Posts Tagged ‘Rumor Mill’

More news on Tennessee’s former head coach:

Lane Kiffin Leaves USC For Dream Job At GameStop | Onion Sports

… Lane Kiffin told reporters that he would be leaving the school indefinitely to pursue his dream of working at GameStop. “I was approached by a cousin who works at the GameStop on Wilshire Boulevard, and when he said there was an open sales clerk position, I had to take it,” said Kiffin, who then proudly placed a GameStop baseball cap on his head…

HT / via: PatrickAry on Twitter

I think that might actually be a good fit for him…

GVX: Tennessee hiring Derek Dooley

“Multiple media sources are reporting that the former Louisiana Tech head coach has agreed to replace Lane Kiffin, who left UT for Southern California on Tuesday, and a deal is imminent. Several other media sources are indicating it is not a done deal.”

HT / via: GoVols Xtra

Considering all of the craziness over the last 72 hours, take this with a grain of salt, but it is the current story…

David Cutcliffe will be staying at Duke

HT / via: Scout.com

Not sure where that leaves Tennessee looking next…

Despite reports to the contrary, apparently, Troy Calhoun will not be the next coach at the University of Tennessee…

Calhoun to Stay at Air Force Academy

January 14th, 2010, 2:42 pm

Air Force has released a statement saying Troy Calhoun will remain coach at the academy in 2010.

Here is the statement from Calhoun:

“We are more than grateful and proud to be closely involved with the character building of our cadets and the mission of the United States Air Force Academy. We are diligently recruiting and working with our team to prepare for the upcoming season. We look forward to coaching and being a part of the Air Force Academy team both on and off the field in 2010.”

HT / via: Colorado Springs Gazette

Here are a few more running links that I will try and update as the day goes on.

• 

  From USCSports.com

  And a little comic relief from both LSUFreek and Orson over at EDSBS with coverage of the USC press conference introducing Kiffin as the new head coach.

• Meanwhile, USCSports.com welcomes the new head coach of the Trojans (See Image)

• USC Blog HeismanPundit doesn’t care much for the Kiffin hire either.
• And from Fox Sports:

After he fired Kiffin in ’07, [Al] Davis famously noted, “It hurts because I picked the guy. I picked the wrong guy.”
The University of Tennessee now knows just how Davis felt.

And if history tells us anything, so — eventually — will USC.

• Brutally well written look at the Kiffin Debacle courtesy of Ed Berliner and the Examiner, who blames the UTAD for making the worst hire since Charlie Weis and noting that Tennessee fans “deserve someone who comes to work without a clown nose in his briefcase.“
• While Lane Kiffin was all fired-up about heading to USC, apparently some in Los Angeles aren’t nearly as excited about the hire.  L.A. Times Columnist Bill Plaschke calls Kiffin “a lightweight” and clearly thinks that the USC Athletic Director is deranged.
• First, you can check out Monte Kiffin on the Sports Animal and listen to the interview this morning regarding Lane’s decision to cut and leave town.  I’ve got to give Monte some credit for at least being willing to face the media. The reality is, however, that he is simply trying to clean-up the mess left by his son.
• Meanwhile, apparently the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees have already reached out to Phillip Fulmer about the possibility of returning as coach or as athletic director.  Not sure what to think about that either way, but I know that Coach Fulmer is dedicated — even now — first and foremost to Tennessee.
• Shotgun over at Blue Workhorse has put together a nice collection of  thoughts from various Tennessee students and fans via Facebook.  As you might expect, some of the comments are … colorful. (*NSFW: Language)

On another note, sorry to anyone reading for being so disjointed in my posts today, but I’m trying to simply post things as they come to the fore.  I hope to try and post a few thoughts of a substantive nature later today.

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

Then I’m walking in Memphis
Walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale
Walking in Memphis
But do I really feel the way I feel

• “Walking in Memphis” by Marc Cohn

Well, it seems that Bruce Pearl will be staying in Knoxville for the foreseeable future, which is good.  The question, however, remains: What are we to make of this “Memphis Incident”?

For starters, I am greatly relieved that Bruce Almighty will still be wearing orange next season.  That is the good news, not that there is necessarily some “bad” news, but keeping Pearl on the sidelines in Knoxville is definitely very good.

That said, what exactly are we to take away from the brief and furious flirtation (so brief and furious that I never even got a chance to comment before it ended) with the notion that Coach Pearl might bolt to the Pyramid City to take the reins as head coach of the Memphis Tigers?  The real answer is probably “nothing.”  Still there are a few thoughts that jump out to me—random observations, I suppose—which seem relevant, if less than timely.

Bruce Pearl is Happy at Tennessee…

It seems to me that Bruce Pearl sent two messages yesterday.  The first is a very positive one, namely that he is happy as coach of the Tennessee Volunteers and has no desire to leave behind what he has begun.  Bruce Pearl likes it here.

Why do I say that?  Well first of all is the obvious: he is staying here.  More importantly, however, is the what he said in his public statement last night.  To me, it makes it clear that Pearl is truly happy to be at Tennessee.

I truly love my job, and I want it to be clear that I’m not interested in any other job.  There’s no place in the country I’d rather be than the University of Tennessee.  My children are happy here in the Knoxville community—one is in high school, one is in middle school and two are currently attending the university.

My staff and I are building a consistent top-25 program and I’m honored and privileged to serve the greatest fans in the country. Tennessee has all the resources necessary to win championships, from our recently upgraded facilities to our ability to schedule.

It’s great to be a Tennessee Vol!

• Bruce Pearl commenting on rumors of him leaving Tennessee | UT Sports.com

Now in the era of sports double-talk and lip service (See Bobby Petrino at any point in his career), it is rarely advisable to take public professions of loyalty at face value.  I understand that.  Still, there are different degrees of lip service and there are different types of coaches.  Pearl’s statement was anything but tepid—it was largely unequivocal and pointed.  In other words, he could have simply said “I’m staying,” and left the other assurances out of the discussion; he didn’t.

Second of all, for reasons unknown to me (considering I have never met Pearl), I trust the man.  Maybe that owes to the side of him that exudes infectious enthusiasm about everything to which he is tied; maybe it is because of his well documented history of loyalty at Iowa and Wisconsin-Green Bay; maybe it is because he is a con man and I’m snowed.  Regardless of the reasons, Pearl is unique in my mind because I do believe that he is both loyal and trustworthy as a coach.  My gut tells me that if he was not happy and was considering a move, while he might not come out and say it, he would similarly not effervesce about how much he loves it at Tennessee.

Furthermore, if he had wanted to leave, it would have been hard to argue with his decision given the suggestion that Memphis was prepared to offer up to $ 3.25 million a year (approximately $ 1.25 million more per year than his new contract is reported to provide).

Thus, I believe him when he says that he never intended to leave, and that he truly loves coaching the BasketVols.  If he truly wanted to leave, he would have.

Yeah, yeah, I know—I’ve obviously been drinking the Kool Aid…

Read the rest of this entry »