Florida’s Meyer says Lane Kiffin’s comments were surprising because of bond with Monte Kiffin

Meyer: Kiffin’s comments surprising

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Urban Meyer used to spend every offseason with Monte Kiffin.

Beginning in 1996, when Meyer was an assistant coach at Notre Dame, he would travel to Tampa and visit with Kiffin for at least a day. Meyer would glean all he could from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator, picking his brain about defensive philosophy, coverage schemes and blitz packages.

Meyer continued the trips as head coach at Bowling Green (2001-02), Utah (2003-04) and Florida. Meyer even asked Kiffin to come to Gainesville after the Gators struggled on defense in 2007.

Meyer’s relationship with Kiffin, now Tennessee’s defensive coordinator, was good. It also made first-year Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin’s false recruiting allegations that much more surprising in February.

“Actually, yes it did,” Meyer said Sunday. “That’s one of the only comments I’ll make on it. Just because I was fairly close with his father and I just know the way he is. Like I said, that’s all over with. Coach Monte Kiffin and myself have a very good relationship.”

Meyer’s relationship with Lane Kiffin surely pales by comparison, and it will be a main story line this week as the top-ranked Gators (2-0) and Tennessee (1-1) prepare for their Southeastern Conference opener in Gainesville.

The day after national signing day, Kiffin falsely accused Meyer of a recruiting violation. Kiffin told fans Meyer violated rules by phoning receiver prospect Nu’Keese Richardson while he was on an official visit at Tennessee. The NCAA and SEC, though, say it’s not a recruiting violation to contact recruits while they are on official visits to other schools.

Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley rushed to his coach’s defense, delivering a quick and harsh response and calling for an apology. SEC commissioner Mike Slive reprimanded Kiffin, who then issued an apology.

The Gators haven’t forgotten about it, either.

Offensive lineman Matt Patchan called Kiffin a “bozo” at the team’s media day last month, and receiver Riley Cooper said the Gators were looking forward to playing Tennessee more than anyone else because of all the “trash talking going on and stuff.”

Although Meyer acknowledged in March that Kiffin’s comments fired him up, he has since avoided the topic. He even told his players after Saturday’s 56-6 win over Troy not to talk about Kiffin or what happened earlier this year.

Kiffin also promised at his introductory news conference to snap a four-game losing streak to Florida.

“I’m really looking forward to embracing some of the great traditions at the University of Tennessee, for instance the Vol Walk, running through the T, singing ‘Rocky Top’ all night long after we beat Florida next year,” Kiffin said. “It will be a blast.”

That quote was blown up and plastered all around Florida’s training facility during the offseason. Although it was taken down before the season, it certainly could go back up this week. After all, Meyer has been known to try just about thing to get his team motivated.

And this game could be critical in the SEC East.

“It’s all about winning the East because if you win the East, you get to Atlanta,” Meyer said. “Look at the 90s and do your homework on this thing. Usually the winner of this game was the team to go to Atlanta. Obviously, Georgia really has a say-so in that now. But the timing of the game and the history of the game has made this rivalry very significant.”

Meyer insisted Sunday that the stakes will overshadow Kiffin’s comments.

“To me, that’s water under the bridge, a long time ago,” Meyer said. “We’re going to try to move the ball against a very good Tennessee defense and our guys understand that. That has nothing to do with this.”

Meyer’s players seemed to get the message, with many of them refusing to comment on any Tennessee-related questions Saturday.

“We have nothing to say,” receiver David Nelson said. “That’s how it’s going to be. We try to do our talking on the field. When they watch film, they can see what kind of team we are, what kind of outfit we put out there on the field.”

On defense, some of what the Gators do might even be attributed to Monte Kiffin.

“He was very hospitable and obviously one of the great coaches in NFL history,” Meyer said. “He came up here, I believe it was a year and a half ago, after our tough year we had on defense. And he was good enough to spend basically an entire day with us in the meeting rooms and talking football with us. We have a good idea of the fundamentals of his defense. He’s a good person and a great coach.”