Archive for February, 2009

Hmmm… looks like Coach Kiffin and Urban Meyer are not likely to be sharing martinis in the bathtub anytime soon…

Seems Florida got a bit upset over Kiffin’s statements regarding Meyer contacting recruits during official visits:

Florida didn’t take Kiffin’s comments lightly. It released a statement from athletic director Jeremy Foley on Thursday afternoon.

* * * * *

[Said Kiffin]  “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.”

• via:  Kiffin apologizes after SEC reprimands coach for comments about Florida, Meyer |  GoVolsXtra.com

Right or wrong, I’m glad Kiff had the chutzpah to call Meyer out. It’s about time somebody did.  I’ll also give him props for having some class in admitting he might have overstated things just a bit.

Boy this is already getting fun, and it’s just February…

– So it goes …

In case you hadn’t seen Lane Kiffin’s comments at a recruiting celebration/function thingy in Knoxville this morning…

“Just so you know, when a recruit’s on another campus, you can’t call a recruit on another campus. I love the fact that Urban had to cheat, and still didn’t get him (Vol signee Nu’Keese Richardson). Great job man!”

If Lane was making a checklist of teams in the league to really piss off, he’s got the biggest rivals covered: he got the Chickens all riled up by taking David Reaves and jabbing back at Steve Spurrier’s insinuation that Kiffin hadn’t taken the NCAA required recruiting test.

Next was Alabama, as Kiffin took Lance Thompson and hired him out from under Nick Saban. He then had a number of Crimson Tide purchases commits take official visits to Knoxville. And finally, at today’s same event, he said Saban should thank Thompson for basically signing a large part of their mythical Rivals.com National Championship.

He even got under LSU’s skin just for kicks, and I for one don’t even really hate the Tigers. Janzen Jackson’s joining the Vols provided me a great way to start my Thursday, and it’s safe to say LSU fans probably don’t like us much.

And finally, the Gators. How to make Urban mad: (1) Joke about singing Rocky Top all night long after beating them in Gainesville next year at your opening presser. (2) Take two of their long-time commits, one of which following a weekend-before-signing-day official visit. (3) Take jabs at their coach, and straight-up call him a cheater.

Uhhhh…

If you’re a Vol and don’t like this, you’re crazy. Why? OK, yes, we’re probably going to get killed at Florida next year – they are where we want to be. But this is yet another aspect of this new regime: no more playing nice. Not anymore will a Tennessee just take a jab. Nope, we’re starting stuff now, people.

A favorite form of procrastination of mine is perusing the recruiting board on Rivals, affectionately called the “main board”. Kiffin and Tennessee are getting lit up something fierce right now by hordes of Gates, Bammers, occasional Carolina and LSU fans, and even non-SEC school types. And you know what? I’m enjoying it. Sure, we’re taking our shots now and all, and playing at Florida and at Alabama is going to be rough next year (can’t be as rough as ’07 though, right?), but…

You’re next, Georgia…

– … to me.

I suppose I came into today in the same fashion I did most of the games this past football season:

Hoping for the best, but fearing the worst.

The difference was that, while I realized that the chances of a landslide of commitments to Tennessee was unlikely, I also just felt good about things.  I felt that — given the short time Lane Kiffin and his new staff had to actually recruit — Tennessee would hold its own.  Turns out I was right.  I felt confident the Vols would show well (Scout #22, Rivals #23), but with all that’s transpired in the last 12 months, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t just a little bit of a surprise.

After the turmoil of this past football season, pleasant surprises are … well … pleasantly surprising (gee, that was profound).

More importantly, however, I was seriously impressed with Coach Kiffin‘s comments this evening at his post-Signing Day press conference.  His message was clear:

This is only the beginning.  This is where it starts.  This is Tennessee…

Video: Lane Kiffin: Signing Day for UT

Despite the fact that Tennessee was not in the top-10, the Vols were constantly on the lips of talking heads throughout the day.  Furthermore, given the fact that the Vols have only had a full coaching staff for approximately 2-3 weeks, it is almost a little amazing that the Orange were even in running for some players, but all day long Tennessee kept being in the top-3, or top-2 for great recruits.  Even better is the fact that there are now 19 players — solid choices, not “settle for” recruits — for whom the Vols were the choice.

To each of the young men who chose to wear those orange shirts, I say welcome.  We’re glad to have you…

There were so many great points made by Kiffin this evening.  Here were the ones that stood out to me:

• You don’t take players just to take players – Tennessee was selective, choosing the people that our staff felt were needed;
• Tennessee got great recruits with only a few months or weeks to seal the deal, competing against coaches who had been recruiting the same players for years — next year, that does not apply;
• When Kiffin first arrived at Southern Cal, the team had a losing record — obviously that changed;
• This is only the starting point — from here it only goes up.

With the foundation the Tennessee staff laid today, I am finally beginning to feel really confident about the future of the program.  I firmly believe that things are moving purposefully.  What’s more, it is obvious Kiffin has a plan about where it is we are going.

For me, today was a success and I am happy.  After all, you don’t judge a race winner by where they started, you judge them by where they finish.  Kiffin made it clear that finish is far down the road, but the Vols are gaining speed and expecting to win.

Yeah, today Tennessee got a little bit of its swagger back…

– So it goes …

Video Courtesy of:  GoVolsXtra

With National Signing Day upon us, here’s my feeble attempt at keeping a running tally of the action…

Here are a few places you can go to get up to the minute updates on the current status of the Vols’ recruiting fortunes:

• As always, Joel and Hooper are keeping all of Big Orange Country informed with their blow-by-blow updates over on Rocky Top Talk’s Recruiting Day Live Thread;
• Here’s the live feed of the ESPNU Signing Show, steamed by Justin.tv;
• You can also check out the list of commitments by visiting Scout’s Tennessee Recruiting Center;
• Here’s GVX‘s running list of commitments as of early afternoon:  Tennessee Gets Four Surprises;

• Here’s a widget / tracker which should (in theory, at least) update with Tennessee’s commitments as letters come in, courtesy of Scout Sports’ Inside Tennessee.com (which is a great resource, by the way).

• via: Scout Widget Central: College Football Recruiting – SEC

Video Update

Here with an early morning recruiting update is the Blazer Chronicles, courtesy of Blazer Chronicles.com

Video Updates: Blazer Chronicles — Recruiting Update as of 8:30 am

• via:   Blazer Chronicles.com

Hopefully more good news as the day progresses…

This post is part of a continuing series — “The Cost of Sports” — examining the impact of current economic changes on the world of major sports.    To see the other posts in this series, click here.

As I discussed in Part 1 of this series on the cost of sports, at Tennessee, the price can be high when it comes to paying your way into Neyland Stadium — a truth of which Nashville’s Thomas Luck is all too aware.  I discussed the issue purely in terms of the experience at Tennessee mainly because it is what I am familiar with.  Tennessee was but a lens — the reality is largely the same at all schools with a major athletics presence.

The world of professional sports, however, makes the college ranks look like small potatoes in the way it is wed to the almighty dollar.  Given the current uncertain economic times, however, I question whether professional sports in particular can continue in the way it has for so long.

I suppose that sports fans should not be surprised at the notion that professional teams would necessarily focus on money, after all that is what professional athletics are all about: getting paid to play.  I suppose Rod Tidwell (from the movie “Jerry Maguire”) summed it up best with the oft quoted line “Show me the money!“  What I think is a bit surprising is how willingly and uncomplainingly professional sports fans have accepted the “money first” approach of all the teams in all the major leagues.  The increases in costs passed along to professional sports fans over the last generation is really quite staggering.

Video: Show me the Money!!

But don’t take my word for it…

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Weekend Recap and Such

First things first, it’s snowing in Knoxville today. Although it’s stopped (temporarily?) this might be the first time I’ve seen snow actually stick to the ground in my time here in Knoxville (almost three years). I’m from Memphis, and it never snows there, so safe to say it’s pretty cool. Also an interesting little tidbit, as I was walking from my class to TRECS (yes, I spend lots of time there), I saw Renaldo Woolridge and Emmanuel Negedu in a mini-snowball fight. Those guys are from Nigeria and California (although Negedu did got to school in New Hampshire), so snow’s probably new to them too. Of course it’s ridiculously cold yet again, but I guess that’s how it’s gotta be for snow…

From my phone: Circle Park at 11 this morning...

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