Double Duty

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BOCA RATON – Lane Kiffin frequently characterizes his role at FAU as being the CEO of football.

This week, he’s also a juggler.

With the Boca Raton Bowl four days away, and the early signing period beginning the following morning, Kiffin is simultaneously preparing the Owls for the game against Akron and shaping the makeup of the program for years to come.

Staying home to play in the Boca Bowl is what allows – in some ways forces – Kiffin to play the two roles.

With the Boca Bowl being played on Tuesday, instead of a normal Saturday game, Kiffin put the Owls through their paces as though Friday were a normal Tuesday – doing the same things they normally would four days before kickoff.

“We’ve got recruits here on official visits,” Kiffin said. “That’s abnormal on a Tuesday practice. Trying to get ready for that, trying to get prepared for that, we’ve got coaches going to dinner last night with recruits and dinner tonight and stuff. It’s a lot going on.”



A few recruits on official visits attended Friday’s practice. More are expected to arrive later in the day.

By playing at home, FAU can host official visitors throughout the weekend. Akron, for example, could still host official visitors in Ohio this weekend, but with the team arriving in South Florida on Friday, there wouldn’t be much reason to do so.

“We’re able to do that because we’re here,” Kiffin said. “If we were at a a bowl site we couldn’t, so that is good for the program because we lost a lot of time in recruiting. We lost a whole week by playing a championship game and a weekend of trips. We’re just managing the best that we can.”

Judging by the past week, the Owls are managing the recruiting portion just fine. Five players committed to FAU over the last seven days. Most expect to sign on Wednesday.

When recruits make their official visit during the season, they don’t usually arrive in time to see FAU practice – though they do attend the game.



During the major recruiting weekends the Owls traditionally host during January, they don’t even have the benefit of seeing games.

“We’ve got guys here seeing us practice – not just official visitors, but other kids on break, high school kids coming up to watch us and, like you said, some of these kids are getting ready to sign,” Kiffin said. “Had we been away somewhere, obviously, we wouldn’t have been able to do that.”

FAU is not allowed to provide recruits with sideline access or tickets to Tuesday’s Boca Bowl.

Kiffin wasn’t happy with the practice high school players watched on Friday.

Getting players back into game mode following the post-championship game layoff, which barely afforded the Owls time to practice from Dec. 3 through Wednesday, remains a worry for the Owls’ coach.

“That’s always concern,” Kiffin said. “Tackling on defense is a concern. I do like that it’s not as long of a layoff as I’ve been used to or been around where it’s been like a month. This is kind of like having a bye-plus.”



Playing a bowl game at home can help make it easier to fall back into a normal game-week routine.

“I feel like this is what they’re used to – normal game,” Kiffin said. “Don’t have to do something different or practice any different.”