Lane Kiffin has SEC vexed, Tennessee fans enthusiastic

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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Lane Kiffin has SEC vexed, Tennessee fans enthusiastic </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!--startclickprintexclude--><TABLE height=25 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><!--endclickprintexclude-->Updated 5/20/2009 2:18 PM ET <!--startclickprintexclude--></TD><TD align=right><SCRIPT src="http://js.usatoday.com/_common/_scripts/2006-send-to-nav.js" type=text/javascript> </SCRIPT>E-mail | Save | Print </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE style="FLOAT: left" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD>

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<SCRIPT language=javascript>swapContent('firstHeader','applyHeader');</SCRIPT><!--endclickprintexclude-->By Kelly Whiteside, USA TODAY
ST. MARYS, Ga. — The gale-force winds and heavy rains that swept through Jacksonville on Monday had nothing to do with the arrival of the storm that is Lane Kiffin. In six months as Tennessee football coach, he has managed to tweak, insult or needle much of the Southeastern Conference, especially Florida.
When Kiffin landed in the heart of Gator Country to speak to the Jacksonville alumni chapter, he joked it was the best greeting he will get in the state. He made the short drive across the Georgia border to St. Marys, where the event was held, for the 15th and final stop of UT's annual coaches tour, the Big Orange Caravan.
SURVEY: What is your opinion of Lane Kiffin? "Our fans have had a few tough years down here, taking a beating (from Gator fans). Losing by 63 points over the last two years didn't give them much to talk about, so I gave them something to talk about when they're at the coffee pot or playing golf with their buddies," Kiffin says before addressing the crowd.
While enraging rivals, Kiffin has energized the Vol Nation and made Tennessee, which hasn't won an SEC or national title since 1998, relevant again.
"We were huge (former coach) Phil Fulmer fans, but we needed that," says Chuck Seymour, 33, as he joined the buffet line. "We needed the fire, that energy in recruiting we haven't had the last couple of years."
The Vols went 5-7 last year, their second losing season in four years, which is why they turned to Kiffin, 34, a former Southern California offensive assistant and recruiting coordinator and Oakland Raiders head coach who was fired last year after a 5-15 record. Owner Al Davis said he "picked the wrong guy," but UT fans feel differently.
"He's full of energy, and he's not afraid to work," says Walter Beahm, 80, a 40-year season ticketholder from Knoxville Tenn., who went to the event with his son, John, who lives nearby.
Shooting from the lip
In his first two months on the job, Kiffin fired shots or swiped recruits from the Gators, as well as SEC foes Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and LSU. Kiffin contends the verbal jabs were part of an overall plan to garner the national attention needed to land a highly regarded recruiting class in a short time.
"We need national coverage because we don't produce enough players for our roster in-state," says Kiffin, who assembled a powerhouse group of assistants, including several top recruiters poached from SEC rivals, as well as his father, Monte, a longtime NFL defensive coordinator. The result: Two major recruiting services ranked the class in the top 10 nationally; both had UT 35th last year.
"A lot of that stuff helped us recruit a top-10 class, helped us sign the No. 1 player in the country (running back Bryce Brown from Kansas)," Kiffin says. "The No. 1 player in the country wasn't even thinking about us when we got here."
Kiffin was hired to excite fans and, if that means angering rivals, so be it, he says. Given all the chirping among SEC coaches this offseason — mostly by Kiffin — Commissioner Mike Slive plans to address the issue next week at the league's spring meetings in Destin, Fla. He hopes coaches will temper the public accusations and insults.
For the first time, Kiffin will sit across from the coaches whose programs he gleefully has tweaked. The youngest head coach in major-college football doesn't expect the meetings will be awkward: "I have great respect for the coaches in this conference. I would be shocked if there were any hard feelings about anything that was done or said. The first day I was hired, Steve Spurrier was already saying something about me. I didn't take offense to it at all."
With Spurrier-like digs, the cocksure Kiffin has rebooted Tennessee's rivalry with Florida, making it fun again. At his introductory news conference Dec. 1, Kiffin boasted he was looking forward to "singing Rocky Top all night long after we beat Florida next year."
After signing day, Kiffin crowed about his first class at a breakfast celebration in Knoxville before 1,000 fans. Playing to the crowd, he accused Florida coach Urban Meyer of violating NCAA recruiting rules by calling star wide receiver Nu'Keese Richardson of Pahokee, Fla., while he was on his official visit in Knoxville.
"I love the fact that Urban had to cheat and still didn't get him," Kiffin told the crowd, even though there is no such rule. Florida athletics director Jeremy Foley demanded an apology, and the SEC reprimanded Kiffin.
Traveling with the Big Orange Caravan through Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Ohio during the last month, Bob Kesling, the Vols radio announcer, says Kiffin's noisy offseason has raised the program's visibility.
"A lot of Tennessee fans are saying, who knows who the coach is at Auburn or Mississippi State? (The SEC's other new coaches.) But everyone knows who Lane Kiffin is, and that's a big advantage. I don't know how calculated it was, but I know that Lane wanted to make a splash."
Attendance rose at the Big Orange Caravan events, which were all sold out. When Kiffin was introduced to the Jacksonville group, the first fan on his feet was men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl, who along with women's assistant basketball coach Daedra Charles-Furlow spoke to the crowd after Kiffin.
"Here's the deal," Pearl says. "If you're popular in the league, you're obviously not beating them. They respect Urban Meyer, but they don't like him because he beats you. When I came to Tennessee, I said my goal is to become the least popular coach in the SEC. I managed to do it in about a year. Coach Kiffin managed to do it in about a week."
Gators in the family
As for all the Gator baiting, Kiffin's good friend, Kennedy Pola, the Jacksonville Jaguars running backs coach who has known Kiffin since their days as USC assistants, says, "Lane is very honest, to a fault, but you can't take him that seriously. His wife went to Florida, and his father-in-law went to Florida. He's been married to a Florida family, so all of this cracks me up."
Kiffin stirred the crowd with a few more Florida jokes, saying he accepted the Tennessee job so he could gather the family's Gators gear and hold a "bonfire."
Harmless needling aside, his program also has grabbed headlines for missteps. Since he was hired, the school self-reported four secondary violations to the NCAA for minor incidents that didn't result in punishment.
Other weightier issues have kept Kiffin in the spotlight this month. After signing day, Kiffin made disparaging comments about Pahokee and Richardson's high school while speaking to fans in Knoxville. "For those of you who haven't been to Pahokee, there ain't much going on," Kiffin was quoted as saying. "You take that hour drive up from South Florida, there ain't a gas station that works. Nobody's got enough money to even have shoes or a shirt on."
"That's really the first thing I really regretted saying," he says now.
Though Kiffin apologized and is on good terms with the team's coach, the principal banned Tennessee's football coaches from visiting. Running backs coach Eddie Gran was asked to leave school property during a recruiting visit two weeks ago. The issue was resolved Tuesday when Kiffin spoke with the principal and Gran attended practice, according to UT spokesman John Painter.
Earlier this month, Tennessee signed Daniel Hood, a local prep star who at 13 was involved in the rape of a relative in 2003. Robert Sanico, then 17, pleaded guilty in adult court to charges of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated rape and is serving a 10-year prison sentence.
Hood's case went through juvenile court, where he was ordered into a rehabilitation program. While in state custody, he enrolled at Knoxville Catholic High School. Other colleges backed away, which Kiffin understands.
"When I first came, I didn't want to go anywhere near it," he says. "Until I researched it, talked to people around him, people who have no reason to say anything good unless they really believed it, and then talked to his high school, which has great morals, and said we put our reputation on the line for this kid."
Tennessee also received a letter of support for Hood from the victim.
"I'm excited about giving him another opportunity, especially a kid who paid a price for what he did."
On Monday, the enthusiastic orange faithful didn't ask about Hood or Pahokee. The mood was light as one fan thanked Kiffin for helping the economy by boosting newspaper sales in Florida.
Kiffin laughed and explained, "That's how you get freshmen and sophomores to start falling in love with you. It is a business. I know at times you get a little nervous saying, my God, I can't believe he really just said that. Then we sign the No. 1 player in the country, and no one is saying that any more."
Kiffin rose from his chair amid spirited applause, handed the microphone over to the next coach and left the room. Amid the unrelenting rain, a white limousine was waiting under shelter. The door closed, and Kiffin was whisked away, back into the storm.
 

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Gag me with a spoon!


Teenage female rape victims take note... STFU!
After all there's no such thing as a bad boy.
Father Murphy Kiffin of Boys Town said so,
and HE IS RELEVANT!

A pesky loudmouth makes Tennessee relevant?
Mosquito bites are also relevant.

Besides all that, since when does marrying a Florida
woman give anyone the right to fuck the whole state?
 

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I heard 11 SEC coaches were going to wear "I'm With Stupid" T-shirts at the SEC Media Days.....
 

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Yeah paradise you're right... the media has no clue who Urban Meyer, Nick Saban, Les Miles and Steve Spurrier are, coaches who have actually won something.

I get your point though, just had to throw that out there.

Tenn better make bowl this year otherwise Kiffin will continue to have all the media's attention for eating crow.
 

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Hey Flsunman......

Tennessee will not make a bowl this season. They had major problems before Kiffin showed up with his piss poor staff. It's obvious that he is trying to take the spotlight and pressure off his team and onto himself. That is great if he turns out to be a good coach, but all the facts to this point indicate that he is a below average coach with poor judgement.

Oh, and I will take Florida minus the points against Tenn.......and I don't care what the spread turns out to be.
 

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It warms my heart to know the Jacksonville Volunteer chapter had to go to Georgia to hold their meeting.
 

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Apparently the strength coach wasn't so enthusiastic.
Does this make two firings? The asst. who was late to pick him up at the airport and now the strength coach? Did the twiter guy get fired too?

Enquiring minds want to know!

Kiffin, strength coach agree to part ways


Comment Email Print Share <script type="text/javascript"> var stobj = SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title:"Tennessee\'s%20Kiffin%20gets%20rid%20of%20strength%20coach", url:"http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4197615", published: "2009-05-21" }); stobj.attachButton(document.getElementById("espnstlink")); </script>
<cite class="source"> By Chris Low
ESPN.com
Archive </cite>
<!-- end mod-article-title --> <!-- begin story body --> The buildup to Lane Kiffin's first season at Tennessee continues to be one wild and crazy ride.
He's gigged rival coaches, pried away top recruits from rival schools, infuriated an entire community with his unflattering post-signing day comments, landed a reprimand from the SEC and accumulated a handful of NCAA secondary violations along the way.
Now Kiffin has the first turnover on his staff -- all in about six months' time.
Sources told ESPN.com that Kiffin and his strength and conditioning coach, Mark Smith, met on Thursday and agreed to part ways. The details of Smith's departure as strength coach were still being finalized, and Tennessee athletic department officials declined to comment.
Smith, who was previously the strength coach at South Carolina under Steve Spurrier, was one of the first hires Kiffin made after being named the Vols' coach on Dec. 1. Smith was given a $50,000 raise to come to Tennessee, bumping his annual salary up to $190,000.
The issues that led to Smith's short stay on Kiffin's staff had been brewing for some time, sources told ESPN.com. Smith was not available for comment, but told several people in and around the football program on Thursday that he would not be back.
One possible replacement is Aaron Ausmus, the strength coach at North Texas and a former All-America shot putter at Tennessee. Ausmus was the head strength coach at Ole Miss under Ed Orgeron and also worked with Orgeron and Kiffin at Southern California as strength coach.
Ausmus was a candidate for the job when Kiffin hired Smith back in December.
 

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Duck,

The "story" behind the S&C coach leaving Tennessee is this: Kiffin LIED. He lured this coach away from Carolina w/ a big pay raise (as he did w/ every other coach he hired)....and agreed to allow Smith to bring his assistant at SC w/ him. After the assistant resigned at SC, Kiffin would not allow him to come to UT (reportedly so he could bring in an unproven assistant S&C coach - as a favor to someone else). Smith called him on it and "they agreed to part ways". Now UT is going to have to pay his salary for several years (or until he finds future employment). The sad part is that the assistant from SC is still unemployed.

Kiffin = Douche Bag!
 

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Coach

Duck,

The "story" behind the S&C coach leaving Tennessee is this: Kiffin LIED. He lured this coach away from Carolina w/ a big pay raise (as he did w/ every other coach he hired)....and agreed to allow Smith to bring his assistant at SC w/ him. After the assistant resigned at SC, Kiffin would not allow him to come to UT (reportedly so he could bring in an unproven assistant S&C coach - as a favor to someone else). Smith called him on it and "they agreed to part ways". Now UT is going to have to pay his salary for several years (or until he finds future employment). The sad part is that the assistant from SC is still unemployed.

Kiffin = Douche Bag!

How long can Tenn stand behind this guy? He is taking big chunks out of their pockets and now making stupid calls on relatively easy and upfront issues that most coaches handle with ease. My real question is why did the Raiders hire him, I can see why they replaced him. And was it the lure of his dad and the other assts that made the total deal so attractive to the Tennessee?
 

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Duck,

The "story" behind the S&C coach leaving Tennessee is this: Kiffin LIED. He lured this coach away from Carolina w/ a big pay raise (as he did w/ every other coach he hired)....and agreed to allow Smith to bring his assistant at SC w/ him. After the assistant resigned at SC, Kiffin would not allow him to come to UT (reportedly so he could bring in an unproven assistant S&C coach - as a favor to someone else). Smith called him on it and "they agreed to part ways". Now UT is going to have to pay his salary for several years (or until he finds future employment). The sad part is that the assistant from SC is still unemployed.

Kiffin = Douche Bag!

Damn, what a story! It makes me wonder whether or not Kiffin will end up being nothing but a money pit to his employer. Can the university afford this? If they end up running low on cash they might end up with a bunch of Pop Warner AC's.
 

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Duck,

The "story" behind the S&C coach leaving Tennessee is this: Kiffin LIED. He lured this coach away from Carolina w/ a big pay raise (as he did w/ every other coach he hired)....and agreed to allow Smith to bring his assistant at SC w/ him. After the assistant resigned at SC, Kiffin would not allow him to come to UT (reportedly so he could bring in an unproven assistant S&C coach - as a favor to someone else). Smith called him on it and "they agreed to part ways". Now UT is going to have to pay his salary for several years (or until he finds future employment). The sad part is that the assistant from SC is still unemployed.

Kiffin = Douche Bag!


thats hilarious - where did you hear that ?

amazing a S&C coach at UT is on everyones mind in May
 

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thats hilarious - where did you hear that ?

amazing a S&C coach at UT is on everyones mind in May

Who is more important in the end the guy who designs, builds, or sells a fine automobile. Well the S & C coach builds it to the design specifications and the salesman is the guy wearing the suit and tie wearing the shit eating grin. Can you take it from there? In this case it is just another example of an inept coach who is obviously way over his head. The only time he can count to ten is when he is underwater.
 

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CP,

I read that on a UT board.

As Russ said....it's freaking May. THIS is the time you win football games in the 4th quarter in Sept & Oct. They are screwed! All thanks to an idiot named, "Lane Kiffin"!!
 

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CP,

I read that on a UT board.

As Russ said....it's freaking May. THIS is the time you win football games in the 4th quarter in Sept & Oct. They are screwed! All thanks to an idiot named, "Lane Kiffin"!!


even more hilarity - a gator fan so obsessed with Lane Kiffin that hes reading and relaying rumors from UT message boards

thats really pathetic man
 

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even more hilarity - a gator fan so obsessed with Lane Kiffin that hes reading and relaying rumors from UT message boards

thats really pathetic man

Oh man are you an invitation for abuse or what?
I find it pathetic that you don't read anything BUT the UT message boards.
 

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right, since we all know how much "info" is on message boards. its fine if you can filter truth from rumor, if you cant you hurt yourself, as is the case above
 

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ok then, you know it all. why did he fire him just months after hiring him. what is the reason??????

whatever the reaon, this episode is just further proof that this guy has no idea how to run a team...
 

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Lame Kitten thinks he was born on Third base.^^:) LT
 

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