Lane Kiffin completes mediocre first year at USC

When former Tennessee football coach Lane Kiffin dumped the Volunteers in favor of the University of Southern California, it was believed that prosperity awaited him. Unfortunately for him, the NCAA dropped the hammer and put the program on probation earlier this year. So, entering the season, it was known the Trojans could not go to a bowl. However, I do not believe many expected the lackluster season they just experienced.

USC closed the season last Saturday with a win against UCLA. The Trojans finished with an 8-5 record, and there were some puzzling losses. A close loss to Washington was inexcusable as well as a loss at home to Notre Dame. Of course, the Trojans did not have starting quarterback Matt Barkley for that game, but the Irish was playing with its back-up quarterback as well.

Also, USC got stomped by Oregon State and gave up more than 50 points to Oregon.

Despite the probation, the program is still deep in resources, so Kiffin should have delivered more this year. Years two and three are when the impact of the NCAA penalties should really hit home. Because of this, can we expect losing seasons out of USC in the near future?

As upset as Tennessee fans were when he left, it may not have been such a bad thing.

This year, Kiffin delivered a mediocre performance in a league that is vastly inferior to the Southeastern Conference. If he could not compete in the PAC-10, how could we have expected him to do so here?

I have no hard feelings toward Kiffin for jilting Tennessee. USC was his dream job, and he took it.

However, based on what I have observed this year, I am happier to have Derek Dooley as our head coach than Lane Kiffin.

Derek Dooley looks like a good fit for the Tennessee football program

On Friday, the University of Tennessee hired Derek Dooley as its head football coach, ending a tumultuous week. The Vol Nation went into frenzy when former coach Lane Kiffin unexpectedly quit to take the USC job. However, Dooley looks like a good choice.

A strong case can be made that Dooley has better qualifications than Kiffin when he got the job. Dooley has more head coaching experience than Kiffin and also was athletic director at Louisiana Tech when he was picked by Tennessee. Dooley also has NFL experience (with Nick Saban during his ill-fated tenure with Miami). Plus, he has recruiting and coaching experience at LSU, so he definitely knows his way around the Southeastern Conference.

At this point, Tennessee fans should feel good about his hiring. As for Kiffin, the timing of his departure during recruiting season definitely will cost the Volunteers recruits. However, one can hardly blame him for leaving. USC was his dream job, and most of us would leave one job for another if it helped our family and advanced our career. At least, that is how Kiffin looks at it.

It is time to rally around Dooley and quit whining about Kiffin.

If Volunteers fix QB problems, 2009 has potential

The University of Tennessee's lamentable 2008 football season now belongs to the ages, which means we can start looking to the 2009 season. Here is the schedule:

Sept. 5 – vs. Western Kentucky
Sept. 12 – vs. UCLA
Sept. 19 – at Florida
Sept. 26 – vs. Ohio
Oct. 3 – vs. Auburn
Oct. 10 – vs. Georgia
Oct. 24 – at Alabama
Oct. 31 – vs. South Carolina
Nov. 7 – vs. Memphis
Nov. 14 – at Mississippi
Nov. 21 – vs. Vanderbilt
Nov. 28 – at Kentucky

The schedule looks manageable. I don't think anybody expects the program to return to prominence next year, but if the quarterback situation can be sorted out, the result should be a winning season.

The Volunteers play eight of their 12 games at home, including five of the first six. If new coach Lane Kiffin can pull the team together, he has a chance to get off to a quick start. There is no way we will beat Florida. However, despite last season's lousy performance, the Vols can never be counted out of any game at Neyland Stadium. Though we play some tough opponents at home, none are world beaters. Our toughest games are on the road next year.

Despite how bad our offense was in '08, we were only a few points from going to a bowl. If things fall together, Tennessee should at least qualify for a bowl in '09.

Mixed emotions about Tennessee hiring Lane Kiffin as football head coach

Well, the Lane Kiffin era as University of Tennessee head football coach officially began Monday, and I have to admit that I have mixed emotions about his hiring.

For a program of Tennessee's stature, I was hoping that we would hire a higher profile coach with a track record. I know Kiffin is well-respected for his work as an assistant coach at USC, but I wanted a coach with at least some experience as a college head coach. I know he has head coaching experience with the NFL's Oakland Raiders, but I don't know how much we can learn from that. After all, the Raiders are a mess.

The Southeastern Conference has four head coaches that have won national championships (Steve Spurrier at South Carolina, Urban Meyer at Florida, Nick Saban at Alabama, and Les Miles at LSU). With Kiffin's lack of experience, I kind of feel like Tennessee will be bringing a knife to a gun fight when we play those teams.

Additionally, I have read in multiple media reports that the biggest asset Kiffin may bring to the job is the top flight staff he will likely assemble. While I agree that it is important to have great assistant coaches, it shouldn't be the top attribute a coach has to offer. That sounds like the type of talk a job applicant would provide if he knew he didn't have the qualifications for the job.

On the other hand, I do feel good about this in some ways. Since taking over the job, athletic director Mike Hamilton has shown an uncanny ability to hire the right person (most notably, men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl.)

Also, Tennessee has a long history of hiring coaches that have had little or no head coaching experience. Each of those coaches were considered top flight assistants who were looking for a break. Of course, Phillip Fulmer fit that category. If he hadn't gotten the Tennessee job in 1992, then he certainly would have gotten one some place else. Before that, Bill Battle in 1970 and Doug Dickey in 1964 also fit that category. Dickey's tenure was a tremendous success, while Battle was a classy man who started well but fizzled at the end.

I wish Kiffin well as he recruits and attempts to get the program back on track. However, he has huge shoes to fill.

Time will tell.