Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin says he's not sure announcing his intention to follow his son Lane to the University of Tennessee was the 'right thing to do,' in the wake of the team's four-game collapse.

Kiffin made the decision before the Bucs' Dec. 8 game at Carolina and told the team the following Wednesday.

Kiffin, 68, is an easy scapegoat for the Bucs becoming the first team in 15 years to start the season 9-3 and fail to reach the playoffs.

"I don't know,'' Kiffin said of the timing of his announcement. "I do think back to Mike Holmgren, you know, with Seattle. I said to myself when Mike announced that this was his last year, because Mike's a heck of a football coach and I have a lot of respect for him. And then you think back and he thought he maybe shouldn't have announced it at the time, you know.

  "And I didn't know. Like I said, I would've liked to have had my choice. But there was so much speculation, I tried to put it to rest. In the same sense, I don't know if it was the right thing to do or not. I really don't. It's hard to look back at that.''