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Lane Kiffin stopped to talk to News Sentinel reporters on his way out of the University of Tennessee Neyland-Thompson Sports Complex on Wednesday.
KNOXVILLE — Lane Kiffin may have left the building, but the stain he left is still being closely examined by sports writers across the country.
And all of these "Hints from Heloise" contenders have an opinion on why to do, or not to do, and most assuredly, what shouldn't have been done in the first place.
Despite their opinions, conjectures and suppositions, the question remains: Can the Lane Kiffin stain be removed from the Tennessee Orange?
Heloise Bowles Cruse, the original Heloise of "Hints" fame, would surely know, but, unfortunately, she died in 1977.
Here's a look at some of the latest:
The Daily Citizen, Dalton, GA - Adam Krohn: Why are Vols fans surprised?: Why is everyone in Knoxville acting so stunned that Lane Kiffin bolted for the University of Southern California? It should have been obvious to anyone who followed college football that as soon as Pete Carroll left the Trojans, Kiffin - if given the opportunity - would leave Tennessee and return to the place where he helped put together one of the greatest runs in college football history.
TOMLIN PIC AT CENTER OF FAKE KIFFIN CONTROVERSY | Mondesi's House: Seen this yet? It supposedly started circulating as a photo of Lane Kiffin "partying with coeds" while at Tennessee. A Larry Eustachy Take Two, I suppose. Except there was one problem: one of the "co-eds" was Lane's wife Layla, and the other people in the picture include Kiffin's brother-in-law and a certain Pittsburgh Steeler head coach who was in town at the time helping at a coaching clinic.
One and done | Marvin West, Shopper-News: There is a two-line hand-painted sign in a Texas bar that says it another way: "Never fall in love with a prostitute" is the first line.
In college, honesty is academic - The Boston Globe: College coaches lie. How do these guys sleep at night? It's unfair, of course, to include all coaches in the Liars Club, but it's an odious and ever-expanding group. Put Lane Kiffin in a room with Jeff Jagodzinski, John Calipari, and Rick Pitino and you could make a polygraph machine explode.
http://www.c-dh.net/articles/2010/01/18/sports/04kiffin.txt: The differences between ( Derek) Dooley and (Lane) Kiffin are going to become increasing clear with each passing day, but the ultimate proof will have to come in the wins he brings to the Vols. The number to beat now is seven.
Midland Daily News > Coaches' loyalty is limited > Tri-Cities > Michigan: The word "loyalty" should be removed from the vocabulary of college football coaches like Lane Kiffin. What Kiffin did to the University of Tennessee football team, university, administration and fans is an abomination -- leaving after just one season to return to the University of Southern California.
Selfishness rules college athletics | freep.com | Detroit Free Press: So how can coaches leave anytime they choose while players must sit a year if they leave? Coaches have penalty clauses in their contracts. Kiffin had an $800,000 buyout stipulation in his Tennessee deal. That's tip money in this high-stakes illusion of coaching three-card monte. But had Tennessee placed a $5-million exit clause into the deal, it wouldn't have attracted Kiffin in the first place.
Lane Kiffin: Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish - Nashville News - Nashville Scene - Pith in the Wind: Vol Nation wanted to win so badly that we were blinded to the obvious signs of Kiffin's jackassery. We disregarded his sophomoric trash talking and the rash of recruiting violations, even as he was turning us into a national embarrassment. Now that he's gone, it's like we're waking up from a self-induced trance. Why'd we ever hire this mouthy punk in the first place?
PAINTER: UCLA takes, makes at least one shot ... thanks to Neuheisel - LA Daily News: "We respect what USC has done the last few years," (UCLA's Rick) Neuheisel said. "But there's change now. Until the new regime proves itself, we believe we have every right to claim this city."
Vols 'fans' No. 1 on considerable list of losers in Kiffin saga - CBSSports.com: Lane Kiffin left Tennessee for Southern California, and the weirdest thing happened: Everybody lost. USC lost for hiring such an unaccomplished little weasel. Tennessee lost for having invested so much of its credibility in the little weasel, then lost some more for spastically trying to replace him before someone named Derek Dooley finally said yes.
Kiffin's Abrupt Exit Signals Doom on Rocky Top - WSJ.com: Unfortunately for Tennessee, which is in an uproar over football coach Lane Kiffin's shocking defection to Southern California, the pain is only beginning. It doesn't happen often, but when a coach abruptly leaves a major-conference school after one or two seasons�as Mr. Kiffin did this week after a one-year stint with the Volunteers�what happens thereafter is usually ugly. In the most prominent such cases over the past three decades, years of losing ensued.
© 2010, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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Comments » 120
TommyJack writes:
I wasn't surprised that he would bolt to USC. I was surprised that they would want him. Really.
jrod writes:
So tired of everything Kiffin related...
FearTheVols1252 writes:
Stain? More like a skid mark!
psvol69 writes:
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
AtLeastMyTeamHasPerfectSeasons writes:
Kiff belongs in Hollywood. The city fits his personality. Now if Cal would have a Haiti-like quake and take him into the sea with LA...
asleep#212036 writes:
Funny, really funny!
AtLeastMyTeamHasPerfectSeasons writes:
Dang, that was too harsh....just take him into the sea..
asleep#212036 writes:
Wow, how'd you get that past the censors? It's not THAT bad, is it?
Strap writes:
Did anyone else notice the picture. He couldn't even look a reporter in the eye!
volsoutwest writes:
Psvol, don't hold it in, it's bad for ya. Let it all out and tell us what you really think. We can handle it.
Also try to be a little more explicit if you don't mind.
VolsINFan writes:
I am ready for this to be over with. I refuse to ever acknowledge Boy Wonder again by name. What is important is that it is 229 days to the first game against UT-Martin, and I can't wait for some frustrations to be taken out then.
crimsonviper writes:
They don't for the long term.
Sacrificial Lamb in my ever so humble opinion.
The south is a better place now.
calvolfromkingsport writes:
I was surprised that the wall st journal had to put a negative spin on the program and not kiffin.
volsoutwest writes:
Did he ever look anyone in the eye? Even on his tv show , which by the way was about as exciting as C-Span re-runs, he looked as if he would have rather been anywhere else. His press conferences were a joke. We have improved ourselves in the eyes of the world with the Dooley hire and I for one am proud of it.
Docrok writes:
I dunno bout ya'll but I am ready for some recruiting news! Its like not to far from signing day!
SATCHMOE writes:
I have but one thing to say. WAIT and SEE! Until then the media can blow it out their azz...Oh well I said two things, Go Vols, now I said three things.
Colliervol writes:
From everything I've read, the opinion nationally is pretty much 99.9% unanimous. USC and Mike Garrett really look stupid and even more shady than they already are. Wait till the NCAA gets done with them. Just like with what happened to Alabama, I have a suspicion that their hide is going to be nailed to the wall and all Kibble will be able to do is sit there with that glazed look on his face. Wonder how he'll sell two years of no bowls or TV?
I need to bathe repeatedly to get the stench off and say 10 rosarys (if I was Catholic that is) for ever supporting this sleazeball.
asleep#212036 writes:
The all-knowing media didn't give us any help on what happens if "years of losing" were already here BEFORE Kiffin left! Seriously, he wasn't the end all be all of college football coaches. We now have a guy with at least as much ability who's classier, smarter, more articulate, and understands and appreciates what SEC football is all about. Further, he comes highly recommended from everybody who has ever played for him, coached with him, or paid his salary. Kiffin? Nothing on all three counts. He basically showed up from Oakland with enough baggage to fill a pullman car and and a personal recommendation - from himself - which, due to his absolute determination to hire an "anti-Fulmer", Hamilton bit on hook, line, and sinker. Whether he can turn it around or not, please remember: Derek Dooley is replacing Lane Kiffin, not Tom Osborne, Ara Parseghian, or Bear Bryant. C'mon, surely we don't think he's a worse coach than Kiffin, do we? This is all about one recruiting class, most of which he/Thompson/Chaney/ Garza/new hires will salvage. Let's keep our heads up, clean and press our best orange, and fill Neyland next year to cheer our Vols. Go Vols!!!
lail#204076 (staff) writes:
Ah, he didn't.
GeneralNeyland96 writes:
If ol' Monte had just though to use a USC Mascot 'bout 35 years or so ago, we wouldn't have had this problem.....
PennVol writes:
Can't wait to hear his excuses for not winning the PAC-10 next year. It certainly shouldn't be that they don't have enough talent which was always his excuse at UT.
lail#204076 (staff) writes:
I guess we will. But it's not "the media" who rails on and on about the coach/team/school on talk radio, here in the comments and on every Internet message board when UT "merely" has an 8 win season.
asleep#212036 writes:
Agree. The NCAA is ready to pounce which is why Carroll bolted to the NFL. The couldn't get Riley (Oregon State), Sarkisian (Washington) or Jack Del Rio (Jags) for the same reason. I'm sure Garrett told Kiffin the deal and he is so arrogant, he thinks either it won't matter or if it does, USC will be loyal to him in the aftermath of some tough times post-sanctions. I think he's dead wrong on both counts and although I don't wish evil on folks, it would make me smile if it turned out that USC gets hammered, which they should, they become a middle of the pack team for a few years, which is likely, and then fire Kiffin when the probation is over, ala Mike Shula at Bama. Probably sour grapes but it would make me laugh. Go Vols!!!
VolsINFan writes:
GeneralNeyland, that was awesome!
asleep#212036 writes:
Good. Thanks guys for trying to keep the site G-rated.
surfmaster writes:
Can we please stop promoting the garbage that our former coach may or may not have done while he was here? I am tired of hearing about his supposed indiscretions, his "stain" he left on our beloved university, etc, etc. We have a man of integrity now in Coach Dooley, and I for one am proud to have him here. Can we please move forward?
And while we are at it, trying to clean up our image, is it too much to ask for the Knoxville News-Sentinel to stop advertising pornography on this website? Every other page that comes up has an advertisement for The Mouse's Ear strip joint. Am I the only one here offended by this?
I don't know how many under-age kids visit this website, but if they click on that ad, all kind of garbage comes up. You can't have it both ways KNS. You can't talk about cleaning up our image and promoting moral values in our new coaching staff, while at the same time advertising that kind of sewage. Please stop it.
BigBadVol writes:
Can we please stop talking about Kiffin and focus on supporting Dooley? In three days on the job, he has solidified our recruiting class while hiring some quality coaches. Good things are ahead for TN.
d_ray writes:
"temporarily permanent" Isn't this an oxymoron? Kind of like "government intelligence".
rusty_shackleford writes:
Fans respond to the articles posted and the topics brought up on idiotradio. You know as well as I do that articles about World Cup Soccer would illicit zero response, so you go for the lowest common denominator....and we fall for the bait like carp on Ft. Loudon Lake.
Witch_Doctor writes:
Witch Doctor agree with TJ and say when the probation is finished at USC they will sweep Kiffen out the door as the have a "fresh" start and put all that behind in the donors/boosters minds(Witch Doctor say the anger felt at Carroll will be displaced on Kiffen. Witch Doctor say the sword that cuts us today; slices pound of flesh from Kiffin tomorrow. Witch Doctor really really surprised he or Monte or Ed that dumb. Witch Doctor say better to find out now I guess.
Bones NEVER lie.
Witch_Doctor writes:
*Kiffen
LVVOLJJ writes:
Interesting article relating to Kiffin's growing reputation.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/70...
murrayvol writes:
Don't think they did but he said what Riley, Del Rio, Fisher, et al wouldn't.....yes.
And the light in that tunnel is ye olde NCAA train.
ProwlinAndGrowlinSmokeyDog writes:
Signing Day is looking pretty good and I think that it will turn out better than some people think..Hang on tight!
psvol69 writes:
Wasnt G rated was more like PG-13 lol
lail#204076 (staff) writes:
A Twitter poster suggested: Intelligently stupid
lail#204076 (staff) writes:
Good find there! I hadn't seen that one.
CAReed writes:
The stain is on Kiffen, not on UT. It left town with the gang of three.
murrayvol writes:
Don't beat yourself up Collier. A lot of us are in that boat.
psvol69 writes:
Was merely saying in a pretty colorful way that the media "nationally" keeps all this fire going by all the articles. Its Kiffin this, Kiffin that.. The VOLS this and VOLS that in relation to Kiffin and Co.... Also said that Kiffin was a waste of DNA from conception (again very colorfully)... LOL
Also that our great Football tradition goes way back before he was even a though in mom & papa Kiffin's minds.....
If the media would let it go the "stain" would wash away like tomorrow's road dust !!!!
murrayvol writes:
Thanks for clearing that up Jack....I think.
TommyJack writes:
GREAT link.
psvol69 writes:
On a better note. This staff seems to be doing a good job of salvaging the recruiting class. I checked Rivals.com earlier today and they have us listed as 12th nationally. Thats only a 6 point drop from where we were before LK bolted... We may be back in the top 10 by signing day..
Now lets hope this coaching staff can really coach up these players... :-)
ProwlinAndGrowlinSmokeyDog writes:
Hey WD...It's nice to have you back because you have been missed.
You told us what you bones say about our former coach...Now, tell us what they say about our new and improved coach.
Thanks!
smokey_bites_traitors(formerly known as a very inappropriate name that I don't care to mention right now)
ProwlinAndGrowlinSmokeyDog writes:
I am in that boat as well, so this poster is correct in saying not to beat yourself up.
crimsonviper writes:
Great link...thanks
Witch_Doctor writes:
Witch Doctor just take couple of days to go out of town. Witch Doctor say this guy gonna be a great coach. Witch Doctor say we all need to keep perspective and give this guy a chance. Witch Doctor say he sewing up pretty decent class(top 15) considering what happened with "the one whos name shall not be mentioned" unless it misspelled "Kiffin".
Go Vols
Bones never lie.
Witch_Doctor writes:
Witch Doctor say it fun to kill the messenger. lol
Bones never lie.
volnxile writes:
what has Lame Kiffin ever done to merit this kind of attention? too much press for no espn high lights.
ProwlinAndGrowlinSmokeyDog writes:
Thanks, WD!!!
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