Lane Kiffin, the first-year Tennessee football coach, stopped in front of a wide mirror to check his look. He straightened his orange tie, buttoned his jacket, smoothed his hair and gathered himself for the next round in the news media gantlet Friday. For two and a half hours, Kiffin explained the signing of Daniel Hood, who was convicted of sexual assault when he was 13. He denied that he told a South Carolina high school player that he would be pumping gas in a few years if he signed with the Gamecocks. Over and over, Kiffin, 34, had to stand up for a boisterous off-season that included accusing Florida of cheating, his own secondary violations of NCAA rules, and teasing Alabama coach Nick Saban, saying that Saban had lost his best recruiter, Lance Thompson, an assistant who Kiffin lured to Tennessee. The only reprieve for Kiffin came when he ducked inside a bathroom between interview sessions, but that was a brief interlude. When he emerged, there was an armada of television cameras waiting for him, and the circus moved on. 'We're creating interest, and it's shown,' Kiffin said. 'I've not loved everything I've had to do, but it needed to be done, in my opinion, to be able to put us where we are today.' Kiffin said his plan was to create national attention for his program, but there was suspicion that he was more reckless than calculating when he criticized Urban Meyer, who has won two national championships at Florida, and said that Pahokee, Fla., a hotbed of high school talent, was a desolate town. Kiffin later apologized for the remarks. Kiffin scored the first upset of the college football season by not offending any of the other coaches at the Southeastern Conference media days. He and Saban were the only coaches among the 12 to use all of their allotted 40 minutes in front of the print media. Asked if his coach had revved up opponents too much and put his players at risk for a long season, the Tennessee senior tailback Montario Hardesty said that opponents 'were going to come after us anyway.' Several times Kiffin started an answer by saying, 'I'm probably going to get some heat for this,' but he always managed to avoid throwing another lightning bolt with his mouth. SEC Commissioner Mike Slive, who earlier had reprimanded Kiffin publicly for his comments toward Florida, was in the audience during one news media session. Kiffin, who the Oakland Raiders fired in 2008, was hired after Tennessee went 5-7 in 2008 and fired the longtime coach Phil Fulmer. There is plenty of contrast between the men; Fulmer guards his words, while Kiffin is rapid-fire with his. Kiffin, however, said there has been more substance than bravado in his brief rein. He said his program's academic performance has improved and that none of his players have been arrested in the seven months he has been on campus. Arrests were an issue that plagued the program for several years under Fulmer. Tennessee also signed the No. 1 running back in the country, Bryce Brown, of Wichita, Kan. The Vols were picked to finish fourth among six teams in the SEC Eastern division. Even with the turbulence he created in the off-season and the attention he grabbed across the South, Kiffin was surprised to see the halls of the Wynfrey Hotel teeming with news media. With about 1,000 news media members at the three-day event, Kiffin faced a roomful of inquiry, and he answered questions politely. He did his best to be more subdued this week. Kiffin said he met with Slive at the SEC offices last Monday to try to explain that he was less of a renegade and more of a coach. A more important meeting took place last week with the mother of a prospect who told Kiffin she had heard from a rival university that Kiffin was running a renegade program. Kiffin, who finds himself trying to calm the waters he stirred, reassured the recruit's mother that his program had more discipline than his actions might have shown. Kiffin hinted he might not be done with his off-season theatrics. He mentioned a billboard that will be going up in the South Florida recruiting ground. 'That will give you something to write about that will help us, too,' Kiffin said. 'I'm not going to give you any more than that.' 