Knight Errant
4 days ago
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Very sad day to be a University of Tennessee alum
So Lane Kiffin has left my alma mater after only a single year to return to USC as head football coach. Half of the staff leaves with him. Signing Day is three weeks away and now virtually all of the Top 10 recruiting class has decommitted. Former recruiting coordinator Ed Orgeron called several commitments and tried to get them to follow him to USC, apparently. Chances are high that this will devastate an already-shorthanded (scholarship wise) football program for years to come.
Oh, and the students had a near riot, including the burning of a mattress and I believe a few effigies of those involved. Doubtless there will be more videos to appear in the coming hours and weeks in regards to this. Just another in a series of disturbing events at my alma mater.
I suppose in a way this could be viewed as retribution of sorts. I grew up the son of a HS football coach in Tennessee. For the past 25 years or so, there would be occasional trips across the state to Knoxville to watch the games in person. I was a freshman at UT when Johnny Majors got canned (or stabbed in the back, perhaps) by the AD. I was uneasy about it at first, but then the wins kept on coming for a decade longer under Philip Fulmer, including the only football national championship in my lifetime. Then after subpar performances his last five years or so, he was forced to resign in similar circumstances to Majors (ironic, considering Majors believes Fulmer was the one who instigated his removal). And now this. It's as if roles were reserved, with the coach screwing over the administration, but in this case, I fear the consequences will be devastating to my alma mater.
Damn, this just fucking sucks now. Not that I'd want this now-departed crew to return, but that the loyal football players got screwed over in the worst possible way, considering the timing of events all around. Guess this is the new face of college football. Might come to hate it almost as much as what I see from the NFL. At least there's the Lady Vols to make my school look decent, respectable, and in so many more ways than just wins or losses.
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3 comments:
You'd be wise not to get caught up in any perceived integrity in men's college sports at any school. It's a business.
Can't say I knew the guy--and I have no ties to UT--but I never really liked him. Talked a lot of shit, kept his name in the papers, but he didn't seem too personably to me. After one year were you sold so much on him as to really feel bad about his leaving?
It could be a blessing in disguise.
You're right, it could be a blessing indeed. It's just the timing and what followed during the players' meeting that really was low; the rest is, like you said, part of the business.
kiffin's a d-bag. he got into the SEC, realized he couldn't hack it (either because he's not a good enough coach or because tennessee's trying to rebuild in a conference that makes that a sisephonic battle), and snuck off in the night for greener pastures. luckily, USC's on a downhill slide right now so i expect his retribution will be in that he doesn't do as well there as he thinks he will. as for tennessee...maybe they can get a coach in who (1) knows what he's doing and (2) knows how to corral his hoes, and by hoes i mean the administration and boosters who want to give players cars and shit. i hate seeing tennessee down, they're a storied old program.
but, as you say, the people who really got screwed in this are the tennessee players.
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