UCLA football: Chow and Kiffin meet up
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No one should lose sight of the fact that Saturday’s game between UCLA and Tennessee is all about the glare-down between Norm Chow and Lane Kiffin.
Chow, the Bruins offensive coordinator, and Kiffin, the Volunteers coach, worked together at USC from 2001-04. Chow, then, was Kiffin’s boss. That ended, when head coach Pete Carroll either …
a) Promoted Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian in order not to lose them.
… or ...
b) Ditched Chow because he was getting too much credit after back-to-back national championships. USC hasn’t won one since.
So when the Bruins face Kiffin’s Volunteers, grudges will need to be settled. Or not.
“Coach Chow was very instrumental in my development as a coach,” Kiffin said. “I got a chance to spend four years next to him. I watched him call plays. I watched him run the quarterbacks. I watched him run the offense. I am very grateful to have had that chance.”
So the two are the best of friends?
“I can’t remember where we were, but we ran into each other somewhere,” Kiffin said, who added that that meeting, whenever and wherever it was, was friendly.
The two met up once before, when the Tennessee Titians defeated the Oakland Raiders, 13-9. Kiffin was the Raiders’ coach and Chow the Titans’ offensive coordinator.
But there is one Chow-vs.-Kiffin matchup that Lane Kiffin is eagerly anticipating, the one between the UCLA offensive coordinator and Monte Kiffin, the Volunteers defensive coordinator. Monte Kiffin spent 26 seasons in the NFL.
Lane Kiffin said that his relationship with Chow “has nothing to with who is coaching on either side of the ball,” except, of course, when UCLA has the ball.
“I think fans will find it neat to watch the chess match between two legends, Monte Kiffin and Norm Chow,” Lane Kiffin said. “I think that’s pretty intriguing.”
-- Chris Foster
Left photo: Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin. Credit: Wade Payne / Associated Press. Right photo: UCLA offensive coordinator Norm Chow. Credit:Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times