Lane Kiffin’s gone, and the Big Orange is mournin’

9:38 pm January 12, 2010, by Mark Bradley

So how do you feel now, Vol fans? Your brash young coach is no longer your coach at all. The guy you defended whenever he committed one of his secondary violations, which was hourly; the guy you believed would recruit his way to the top of the SEC … well, he’s in the wind, and you’re up the creek.

This is what you get when you entrust your program to a brat. He hits town talking big, and he leaves you in a Big Orange lurch. Ten years from now — heck, 10 minutes from now — we’ll be looking on Lane Kiffin’s season in K-Town and saying, “What the heck was that?” Called Urban Meyer a cheat, choppered down on Georgia high school stadiums, smirked at every abrogation of NCAA bylaws and then … poof, he’s gone.

Like Keyser Soze. Gone so fast you wonder, “Was he here at all?”

What do you do now, Vol fans? Gonna go hire yourselves another fast talker? Jon Gruden, maybe? Gonna let your heart be broken by another guy with an eye on the escape hatch?

Say this for the guy deposed to make room for Kiffy: Phillip Fulmer was a loyal Volunteer. He won you a national title and two SEC championships and never ran off to California or Connecticut or anywhere in between. He wasn’t glib and goodness knows he wasn’t sleek, but by gosh he was a Vol. That orange jersey meant everything to him. (Heck, he wore the thing.) Know what it meant to Kiffin? A way back to L.A.

Apart from signing a few players and making a slew of enemies and beating Georgia by 26 points, what exactly did Kiffin do? His one and only team finished 7-6. And if you were looking for his second team to topple a Tebow-less (and perhaps Urban-less) Florida, you can forget it. There’ll be no second team. Just another coaching search, another new man, another season of transition. Only this time — surely — at lower volume.

I feel for you, Vol fans. You gave your hearts to the brat, and he tore them out and stomped those suckers flat. (Apologies to Lewis Grizzard.) He’s gone to Southern Cal with his lovely wife and his professorial dad and his henchman Ed Orgeron. And you’re sitting at home in Caryville and Oak Ridge and Sewanee and Chattanooga weeping tears of rejection.

Weep not, I say. Or at least not for long. For all the turmoil you’re about to undergo, yours is the luckier program. You’ll find yourselves a coach and go forward and try to forget this ever happened. The Trojans, meanwhile, have traded the NCAA scrutiny left in Pete Carroll’s wake for the heavier dose sure to come under Kiffy and Eddie O. And here’s the darnedest part: Nobody is yet sure if Kiffin the Younger can coach a lick. (Career record: 12-21.)

You can do better than him, Vol fans. You knew as much all along, but you let yourselves be charmed by glitz and brass and promises now rendered as empty as the West Town Mall on a day when the Vols are playing. Deep down you’ve known all along this would never work. Deep down you knew the proud program of Cafego and Atkins and White and Holloway and Majors and Gen. Neyland was never a place for a brat.

1,115 comments Add your comment

Mark Bradley

January 12th, 2010
10:23 pm

Mr. Grizzard was always very nice to me, I’ll have you know.

Urban Weener

January 12th, 2010
10:23 pm

Man I really get to cherry pick now! Best recruiting class of All TIME !!!

Bella Oxmyx

January 12th, 2010
10:23 pm

Wow Mark….You were doing some pseudo-journalism type work on this breaking story while your cohort Schultz was slurping a bowl of Cap’n Crunch and perusing his own blog — Color me impressed!

Denver Dog

January 12th, 2010
10:23 pm

Now that Kool and the Gang has left Knoxville, what will be the results of the carnage for NCAA rules violations, criminal activity and this recruiting class. The closest thing that I can think of about this is when Glen Mason changed his mind or Tubby headed

Tampa Gator, they really do need to get some control on this coaching thing, I agree with you, but don’t tell anyone that I agreed with you. Here is what I say, if a coach wants to leave, make him wait a year just like the players! If a school is in trouble becuase of a coach, then make him wait 3 years before he can go somewhere else. You see, if he had to wait a year, then more than likely any violations would be uncovered, and he would not be able to be hired.

Good Luck Rocky Top

Salty Dawg

January 12th, 2010
10:23 pm

This really is crazy. Can you imaging being a UT commit right now? I bet the phone lines are burning up with recruiters calling UT commits right now. This will be a big blow to UT for a couple of years if they don’t hire a high profile coach in the next day or so.

hind tit

January 12th, 2010
10:23 pm

i can’t believe usc wants kiffin when they had two choices. look at the coruption falling from the sky, look at the coruption falling from the sky.

no offense to kirby

January 12th, 2010
10:23 pm

but i hope he does get the UT job so we can beat that azz!!!

TampaGator

January 12th, 2010
10:23 pm

Haywood….I completely agree….but don’t tell my wife I said so!

dawgster

January 12th, 2010
10:23 pm

I finally get to agree with you TampaGator, the SEC is much better off, “it was just a matter of time”

Steve

January 12th, 2010
10:23 pm

First, Mark the Tennesse fans did not hire Kiffin it was the AD. Fans don’t hire coaches. Maybe the riches fans have some say but the vast majority do not. I was a Falcons fan and was disappointed when they hired Jim Mora jr.

You can blame the fans for getting rid of Fulmer but not for hiring Kiffin. All Fulmer really needed was an offensive coordinator. The defense was better under Chavis.

The AD was seduce by Kiffin’s energy especially after hiring Bruce Pearl.
The AD should be fired. Fulmer was fired for less. At least Tennessee had a good defense.

Tubbs

January 12th, 2010
10:23 pm

Beverly Hillbillies all over again. Don’t worry Gen. Neyland! I am leaving Lubbuck right now!!!!

Opinion

January 12th, 2010
10:24 pm

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