Kiffin Not Deserving of Being a Head Coach

Following Tuesday afternoon’s airing of “Section 26 Sports,” one of the biggest news stories of the young year broke out of Knoxville, Tennessee: Lane Kiffin is the new head coach at the University of Southern California.

Wait a second, lets change that…Kiffin decides Tennessee is not good enough for him.

Maybe Oakland Raiders’ owner Al Davis is not so crazy after all. Davis fired Kiffin amidst allegations of lying and like many of past Oakland coaches, not doing what Al Davis tells them to.

Tennessee Athletics Director Mike Hamilton then took a chance on Lane Kiffin, a young coach who many believed was wronged in Oakland by Davis.

Fourteen months later, Lane Kiffin, after convincing Volunteer Nation that he was going to right the ship in Tennessee, Kiffin stood in front of reporters telling them that there would only be one job that would cause him to leave Tennessee, a return to USC.

Kiffin, continue being the control freak he is, originally was not going to allow cameras in the room at all, that changed as the statement was released moments after it occured.

Through that, I have lost all respect for Lane Kiffin, as he has left the team he signed to coach only three weeks before National Signing Day.

Kiffin embarrassed himself, the Volunteers, and the Trojans through his decision. It is no wonder that the students at Tennessee reacted the way they did. (I do not however condone the actions of the students at UT under any circumstances. They were trying to make a statement, but there are more peaceful ways of doing so.)

They placed faith in a man who revolutionized how everybody thought about football in Knoxville. No longer was it the same expectations year after year. Now the Vol Nation believed that this program could be taken to the next level under the young hot shot.

Now Kiffin leaves the Volunteers with multiple NCAA violations, an investigation into what happened with a group of students who aided in recruiting, and a football program led by a guy who was only signed a month ago, Kippy Brown.

Kiffin leaves Tennessee to go to Southern Cal, where Pete Carroll left the school to coach in the NFL, with a meeting next month about major violations by the program involving star athletes such as Reggie Bush, Joe McKnight, and others. Some believe that USC could be facing major sanctions from the NCAA, which could limit their future bowl involvment as well as forcing them to vacate wins.

In the end, the people that are forgotten about and who lose the most are the student-athletes. Some of those that initially committed to Tennessee have been contacted by Ed Orgeron, who followed Kiffin, to encourage them to now go to Southern Cal,

Whether or not those are violations of NCAA rules is another story, but telling students not to attend class to prevent themselves from using up eligibility at Tennessee is ridiculous.

Now the job status of Hamilton is unknown. He fired long-time coach Phil Fulmer after the program not taking any leaps since the National Championship. Rumors now are swirling that Fulmer could end up as the next coach or even the next Athletics Director.

Kiffin’s actions is a complete embarassment for the sport of college football. I will never cheer for a person who changes jobs as often as he does (3 jobs in 2 years, and he is only in his mid-30s), or makes statements, demands, and demonstrates the morals that Kiffin does. I though his father, Monte, who also ditched Tennessee to go to Southern Cal, raised a better person than that.

So now Knoxville has to pick up the pieces, and I never root for a person to fail, but I truly hope Kiffin struggles at Southern Cal.

The bottom-line, Kiffin, at some point, will earn what he deserves.