Lane Kiffin - Tennessee

Guess this kills all the MD to UT "whispers."

Don't know how Kiffin ever got the head job at the Raiders, but I don't see him having accomplished anything to show he's a better candidate than Brian Kelly.

We won't know for a couple of years. He's supposed to be a good recruiter, at least.

I still don't know how I feel about Kiffin. I know he was the boy-wonder at USC, and it seemed like he was getting something out of the wheezing corpse called the Raiders. But for some reason this strikes me as...unsatisfactory. If I were a Tennessee fan I would not be super thrilled.

It's a huge risk, but the upside is too hard to pass up. Plus, he just runs the same old pro style offense so there is no rebuilding to consider if you have to fire him.

The fact that he has no experience as a head coach in college football (very little in the pros, with limited success) and that he doesn't have any relations with the south-eastern part of the US makes me very skeptical about his ability to have success early at Tennessee. He was a good coordinator at USC and UT has a good tradition, so he'll be at least OK, but I wouldn't be behind this hire too much as a UT fan.