My thoughts on UT Football...you knew it was coming

Before I get to Lane Kiffin, you know that I have to lay out the foundation.

Music to listen to: Freek’N You by Jodeci



When I was driving back and forth between Kennesaw and Nashville, this song came up and it reminded me how underrated Jodeci is in the realm of music. For some reason the group didn’t get as big as it should have. It may have had something to do with race, the fact that they imploded earlier than they should have or whatever, but I thought that they should have gotten more love then they have, so now I do it here.

So our boy Lane Kiffin has caused some drama once again in the world of college football with his move from Tennessee to USC. He’s a shady character, this is known, but lets look at this from all angles and perspectives or prospective, whatever:

Lane Kiffin: Has a man who has accomplished less gotten more in football, from a football coaching profession? He was an assistant, not a coordinator, at USC for a few years during that school’s heyday in the early 2000’s, so this whole perception that he had a major role in that’s school’s dominance during this period is not a lie but not a complete truth.

He then parlays that into an NFL job with the Oakland Raiders, the most dysfunctional franchise in the league west of the Washington Redskins. Kiffin is a failure there, but it was the Raiders, where everyone fails, so it isn’t his fault.

Then he gets an SEC job at a highly respectable school, not a major program, but a good one. He causes a lot of noise, talks about recruiting to the point of annoyance, accuses others of cheating when he’s openly doing it himself, leads the team to seven wins and leaves after one season to get a job at one of the top-five programs in the country.

He does all of this with an arrogance like he belongs. BTW, the guy is younger than 35 years old. As Pat Forde said, its as if he was placed on third base and acts like he hit a triple.

However, he’s a hustler and obviously only thinks about his own well-being. I’m a big believer in karma and Lane’s time will come but if you’ve been given every thing in life, than what do you expect. You can dislike it but you can’t hate on it.

Monte Kiffin: You’re one of the most respected men in the coaching field yet your son is dragging your name in the mud as well with all of these antics. Of course he’s going to be loyal to Lane, probably to a fault, but you have to think that Monte would tell his son that this isn’t the right path to go. But…

I think that there’s a subtle guilt going on here, let me explain. It seems like Monte may feel guilty that he wasn’t there for his son when he was growing up because he was pursuing his coaching career and reached high levels. Now that Monte has a position of power, he has helped his son get his first big break at USC as an assistant, then he convinced his NFL buddies that Lane can coach the Raiders. Finally, in the ultimate act of support, Monte left his NFL position with the Bucs to join his son at UT.

If Monte and the jackass I’m going to mention later weren’t part of the package with Lane, the son doesn’t get hired at UT.

Monte’s coaching legacy is set but his actions may be hurting his son’s in the end.

Ed Orgeron: This jackass has the testicles to be in LA while the Kiffins are in Knoxville calling UT recruits, telling the early enrollees to not attend class and then telling them to go to USC. So the same kids you were telling for months to attend UT and the qualities of that school and now you want them to go to USC. I’ve never liked this cheater.

Tennessee athletic department: This is a tough spot because you never expect your coach to leave after one season. If Lane was there for four or five years and then left, then that’s different because that’s expected in these times. I didn’t like the Kiffin hire when it first happened because he was an outsider.

Tennessee is a unique place. I like to make fun of it as a Commodore alum because the school is in East Tennessee and very country. From the awful, ok, I said I was going to be fair in this post, odd Rocky Top song to the bright orange, the school represents a side of southern culture that is unique in its own way.

So you bring in this guy who has a bad personality for your school and doesn’t have experience in the southeast. Furthermore, when Lane started doing his dirt, the school didn’t do a good job of reining him in.

So what does the school do now? I think you have to pick someone who understands the culture of the school and knows its place in the SEC landscape, which brings me to…

Tennessee fans: We’re all fans of a sports team and the toughest thing to do is managing expectations. I think that the maximum for UT is averaging eight wins a season, having a 10-win year once every three years and winning the SEC East every four years and an SEC title every five to six years.

However, they should feel jilted by Kiffin and was feeling the protesting that they did in Knoxville last night. The burning of the couches and painting profanity on rocks was much, but besides that, the fans should react like they did.

USC: You’re really set on Kiffin leading you to glory. I wrote above my lack of faith of him above so I won’t get back into it. USC has to deal with NCAA issues but I’m sure it won’t be anything major. You still are a premier program with a lot of positives, just watch out for your coach.

Rest of SEC: As a Vandy fan, I’m going to miss having a punching bag but I think that Lane was building a nice program at UT that would have done some nice things. For fans of Florida, Alabama and Georgia, things are the same.

Rest of Pac-10: USC is in a vulnerable position. Eight of the programs in that conference have a chance to win a conference title in the next three years (Washington State is the exception, sorry Cougar fans). The Trojans will be back but on paper next year, Oregon, Oregon State, Cal, Arizona and probably Stanford are better.

Recruited student-athlete/family of said recruit: This is my favorite one of all. This shows that loyalty doesn’t exist in college athletics at this level. Hopefully this shows naïve recruited college athletes that they have to have limits to their trust in the process.

I have a nephew who is currently a junior and is being recruited by schools for football at a solid level. First, he isn’t going to enroll early anywhere, that’s for darn sure. There are recruits who are going to be stuck at UT and USC for that matter with coaches they expected to play for up to two weeks ago. Now they have other coaches to play for.

The reality is that he’s going to have to be very, very careful with this process and this is a prime example of it.

OK, those are my thoughts, what are yours?