Turns out former Vols coach Lane Kiffin is one of the lucky girls in the running!

He’s matched up against a professional lady golfer but as of today he is leading the first round votes by a nice margin.

Such a pretty girl…

There were two loud sounds coming out of Rocky Top this week.  The first is when the collective jaws of Knoxville  hit the floor when Vols coach Lane Kiffin flipped us all the bird and headed out of town faster than anyone we’ve ever seen. 

Seriously. That dude gave a 1 minute press conference with one foot in the plane.

The second sound was a gasp that came out of Rocky Top when UT hired a relative unknown coach by the name of Derek Dooley to replace Kiffin.  People around here do not really know Dooley so naturally we are skeptical. 

But after the Kiffin fiasco we are all just looking to move on at this point.

Sweet Lord! Look at that beautiful head of hair!

The more we look into the life of Derek Dooley the more relaxed we become.  This week has been hectic as Lane Kiffin’s Beverly Hillbillies routine left us going “WTF!”

But now the Vols have an identity in the form of Derek Dooley.  And yes, he spells his first name just like the fashion model so that’s a plus. We hope that Dooley works out and here are five reasons we believe he will:

5) He is the son of Vince Dooley, legendary coach at Georgia.  That s%*t looks good on a resume.

1)The Hair!  Look at that hair.  Folks, we have a winner!

Our little town of Knoxville let out a collective “WTF?!” as news of Kiffin and most of his staff leaving the Vols to head to Southern Cal. Some fans are happy with the decision as Kiffin’s abrasive attitude just didn’t fit in with the program.

For the rest of Vol Nation it was a monumental move that left people angry and confused.  Kiffin sold his program to the Vols and just like that, *poof*, he is gone. Kinda like Keyser Soze if Keyser Soze was a prick instead of a mobster.

5.  Named his last son Knox after Knoxville. Wanted to be able to name his next boy Richard

4.  His mentor, Bobby Petrino, recommended the move.

3.  Really heading to Los Angeles to be new host of “The Tonight Show”

2.  Wanted another challenge. Couldn’t get Vols on probation fast enough; USC much closer to that goal

1.  Wanted to prove to Al Davis that he wasn’t a punk-ass, crybaby with no loyalty and zero professional who was just looking for his next job.

Edit: came across this great picture of the Rock on UT campus which accurately depicts how Vols fans are feeling right now. Via Losers With Socks.

Lane Kiffin during First Vol Walk

Wow.

If the news reports are to be true, it looks like our Tennessee Vols just got shafted harder than any team

Lane Kiffin is uprooting most of his coaching staff from UT to rejoin the USC Trojans in replacement of the departing Pete Carroll.  This news has of course floored Vol Nation who stood by Kiffin as he continually mouthed off during the year.

In the end, Kiffin was able to slightly resurrect the Vol program by making them competitve and giving UT some great recruiting classes in his short time here.

Numerous reports including ESPN and the L.A. Times claim Kiffin will strip the Vols of most of their coaching staff and head out West.  Kiffin has scheduled a news report for later this evening and we are still flabergasted by the developments.

Could Kiffin show such lack of professionalism and seriously make the biggest Dick Move in SEC history?  Guess we’ll know in about an hour when Kiffin gives his press conference.  More later…

• USC appears to have hired Lane Kiffin - LA Times
• Kiffin hired by Southern Cal – Go Vols Xtra

Edit: video added of Lane’s press conference. He couldn’t get out of town fast enough…[via Sports by Brooks]

Dear Tennessee Vols Athletics Director Mike Hamilton,

Please.  Get your Shit together.

Thank you,

Vol Nation

Wow! Again?

We know our University of Tennessee can be a sports program loosely disguised as a University [Go Vols!] at times but you’d think that after the embarrassment of multiple football players being arrested/kicked off the team that the other sports would take a closer look at what they are doing. Or at least teach these kids how not to be blatantly stupid.

You know, since the media and the NCAA might be looking a little into how we operate things down here.

After the Prius Holdup and the Tennessee Hostesses, it looks like we have another scandal on our dockets. Tyler Smith, Brian Williams, Melvin Goins and Cameron Tatum were arrested by Knoxville police last Friday bringing the total number of Vols arrested* this Fall the same as the Football teams number of victories.

Four University of Tennessee basketball players were arrested on drug and weapons charges today after a Knoxville police officer stopped the car they were riding in for speeding on Alcoa Highway near Kingston Pike. [via Knoxnews GoVols Xtra]

We don’t think that Tennessee Athletics Director Mike Hamilton got the memo that having the  “T” in “UT” standing for “Thug” is not a good thing.  The Vols aren’t going to have too many more postseasons if Hamilton cannot learn to evoke discipline in his sports programs or better yet have the men start playing by the disciplinary guidelines of Pat Summitt.

The officer requested back-up and a K-9 unit. After the dog alerted officers to the presence of marijuana, the vehicle was searched.

Knoxville police said they found a handgun under the driver seat, a handgun with an altered serial number under the passenger seat, a baggy of marijuana, and a open container of alcohol.

The police report says Tatum was the driver and faces a weapon and unlawful container charge. Originally, police said Smith and Williams would face felony weapons charges. But, Judicial Commissioner Robert Cole tells 6 News the pair will face misdemeanor weapons charges. Goins faces a weapons charge and a drug possession charge. [via WATE]

The Florida Gators lost their head coach this weekend when Urban Meyer suddenly stepped down from the program citing his health as a determining factor. It’s a shock to Gators fans and a belated Christmas gift for our Vols.

Meyer thankfully claims that there is no immediate disease or deadly illness but rather his overall wellness that forced him to rethink heading up the nation’s #1 team.  Essentially, the cost of staying #1 took it’s toll on the coach.

Meyer met with his players around 7 p.m. Eastern on Saturday. “I have ignored my health for years, but recent developments have forced me to re-evaluate my priorities of faith and family,” he said in a statement.

The vacancy of Meyer is easily the most determining factor in the SEC we have seen in years. The Gators are easily the team to beat in the SEC with 2 National Championships this decade under Meyer’s rule. This year the Gators used QB Tim Tebow’s final season as a springboard to another title but fell short to Alabama in the SEC Championship.

The Gator’s will not have Tebow next season which will make it hard for the team to repeat as SEC East champs.

Add in the loss of coordinators Dan Mullen (to Mississippi State) and Charlie Strong (to Louisville) with Meyer and the Gators are now looking at no immediate successor to the team during this pivotal recruiting period.

That’s good news for every team that is in a recruiting battle with Florida and we can imagine Vols coach Lane Kiffin smiling a little bit more than usual tonight knowing the division [and recruiting] just got a little easier.

Coach Lane Kiffin dismissed Nu’Keese Richardson and fellow Mensa nominee Mike Edwards from the Vol program. That’s a nice way of saying “You’re Fired!”

Vol Nation stood around getting anxious at seeing if Lane Kiffin would stand by his words of cleaning up the UT program. He did.  So far.  2 out of 3 ain’t bad.

Janzen Jackson, the third genius in the posse, is essentially suspended from the program until further notice. His suspension leans on looking into the charges again Jackson more because he may or may not have been fully involved with the crime.

If nothing else they should all be run out of town for doing this on campus and using a Prius for a getaway car!

“After extensive and thorough research of the situation over the last four days and considering various disciplinary options, I’ve decided it’s in the best interest of our program to remove Nu’Keese and Mike,” Kiffin said. “As I’ve said many times before, we hold our student-athletes to an extremely high standard on and off the field. Our student-athletes must be responsible members of society, and this type of conduct will not be tolerated.

“We want a positive culture for our student-athletes that allows them to succeed in the classroom, on the field, and in life after college. My hope is that these two young men will learn from their terrible decision. Clearly, their actions have no place in our program.”

I Can Has Cheezeburger?

OK.  So maybe Tennessee will win the Fulmer Cup this year.VOL Nation is in a little bit of turmoil at the moment.  Turns out three highly recruited freshmen football players mistook Knoxville for the University of Miami and went on a crime spree filled with blood and helicopters and dead penguins and mayhem.

There was a long, drawn out police chase which cornered the 3 kids in an abandoned warehouse where a 4-hour shootout occurred before the entire industrial block was blown up by Jack Bauer and a helicopter armed with a nuclear warhead.

Sigh….not really…

The truth is 3 UT players pretended to be thugs and held up some broke kids on campus with airguns and escaped in a Prius.

Yep.  A Prius!

How’s that for street cred?  No Lil Wayne song is gonna make it sound cool for poppin’ a BB in someone’s ass and hoppin’ in the eco-friendly Prius.

Here’s some raw video of the arrests from WVLT.

The stupidity of the crimes doesn’t end there.  They did it on Cumberland Avenue, or the “Strip” as we local folks call it.  That’s the road next to campus.  You can’t miss it. Everyone travels down it and it’s filled with hobos and UT students at that time of night.

So, at 2 in the AM, three recognizable football players go to a gas station and try to rob a couple of UT kids.

We can safely say that on any campus college students are not known for their huge wallets of cash.  It’s not exactly a prime area for lots of cash.

The victims didn’t have money to offer but did have a cheeseburger.  The three football players decided not to mug them of their food.

The alleged incident reportedly took place at the Pilot Foodmart on the Cumberland Avenue “Strip”. According to police reports it was around 2am when two men in black hoodies entered a car occupied by three men. One assailant held a gun at the driver’s head and demanded money. The victims claimed that they had nothing to offer but a cheeseburger, and a third man then urged the other two suspects to leave the scene. Janzen Jackson is reported to be the third man who entered the scene. [source]

It also didn’t help that one of the dumbass douchebag football players was wearing a UT Adidas shirt. The only way they could of made it easier on the cops is to wear their game jerseys.

Can I get that cheeseburger now?

It’s hard to try to make the news of 3 Vols arrested for armed robbery into anything other than what it is: a complete embarrassment.

There is one bit of  great news and that is none of these douchebag boneheads hurt anyone.  The guns turned out to be airguns and all parties walked away with no physical injuries.  That’s such good news these days.

The only injury was to the careers of defensive back Janzen Jackson, 19, and wide receiver Nu’Keese Richardson, 19, and defensive back Michael Edwards, 18, who pissed all over UT tradition with their cowardly acts.

Fuck you, Janzen Jackson.

Fuck you, Nu’Keese Richardson.

Fuck you, Michael Edwards.

You are all an embarassment to the Orange and White.

Begone with you!

That rant aside, can you imagine the footage of a car chase through Knoxville with 30 police cars after a Prius.  That’s funny shit!  Those things can go forever on a full tank and they’re slow as Hell.

Besides, they probably could have gotten away faster by running.  Although we know Nu’Keese might have fumbled his Air-Soft pellet gun.

Let’s also take a nice look at this great picture from Nu’Keese’s Facebook page showing his huge stack of Benji’s. 

Oh,….wait.  Those are just $1 bills.  Well, he probably has enough to gas up the Prius with that wad. Not enough for bail, though….

Dollar Bills, y'all!

Coach Lane Kiffin has not announced the punishment for the 3 kids as he stated he is waiting for an investigation by the University into the matters.  Kiffin has pledged to help clean up the UT football program and this is his first major hurdle.  So at the moment it is a wait-and-see on the futures of these three criminals.

• UT football players arrested for attempted armed robbery
• Trouble in Tennessee
• So what’s Lane Kiffin going to talk about now?
• Kiffin’s streak ends at “11 months and 11 days”: Three UT football players …

After a rough start, the Vols have started to find their grove with huge wins over SC and Georgia and one big lose in Alabama that should not have been.  Lane’s got it OK, though. He has a hot wife, rolled out black Vols Jerseys to the joy of UT fans and is mentioned in rap song by Lil Wayne, so he’s riding in the front car of the pimp train right now exchanging high-fives with Bruce Pearl.

image source

But now it’s just gone platinum. Spurrier can’t match this!

Rapper Lil Wayne has made Lane Kiffin a star[and a fan of his music] by referencing the coach’s knack for loose lips in a new single from Wayne’s latest album.

*bump*

In Lil’s newest track, Banned From TV, the Southern rapper includes this line, “Smoke weed, talk s— like Lane Kiffin.”

Now Lane Kiffin has acknowledged the endorsement via Twitter, tweeting today, “looking forward to another great practice today and a huge game Saturday … also a huge shout-out to Lil Wayne for boosting our street cred!”

Tweet This, Bitches!

The video is below and Vol fans will find the line about 1:10 into the song. Word. And for those not familiar with Lil Wayne’s music, feel free to turn up the speakers in the office and blast this single as loud as possible.* Everyone in the office will love it!

The Vols were able to hold off Ohio 34-23 despite a tough game from the Bobcats including missed field goals and a Crompton fumble returned by Ohio for a TD that was overturned.

However, the big news of the night is up in Kentucky where the giant Tim Tebow got knocked out of the game by the Wildcats after a tough hit.

Mama said knock you out…

Tim Tebow was taken to a hospital by ambulance after a hard hit to the head in the third quarter of No. 1 Florida’s game against Kentucky on Saturday night.

There was no immediate report on the quarterback’s condition.

The Gators were in Kentucky territory when Tebow took a big hit from Kentucky defensive end Taylor Wyndham. Tebow’s head hit the leg of Florida right tackle Marcus Gilbert as he fell to the ground. He lay motionless for several minutes before sitting up. He walked off the field with help to the bench, where his parents came down from the stands to join him.

As Tebow was being carted from the sideline, Tim Tebowappeared to be vomiting.

Ouch!  Well we do have video of the Tim Tebow hit, sans the vomiting.

Phillip Fulmer enjoys the game

After a strong start against the Western Kentucky practice squad last week, the Tennessee Vols faced their first real challenge with the UCLA Bruins coming to Knoxville. The Bruins embarrassed Fulmer and the Vols last year in their meeting in California and this year the Vols sported a new coach and new personnel which gave hope of redemption.

However the ghost of Fulmer lurks on the sidelines of Neyland Stadium.

There are marked improvements on offense for the Vols with receivers that can catch and running backs that can hold on to the ball. However, the QB situation looks the same as last year.

Jonathan Crompton, easily our least favorite Vol of all time, stumbled and bumbled around with streaky inconsistency  and poor judgment that made us wondering why Coach Kiffin did not pull him out of the game.  UCLA was given the game due to the play of Crompton which had us all pulling at our hair.

The game stayed close despite Crompton’s follies.  We still have high hopes for an enjoyable year from the Vols and know that a rebuilding year is always tough.  But how bad are the backup QB’s on the bench for Kiffin to keep giving Crompton the ball?

We’re thinking that Crompton’s performance today (13 for 26, 93 yds, 0 TD’s and 3 INTs) might hamper his Heisman chances.

Jonathan Crompton for Heisman

It has been a soap opera in Knoxville since Phillip Fulmer and his staff were cut from the program late last year. Everyone, of course, has their opinion on the situation ranging for immediate approval to the worst decision ever made in SEC history.

The truth of the matter was UT was struggling to compete in the SEC and the recent success of rival schools like Vandy, Kentucky and South Carolina left the Vols losing recruiting battles and SEC games. Tack on the pressure of the SEC signing huge network TV deals to capitalize on the popularity of the Conference and the choice became a necessity. The SEC was moving ahead and Tennessee was going backwards and something had to be done.

A tough decision was made to let Fulmer and his staff go.  Then a younger coaching staff was brought in to revamp the aging program and kick start the lagging recruiting of the Vols.

Enter Lane Kiffin.

A man shrouded in perpetual questions marks.

The son of the legendary defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin [who would later join his son's coaching staff] was destined to be a coach of legend like his father. Lane rose up through the ranks fast with a notable stint for the USC Trojans.  However, his last job with the NFL’s Oakland Raiders ended ugly as owner Al Davis claimed Kiffin was in insubordinate fool and he fired Lane and refused to pay out his contract.

We commend Al Davis for those actions.

The decision of one crazed, old man in the jumpsuit and Depends left Kiffin open for a job at the same time the Vols needed a coach looking to prove himself. Timing is everything is sports.

Lane Kiffin during First Vol Walk

Flashforward to Saturday which marked the first time Lane Kiffin coached the Vols in a game as the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers came to Knoxville to open the season. The success of the Vols rested on the fantastic recruitment class Kiffin had this year and his stellar coaching staff, the highest paid in the SEC.  Question marks surrounded the program as people questioned the hire and the future of the Vols.

In the end today, three rookies found their way to the end zone and 10 members total of Kiffin’s first recruiting class played in the game as Tennessee shook off many of those question marks and pounded the Hilltoppers 63-7 to notch their first win as a team.

Bryce Brown, the #1 running back recruit last year according to Rivals.com, demonstrated his power and hype by rushing for 107 yards including bowling over 3 Hilltoppers on the goal line for his first TD. Add in a monster performance by Montario Hardesty [over 100+ yards] and 2 TD’s for David Oku and the Vols RB’s looked solid.

For the first time in years the Vols receivers played like they actually attended practice at some point during the year.  More passes were caught than dropped, an unfamiliar sight at Neyland Stadium in recent years. It’s such a relief to see the receiving corp become a reliable part of the offense again. QB Crompton found 5 receivers open for TD’s including 2 to TE Stocker. Now if we can just have that faith at the QB position we’ll be happy.

Fifth-year senior Jonathan Crompton, arguably one of our least favorite QB’s we have seen at Tennessee, was easily the weakest link on the offense.  The first quarter for Crompton was pretty much how he left off last year.  Crompton’s 2 interceptions and a fumble near the goal line in the 1st half did not invoke much confidence in us and making these mistakes against a team like WKU is far more acceptable than doing them against Florida or Bama. Do that in Florida and you could easily be down 14+ points.

Thankfully, he did settle down midway through the 2nd quarter and had a strong finish. For a guy prone to bonehead mistakes like fumbles, forced passes and interceptions, Crompton will have to shake off last year and step up to take this team deep in the rankings.

Thankfully, the Vols defense played an outstanding game and stopped the Hilltoppers from capitalizing on crompton’s mistakes.

With many of the initial question marks now gone with their first win as a team but some key ones remain. The Vols performed exactly how a Top 20 team should play against a team of WKU’s talent. The Vols dominated both sides of the ball and came away with an outstanding victory.

But what about the constancy factor?  How will the team play against higher-caliber teams like UCLA next week or one on the road and more importantly how will Lane Kiffin do against the rivals of ‘Bama, Flordia and Georgia?  It’s a long season ahead but even with those critical questions left unanswered we are excited about how the program has come together.

Go Vols!

NOTES:

• Many former Vols were in attendance for the game including Peyton Manning, Albert Haynesworth, Terry Fair and Joey Kent.
• Very sad news. Friday night before the game former Vol Jesse Mahelona died in a car accident in Hawaii.
• Overall, of the 7 TD’s scored by the Vols 3 were by freshmen.
• Tennessee amassed 657 yards of offense, of which 380 came on the ground.
• ERIC BERRY HEISMAN Watch: Berry almost intercepted the first pass of the Hilltoppers but in the end was held to 3 tackles and 1 pass defensed.
• Rivals: Florida wins, ‘Bama wins against VTech, Georgia loses against OK St.

[Vol Walk photo source]

Football is back is session here in Knoxville and the Vols may traded out their entire coaching staff but one thing is the same. Eric Berry will be a monster on the field for the Vols.

That’s why we are excited about the prospects of having Berry getting a Heisman nod. Berry4Heisman.com is a website being promoted along with the UT sports department’s help to petition for Berry’s nomination. If last year’s efforts by Berry are any indication, we bet he has a great chance of getting invited to New York at the end of the year.

This new section holds the press box and VIP area including the coaches wives. Yes, Lane Kiffin’s hot wife will be sitting up there. Go Vols!