Lane Kiffin Finally Shows His True Colors
Lane Kiffin entered the UT football program running his mouth about this and that. He boasted about how the Vols were going to beat the Florida Gators and sing ‘Rocky Top’ all night long after doing so. He promised to fans, alumni and current students alike that he was going to revolutionize the UT football program and bring it back to the glory days. He extended personal assurances to the players and coaching staff that he had their back 110% and was pushing up his shirt sleeves and getting to work for what he predicted would be a stellar season. Expectations were high. Hope among the UT nation was even higher. Then came last night.
Kiffin made the shocking announcement before UT nation and the sports world that he would be leaving his head coaching position at UT to assume head coach responsibilities at USC. In his mind it made perfect sense. After all he spent time as an assistant back in the day at USC. He knows the school. He loves the school. So why not just tell UT goodbye, pack a few bags and head off for sunny California?
I’ll tell you why not – it’s wrong! Not just wrong by itself but wrong on so many levels. There are members of the new recruiting class that uprooted their entire life and the lives of their family to come play for Kiffin. Parents took their children out of school and placed them in a brand new school in the middle of the school year just so their big brother could play for the coveted Coach Kiffin and the UT football program. There are current players that believed in the message Kiffin was spreading in closed-door locker room meetings. They put their heart and soul on the line despite criticism to play for Kiffin simply because they believed in him. It is the head coach’s job after all to lead his team through the good, the bad and the ugly.
Last night Lane Kiffin earned the ranking of the ugliest of the ugly in college football. He has forever tarnished his reputation. It does not matter if he produces an undefeated season at USC in 2010. He is the slimy weasel that snuck out of the University of Tennessee under the dark of night stomping on the hearts of his players, supporters and recruiting class on his way out the door. Kiffin does not care about anyone but himself. If he did, he would have handled the move to USC with more decency that he showcased. He would care about the pain and heartache left in UT hearts with his departure from Tennessee. The fact that he has single-handedly destroyed the UT football program for the next several years would show in his facial expressions. That would be the markings of a head football coach with dignity, class and respect for those around him.
That is not Lane Kiffin. Instead he held a press conference tonight on the grounds of his new employer USC. To add salt to the pain the UT nation is feeling tonight, Kiffin called the USC job the “best job in America”. He went on to talk about coaches he and the rest of the USC staff hope to bring onboard in coming months. Once complete Kiffin will have “the best coaching staff in America”. In that entire press conference he did not issue an “I’m Sorry” to the University of Tennessee. Instead Kiffin just left them with a less than impressive 7 – 6 record for the 2009 season and a bad taste of what happens when you put your heart, soul and trust in someone only to have them turn around and stick a knife in your heart the minute you turn your back.
Take heart UT nation for eventually the pain will fade and hope will once again return to the football field. In the end you will find life is brighter simply because Kiffin kicked himself to the curb!
