If you follow College Football, you know that Lane Kiffin has left the University of Tennessee after ONE WHOLE SEASON to rejoin back up with his long-time beloved USC Rubbers as they head corch.
Now that Andy's Place has "boots on the ground" in the The Volunteer State, we are able to bring you news directly from the front lines.
Our Rocky Top correspondent has sent me this report through electronic computer letter about what's going on in Orangeland over Lane's "cup of coffee" in Knoxville. I just have to hee haw that Rocky Toppers are all that upset about Lane moving on.
All I can figure is that they really, really, really like his
It certainly can not be a 7-5 regular season record, including a loss to UCLA, and a humiliating butt-whippin' to the Hokies on the national stage on New Year's Eve. Such things at one time would have brought out the pitchforks among the Orange folks.
Regardless, VolNation is ticked, and but good. I'm thinkin' it's mostly because Lane left them for a skag. Think about it. If your spouse left you for a really ugly, piece of junk (or say, a bunch of homos like USC), the sting would surely hurt worse than if they had left you for something worth leaving for.
the espn reports here. Fulmer was his normal, gracious, dufus self in commenting on Lane's departure.
The report from our correspondent:
Tennessee students, who were to begin spring semester classes on Wednesday, wasted no time in expressing their anger about Kiffin's hasty departure.
Knoxville fire officials and university police were on campus after Kiffin's announcement as hundreds of students burned mattresses and piles of trash and gathered around the athletic department building in hopes of blocking Kiffin from leaving campus. It was not clear if Kiffin was still on campus at the time.
After just one year as head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers, Lane Kiffin accepted a transfer back out west to lead the USC Trojans back to prominence. Or more trouble with the NCAA, whatever, I don't blame him -- that's where he became famous and I'd probably pull the same crap. If I was a heartless weasel.
The bigger question becomes: "Who will replace Lane Kiffin?" Let's take a look, then, at possible candidates for the Tennessee coaching job.
1. Gary Patterson, TCU -- Patterson, if he's willing to leave (and he should be, one would think), is probably the top candidate. He's coming off a year where he was the AP Coach of the Year and took TCU to a major bowl game. Only problem is, he won't be a "splash" (like Kiffin was last season) because of his relative lack of success at the upper levels of college coaching, even if a 53-18 record since replacing Dennis Franchione speaks for itself. Verdict: Very Strong Candidate
2. David Cutcliffe, Duke -- He's the native son, he coached this fella named Peyton Somethingoranother while at UT, and his short time at Duke has turned him from someone who was run out of Ole Miss to a suddenly very attractive head coaching candidate for his old stomping grounds. Verdict: Very Strong Candidate
3. Will Muschamp, DC, Texas -- It doesn't seem like Muschamp would want to leave his "Head Coach in Waiting" position but coming to Tennessee (and back to the SEC where he got started) would give him an immediate head coach position at a premium school, two viable recruiting pipelines, a lot more money and much less time behind Mack Brown. Verdict: Very Strong Candidate
4. Randy Edsall, UCONN -- Edsall is a hot name in any coaching search because of the work he's done at Uconn, and if he's good enough for Notre Dame, he's good enough for Tennessee, dammit! But seriously, Edsall would have to be a likely contender to make the jump from Big East to SEC if the opportunity was there. Verdict: Very Strong Candidate
5. Doug Marrone, Syracuse -- Marrone's first head coaching gig at Syracuse was marred by the whole Greg Paulus at QB fiasco, but despite a 4-8 record, he's still a hot name in coaching (you can't fix everything in one year, after all) and he's a former UT staffer, coaching there in 2001 before jumping to the pros for six years. Verdict: Very Strong Candidate
6. Skip Holtz, ECU -- Holtz comes immediately to mind because he's being mentioned as a possible candidate to replace Jim Leavitt at South Florida. Whether he would count, like Patterson, as a splash remains to be seen too. But regardless of what you want to say about Conference USA football (and there's plenty), Holtz has balled it up down there and made ECU a force in the state. Verdict: Strong Candidate
7. Troy Calhoun, Air Force -- Calhoun's record is pretty darn impressive, considering he's only been at Air Force for three years and has yet to finish lower than fourth in the Mountain West, amassing a 25-14 record overall, with 16-8 in conference. Plus, as my man Clay Travis wrote in his last book, if Kiffin hadn't been summoned to Knoxville, Calhoun probably would have been hired. Verdict: Strong Candidate
8. Jon Gruden, ESPN -- You can't have a coaching search these days without mentioning Gruden, arguably the best combo of talent/name value/unemployement out there right now -- if UTK can pull off getting Gruden it would an absolutely monster hire and surely put Mike Hamilton in the good graces of fans and alumni. It seems like a relatively long shot, of course, but if there was any spot that could challenge Gruden enough to bring him back into coaching a year earlier than planned, it's a high profile program in the SEC. Verdict: Unlikely Candidate
9. Chris Peterson, Boise St -- As a commenter notes below (sorry -- was jumping back and forth between this and uploading the video, plus monitoring the verbal taunts to Kiffin on Twitter), Peterson certainly deserves mention. Most folks believed before the Kiffin move, though, that Peterson would have to be insane to leave the security of Boise, coupled with the likely top-10 ranking next year and national championship hope of returning a big class, for the insecurity of Tennessee. It would seem -- as crazy as it sounds -- that the same sort of thing applies for Peterson to Tennessee. But he's certainly on the list. Verdict: Unlikely Candidate
I cannot help but think that this Hello Kiffin move has some underlying stuff going on.
ReplyDeleteBut, I cannot wait to see how California reacts to Corch O without his shirt on.
He'll be hangin' out with that soccer player guy and other "celebrities" in no time.
ReplyDeleteAndy, you ever seen Bob Stoops' wife? Just sayin', you might want to take a look....
Staci, I'm figuring you are right. So, you got my curiosity up about Bob's bride.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm..... http://cdn.bleacherreport.com/images_root/slideshows/921/slideshow_92188/display_image.jpg
That'd be her.
ReplyDelete