A voice of reason....

Have fun without a quarterback or any semblance of a passing game!

J/k.

manning is not walking through that door.

Let's see, Kiffin publicly calls out Florida and falsely accuses Urban Meyer of committing recruiting violations, then is forced to apologize, then self-reports 2 recruiting violations of his own. And you couldn't be happier?

Why could this possibly have been titled "A voice of reason?" It was a voice of homerism, nothing else. Crowing about your new coaches antics and recruiting prowess. Yeah, really bringing us back to earth with that one.

Wow.

I also agree that this appears to be a coaching staff full of some of the biggest assholes ever known to coaching. And it's not clear whether Kiffin will be successful running a team and keeping all these egos in check. But there's no question that they will recruit at a high level.

Texas uses only a slightly uglier shade of orange than the Vols. Both are beasty.

Oh good gawd! Ellipses exist to denote an intentional removal of words, not to make one incredibly long run-on rant about how UT Rulez!!!111 Oh yeah, this also feels like the typical troll post (less 2 hours before first diary, an off-topic rant about another team, the ubiquitous "I'm a REAL fan because of family, here are some well-known games I remember, etc.")

Okay, with that out of my system, I'll agree with you that Kiffin had a decent first year of recruiting, though I'd be careful about touting his coaching acumen or how this recruiting haul will translate to success on the football field. He went 5-15 over two years in arguably the worst division in the NFL, then was fired by Al Davis because, get this, Kiffin was too big of a jerk. Along the way, Kiffin failed to distinguish himself much as an offensive guru, even though her inherited teams with some semblance of talent on both sides of the ball.

He then arrives in Rocky Top and within about 1 month manages to piss off both Steve Spurrier and a two-time NCAA champion in Urban Meyer, both times making false accusations of recruiting violations that he must then retract. Sure, I am a big fan of the new guy trying to be passionate and galvanize a down fanbase, but you need to not look like an idiot in the process. Kiffin seems like another Weiss in the waiting (with a more attractive wife); a capable recruiter with some NFL cache, but one who never distinguished himself as a head coach (and I know that Weiss was never a HC in the NFL, but it's not like Kiffin's brief tenure was memorable either) and who may wind up burning too many bridges.

Kiffin went into the SEC with the swagger of a big time head coach and went out and hired a bunch of hired gun recruiters and starting kicking mud in the face of the more established coaches. IMO, there is only two ways this situation can turn out for UT; either it's going to be another USC-esque dynasty in a few years or it's going to be a colossal failure and cripple the UT program for a few more years. I just don't see any middle ground between Kiffin's ego and the passion of the dedicated UT fans.

Also, Kiffin has made some quick enemies and pissed off some other schools and then he goes and gets these coaches, more known for their recruiting than their coaching, so I would make sure that there wasn't even a hint of wrongdoing with my program if I was Lane K. Oops, too late for that. Fulmer turned in Bama and they haven't forgotten and people like Les Miles, Nick Saban, and Urban Meyer probably don't like being called out by some guy who's entire career has been created from riding the coattails of his fathe and Pete Carroll. If you can name of significant thing Kiffin has done as a coach, then I'll retract that part, but getting credit for being the coordinator of an offense loaded with 5 star talent in a otherwise weak conference is not a great accomplishment.

I'm sorry my friend, but I fear this one is going to end badly for UT. BTW, Eric Berry is an awesome player and I would suspect he bolts after this year for the NFL.

to answer the one salient question I think we all have:

Why would a board full of Michigan fans care about the future fortunes of the Tennessee football program?

Granted, those of us who follow college football in general may be interested, in a detached sort of way, as to the goings on at other major programs. And we have a place on MGoBlog for commentary about other programs: on the MGoBoard, with the letters 'OT' in the title. But this post doesn't seem to me like disinterested analysis of the vagaries of other programs; it seems designed to incite in us a certain passion and excitement about Kiffin's future dynasty. Well, if you're excited, I'm happy for you, but if you're looking for someone else here to get excited with you, I've got bad news -- no one here cares.

Also, I beseech you, before you graduate from the "real UT," please learn the distinction between "your" and "you're," and fix the tag on the top of the post.

As for comparing him to Pete, Pete's players actually like him, when did you ever hear player's going to bat for Lane?

Now, NO ONE likes the guy, outside of the UT folks.

Regardless, the guy has shown no class, and the UT program will not be respected.

get off our board.

Get your ass back from vacation, STAT!

here is that their defense should be good, and its really hard to imagine any offensive coach in the SEC outcoaching Monte Kiffin. That's the good Kiffin.

"the vols QB situation is a thousand times better than Threet and Sheridan last year, there is SOME talent at least"

C'mon, where did you see a thousand times better? Even Sheridan had 1 game better than all 3 of the UT qb's that saw the field. Living in Tenn. I watched a few Vols games. Not the ones on pay Per view, thats a joke in itself.

But I would pass on all 3 of those kids for Threet! Period. You better hope Kifin doesn't put all his eggs in one basket for the #1 QB next year, or it might be a LONG 4 years.

How can you be excited for a coach that let the likes of Boyd walk out the door? Hell, sent him out the door?

FWIW, Eric Berry should be the second defensive player to win the heisman. That is if Tennessee can be respectable for one of the next 2 years. The kid is ALMOST as good as Woodson, ALMOST.

and so is this kid

you are entitled to your opinion, but don't be a bitch just because Janoris Jenkins is better than Eric Berry.

you guys really ripped into this poor guy... was the post really that bad?!
anyways in regards to your post volz, the ncaa has enough a-hole coaches we dont need another. I really hope Kiff takes it down a notch because I really have nothing against UT (better them than FL or Bama) but if he's gonna turn into another urban meyer style d-bag the I wish him nothing but the worst.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ap-tennessee-recruiting&...

In the SEC, you'd have hold a recruit's mother hostage on Signing Day to get in trouble with the conference. But if I was a Vols fan, I wouldn't be too comfortable with the mouth on Kiffin when it comes to recruiting violations.

Recruiting is a shady, shady, business, and no other conference has embraced the seedy side like the SEC. But coaches from every conference understand their process looks bad under a microscope, and thus keep their mouths shut.

Kiffin doesn't seem to get that. He's reveling in it. The Florida comment wasn't contextualized as a jab; it was a boast to his new recruits that he had outplayed Meyer. And now he comes out with this 39-of-40 crap. This is a man who doesn't realize it's not a joke.

The NCAA is a lot like OSHA. They're both tasked with a massive oversight and way undermanned. So enforcement gets selective; they wait until a publicized violation. Once in awhile they choose someone to make an example of. And that one guy is seldom the biggest offender; he's just the one blabbing about how everyone else does it, whining that he has to keep up with competition, blaming the system. Hell, the guy's usually right. But OSHA's gotta hang somebody, so if you're a violator with a big mouth, you might as well have shown up with a noose around your neck.

If I'm a Vols fan, that scares me. The NCAA is hands-off an Ohio State or Alabama while they're bringin the national dollars, but those schools at least have to give the NCAA some cover to keep the dirty going. If Kiffin doesn't learn to keep his trap shut and at least pay lip service to the recruiting rules, he just might talk himself and his program onto the gibbet.

Your argument sounds so familiar....life-long coach retires after years of sub-standard play, young coach causing off-season controversy, good recruiting class, fan base torn between old way of life and new regime......no QB, a team that should have a strong defense with a sure fire first round pick in the next year or two, no real offense to speak of.....where have I heard this argument????????????? Oh yeah, we all made the same irrational posts last year. Good fucking luck in a conference a helluva lot harder than the B10. You may win more than three games, but not a lot more.

Tennessee is not likely to reach the SEC Title by 2011, let alone a national title. Michigan however, has a chance by 2011 to win a Big Ten title, but a national title berth is unlikely. I can honestly say that neither of these teams will make a national title game in the next five years.