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12 January 2010
How about a hand for Lane Kiffin? That was some rebuilding job huh?
Look, I'm not faulting good ol' Lane for making the move from Knoxville to Los Angeles. He's leaving one elite program for another, one where he has a history. It makes sense. And coaches leave all the time to take new jobs- nothing new about that. But for Kiffin, who announced his entrance to the SEC with a string of barbs toward the power programs, who had Vols fans rejoicing about the energy he brought, who talked more than any 7-6 coach ever should, his quick exit is decidedly fitting. A guy who promised to have the Vols competing with Florida and Alabama again is now on his way out of town, having barely spent a full calendar year there. For a guy who claimed to embrace the Vol nation, he sure was quick to jump on another offer the second it came his way.
And that my friends, is why SEC fans are laughing today. All of his bravado, all of his comments, all of his "energy"....and yet all Knoxville has to show for it is a 7-6 record, an embarrassingly lopsided bowl loss, and now, another coaching search. Given the class and maturity he showed throughout his tenure at UT, I can't say I'm surprised. Lane has always been all about Lane, and it's safe to say his smug smile won't be missed by many around the South, including Tennessee.
Yes, you read that correctly. I don't think UT fans should be that upset today. All of the talk about Kiffin energizing and turning around the program this season was a little shocking to me. I mean, they went from 5-7 to 7-5 in the regular season. Is that an improvement? Yes. But that's hardly a dramatic turnaround, and to be fair, he didn't exactly inherit a bare cupboard, going to a roster with more than its share of high school All-Americans who had underachieved in their college careers. Now there's something to be said for getting a roster to play to their potential. QB Jonathan Crompton and RB Monterio Hardesty, inconsistent at best during their careers, both showed tremendous improvements under Kiffin's watch. But the name of the game is winning, and in the end, the whopping two game improvement simply did not impress me much.
Now Kiffin could recruit- no question. He had some top notch athletes ready to hit campus this fall. But he also had the nasty habit of collecting secondary violations related to his recruiting. One or two- no big deal. It happens everywhere. But Kiffin collected at least seven between December 2008 and January 2010. So I don't think it's a stretch to think that the longer he spent there, the more headlines he would have made for the wrong reasons. (Of course, Kiffin would have probably found those violations and recurring NCAA investigations to be a compliment, as he stated last month). And considering Kiffin learned under Pete Carroll at USC, who's had his share of..ahem...questionable recruiting tactics...it's not unrealistic to think Kiffin may have eventually had the Vols headed down a dangerous path.
So I think I speak for all SEC fans when I tell Kiffin good riddance. He talked a real great game, but barely stuck around long enough to even try to back it up. As an SEC fan, I hope Tennessee gets someone good, but also someone who understands the SEC. We don't mind trash talk, outsized egos and energetic personalities, but you have to earn them. The SEC is better when Tennessee is good- even a Gator fan like myself can admit this. So let's hope they get this one right.
In the meantime, I hope USC knows what they've gotten themselves into.
