Lane Kiffin and Tim Tebow have something in common.
They both have made unprompted promises to fans.
"I'm not promising how many wins we're going to have, how many championships," said Tennessee's first-year coach during his introductory news conference. "I can't do that. I don't know that. There's too many variables within that.
"But I can tell you this right now: No one is going to outwork us, no one is going to outwork me as a head coach and no one is going to outwork our staff that we put together. That's the promise I'm giving you. The wins will come after that."
Tebow's vow ended with confetti and a national championship. Many say Kiffin will have to fight to make the Volunteers bowl-eligible in 2009.
When the two cross paths Saturday, everyone will be watching.
RE-IGNITING THE RIVALRY
The Florida-Tennessee rivalry is traditionally a matchup between two of the Southeastern Conference's powerhouses and typically has postseason implications - in the 17 years since the SEC split into two divisions, the Gators or Volunteers have represented the East all but three times.
But while the UF-UT all-time series stands tied at 19 apiece, Smokey hasn't had a lot to cheer about in recent times. The Gators, who have never led in the rivalry's standings, have won 17 of the last 23 meetings, including four straight under Urban Meyer. The team's last matchup in The Swamp (2007) featured UF's largest margin of victory in the series, a 59-20 blowout.
Kiffin is doing his best to change these perceptions while ensuring every Florida player, coach and fan has had the Sept. 19 showdown circled months in advance.
From his playful jab during his introductory news conference to falsely accusing Meyer of cheating, Kiffin hasn't backed down from arguably top program in the nation.
Calling out Meyer hasn't sat well with UF's players.
"I don't like anyone talking about coach Meyer," Tebow said. "I try to not let it affect me, although you know I always have coach Meyer's back in anything because I know what type of a person he is, and I know what he believes in and I know what he stands for."
Offensive lineman Maurkice Pouncey added: "Coach is our family, man. We came here, he brought us here, put us under our wing, and we're going to put him underneath ours."
Still, Kiffin didn't pass up the opportunity earlier this week to take a dig at UF's spread offense and its ability to prepare receivers for the NFL. Former Pahokee High wide receiver Nu'Keese Richardson elected to attend Tennessee at the last minute this spring instead of coming to Florida.
"The only time I really see them lose kids, is because kids want to play in a pro-style offense," Kiffin said. "It's such a great place to play and they do such a good job of coaching, but you see some kids that don't want to play in that system because a lot of times it hurts them going to the next level for their draft status."
Florida, coincidentally, sent out a press release Tuesday afternoon ("Gators in the NFL - Week 1") that included a chart that listed college programs by receivers drafted since 2006. Florida is tied for the lead with six, while Tennessee has one.
None of this would appear to make Gators fans any more enamored with Kiffin, who makes his debut in The Swamp on Saturday as a four-touchdown underdog.
But Tennessee safety Eric Berry respects his new coach for sticking his neck out.
"Our situation last year was kind of different because, in a way, we didn't know who had our back as far as from a coaching standpoint or anybody because of the season we had," Berry said. "So him coming in and saying what he said, no I wouldn't do it personally, but the way he did it, it showed us he had our back and he believed in us."
"It just showed us that he had confidence in us. That really just made us want to play that much more for him, made us want to give it up for him and just really put it on the line. So in a way, I wouldn't call out anybody or anything like that, but it did help us from a team standpoint as far as how close we bought in to what he had to do and what he brought in to this program."
REPLACING A LEGEND
It is clear that this is Kiffin's program now.
Tennessee's 10-man coaching staff doesn't contain a single returning member from the 2008 season.
In fact, Kiffin has tried to assemble an all-star cast around him, and it's costing the Volunteers' athletic budget more than $5 million this fall. Father Monte Kiffin, longtime defensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, moved to Knoxville to fill the same role and will make $1.2 million for the 2009 season.
Aside from Monte Kiffin, Tennessee's staff mostly consists of coaches plucked from other SEC programs.
Recruiting coordinator and assistant head coach Ed Orgeron was the head coach at Ole Miss from 2005-07 before spending 2008 as a New Orleans Saints assistant. Running backs coach Eddie Gran spent five years at Ole Miss (1994-98) before becoming an Auburn assistant from 1999-2008. Quarterbacks coach David Reaves had been on South Carolina's staff from 2002-08 before leaving for Knoxville. Linebackers coach Lance Thompson arrived from Alabama after a two-year stint. Wide receivers coach Frank Wilson was on the Ole Miss staff from 2005-07 before spending a year at Southern Miss then coming to Tennessee.
"It's our first year," Lane Kiffin said. "There's a long-term plan here that we're getting done"
How much patience Tennessee fans have remains to be seen. The Volunteers faithful ran longtime coach Phillip Fulmer out of town after a 5-7 record last season despite a career record of 152-52 in 17 years as head coach.
"You know everybody has the chance to do things their way," said Fulmer, who is now an analyst for CBS. "We were very pleased with what we were able to accomplish during the majority of our time, and we did it without having to be brash and so on. But this is his style, what he thought he had to do.
"We didn't have a very good season last year. I certainly take full responsibility for that. And now, it's his turn to do it as he thinks he needs to do it. But the problem in this league is you're going to play great football teams every week once you get into the Southeastern Conference schedule. So if you're going to be brash, you'd better be able to back it up."
SLOW START
Kiffin's hiring spruced up Tennessee's offseason and brought a lot of hope to Knoxville. It has been less than a storybook beginning, with UT losing 19-15 to UCLA last week, a game the Volunteers entered as 9-point favorites. The Bruins were slated to finish seventh in the Pacific-10 Conference in the preseason media poll.
"It's sort of what Sarah Palin did for the Republican ticket. Maybe not get more votes, but energize the base of the Republican Party," said longtime CBS analyst Tim Brando. "It doesn't mean that it's necessarily going to be successful, but if that's what (Tennessee) wanted to do when they hired Kiffin, that's what he was able to accomplish in the offseason. Now, we'll see how much staying power he has and how successful he can be. He's got a long way to go, in my view, to be as successful as Phil Fulmer."
The success or failure of Tennessee's third coach in 33 years won't be decided Saturday.
But his first chance at living up to his pledge will come against a quarterback whose vow is etched on the side of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
Kiffin can only hope his promise will be as prophetic.
