Archive for the ‘Tennessee Football’ Category

According to the folks in Texas, Will Muschamp isn’t going anywhere:

No Muschamp news for now.

The rumors that defensive coordinator and Texas coach-in-waiting Will Muschamp is heading to Tennessee are in full force.

But people around the Longhorn athletic department aren’t worried.

One member of the Longhorns’ athletic staff said that “Muschamp was in the office yesterday and everything seemed normal. He talked about recruiting our players and our future. There was no mention of Tennessee.”

Another source said, “It would be very surprising if he left.”

Muschamp said a week ago that he was happy at Texas.

A month ago he said that every time one of these rumors pops up he runs down to Texas coach Mack Brown’s office and says that there is nothing to worry about.

According to a Knoxville News Sentinel reporter, Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton will be meeting with the media at 1 p.m. Eastern Standard time.

HT / via:  Bevo Beat / Statesman.com

Yesterday evening as I was reading about Pete Carroll’s departure from USC, I thought to myself, “gee, I hope they don’t come after Kiffin.” I dismissed this, however, due to the fact that it just didn’t make sense to me that something like that would happen.

Well, apparently it made sense to USC…

Like me, ESPN’s Pat Forde is a bit shocked, and isn’t quite sure how this is going to work out for any of the parties involved.

I suppose that is what I get for spending the evening falling asleep on the couch watching Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe…

I feel like I should say something on the departure of Lane Kiffin, but at this point it almost seems premature.  Obviously, this is going to have a hugely negative impact on not only short-term but perhaps the long-term health of the Tennessee football program.  Beyond that, however, I am really not sure what to think yet and the last thing I want to do is to rush to judgment.  Contemplative and plodding—that’s always been my mantra.

Basilio »”>Tony Basilio, however, already has his thoughts up for all to read, with which I don’t necessarily disagree.  The students on campus have also spoken—via the Rock (**NSFW: Language).  Of course, I can hardly blame them.  Tony Barnhart, on the other hand, is just sad—for Tennessee and for the game of college football.

In the meantime, (and in an attempt to be positive) I suppose I would be remiss if I did not take a brief moment to welcome and send best wishes to the 22nd Head Football Coach at Tennessee, Interim Head Coach Kippy Brown.  I’m not sure this is what he signed on for, but I do wish him all the best and look forward to hearing from him in the coming weeks.

Coach Brown, we’re all behind you and the team…

In the meantime, I have a feeling that Smiling Mike Hamilton is doing anything but smiling right now, and I expect that we will be hearing from him, and that right soon.

More to come…

– So it goes …

Image(s) Courtesy of:   UT Sports.com ||  Statement on Fair Use

2009 SEC Power Poll

All-SEC Team: Defensive Backs

Check out the Complete All-SEC Team at Team Speed Kills!

Well, due to a complete lack of judgment on the part of the SEC Power Poll brain-trust, Gate 21 has been selected to announce the Power Poll All-SEC Team selections at defensive back.   The following positions for the 2009 All-SEC team have already been announced:

• Alligator Army:  Quarterback
• Roll Bama Roll: Running Backs
• Hey Jenny Slater: Wide Receivers
• Team Speed Kills: Tight End

The rest of the positions are being announced today and tomorrow across the blogosphere.  In case you miss one, be sure to check in for the most up-to-date announcements over at Team Speed Kills.

The envelope, please…

The 2009 SEC Power Poll All-SEC Selections at Defensive Back are (in order of votes received): Eric Berry (Tennessee), Joe Haden (Florida), Javier Arenas (Alabama) and Mark Barron (Alabama). The reasons behind these should be obvious, but in case they aren’t here’s why these fine athletes are the cream of the crop:

Read the rest of this entry »

Okay, this pretty much sucks…

As the Vol Ambassador pointed out earlier today here on the Gate, according to the New York Times (which, as a general rule, avoids simply making stuff up), the NCAA is currently engaged in a wide-reaching investigation of recruiting at Tennessee under Lane Kiffin, with an emphasis on the use of the so-called “Vol Hostesses,” (with particular attention being paid to Hostess Lacey Earps), who routinely accompany recruits on visits to campus.  This investigation was confirmed by Mike Hamilton, though he declined to comment on the substance , and the UTAD has since issued an official statement.

The real interest appears to be trips taken by some of the Vol Hostesses to watch potential recruits play as high schoolers.  These visits, especially if they result in direct communications related to the recruiting of the athlete are potentially barred under NCAA regulations.  Times reporters Pete Thamel and Thayer Evans noted instances where Vol Hostesses had traveled as distance up to 200 or more miles to see recruits play, and had occasionally exchanged text messages with potential recruits.

As official representatives of the UT Athletic Department, contact by these Hostesses could lead to secondary violations, even if the contact was not sanctioned by athletic department officials.

Read the rest of this entry »

Ok.  So by now you’ve already experienced your mini-meltdown over the coaching changes.  If you’re anything like me, you probably went thermo-nuclear when you found out that not only is the NCAA “probing” (ha, I know) the situation with our hostesses, but that they’re contacting our recruits.  Fret not.  The rumor mill has produced the following information:

1.  Kiffin and staff were aware of this after the fact, but did not ask the hostesses to attend the game.

2.  The hostess at the center of the controversy is originally from South Carolina and went home with some of her friends for the weekend.  While there, they attended Lattimore’s game.  Apparently they’re facebook friends.

Irrespective of how this turns out, this is not a good development this late in the recruiting game.  Maybe I’m drinking the orange Kool-aid, but something about this isn’t right.  I get Wilson going to LSU and his comments recently should dismiss any notions of foul play there.  What I don’t like is that Gran left and the next day Luc commits to FSU, then Lattimore commits to SC and the NCAA comes knocking.  There are a lot of adjectives being thrown around the message boards to describe Gran, but I’m not sure what actually happened to him.  As far as I can tell, it was too hot in the kitchen for him. I’m ok with that.  I like the idea that our staff is too intense for some people.  Wes Rucker put it best in saying we have a great administration, a ton of money, and a hungry fan base.  Will be fine.

This thing with the hostesses, though, probably looks way worse than it really is.  Were the rules bent?  Maybe, maybe not.  Will there be another Kiffin rule passed in the offseason in response?  You bet.

Gate 21 has received information from a reliable source that Jay Graham, former Vol running back during the the Reign of Peyton is currently interviewing for the running backs coach position left vacant by Eddie Gran.  Graham is currently making around $110,000 at South Carolina as their running backs and special teams coach.  Speculation is leading some to think that should UT choose to bring home the Graham-man, Hamilton would give Kiffin a little more room to operate to pursue Kippy Brown or Rob Ianello.

I know we’ve been slacking on covering the recent drama, but let me say a few things about Assistant-Gate:

1)  If Gran had something to do with Luc going to FSU, so be it.  We’ve got Michael Taylor and that boy is going to be an Al Wilson-grade stud.

2) If you put a gun to my head and told me I had to make Gran go to another school, I would say Florida State before you could finish the sentence.  Him being there is good for us because they play Florida every year and hardly ever play us.  A competitive Florida State (and for that matter, Miami) is good for us.  Also, the last time we played them, we walked away with a crystal football, so we’re good in my book.

3)  It’s good to have coaches in demand.  If another school wants one of our coaches, it means they recognize we’re doing something right.  This will also help us on the backside in recruiting new coaches in that UT can be a launching point.  I know a constant revolving door isn’t good for continuity, but I can assure you that the core of this staff (Kiffin, Orgeron, Monte) aren’t going anywhere and if Graham comes, he’ll probably join that group.

4) Graham is also recruiting well for South Carolina right now.  In light of some calls for Trooper to come back, Graham could be a deal to make everyone happy.

At the end of the day, how can you say no to a guy who did THIS to Bama?

The Tennessee Volunteers confirmed this evening that they will represent the SEC in the 2009-10 Chick-fil-A Bowl on New Year’s Eve at the Georgia Dome.   Tennessee will face the Virginia Tech Hokies, who will represent the ACC.

The game will begin at 7:30 0n New Year’s Eve in Atlanta.  Tickets for the game go on sale tonight at UTTix.com.

The Vols most recent trips to the Chick-fil-A Bowl resulted in two disappointing losses to both the Maryland Terrapins and the Clemson Tigers.

Given that the Vols were sitting at home during bowl season last year, I have a feeling that they will be more than ready to face the Hokies, who they last played in the 1994 Gator Bowl, where the Vols upset the Hokies 45-23.

Looks like the Vols will be eating their Christmas “Turkey” on New Years…

– So it goes …

Image(s) Courtesy of:   the Chick-fil-A Bowl •   UT Sports.com ||  Statement on Fair Use