There are a number of answers that would be partially right, but none would be more right than this: I started MSF so that when I feel passionately about something in the sports world, I have a forum where I can express it and promote it and know that at least a few people will read it.

Well tonight is one of those nights where I feel pretty strongly about something, and although I’m sure there are other, perhaps better ways I could spend a Sunday evening, I’m going to spend mine angrily pounding the keys of my laptop to defend a man whose alma mater is my sworn enemy.

Tonight, the Tennessee Volunteers announced the hiring of Cuonzo Martin (Purdue, ’95) as their new head coach. He will replace the disgraced Bruce Pearl, who did a tremendous job in building the Vols’ program but who could not stay in the line with NCAA rules.

It is a brilliant, inspired, forward-thinking hire by Tennessee.

Cuonzo Martin will succeed. He succeeds at everything he does, everywhere he goes. He’s a winner. And not in the cliched Charlie Sheen way that we now throw that term around. Cuonzo Martin is a winner in the truest sense of the word.

And now he’s going to a fan base that apparently doesn’t want him – just read the comments here. That’s a damn shame.

First things first. Everyone reading this needs to understand something, and it is not insignificant: I am a dyed-in-the-wool Indiana fan and IU grad who would usually rather be waterboarded than give credit or praise to anything having to do with Purdue. I’ve come around to respecting Purdue a bit more recently, but my track record of gold and black venom speaks for itself.

Yet, in my 20+ years as a focused, attentive, knowledgeable, passionate fan of Big 10 basketball, there are very few players I have ever respected more than Cuonzo Martin.

‘Zo started out at Purdue as a freshman playing alongside Glenn Robinson during the 1991-92 season. He averaged 5.8 points per game in 20.8 minutes and was 0-1 from downtown. As a sophomore, Martin played 33 minutes per game and upped his points per page to 11.9 but still went 0% from downtown (0-6).

But as a junior and a senior, called on to fill the void left by the Big Dog, Cuonzo Martin stepped up and became one the best, most versatile, most clutch players in the Big Ten over those two years. He scored 16. 3 points as a junior, 18.4 points as a senior, and made a combined 179 of 390 3-point attempts, or 45.9%.

Update: thanks to @jerees for straightening me out. I was a season ticket holder then, I should have remembered!

Cuonzo’s freshman year, Glenn Robinson was academically ineligible. Thus, Martin played with the Big Dog his sophomore and junior year, and then took over as a senior.

And he did all of this on bad knees and in the most demanding (at the time) conference in America. Hmm, I wonder if that kind of experience might be invaluable for a coach in relating to players as they go through their 3-4 years of college development. From afterthought to Big Ten MVP; seems like Cuonzo can pretty much relate to everyone on the roster.

That’s just a small tip in the impressive iceberg that is the Cuonzo Martin story. But I’ll pause now to relay a few tweets from Clay Travis, who follows Tennessee sports as closely as anyone I’m aware of, and whose opinion I usually respect. Tonight? Not so much.

So Tennessee fired Bruce Pearl to hire Cuonzo Martin. That really happened. Biggest downgrade in college hiring since? Send nominations.

Pearl’s son. Seconded RT @SPearl22: All I can do is laugh and say good luck sir

Both of these tweets came within an hour of the Martin hire being announced. The second one is Travis retweeting Bruce Pearl’s son, and I think we can all understand why Pearl’s son would feel like criticizing the hire.

But from Travis, who I’ve always found to be rational, reasonable, and well-informed, I expected a little more than the shock-jock, knee-jerk, myopic reaction that he’s provided tonight. Let those ignorant tweets simmer as we get back to talking about ‘Zo, the real star of the show in this post.

This is not my first time blogging about Cuonzo Martin. I wrote about him in December of 2009. Here is the 4th paragraph of said article:

Cuonzo Martin is now in his second season as the head coach of the Missouri State Bears and already has them undefeated and ranked in the top 25.

For longtime Big Ten basketball fans, this really should not be a surprise.

The purpose of my article, however, was not to laud Martin for how good of a job he’d done in a short time as Missouri State’s head coach. It also wasn’t to laud him for his impressive college career. The purpose was to echo the sentiments of an article by Kansas City Star writer Sam Mellinger, who penned a terrific profile of Martin’s tough upbringing on St. Louis’ east side as well as his debilitating and near-fatal fight with cancer.

Unfortunately, newspapers don’t know their elbows from their assholes when it comes to the Internet, so the link to the article is no longer live; but here is what I excerpted from it, which will give you at least a flavor of the Martin story:

Cuonzo Martin bites a whistle in his mouth and holds a yellow apple in his hand as he stares down the opportunity of his professional life, right here in front of him. He is pacing, stalking, his feet never sticking to the hardwood basketball court at Missouri State more than a half-second or so.

He shouldn’t be here. Not statistically, not medically, and not realistically. Guys who see what he’s seen and lived what he’s lived just don’t become head coach of one of biggest surprise teams in Division I basketball.

But here he is anyway, spreading his personal gospel of motion offense and nasty defense and especially about being tough. That last point is a way of life for Martin. His Bears, 9-0 and No. 23 in the RPI, are catching on quicker than anybody expected.

“I’m from East St. Louis,” he says. “We scratch. We fight. We make it work.”

…..

Cuonzo Martin doesn’t like to say too much about the things he saw as a kid. Through conversations with family and friends, the sad cliché of growing up in the projects emerges. Gangs. Drugs. Prostitution. Guns.

“We did some things that other people probably got in trouble for,” says Marco Harris, Martin’s best friend growing up. “We just didn’t get caught. I think God had a different plan.”

Martin likes to say that people in his hometown look out for those trying to make good. It’s a rough place, and maybe this is a strange dynamic, but he thinks his hometown protected him, helping him make it.

…..

Martin carried his baby boy as he walked through the door of his Indianapolis home and collapsed. He remembers stretching his arms out to drop the boy on the couch, saving the impact. His wife rushed him to the hospital, where they ran tests and X-rays. He’ll never forget the doctor’s voice.

“I don’t know if you’re going to live or die,” he said. “This is very serious.”

Thankfully, Cuonzo Martin did live, but not without having to fight non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, as this article from MissouriStateBears.com recounts:

Cuonzo Martin lost weight at an alarming rate while he was playing professionally in Italy. He had trouble breathing and after several exams he was told that he had bronchitis and was required to return home immediately.

Upon his return Martin met with a US doctor. The doctor in a business-like, matter of fact tone told Martin that he had cancer, “life threatening cancer.” At 26 years old and in the prime of his life, Cuonzo Martin who grew up in the middle of the societal cancers of East St. Louis now faced Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. The tumor was located between his heart and lungs and it was an aggressive and growing mass.

He was treated with the most advanced and most volatile treatments available at that time. The chemotherapy left him near death. He could barely move and his will to live was reduced to one prayer, “God, please let me live long enough to see my 4 month old son turn 18 years old.”

That was the prayer of a dying man who had only one option, trust that God might listen and give him one last chance to make a difference for his son, Joshua. God listened and today just before practice I watched Cuonzo Martin with emotion filled eyes and slightly trembling hands describe the horror he once faced one day at a time.

Tennessee fans, and Clay Travis, in the coming weeks and months when you wonder why Cuonzo Martin has such a nuanced, refreshing, and positive outlook on life, remember this passage. Let’s just say that he can truly appreciate every opportunity he is given because for ‘Zo every day truly is an opportunity that at one time he did not think he’d have.

So when I see retweets like this from Travis and other Tennessee fans, you’ll forgive me if I think it’s a little ridiculous and a lot short-sighted:

@Josh_Ward What a joke this whole process has been.

Why rush hire in one week? Are coaches with one career NIT win really that hot of commodities?

Here’s the thing: Travis isn’t entirely off base when he wonders if Martin is really that hot of a commodity. And this tweet, where he describes Martin as a “bargain basement hire” isn’t entirely off base either.

Martin is something of a “bargain basement” hire when you compare him to Flavor of the Month – and, granted, NCAA Tournament proven – coaches like Shaka Smart of VCU, who Travis earlier in the day implored Tennessee to go after. (As for Brad Stevens…ha! Like he’d even think about a job at an unethical football school.)

So while I’ll grant that Travis makes some points in Tennessee perhaps rushing the process and perhaps going off the radar with its choice, neither means that they didn’t get the best man for the job.

And I suppose this – some 1600 words into the post – is where I should talk about Cuonzo Martin the coach - even though he always has been and always will be 10x better and more valuable to a program as a man than he is as a coach.

For those Tennessee fans like @yelojaketgirl who tweeted to me [sic] “he came outta nowhere!!! thats a terrible choice!!!” just look ‘Zo’s short but telling history as a head coach:

In his first year, the Bears obviously struggled to a 10th place finish; but look at the improvement. They won 24 games his second season and won the CIT championship. This year, they were the regular season champions of one of the 10-12 best basketball conferences in America, the Missouri Valley Conference. The Bears unfortunately stumbled in their conference tournament and were not deemed worthy of a bid by the Selection Committee, though I know more than a few smart basketball people who thought they deserved a look.

Combine Martin’s early success as a head coach with his pedigree – he learned under Gene Keady and Matt Painter, both of whom are better coaches than the departing Bruce Pearl that Vol fans seem to be already missing – and I ask you: what is there not to like or feel good about?

Oh, and as to Clay Travis’ tweet above about how Tennessee could be so foolish as to hire a coach with “one career NIT win”…

• Guess how many NCAA Tournaments Bob Knight went to in six years at his first job, Army, before he was hired at Indiana: none. (He went to the NIT four times, never reaching the finals)
• Guess how many NCAA Tournament appearances Mike Krzyzewksi had at Army, his first job, before being hired at Duke: none. Guess how many NIT wins Coach K had in his five years at Army: none.

Now, you may say that it’s unfair to compare Cuonzo Martin to two of the greatest coaches in the history of college basketball. I say why?

No one looks back and questions their hiring, despite neither doing a whole hell of a lot at their first jobs. And you could argue that Martin has actually done more in his first job than either Knight or Krzyzewski did in theirs.

Cuonzo Martin at Missouri State, unlike Knight or Coach K at their first gigs, has a led a team to both a conference regular season championship and a post-season championship (CIT) in three years on the job. He’s done all of this mostly by changing attitudes and “coaching ‘em up” as we say; he hasn’t even had his own recruiting class go all the way through his program. And this is the guy that recruited JaJuan Johnson and E’Twaun Moore to Purdue – ever heard of them? So he can recruit too.

Update: Many of the commenters have mentioned how great Cuonzo Martin’s speech was when he received the MVC Coach of the Year. And it is. Here it is for those who have seen it:

And in case you needed one more bit of evidence that Cuonzo Martin is a good hire, how about the fact that the people who know ‘Zo best believe in him wholeheartedly. Consider this article about the uncertain future of Matt Painter from Travis over at Hammer and Rails tonight:

In this poker game I was like many in thinking that our safety blanket was Cuonzo Martin, another former player and assistant who just completed a successful season at Missouri State. It was assumed that he would take over if Painter departed. Of course, that was before the news broke that Martin was headed to Tennessee.

In that past 24 hours I have spoken with Bryan Gaskins, my editor at the Kokomo Tribune and a fellow Purdue alum. Last night he told me he had a bad feeling about the Painter situation, but that is far from anything definite. Seconds ago I receive and e-mail from him with the headline “WE’RE SCREWED” announcing that Martin was hired.

To me, this was a key piece taken off the table because everyone knew Martin was going to be the top target if Painter left.

Notice how easily Travis discusses Cuonzo as the supposed heir apparent to Painter, should Painter ever leave West Lafayette? Well I have news for you Tennessee fans: Purdue is at least 2X as good a job as Tennessee is. The Boilermakers, as I’ve detailed before, have perhaps the most underrated basketball program in America, which includes the most Big 10 titles of any school and a winning record against every Big 10 team. If Purdue was assuming Cuonzo as next in line for the throne – and believe me, Travis was not alone in this thought – then why the hell is he so objectionable for a school like Tennessee, that is and always will be football-first and less attractive a job than Purdue?

Here is the truth of the matter: Tennessee was reaching for the moon (Stevens), got a star (Cuonzo Martin), and they smartly decided that was good enough. You wonder why they acted so quickly, Clay Travis et al? Because if there is any truth to the Matt Painter-to-Missouri rumors, Purdue would snatch Cuonzo Martin up so fast it would make your head spin. And Purdue fans, who are both more intelligent and passionate basketball fans than Vols fans, would have been jumping for joy at the hire despite their disappointment over Painter leaving.

As it stands, I highly doubt Painter goes anywhere, and Tennessee just lucked into a smart, hungry, classy, tough young coach who can save its ass and rebuild its program in the wake of Bruce Pearl’s ignominious demise. Cuonzo Martin will succeed at Tennessee. He may not blow the doors off next year as he deals with the Pearl transition, but he’ll have Tennessee competing for SEC championships by his third year, just as he did at Missouri State.

But here’s the rub Tennessee: you treat your basketball job like it’s a destination – like Brad Stevens would leave Butler to run to Knoxville, or like Cuonzo Martin is somehow lucky you offered him a job.

Wake up.

Tennessee isn’t even on Brad Stevens’ radar, and you’re only getting a respected young coach like Cuonzo Martin because you acted quickly and didn’t wait around like the Clay Travises of the world wanted you too.

My prediction is that in 5-6 years, ‘Zo will have used his success in Knoxville as a stepping stone to a better job, probably in the Big Ten.

Sure, that might not happen. It’s no guarantee. Tennessee certainly has the money to keep top coaches if they want to, and the SEC is a premier conference that offers plenty of benefits to an ambitious coach like Martin.

But the point remains: Cuonzo Martin is not the lucky one tonight; Tennessee basketball is. Clearly – from the tweets and comments and message boards posts – it’s going to take a little while for that to sink in, but eventually it will. And then you’ll know why so many people from the Midwest applauded this hire from the moment it was announced.

Cuonzo Martin has already proven himself to be a very good young coach, but more importantly he’s proven himself to be an ever better man and an impeccable example for every player who will play for him at Tennessee. For an athletic department that has often lost its way over the last decade in choosing to cut corners and compromise ethics in the name of winning, you should be proud to hire a man who has never had nor taken the easy way out on his difficult, bumpy, cancerous road to success.

Tennessee fans, this may come as a shock to your elitist sensibilities, but you have proven tonight that you don’t deserve Cuonzo Martin. The least you could do is not wait until he’s winning to appreciate him.

**********

Update: In the minutes after I posted this, the following tweet came in from @rcjakesvoles:

@greggdoyelcbs @JerodMSF let’s not judge all Vol fans by @ClayTravisBGID . He’s gone shock jock. Martin best of guys we could get…by far

I am posting it because I want Tennessee fans to know that I have zero agenda here. I based my interpretation of the Tennessee fan reaction on the comments section of every article I read right after Zo’s hiring was announced, Clay Travis’ Twitter feed, and my own Twitter feed. If there are dissenting opinions of people who like the Cuonzo hiring, please post in the comment section below. And people who think I’m way off base with the post above, comment too.

We’re all about discussion here at MSF. Let’s have one.

———-

Update: I just received an email from a thoughtful Vols fan named Ryan, and I’d like to relay a portion of it here – because it contains a valid criticism of how I handled writing this article.

After expressing positivity at the Martin hiring, here is what the emailer said:

I do take issue with the end of your story.  For some reason, you choose to think that Clay Travis represents all Vol fans.  Vol fans are just like any other fans of any program.  When you replace someone who most people think is a top 15 coach, of course there’s going to be people that bitch about any coach that comes in.  Bruce was beloved in Knoxville.  He made his own bed in this situation, but that’s another subject.

But you wrote:

“Tennessee fans, this may come as a shock to your elitist sensibilities, but you have proven tonight that you don’t deserve Cuonzo Martin.”

After reading such a well written article, it’s kind of surprising that you would pop something like that in there.  What kind of research did you do to come to that conclusion?  Where did you read all of the negative rhetoric?  Is it because you read something that Clay Travis wrote?   Well then, by all means go ahead and judge a fanbase by one guy.

From what I’ve seen tonight, most people had similar reactions.  And that was “Who?”, followed by “what the hell?”, followed by “this could be pretty good” after getting info about Martin.  But again, please judge a fanbase by one or two people.

Otherwise, it was a great article.  I really look forward to seeing Martin come in and stamp his style on the program.  Despite what many people think, UT was not a rogue program.  We had a coach that stupidly decided to lie about a contact with juniors.  But it is what it is.  That is done and it’s on to Martin.  We welcome him as coach and hope he’s able to build on what Bruce started.

Ryan, you’re right. In coming passionately to Cuonzo Martin’s defense I generalized the Tennessee basketball fanbase based on an overwhelming number of comments and tweets I saw. I was so excited to sit down and write in opposition of these opinions that I didn’t take quite enough time to seek out the other side of Vol Nation.

With that said, our goal here at MSF is always to start conversations, not end them. And I’m very glad that so many people have commented to take me to task for generalizing the Tennessee fan opinion on the Martin hire. I’m also glad that so many seem in favor of it or at least willing to give Martin a fair shot.

I was wrong to generalize, and I apologize for that, though in the end I wouldn’t change the article because it is honest and induced a worthwhile conversation between inquiring minds. That’s my goal as a blogger and we achieved it tonight. And we’ll continue to have an open, lively discourse in the comment section.
———-

Update: Final note for the evening before I head off to bed…I responded to every comment received before around midnight Central Time tonight. Then I just looked, and we had about 10 more. I’m sorry if I can respond to all comments tonight/tomorrow/in the future. If you look at my other responses, and at the updates to the this post, I think that you’ll see I’ve taken the words to Tennesssee fans to heart and that I appreciate them. I wish I didn’t have to sleep/work…but alas, I am just a blogger and hence my real world begins again on Monday.

Sincerely though: thank you to everyone who visited, read, commented, tweeted, and posted in message boards about this column. Any bit of attention is always appreciated here at MSF, and we’ve been happy to welcome Tennessee fans into our water cooler discussion tonight.

Hopefully you’ve all found it as enlightening as I have.

———-

Update: I promise I’ll stop adding updates at some point, but I am getting so many thoughtful emails from Tennessee fans that make great points and provide a more well-rounded view of this story than what my initial post provided. Here is one that, I think, does a nice job of rationalizing the initial negative knee-jerk reaction from Vol fans:

I would like to defend the Tennessee fan base for reacting so negatively to the news.

The typical Tennessee fan had not done much research, and most of them had never even heard of Cuonzo Martin until last night.  This was made worse by the fact that names like Jamie Dixon, Brad Stevens and Jay Wright had been floated by Knoxville’s sports media as possible candidates for the job.  Any Vol fan who reads your article on Martin, I’m certain, would change their tune toward the new coach.

However, you cannot blame them for being disappointed by Martin when earlier in the week the press had implied they might be getting Jamie Dixon. I believe and certainly hope you are right, and that within three years Martin will have Knoxville saying, “Bruce who?”  Until then, let’s have fun watching the Cuonzo work.

Well said. And I’ve seen a huge shift in the tone of the reaction just in the last 12 hours, which is great to see.

Despite being one of two teams to hand the mighty Kentucky Wildcats a loss this season, many people underestimated Bruce Pearl’s club headed into the tournament. I had them getting to the Sweet 16 and losing to Ohio State; Wayne Chism, J.P. Prince and Co. had other ideas and decided to send Evan Turner home early.

In the second Sweet 16 game in the Midwest, Michigan State came out on top after an entertaining, physical battle, setting up  a very interesting Elite 8 matchup.

Let’s take a look at this year’s Midwest Regional Final.

Midwest Regional Final: #6 Tennessee v #5 Michigan State

• Tennessee-Michigan State Date: Sunday, March 28
• Tennessee-Michigan State Tip Time: 2:20 ET
• Tennessee-Michigan State Location: Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, MO
• Tennessee-Michigan State Announcers: Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery
• Tennessee-Michigan State Spread: Tennessee -1
• StubHub: Tennessee-Michigan State Regional Final Tickets
• StubHub: Midwest Regional Final Tickets

Follow the link to view the complete Elite 8 TV schedule or to see our previews for the Butler-Kansas State, Kentucky-West Virginia game, or Baylor-Duke game.

Tennessee-Michigan State Preview

Next, let’s analyze this Elite 8 matchup.

[Note: If you followed our NCAA Tournament coverage here at MSF last year, you know that I published previews similar to this one for each game from the Sweet 16 on. Using statistical analysis from the ESPN Bracket Predictor, which is powered by TeamRankings.com, plus my own knowledge an intuition, I went 12-3 picking the 15 games that concluded the 2009 Tournament. The methodology is essentially the same this year; we'll see if the results are.]

Here is how the numbers break down between Tennessee and Michigan State:

Before I give you my MSU-UT prediction, what do you think?

Tennessee-Michigan State Analysis

If you have Tennessee and Michigan State meeting in the Elite 8 of a bracket that had the tournament’s best team (Kansas) and its best player (Evan Turner) then huge kudos from me. You are either extremely lucky or a prognosticating savant. Either way, you have benefitted from two tournament truths that Tennessee and Michigan State have perpetuated this year:

1. Tom Izzo is the most consistently outstanding tournament coach of the last 15 years in college basketball.
2. Experienced teams with athletic ability, length, and a willingness to defend cause matchup problems for any team. (Oh, and Bruce Pearl can safely be considered underrated for the consistent success he’s brought to a football school.)

I guess when you consider the two points above, the Vols and Spartans being in the Elite 8 isn’t that surprising…oh who am I kidding; it’s surprising. It should also be a hell of a game.

The win odds are close, with Michigan State holding a 3-2 advantage. Offensively the Spartans hold a 4-1 advantage, which includes their 6th ranked offensive rebounding percentage. Defensively the Volunteers hold a 3-2 advantage, including their sterling 19.8% defensive turnover percentage.

I am glossing over the numbers a bit more in this preview because I don’t really know how important they are. We know that Michigan State can rebound, we know that Tennessee can defend, and we know that both of these teams are capable but inconsistent on offense, with Michigan State’s season-long advantage in offensive numbers now seeming dubious with point guard Kalin Lucas out.

So rather than dwell on the stats, I think this is a game where you have to try as best you can to predict emotion, to predict the tangible and intangible influence that fiery guys like Tom Izzo and Bruce Pearl will have on their teams, to predict how a backup point guard will respond to some of the most imposing defense he’s seen all year, to predict…

As you can see, I think this is a hard game to predict.

Let’s talk about Korie Lucious for a minute, because he just may be the unsung hero of the NCAA Tournament so far this year. He gamely stepped in for Lucas against Maryland and hit the game-winning shot. Then he played 39 minutes against a very good Northern Iowa team and produce 10 points, 4 assists, 6 rebounds, and 4 steals. Oh, and he hit one of the biggest shots in the game.

Everyone knows how valuable Kalin Lucas is to Michigan State and there is no question the Spartans would be better equipped to handle Tennessee and any future opponents with him; but I think it’s time to realize that Lucious is more than capable of playing well – and winning – in Lucas’ place.

Of course, making Lucious’ job easier is the bevy of versatile size that Michigan State has at its disposal: Chris Allen, Durrell Summers, Draymond Green, Raymar Morgan, and Delvon Roe are 6’3 or taller with tremendous athletic ability and a wide range of skills.

Come to think of it, this Michigan State team, in many ways, resembles the Volunteer team that they will be opposing. In J.P. Prince, Bobby Maze, Scotty Hopson, Wayne Chism, Brian Williams, et al, Tennessee has their own deep bench of big, explosive, skilled athletes.

The question is: whose athletes will come more ready to play and win?

Michigan State-Tennessee prediction: I made the mistake of doubting Tom Izzo and picking the inconsistent Spartans to lose to Maryland. I then compounded that mistake when given a second chance and picked Northern Iowa to beat Michigan State because of Kalin Lucas’ absence.

Now that the stakes are higher and the opponent is better, am I foolish enough to make that same mistake again? No. No I’m not.

Tennessee is going to harass the hell out of Michigan State’s ball handlers, and the Spartans better be prepared to protect the ball and prevent Tennessee from getting out in transition. We know Michigan State will limit run outs and second chance points because of their rebounding ability, but they have to do better than turning the ball over on 17.2% of their possessions.

If Tennessee wins, it will be because their strength – forcing turnovers on defense – overwhelmed Michigan State’s weakness of turning the ball over.

Last night, without Kalin Lucas, the Spartans turned the ball over just 10 times. Granted, they weren’t facing the athletes Tennessee has, but it was a strong sign that Michigan State is experienced enough and good enough to compensate for Lucas’ absence and to do so without losing ball security.

I ultimately think that this is pick ‘em type game, and the gamblers pretty much agree as evidenced by Tennessee being just a 1-point favorite. The only problem I have with that is I think the oddsmakers gave the extra point to the wrong team.

Games between teams that are virtually equal often come down to coaching. Bruce Pearl has announced himself as one of the nation’s best, most underrated coaches this season and over the last few. Unfortunately for Pearl and the Vols, the coach on the opposing bench may just be the greatest tournament coach of his generation.

Michigan State 72 | Tennessee 71

**********

* – Bruce Pearl photo credit: John Clay’s Sidelines

* – Tom Izzo photo credit: Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images via ESPN.com

* – Korie Lucious photo credit: Elsa/Getty Images via ESPN.com

Kiffin works in a profession littered with insincere men who hop from one school to another, but ‘ol Lane stoooped a new low yesterday.

In 61 pathetic seconds, Kiffin verbally defecates on the school and fan base that hailed his arrival with such fanfare 14 months ago. And if you haven’t seen the video of Kiffin’s press conference, it really is priceless.

Here you go:

Video: Lane Kiffin Press Conference Announcing He Is Leaving Tennessee for USC (MSF’s Animated Interpretation)

Okay, so you might have guessed that the above video is not actually Lane Kiffin. (And yes, I did take a slight creative license at the very end of the video as Kiffin neither danced nor passed gas after he was done speaking at the press conference, at least not that I saw.)

There is, however, a striking figurative resemblance between the Kiffin we saw at last night’s press conference and the actor playing him in the video above. The fact that the clown sounds so much more sincere though should give away the difference.

Just in case you haven’t seen the actual video of Kiffin’s press conference and would like to compare, here it is:

Video: Lane Kiffin Press Conference Announcing He Is Leaving Tennessee for USC (Actual Footage)

(Note: The above video is from ESPN.com and they sometimes pull their videos down after initially making them available for embed. Please alert me, jerod@midwestsportsfans.com, if you come here and there is no video.)

Notice the similarities?

I didn’t create the animated video and call out Kiffin simply because he left Knoxville. USC is his dream job and college football coach movement is what it is, so ultimately I don’t think too many people would hold a long-lasting grudge against him for the move.

What I will always personally hold against Kiffin, and I’m sure many other Volunteer fans will as well, is him not even having the decency to sincerely thank Tennessee and its fans for giving him a lot of money and a lot of faith when his 5-15 career record as a head coach (in Oakland) should have inspired very little of either without some results first.

Look at this quote:

I really believe that this was probably the only place that I would have left here to go, uh, was to go to Southern Cal.

Way to throw the word “probably” in there Lane. So what it is? Do you really believe that USC was the only place you’d go, or do you probably, maybe, kinda sorta think that it was? You can’t really believe something and then consider it probable. Kind of goes against the definition of both words.

And how about this quote:

There’s so many people to thank so I’m just going to leave it real generic and say, um, I’m very thankful to all our Tennessee people and the way they welcomed myself and my family

Gosh, Lane. Be careful just how much appreciation you show to people who helped you out. Wouldn’t want to overdo it or anything.

I mean really? Why say anything at all if you’re just going to say that? Essentially what he’s saying is that he knows there are lots and lots of people who he owes a debt of gratitude to – so many, in fact – yet it is either not important enough to him or beneath him to actually take some time out of his busy schedule of lying-and-leaving to thank them.

Please Lane, stop with the sincerity. Honestly, it’s too much.

Anyway, what’s done is done and Lane Kiffin leaves one school in a cloud of NCAA trouble for another school in a cloud of NCAA trouble. At least he’ll feel at home. In the long run – though certainly not in the short-term – Tennessee will probably be better off finding a guy who doesn’t view Knoxville as a stepping stone to his dream job.

At one time, Tennessee was a destination job. It will be again, perhaps even for the next guy (Will Muschamp? Gary Patterson? Mike Leach?) to take the reins at Neyland Stadium.

But Tennessee fans don’t owe one iota of goodwill towards Lane Kiffin. He’s the one who got what he wanted and is apparently content to leave town without showing much gratitude to the school and fans that welcomed he and his family and his questionable methods with open arms.

Congrats on getting your dream job Lane. There was a way to take it and move on without shoving it in Tennessee’s face how little you care about their program and people. You just didn’t do it that way.

So don’t let the door hit you too hard on the backside as you scurry off to SoCal.

In the hours after the Kiffin story hit the Twittersphere, speculation ran rampant as to why Kiffin would leave Knoxville after only one year for L.A. (Okay, not really – it’s his dream job, he’ll get a lot of $$$, and he’ll be living in Southern California – but work with me here, it sets up the rest of the post if we assume that there is swirling speculation about Kiffin’s departure.)

In my endless quest to bring MSF readers the most hard-hitting and insightful sports information, I have put together the Top 10 reasons why Lane Kiffin left Tennessee for USC.

Top 10 Reasons Lane Kiffin Left Tennessee for USC

10 – If you’re going to help lead a school towards probation, it’s always easier to clear your conscience at the beach as opposed to in some smokey ‘ol rocky topped mountains.

9 – Tennessee has undergrad hostesses that help recruit players to campus, which is nice and all; but, USC has grad students who reportedly help recruit coaches away from campus. (And before you say, but Lane has Layla!, just remember, Tiger had Elin too.)

8 – In Knoxville, Lane’s buddy Al Davis was so, so far away! (More on Angry Al a bit later…)

7 – In Knoxville, Smokey is what passes for a celebrity dog. At USC, Snoop is the resident celebrity dogg. One of these two makes the school a much “cooler” choice for recruits; sorry, but it ain’t the Bluetick Coonhound.

6 – When former QBs come back to Knoxville, you get serious, relatively boring guys like Heath Shuler and Peyton Manning probably talking politics or route trees. When former QBs go back to USC, Matt Leinart brings the bong and Mark Sanchez brings the ladies. Party on Lane!

5 – At both schools, they want you to live up to the school nickname during your spare time. In Knoxville, that means actually, you know, volunteering. At USC, it means, well, whatever recreational activities involve Trojans. Hmm…might need to consult with Charlie Weis on this one.

4 – Lane’s father Monte has obviously made it his late career goal to climb the mountain of boss integrity and then do a barrel roll down the other side. You may remember that Monte worked for Tony Dungy in Tampa Bay – the top of the integrity mountain, is there any question? – then slipped down a bit with “scum bag” Jon Gruden, and then completed his freefall by joining his son at Tennessee and then following him now to USC. With support like that, from a man who clearly knows integrity when he sees it), why wouldn’t Lane follow his every whim?

3 – Anyone can win an SEC title (just ask Les Miles!), but it takes a true genius to make Al Davis look sane, competent, and…right. Lane Kiffin has done something no one else has been able to achieve for a decade.

2 – Though no one in Knoxville was complaining, poor Layla Kiffin could not have been happy to have her wardrobe choices limited to only clementine, tangerine, persimmon, and ‘ol Tennessee orange! In L.A., she can wear whatever she wants and actually find people who somewhat look like her!

And now, drum roll please, the #1 reason why Lane Kiffin left Tennessee…

1 – The Curse of the Bruce Pearl

Ah yes, I saved the more compelling reason for last (and it has a nice ring to it when you say it like the Pirates of the Caribbean movie title).

Do you realize that before Bruce Pearl was named Tennessee’s head basketball coach in 2005, Phil Fulmer had won at least ten games in seven of his ten previous seasons? Fulmer, in fact, was coming off a four-year stretch from 2001-2004 during which he won 39 games and won or tied for the SEC East crown three time.

In the four years Fulmer coached simultaneously with Pearl, the portly Knoxville legend went 29-21 and had two five-win seasons. Lane Kffin proceeded to go 7-6 this season with a loss in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl. It was a season during which Kiffin had to report six secondary recruiting violations to the NCAA and deal with a group of his top young players being charged with armed robbery.

Oh, and then there’s that tiny little detail of Bruce Pearl acting pretty creepily around younger women, and you know that Layla didn’t want any part of that.

But seriously folks, the once proud Vols football program is 36-27 since Pearl’s arrival. With the constant threat of Bruce jumping on your wife’s lap should he ever come across her riding in a go-cart, or blinding you with his sideline attire, would you have continued to put up with it if you were Lane Kiffin?

Happy trails Lane. Your laid back indifference and insincerity will surely be a huge hit in SoCal. Time will tell (as it would have in Knoxville) if your teams ever will be a hit too.

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* – Bruce Pearl photo credit: Baltimore Sun

* – Al Davis photo credit: Dallas Observer

* – Lane Kiffin photo credit: Battle Hymn Notes

Phil Fulmer, the longtime Tennessee coach who was forced to step down last season, would like to return to college coaching, and a jobs he covets is at Notre Dame.

Whether the interest is mutual remains to be seen as Notre Dame’s coaching search continued Thursday.

This is the first I’ve heard of this, and who knows if it has any legs at all, but I think Notre Dame would be foolish if they didn’t at least take a look at an experienced coach from a big conference with a winning percentage of about .750 and a national championship on his resume.

Can any of Notre Dame’s other candidates boast that?

Also interesting is this piece from August of this year, before the season even started, in which Fulmer’s name is posited as a great choice for the Irish should Charlie Weis get fired. Here is an excerpt:

It leaves Notre Dame looking for a PROVEN coach who has won on a national stage. It leaves Notre Dame looking for someone who has played well against tough competition, learned from a lifetime of occasional mistakes, can recruit with any other coach in the country, has the name recognition and contacts to assemble a top notch staff (see Rodney Garner as OC and Recruiting Coordinator perhaps), and someone that knows how to coach, and what to expect at a tradition-rich university. Notre Dame’s decline has even been tied to awful offensive line play. Guess which position is Fulmer’s specialty.

As a Tennessee fan myself, I can say that while I think it was probably time to part ways, Fulmer’s tenure in Knoxville was one of the most underappreciated runs of coaching success over the past three decades. Up until the last few years, when Urban Meyer and Nick Saban took over the conference, Fulmer consistently had the Vols competing for SEC titles.

Even his worst years in Tennessee would be improvements for Notre Dame at this point, and Fulmer has already proven how high the ceiling is.

With names like Stoops and Kelly dominating the Notre Dame talk, Fulmer is an interesting darkhorse candidate. If Jack Swarbrick and the powers that be in South Bend don’t at least sniff around the former Vol coach, I think they’d be doing a disservice to the program. Just because he’s a darkhorse doesn’t mean he is not a good candidate for the job.

Who knows, depending on who the final candidates end up being, Fulmer could very well be the best man for the job, whether Swarbrick and Co. see it or not.

We thank them.

No, the pics are not of future top-10 pick Eric Berry, nor do they feature stud freshman Bryce Brown. Rather, they feature everyone’s favorite Volunteer fan: Lane Kiffin’s wife Layla Kiffin.

She is also the reason why Lane Kiffin was so willing to stir the pot and talk about singing Rocky Top “all night long” after the Vols beat Florida in Gainesville this weekend. Surely he knows, as does everyone else, that Tennessee will do well to keep the game within the 29.5 point spread. But at the end of the day, regardless of the score, he’ll have Layla there to pick up the pieces of his broken Saturday.

Why I thought I needed to come up with any kind of intro for this post, I’m not sure. Here is your link to 3SIB plus a preview of what awaits when you click through. (FYI…I did not put the best of the three pictures here.)

Holy shinkeys: Layla! — (3rd Saturday in Blogtober)

And now, some other less exciting but more informative afternoon links.

Sports:

• Patriots’ Bob Kraft rated NFL’s best owner — (MoonDog)
• Picking up the pieces: Milwaukee Bucks — (Give Me The Rock)
• Chocking Hazard: Jay or the Toy? — (Jay Cutler Superstar)
• More MJ (I don’t care if you’re sick of him edition) — (Not Qualified to Comment)
• Wrigley Field scoreboard to go electric? — (i94 Sports)
• 3 pieces and biscuit NFL Weekly Review — (Black Sports Online)
• Suzy Kolber literally chases down Tom Brady for an interview — (Busted Coverage)
• NFL Power Rankings: Week 2 — (My Sports Rumors)
• Indians’ 2010 schedule a little more fan-friendly — (Waiting For Next Year)
• Hall of Famer or not? — (Sparty and Friends)
• Kentucky to release report on basketball violation — (Straight Pinkie)
• How to get fired: by Dick Jauron — (Major League Jerk)
• MLB All-Decade Team and Statistical Category Leaders — (Tom Verducci, SI)

Non-Sports:

• Kanye West sorry, and still a douche — (Thunder Treats)
• Casino Capitalism: Administration gaming the system for Wall Street Titans — (Huffington Post)
• To all universities: stop bitching — (Spewf)
• Star Wars bloopers: a new hope — (Gunaxin)

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As college football begins once again, fans can rejoice that ESPN will have more to cover than the Little League World Series. My apologies to Chula Vista, California.

For students at the University of Tennessee, such as myself, the start of the season means gratuitous amounts of orange and a sharp increase in whiskey sales.

Putting the Lane Kiffin offseason media circus behind us, it is now time to start playing football, and probably the start of the in-season Lane Kiffin media circus. The Vols kick off the season against Western Kentucky this Saturday and barring a repeat of last year’s debacle against Wyoming, UT will start off the season with a “W”.

[Editor's Note: Follow these links to StubHub for great deals on Tennessee football tickets, and all NCAA college football tickets. Plus, get ready for Saturday with the Week 1 college football TV schedule from MSF.]

The season will really start for UT in week two versus UCLA. The down-to-the-wire loss to the Bruins in Pasedena last year still lingers in the minds of the Vols. This year the Bruins travel to Knoxville and Kiffin will be under extreme pressure to win the rematch.

But will Kiffin be able to quickly turn this program around? That is the question everyone is asking about the Vols’ young new head coach.

Coming into this season Tennessee is unranked for the first time in 19 years. However, Kiffin seems poised to revive this program. Kiffin has brought in an elite coaching staff with NFL credentials and outstanding recruiting skills.

Lane’s father, Monte Kiffin, left the NFL and followed his son to Tennessee as the defensive coordinator. Coming to UT, Monte was effectively handed a top level defense and was told “Here you go, have fun.” Monte will help bring out the full potential of 3 time All-American safety Eric Berry. (A scary thought for all opponents.)

The offense is completely revamped with Kiffin’s pro style playbook and zone blocking system. This is a much needed change after the abysmal offensive performance last season. The Vols have the electric Gerald Jones returning at receiver, who will be a year older and should be a major offensive weapon. Jones is currently injured, but should be able to return in time for the rematch against UCLA.

The added youth to this team will have an immediate impact as Kiffin assembled a great recruiting class. Top-ranked running back Bryce Brown will play a major role in the offense, likely splitting carries with senior Montario Hardesty. His fellow freshman back David Oku will also see time, likely as a third down back.

Speedy freshman receivers Nu’Keese Richardson and Marsalis Teague will provide big play potential to the passing game. Also, freshman cornerback Janzen Jackson may battle his way into a starting role on the defense.

The most important factor in the ’09 Volunteers season, of course, will likely be the play of senior quarterback Jonathon Crompton. Last year Crompton threw for a meager 889 yards, with only five touchdowns and four interceptions. The Vols need Crompton to emerge as a solid starter in Kiffin’s offensive system.

My prediction for the 2009 Tennessee Volunteers season: 8-4 (4-4)

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* – Eric Berry photo credit: TNJN/Hall, Adrian via Tennessee Journalist

A few years ago, Kiffin was named as the youngest head coach in NFL history by the Oakland Raiders. It is a role he is used to, as this season he will be the youngest active head coach in Division 1-A.

He takes over for Phil Fulmer at Tennessee, a man who was a bit of a legend for winning the 1998 national title, but had allowed the program to sink pretty low by the end of his career. After getting a taste of success with that national title, Tennessee is not a team that is ready to fall back into the pack. This is especially true in the very tough SEC East, where Georgia and Florida annually battle for supremacy. 

It will take some time, but Kiffin has brought a new attitude to Rocky Top.

He has already angered Florida head coach Urban Meyer by accusing him of cheating. That drama has been played out on college football message boards and such around the country. He has also made insulting remarks about other teams within the Southeastern Conference.

Still, Kiffin knows how to recruit. He has already upgraded the talent level in Knoxville, especially with the signing of Bryce Brown. Brown was long thought to be the best high school player in the country for this incoming recruiting class. He had committed to Miami long ago, but Kiffin swooped in and stole him from the Hurricanes. This is an especially daring move in that Bryce’s brother, Arthur, is a linebacker at the U. 

Tennessee was an uncharacteristic 5-7 last year and did not go to a bowl game. They also very nearly lost at home to Northern Illinois, a team that was barely above .500 in the Mid-American Conference. SEC teams obviously very rarely lose non-conference games at home, especially against teams from the MAC.

Tennessee’s biggest liability heading into 2009 is at the quarterback position. The Volunteers were so desperate for quarterback help that they tried to raid Miami once again. When Miami starter Robert Marve decided to transfer, Tennessee tried very hard to bring him to campus. Even though he would not have been able to play in 2009 because of NCAA rules, it still would have been a nice addition to the program. Marve chose Purdue instead, leaving Tennessee to debate its quarterback situation both now and in the future. 

Saying the quarterbacks were awful is like saying the Tennessee orange uniforms are a bit loud and that Peyton Manning was an alright player when he was in Knoxville.  Three quarterbacks combined to complete fewer than half of their passes for 1,750 yards and eight touchdowns with nine interceptions. Those are the kinds of numbers that won’t have fans taking a sharpie to their media guides in order to write out Manning’s name. Indeed, those are the types of numbers Manning used to put up in about four games.

Simply put, Tennessee has to get better play from the quarterback position if it is going to improve this year.

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Brandon Chandler is a sports writer for www.sportsfantreasures.com. He would like to invite you to check out their Tennessee Volunteers Store and Tennessee Volunteers Apparel online today!

Unfortunately, the post I am writing this afternoon will prove those commenters right — and the subject is my favorite college football team: the Tennessee Volunteers.

As you surely know by now, former Volunteer WR Donte Stallworth was detained yesterday after the Bentley that he was driving hit a man who died soon thereafter. No charges have been field as of yet, but reports last night cited sources close to the situation that Stallworth had been drinking prior to the accident and would ultimately face charges, pending the official results of toxicology tests.

For fans of the Tennessee Volunteers and the NFL, this story feels like deja vu all over again.

Shockingly, and sadly, if the Tennessee football teams from the late 90s and early 00s held a reunion and gave out a Black Eye Award for Vol players in the NFL shining a negative light on their alma mater, Donte Stallworth’s incident yesterday would not even be among the top two nominees.

Leonard Little

The most infamous incident involving an ex-Vol is Leonard Little. Following a party in 1998, Leonard Little crashed into and killed Susan Gutweiler in St. Louis, MO. Little’s BAC measured .19 after the accident, more than double the legal limit of 0.08. Little pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter, received 98 days in jail, four years probation, and 1000 hours of community service. He was also suspended for 8 games of the 1999 season.

Since the 1998 accident, Little has signed contracts totaling 8 years and $37 million dollars.

Then, in a disturbing coda to the 1998 story, Little was arrested for drunk driving again, plus speeding, in 2004. Because of his prior arrest this was a felony case, but Little was acquitted of driving while intoxicated and convicted of only the misdemeanor speeding charge.

Dwayne Goodrich

You might think that other former Volunteers would have learned a lesson from the horrific story of Leonard Little. Unfortunately, the empirical evidence seems to suggest that they learned no lesson at all. Donte Stallworth’s accident yesterday is a perfect example, as is the story of former Volunteer and Dallas Cowboy Dwayne Goodrich.

Goodrich was an outstanding cornerback on the Volunteers’ 1998 National Championship team. He was tagged to cover superb Florida State WR Peter Warrick in the Fiesta Bowl that year, a game in which the Vols were huge underdogs. Goodrich stifled Warrick, had an interception return for a touchdown, and was named Defensive MVP of the game. Later that year he was drafted in the 2nd round of the NFL Draft by the Cowboys.

In 2003, however, Goodrich’s life, his NFL career, and the lives of three good samaritans came crashing down in a fog of alcohol, speed, and fiery cars.

After a night that Dwayne Goodrich, according to the Dallas Observer, has admitted included topless bars and alcohol (but not intoxication, according to Goodrich), he drove his BMW through the scene of a car accident in which pedestrians were attempting to free a man who was unconscious from a car that was on fire. Goodrich struck three of the pedestrians, killing two of them. Police reportedly believed that Goodrich was going 110 MPH at the time of the accident.

Dwyane Goodrich was arrested on charges of vehicular manslaughter and eventually convicted on two counts of criminally negligent homicide. In January of 2006, the families of the victims were successful in getting 5 years added to Goodrich’s original 7 1/2 year prison sentence. He remains in prison today.

That makes three separate traffic incidents, all involving alcohol in varying degrees, all involving former Tennessee stars and first-day NFL draft picks, and all tragically resulting in the deaths of innocent people.

…

I just sat here for five minutes trying to figure out what to say next, and came up with nothing. What can you say?

In the case of Donte Stallworth, he has seen a high profile alum (Little) and a former teammate (Goodrich) kill people because they were driving under the influence, or in Goodrich’s case, at a minimum driving out of control. He has also seen Little essentially get lucky making the same mistake again, being arrested for drunk driving but thankfully not injuring anyone.

I realize there there is a certain element of “bad luck” involved in tragedies such as these. But as Mike Florio said earlier today over at PFT regarding the three individual stories of former UT players killing people with their cars,”It’s most likely a coincidence. But the gravity of the consequences tells us that it would make plenty of sense for someone in Knoxville to explore the possible existence of a something other than randomness.”

Moreover, these three incidents are far from the only brushes with the law for former Tennessee stars from the late 90s and early 00s. A brief, and probably not comprehensive, rundown of the embarrassing litany of former UT player trouble:

Albert Haynesworth

Sticking with the theme of traffic trouble, new Washington Redskin Albert Haynesworth was recently indicted on two misdemeanor traffic charges stemming for a car accident in December 2008. This came on the heels of traffic charges in 2006 that were dismissed by a Putnam County, TN judge on the grounds that the offenses occurred outside of their jurisdiction.

Haynesworth also famously stepped on the face of Andre Gurode during a game in 2006. This is only the most highly publicized anger management issue involving Haynesworth.

He reportedly once kicked former teammate Justin Hartwig in the chest during training camp with the Tennessee Titans, and had a history of temper issues while at the University of Tennessee. One such story involved Haynesworth fighting with teammate Will Ofenheusle, leaving practice, and then returning with a long pole looking for Ofenheusle. Phil Fulmer stopped Haynesworth before he could use the pole and he was suspended for half a game.

Shaun Ellis

Shaun Ellis arrested in December 2008 for marijuana possession, driving without insurance and speeding. While at Tennessee, Ellis was charged with felony assault of a woman in April 1999 after allegedly striking a woman in the head with a glass after she threw a drink in his face at a party. Ellis agreed to pay the woman’s medical bills, undergo an assessment to see if he needs drug or alcohol treatment, and maintain a 2.5 GPA.

Travis Henry

A few months after being released by the Denver Broncos because “his commitment was lacking,” Travis Henry was arrested in October of 2008 on suspicion of knowingly and intentionally conspiring to distribute and posses with intent to distribute cocaine. He was eventually placed on house arrest.

Henry famously, and disturbingly, has also fathered nine children by nine different women and is currently embroiled in a series of lawsuits for back child support payments. On March 14th, Henry was jailed for falling $16,600 behind on support for one of his kids. He currently owes $170,000/year in child support payments.

Jamal Lewis

Jamal Lewis was charged with conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute five kilograms of cocaine and using a cell phone in the commission of the first count. In February of 2005, Lewis began a 4-month prison term for trying to set up the drug deal. He was also suspended 4 games in the 2004 for a repeat violation of the NFL’s substance abuse policy. He served the suspension while on IR, missing 4 game checks.

Others

Cedrick Wilson was arrested for punching his ex-girlfriend in the face while at a restaurant. He was subsequently cut by the Steelers. Travis Stephens was arrested, according to the page that contains his mugshot at the Montgomery Country Sheriffs Office website, for “drugs – simple possession/casual exchange.” Deon Grant, according to WRAL.com report from January 2004, got into enough trouble that owner Jerry Richardson reportedly told him he was either going to get his “stuff together” or the Panthers would have to let him go because they were trying to clean up the franchise in the wake of the Rae Carruth scandal.

Each of the players listed in this post helped contribute to one of the most successful eras in the storied history of Tennessee football. From 1995 through the 1998 championship season, Tennessee went 45-5. Leonard Little graduated with Peyton Manning after the 1997 season, with the rest of the players listed above either contributing to the 1998 title or to the success of the subsequent seasons. In total, from 1995 through 2001, Tennessee went 73-14 and won 4 bowl games. And each season, because of their ridiculous talent level, Tennessee entered the year with legitimate hopes of SEC and National Titles.

Just look at the draft history of that era for Tennessee football:

• 1996: 8 players drafted (2 first day picks)
• 1997: 3 players drafted (2 first day picks)
• 1998: 7 players drafted (3 first day picks, including Peyton Manning #1 overall and Little in 3rd round.)
• 1999: 6 players drafted (3 first day picks)
• 2000: 9 players drafted (8 first day picks, including Lewis and Ellis in 1st round, Goodrich and Grant in 2nd round)
• 2001: 5 players drafted (2 first day picks, including Henry in 2nd round)
• 2002: 10 players drafted (4 first day picks, including Stallworth and Haynesworth in 1st round)

While it is perhaps not on the same level of the University of Miami over the same time span, it is still an impressive display of talent compiled on a yearly basis by the Volunteers. Unfortunately, once these players went into the NFL, many succeeded on the football field but proved unable to stay clean off of it.

For me personally, the story of Donte Stallworth yesterday really hit home more than any of the others. Part of the reason is because he currently plays for the Cleveland Browns and the other part is that Donte has always been one of my favorite Volunteer players ever. He was so electric as a freshman in 1998 and throughout his career in Knoxville, and he brought the same excitement to the NFL when he was healthy.

But the incident that occurred yesterday was another crushing reminder that many of the Volunteer players I grew up watching and admiring were not worth much admiration in the first place. I am not one who looks to athletes for guidance in any way, or to be role models, but I also don’t want to see lists like the one above come from the team I root for. I was an Indiana basketball fan long before I was a Tennessee football fan, so character and off-court/off-field conduct has always meant something to me.

With so much ridiculousness swirling around the Tennessee program recently because of Lane Kiffin and his clownishness, the most recent off-field tragedy involving a former Volunteer may shift the focus to the story that is even more embarrassing: the continued run-ins with the law of former Volunteer football players. And unfortunately, these run-ins have been much more egregiously severe than the usual run-of-the-mill type stuff for NFL players like marijuana possession, getting into fights, or even gun possession.

The response to my aforementioned article about Ohio State WRs getting into trouble was that a similar list could be made for any program in the country. And I will grant that point as probably correct. But can you find any other school that can claim three alums who have killed innocent people?

It has not been easy to be a Tennessee fan over the last few years, almost exclusively because of the team’s putrid on-field performance. But after hearing about Donte Stallworth yesterday, then researching this post and reflecting on the program’s seeming inability to prepare players for life after college, my Volunteer pride has a reached an all-time low.

I know that you can’t blame Tennessee or Phil Fulmer exclusively for all of the problems that have been caused by Vols in the NFL. And I know that luck and tragic circumstances have a lot to do with the frightening volume of catastrophic accidents and other legal problems involving Vol alums. Still, the fact that I could research this post for a half hour and come up with the list above is a frightening and disturbing fact.

For all of those who remember the 1998 season, Tennessee very easily could have lost three games that year. The opener against Syracuse was saved for the Vols by a phantom pass interference call that kept the game-winning drive alive. If Fred Taylor hadn’t fumbled on the 1-yard line, or if Collins Cooper wasn’t a complete choke artist, Florida probably wins that epic battle. And Clint Stoerner’s gift fumble lives on in infamy. The result of all of these gifts of fate was Tennessee’s first national championship since 1967.

In the year’s since 1998, Tennessee is just 85-41 with 3 bowl victories, and that record plummets to 38-21 over the last four years. Terrible? No. But far, far below the standards that Tennessee fans had become accustomed too. Add in the four deaths caused by former Vol players, and the litany of other issues detailed in this post that have happened since 1998, and it makes me pause to seriously wonder if a deal with the devil had to be made to bring that 1998 title home.

It is as reasonable an explanation as any for why the University of Tennessee football program has officially become Outlaw U. There is, at worst, a terrible and systemic problem on good ‘ol Rocky Top; and at best, a harrowing series of tragic coincidences has taken place that has brought disgrace to a once proud football program.

After a day in which a wife lost a husband and a daughter lost a father, considering the implications of the Donte Stallowrth accident within the context of college football probably seems insensitive and unnecessary. But at what point should an “institution of higher learning” be held accountable when so many of its highly publicized and pampered football player student-athletes continue to prove that they don’t really seem to learn anything? (Or, to be more specific, don’t seem to learn anything that prevents them from being the preventable and proximate cause of the loss of innocent human life.)

It might seem ridiculous to ask, “what former Tennessee player will kill someone next?” But it might have also seemed ridiculous to ask that after the Dwayne Goodrich tragedy. Then Donte Stallworth’s accident happened, and another man lost his life.

And it probably seemed even more ridiculous to ask that after Leonard Little’s first accident. But the Goodrich tragedy, Stallworth’s accident, and a second DUI arrest for Little have all occurred since.

So maybe asking the question, and doing something proactive as an answer, might have saved lives — making the question itself not so ridiculous at all.

The NFL deserves as much, if not more, culpability than the University of Tennessee. These incidents did not occur on Tennessee’s watch, but rather when these players were in the NFL. I know that players get educated about off-field conduct, and driving after drinking specifically, but maybe just educating them is not enough. Aggressive and often reckless behavior on the field is what got these guys D1 scholarships and then to the NFL in the first place. Since the NFL and college football programs profit off of this on-field aggression, perhaps they should be more responsible for helping to curb its negative consequences off the field.

So I will ask the question: What former Tennessee player (or NFL player in general) will kill someone next? 100% success in prevention is obviously an unreasonable goal, but I sure hope the University of Tennessee and the NFL do something proactive to increase the odds as much as possible of the answer to that question being “no one.”

Last week I wondered aloud whether Lane Kiffin, while obviously in possession of a very attractive wife, is completely without a clue. Since taking over as Tennessee’s coach, he has famously accused Urban Meyer of recruiting violations that were not actually recruiting violations, and he has also disparaged his current crop of incoming recruits by saying, “Understand this class is far below the standards we have here and what will be here in the future.”

Yes, he actually said that. I’m sure the 2009 recruits and their families were just thrilled to hear it.

Now though, Kiffin’s idiocy is just becoming laughable.

You might think I was making this up, were it not for the link I will provide, because it almost seems too perfectly ironic to be true. But it is true. Yesterday, as first reported by the Knoxville News-Sentinel, the University of Tennessee self-reported two recruiting violations involving head cheat coach Lane Kiffin and director of ethics recruiting coordinator Ed Orgeron. One of the violations involved a mock press conference set up for recruits during campus visits, the other involved the use of a fog machine when recruits walked into Neyland Stadium. Both of these are offenses because the simulate a game experience for recruits during an official visit.

Here is the best excerpt from the SI story, explaining Tennessee’s poor reasoning for following through with these pretty clearly illegal recruiting acts:

Tennessee’s coaching staff believed the mock press conference was allowed because it was not done in public. They thought the use of the fog machine was allowed after seeing it used at other universities.

So Lane, if all of the other coaches in college football jumped off a bridge, would — never mind.

Honestly, there really are not any punch lines or clever statements that do this justice. The facts themselves are the punchline. A week after calling out two-time national champion Urban Meyer for recruiting violations that weren’t recruiting violations, Lane Kiffin and the highest paid group of assistant coaches in college football history were found to have committed actual recruiting violations.

I’m speechless

I laughed when I first heard that Kiffin called out Meyer, but I also assumed that if Kiffin would say it publicly that there must have actually been a violation. The worst thing I’ve ever heard anyone say about Urban Meyer is that he is a bit of an egomaniac. At this point, that might be the best thing you could say about Lane Kiffin.

I do not consider myself a die-hard Tennessee football fan, but I do follow them more than any other college football team. Right now, the football situation at Tennessee is a complete mockery. I absolutely do consider myself a die-hard IU basketball fan, and after going through the last year and a half with the jackass-who-shall-not-be-named, I have a quick word of advice to Tennessee: fire Lane Kiffin right now.

I realize this has no chance of happening and is not feasible. But given truth serum, is there any doubt that Tennessee officials and boosters would like to have a mulligan on the Kiffin hire? Maybe he will eventually grow into the job, but he is in way over his head right now, and it becomes more obvious with each passing day.

Discretion, especially with respect to public speaking, can be hard to learn if you do not already have it (just ask Joe Biden…or better yet, ask President Obama). Lane Kiffin obviously has none, as he has consistently put his foot in his mouth during his short tenure.

And you most certainly cannot teach ethics and integrity. Look no further than IU basketball. They hired a cheater and he cheated again, despite promises that he would change. Yeah right. I don’t want to get into casting specific aspersions onto USC (Kiffin’s former employer, where he was known as a great recruiter) when no one has solid proof that they have committed recruiting violations and they have faced no recruiting penalties. But any college football fan with half a clue knows there are plenty of whispers about recruiting impropriety at USC.

Guess what Tennessee? You made a little deal with the devil in your haste to boot Phil Fulmer out of town as quickly as possible and bring in the best recruiters you could find, and know the University is getting what it deserves. When you value recruiting “ability” over experience and integrity, that’s what happens. Seriously — in the big, dirty business of college football does anyone think that part of recruiting “ability” includes one’s willingness and success at bending/breaking the rules? Just saying.

If Lane Kiffin allowed recruiting violations to occur in his first year on the job, he is either a completely clueless moron who did not respect college football and the University of Tennessee enough to know the rules; or, more likely, he is an inexperienced coach feeling the pressure of a big contract at an SEC school who does have the integrity to keep himself from breaking the rules in an effort to win.

Either way, he’s proven enough in a short time to tell me that he was the wrong hire. And I was openly trying to give him a chance.

If Tennessee has any integrity and foresight they will take the short-term hit and fire Lane Kiffin right now. Of course, they are a major college football school, so you can throw integrity out the window. Soon enough though, they’ll fire Lane Kiffin. And then we’ll all be able to look back at his first few months on the job and remember that it was only a matter of time.

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However, what Lane Kiffin does not have, apparently, is a clue.

Kiffin recently accused Florida coach Urban Meyer of cheating in his attempt to land recruit Nu’Keese Richardson, who ultimately signed with the Vols. Here is the video, if you haven’t seen it:

Kiffin claimed that Urban Meyer’s call to Richardson during the player’s campus visit to Knoxville violated NCAA rules. However, the SEC clarified that Meyer’s call did not violate any rules and Florida demanded an apology. And Kiffin did, in fact, apologize:

“I’ve been made aware by the Southeastern Conference that my comments this morning at a breakfast with our donors violated a conference policy. In my enthusiasm for our recruiting class, I made some statements that were meant solely to excite those at the breakfast.

“I apologize to Commissioner Mike Slive and the SEC, including Florida AD Jeremy Foley and coach Urban Meyer. My comments were not intended to offend anyone at the University of Florida.”

The next question is whether Kiffin will be apologizing to Tennessee fans (a group of which I consider myself a member) next season when Urban Meyer and the Gators roll up 70 points. I have to say that I think this was a pretty dumb move by Lane Kiffin. He has not won anything significant as a head coach and is the most inexperienced member of the SEC’s vaunted class of head coaches. Yet, somehow he has the temerity to call out Urban Meyer, who has won two national titles while at Florida. I appreciate Kiffin’s willingness to try and instill confidence and swagger back in Vol Nation, but this was a terrible way to do it. Maybe try beating Urban Meyer first before you run your mouth coach.

Anyway, in honor of Lane Kiffin’s douchebaggery this week, I offer you a link from The Sporting Blog that echoes my thoughts on this matter. And the reason this post won out over the many others that have been written on this topic is that I just love the headline:

LOTD: Giddy Teenage Boy Resembling Tennessee Coach Lane Kiffin Calls Urban Meyer a Cheater — (The Sporting Blog)

And some others for your viewing enjoyment:

Five theories about Lane Kiffin’s jab at Urban Meyer — (Rocky Top Talk)

Dan Gilbert Sounds Off on Mo’s All-Star Snub — (Waiting For Next Year)

Is Ohio State Recruiting Too Many White Athletes Guys? — (Cursed Cleveland)

Why Doesn’t the Pro Bowl Matter? — (Sparty & Friends)

Tony the Tiger Hates Pot Heads — (Josh Q. Public)

Fast Willie: Who’s the Boss? — (Hugging Harold Reynolds)

Deron Williams treats Jason Terry like…well…something low — (Sharapova’s Thigh)

This agreement should come from the University just a couple days after Tennessee’s last game and their Phillip Fulmer appreciation day, Saturday versus Kentucky. I can only assume appreciation day means Coach Fulmer will be receiving a lifetime supply of Krispy Kreme’s from Peyton Manning before the game. In which I can only assume again that Peyton will get the endorsement for Krispy Kreme commercials after the game.

Lane Kiffin’s baffling head coaching career is a 5-15 record with the Raiders, after being hired at age 32. Before that Lane was recruiting coordinator and co-offensive coordinator with USC and obviously got early NFL recognition with his dad being Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin.

Tennessee fans should be excited about that last fact because Monte (considered a defensive guru) could end up being apart of the Tennessee program as early as next year. With many people (including those who fired Fulmer) having the opinion that Tennessee has talent but they are underachieving, a Lane and Monte Kiffin combination could produce results early on.

Phillip Fulmer had 35 great years with Tennessee as a player, assistant and head coach but have no fears Volunteers. You may not have to endure a rediculous transition period like a Michigan, Arkansas, or Texas A&M has.

Of course those are programs who had a winning record in their predecessor’s last season.

According to the reports, an official announcement is being planned for later in the day on Monday. Fulmer reportedly met with Tennessee officials on Monday morning, two days after the Volunteers feel to 3-6 with a loss to South Carolina, and decided that it would be best for everyone involved if he stepped down.

The reports do not indicate anything as far as Phil Fulmer retiring from coaching, and he will coach the remainder of the season for Tennessee.

What do you think of the move?
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Phil Fulmer led Tennessee to a national championship in 1998 and the Volunteers battled with the Florida on a year-in, year-out basis at the end of that decade and the beginning of this decade for SEC East supremacy. Over the last few years, however, the Volunteers have been inconsistent and seem to have taken a huge step back in terms of talent. Those 1998 Volunteers included future NFL studs Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry, Peerless Price, Jason Witten, Albert Haynesworth, Al Wilson, Leonard Little, and many more. The current edition of Tennessee’s football team has a stud in DB Eric Berry…and not much else.

I have always been a staunch supporter of Phil Fulmer over the years, even giving him the benefit of the doubt through the lean success experienced over the past few years. But a few weeks ago, even I began to see the writing on the wall and the need for a new direction in Knoxville.

Phil Fulmer has had an outstanding tenure overall during his time in Knoxville. And while the time is probably right for a change at this moment, his contributions and success should not be overlooked. Coach Fulmer always conducted himself with class and absolutely gave his heart and soul to the University of Tennessee. And when the dust settles and all is said and done, Phil Fulmer will likely go down as one of the ten or fifteen most successful coaches in the history of the SEC. In a conference that has produced icons like Bear Bryant and Steve Spurrier (the Florida edition), that is no small accomplishment.

As a Tennessee football fan, I applaud the move of Fulmer and the University to recognize the need for a new direction in the rough and tumble and ultra-competitive SEC. But I also figuratively stand up in appreciation for all that Phil Fulmer brought to Tennessee. Hopefully the 2008 Vols can string together a few victories to end the season and allow Phil Fulmer to leave on as high a note as possible.

In other news, I guess when this hillbilly said, “F*ck it, fire Phil Fulmer,” he was being a little more prophetic than anyone realized…

[tags]tennessee volunteers, phil fulmer, college football[/tags]

(Photo art by Midwest Sports Fans)

It was not a good weekend for fans of Tennessee, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin. All four teams lost huge games that will have negative ripple effects for the rest of their seasons.

Tennessee feel to 0-3 in the SEC, and 2-4 overall, with a 24-16 loss to the Georgia Bulldogs. Phil Fulmer is now squarely on the hot seat and the Volunteers are showing no signs of being able to turn their terrible season around.

Michigan lost for the first time ever to a MAC team as they fell 13-10 to Toledo in the Big House. Rich Rodriguez is stubbornly trying to run the spread offense without the personnel to do so, and proving that he has the biggest ego in college football north of Gainesville, FL. Looks like the bad karma of his unceremonious exit from West Virginia has followed him to Ann Arbor.

Bob Stoops lost for the third time in four years to Texas coach Mack Brown as the Oklahoma Sooners let an early lead disappear in a 45-35 loss to Texas. Bob Stoops proves yet again that he simply can’t win the big one, and is now being sarcastically referred to as “Big Game Bob.” At least the Sooners are still a top 10 team and a couple of Texas stumbles from being right back in the Big 12 race.

And Wisconsin…oh Wisconsin…they were trounced 48-7 by a Penn State team that is playing incredibly well. Brett Bielema has now seen his Badger team fall to 3-3 overall and 0-3 in the Big Ten. Luckily for him, there are no other good teams in the Big Ten, so the Bielema and the Badgers have a good shot of finishing 8-3.

All in all, each of these four coaches was a huge loser this weekend. Phil Fulmer and Rich Rodriguez were bigger losers, as their team’s seasons are pretty much in the tank. However, Phil Fulmer takes the award for Biggest Loser as the latest misstep by the Tennessee Volunteers may in fact be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and forces Fulmer to find a new job.

[tags]college football, michigan wolverines, rich rodriguez, tennessee volunteers, phil fulmer, wisconsin badgers, brett bielema, oklahoma sooners, bob stoops[/tags]

Volunteer fans, take a moment to catch your breath and step back from the ledge. Look on the bright side:

(…looking for the bright side…)

(…still looking for bright side…)

(…desperately trying to find anything that even closely resembles a bright side…)

Umm…we have Eric Berry?

The play of Tennessee’s sophomore defensive back Eric Berry has been about the only bright side thus far in a 2008 season of horrors for the Tennessee Volunteers and the Rocky Top faithful. In fact, the defense has played relatively well this season, somewhat keeping the Volunteers within shouting distance of some pretty stiff competition (Florida, Auburn, Georgia) that they have encountered thus far in the season. However, with the complete ineptitude of Tennessee’s offense, a 7-point deficit feels like a 28-point gap.

This is quite possibly the lowest point I have experienced since signing up to be a Tennessee fan when I fell in love with the play of a young Peyton Manning back in 1995. Overall, the last 13 years have been pretty solid. The Vols won a national title in 1998, they have won a few SEC titles, won the SEC East five times, and always provided fans with hope at the beginning of the year that they could compete for the SEC crown, and usually carried that hope through at least late November.

Not this year. Currently sitting square in the cellar of the SEC East, below even Kentucky, the Volunteers have officially hit rock bottom. And it begs the question: is it time for head coach Philip Fulmer to go?

I have always been a supporter of Philip Fulmer, even during some of the Vols’ struggles over the past few years. At the end of the day, the man has led Tennessee to a national title, has won Coach of the Year, has won better than 75% of his games (coming into this season…not sure if that’s still true), and he has been loyal to Rocky Top his entire life, both playing and coaching for the Volunteers. It would certainly be strange to see someone else strolling the sidelines at Neyland Stadium, and unfortunate considering the lifetime commitment that Philip Fulmer has given to the University of Tennessee.

But for the good of the program I have finally flipped my opinion: it is time for Philip Fulmer to go.

I don’t even think this is necessarily a negative reflection on Fulmer. I just think that with the way college football and all big-time sports are these days, coaches only have a certain amount of shelf life at one university or organization. Coaches can fall into ruts, they fail to adjust, they get too comfortable. On the same token, fans get overzealous in their expectations and become frustratingly impatient. I believe that all of these symptoms plague the Tennessee Volunteer football program right now, and that both Philip Fulmer and Tennessee could benefit from an unfortunate but necessary parting of the ways.

The current state of Tennessee football reminds me of Ohio State in the 1990s under John Cooper. Always solid, usually competitive in its conference, and for the most part pretty talented. John Cooper even had his signature moment winning the Rose Bowl with Joe Germaine at QB (how ’bout a guy from Scottsdale, Arizona!) and was typically just good enough not to get fired. Once Ohio State did pull the plug, and hired a then-unknown Division 1-AA coach named Jim Tressel, they immediately became an almost annual National Title contender. Will the Volunteers encounter same good fortune if they go in a different direction? No, not necessarily; but it is hard to dispute that a new direction is not imperative at this point. There really are not any signs to point to that things will turn around any time soon.

Tennessee needs fresh blood. They need a young, excited (and exciting) coach to blaze a new recruiting trail and improve the diminishing talent level that defines the Tennessee roster. Remember 1998? Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry, Donte Stallworth, Peerless Price, Marcus Nash, Albert Haynesworth, John Henderson, Leonard Little, Al Wilson, Deon Grant…I mean, the talent was unbelievable. And the year before, Peyton Manning was the QB! In hindsight, it’s almost inconceivable that Tennessee didn’t win back-to-back titles, and that they had to be the darlings of fortune just to stay undefeated in 1998 (Clint Stoerner’s fumble anyone?).

The talent level has dropped off significantly over the past few years, while occurrences of players getting into trouble has increased. This lack of discipline off the field has also seeped into the on-field play, as Tennessee consistently commits untimely and just plain dumb penalties. I realize that recruiting is an inexact science, but program discipline is not. Tennessee is not a disciplined a program, and they have not been a talented one in many years; and with respect to talent, it’s all relative. If Tennessee were in the Big Ten, they might have played in a few championship games since 1998 and won more conference titles.

But Tennessee plays in the SEC and has fallen significantly behind the curve. It used to be that only Steve Spurrier could be considered a better coach than Philip Fulmer in America’s best conference. Now, all of the following can lay claim to superseding Phil Fulmer on the list of the SEC’s best coaches: Nick Saban, Les Miles, Urban Ego-maniac-crybaby Meyer (left), Mark Richt, and Fulmer’s old nemesis Steve Spurrier. Heck, Vanderbilt’s Bobby Johnson, Tommy Tuberville, and Houston Nutt have all had more success recently. And though Arkansas is struggling this year, their snake-in-the-grass-liar-ass-clown coach Bobby Petrino succeeded at Louisville and probably will win at Arkansas before screwing Hog nation over at some point.

There are plenty of young, up-and-coming coaches who would probably jump at the chance to coach for a school with the potential for success and fan base that Tennessee enjoys. And there are plenty of solid programs who would probably jump at the chance to have a coach like Philip Fulmer and offer him a chance at redemption. I realize Philip Fulmer has been an SEC guy his entire life, but he seems to coach more like a Big Ten guy to me. Perhaps a team in the ACC or Big East would want a very competent and accomplished coach like Phil Fulmer. I don’t see why not. Philip Fulmer is a very good coach, but he has allowed the Tennessee program to grow stale.

In the SEC, there is not time and not patience for periods of stale years. Alabama went through it, but then sold their soul to bring in that devil of a college coaching genius Nick Saban. A year and a half later, Alabama is the #1 team in the country. Sure, they had to sell their soul; but winning in the SEC requires it. Sadly, that’s why you have to consider Arkansas a threat in the coming years.

Getting rid of a good man and a good coach like Philip Fulmer could very reasonably be considered removing the man who has been heart and soul of a very solid era of Tennessee football for more than two decades. Sadly, the next two decades could be decidedly more mediocre, and Philip Fulmer’s life unquestionably less pleasant, if a change is not made.

I grew up in a college football coaching family. My dad was both an assistant and a coordinator in the Big Ten, so I appreciate the pressure, the ups and downs, and the sometimes frustrating reality of your success or failure being dependent on the whims of college kids. (I was also recently a college kid myself, so I certainly understand how mentally and emotionally inconsistent people of that age can be.) I think that part of my unyielding support for Phil Fulmer has been partly based on being predisposed to always support coaches, having grown up in that environment.

Coach Fulmer, you’ve been a great asset to the University of Tennessee coach Fulmer, and it really is not fair that fans and the media focus only on the immediate results and not on your lifetime of service to Tennessee. It’s not fair, it’s just the reality of life as a head coach in the SEC. Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly clear that for your own sake, and for the sake of the Volunteer football program, the time is nigh for a new leader on Rocky Top.

[tags]college football, tennessee volunteers, rocky top, philip fulmer, Southeastern Conference[/tags]