  Obviously, he’ll discipline his team — or not — however he feels.”

Amusing?  Yes.

Dumb?  Probably.  Over the summer, Mike Slive warned the league’s coaches about speaking negatively about one another in public.  Since then, Kiffin has received a second reprimand and Slive has put out his suspensions-not-reprimands edict.

So why would Kiffin — with Steve Spurrier-esque comment or not — push his luck on this one?

Observations:

* As I stated earlier, I don’t think Meyer’s comments — which were bracketed by praise for SEC officials — will probably draw a suspension.  But since there are no definite rules on how far is too far, I wouldn’t put money it.  Can coaches comment on specific plays or not?  Are they only barred from suggesting that officials should be reprimanded or might be biased?  Who knows?  The policy isn’t clear.

* Kiffin is already the least popular kid in class.  The commissioner made that clear in his letter of reprimand to UT’s coach.  Not only did he tell him to stop criticizing officials, but he added a special paragraph at the end of the form letter just for Kiffin.  In it he commented that Kiffin has already gotten in trouble twice during his “brief” tenure at UT and that on both occasions he was “wrong about the applicable rules.”

* Therefore, it would probably behoove Kiffin to say “no comment” when asked about Meyer or another coach.  Slive might see negative comments about a rival coach as more serious and damaging to the league than Meyer’s most recent comments.  Again, who knows?

* I do know that in life repeat offenders are treated differently than first-time offenders.  If the star pupil is late for class, he gets one penalty.  If the class clown or bully is late for class, he gets another penalty.  Kiffin needs to hope that this one slides under the radar.  Just to be on the safe side.  As of right now Meyer has zero reprimands, Kiffin has two.

* Kiffin has long said that everything he says is said for a reason.  Tennessee fans — as any other fanbase would — buy completely what their coach says.  I buy the general idea that he did come into the league with the idea of stirring things up.  However, I also believe his reputation from Southern Cal and Oakland (cocky) plays into this as well.  Why make these comments about Meyer when he’s been told not to… because he can’t help it.  It’s him.  It’s not all by design.

* Slive should make a couple of quiet phone calls this week giving Meyer and Kiffin one more warning each.  He should also explain as best he can what is what when it comes to criticizing officials and rival coaches.  Where are the lines drawn?  Only the commissioner knows.  And that’s not good.