Had Kiffin stuck around that class of 09 may have faired better. Some of the those guys that uncommitted when CLK left ended up having pretty good careers.
His current team at USC isnt too shabby either.
If Kiffin stays, Brown is still here, Oku is probably here, Teague's at WR and other dominos possibly fall in place. Kiffin took some chances on guys because he had 2 months and was trying to sell a 5-7 program to recruits. Very rarely do coaching changes result in an improvement in the current recruiting class. His '10 class was top 5 when he left and more than likely moving up.
The one thing that kills me is people talk about all the "thugs" he signed when we weren't the only ones willing to take a chance on them. I'm sure Saban didn't back off Myles, Urban off Nu'keese or Les off Janzen. Whether you hate him or not, there's no disputing he handled the off field issues appropriately. He was stricter than the previous regime and probably this one too. He's had that mentality at USC as well, and I remember reading how the USC players said he was much stricter than Pete Carroll.
I dislike Kiffin like most of the rest of you guys, but the best sales pitch I have heard out of this..." They only have 18 schollies so for them to interested in me was a great honor" ....Now that is great spin!!!