I heard someone say something along the lines of “the difference between Lane Kiffin and Rex Ryan is that Rex Ryan backs it up. You can’t talk trash if your team is 1-2.”
Uh, why not?
Don’t get me wrong. I think Lane Kiffin has been nothing but a jackass since arriving at Tennessee, but I don’t think that has anything to do with the fact that he didn’t “back up” his braggadocio. If Tennessee had beaten Florida in the Swamp, Lane Kiffin would still be a dick for accusing Urban Meyer of whatever the coach’s equivalent of malpractice is without any sort of evidence.
Personally, I think Lane Kiffin should keep talking trash. I don’t really see why he wouldn’t. What exactly has changed? Because he lost to Florida, the team ranked No. 1 overall in the country, on their notoriously hostile home field? Am I supposed to believe that Lane Kiffin was talking trash because he was absolutely certain he was going to win that game, and now that he’s lost he should stop talking trash altogether?
1. You’re a dick.
2. You want to get in your opponent’s head.
Okay, so it’s usually both. In Lane Kiffin’s case, I think he was successful on both fronts. That game was much closer than anyone expected it to be. Nothing about Florida’s victory over Tennessee changes these reasons for talking trash. If you’re going to criticize a coach for trash talking, talk about his unsportsmanlike conduct, or the fact that he is putting undue pressure on his players to go out and perform. Is that position definitively more valid than the one that sees a coach’s trash talk as a sign of confidence in his players and extra motivation for them to exceed expectations? All I’m saying is you can’t give a coach extra points for guessing correctly. Rex Ryan didn’t know his team would fulfill his prophecy any more than Kiffin did. Rex just happened to be right. You can’t conflate your distaste for Lane Kiffin’s behavior with his failure to “back up” his statements.
I hope Lane keeps talking. I have more respect for a guy who refuses to take anything as a sign of his incapability. If he wants to get up there and say his team is going to win every game, good for him. I’m sure that’s how he wants his players to think. The real problem with trash talk is when it becomes more about the trash talker’s ego than the team’s success. And maybe that’s what’s going on in Tennessee. If you want to criticize Lane Kiffin for that, then go right ahead. Just make sure that from now on when you criticize someone for trash talking, YOU back it up with a consistent argument.