I miss Lane Kiffin.

Hahaha shoutouts from Weezy...the mark of a true leader.

 

Damn, I had forgotten what run blocking and a back that doesn't shy away from contact look like.

 

I miss in-game adjustments. That work.

 

Other than 2004, which I will concede was a great coaching job by Fulmer, I challenge anyone to give me a season that got more out of it's talent than Kiffin did in 2009 since the late 90s.

 

Look at this way. Y'all got to enjoy the 2009 season. I didn't, save being able to read about through volfanjo mailing me the knoxnews sports section/GoVols Xtras and giving me his take on each game while I went through Basic Training. Very fortunate my Senior Drill SGT was a huge Longhorns fan and understood my pain of missing football season. I wasn't even supposed to be able to get those newspaper clippings but he just turned the other way knowing what they were. That Drill SGT even broke down the Alabama game for me. He was pissed we couldn't hit one FG which would have made Texas #1

 

There isn't one.

Tennessee had two walk on OL that weighed in at around 260 lbs and produced a 1,200 yard (maybe more) rusher. Dan Williams went from a 4th or 5th round pick to a 1st round pick because of the coaching. Hardesty went from borderline draftable to a 2nd round pick. I think Berry was a top 15 pick regardless, but essentially playing as a 4th LB helped his draft stock too. He went from being a centerfielder to an in the box run stopper and nickel back. He had Crompton looking like a legit SEC QB the second half of the season. Hell, Tennessee went through 3 MLBs and had a true freshman in Greg King out there and produced a pretty damn good defense when they weren't trying to tackle Dexter McCluster.

 

Have you been able to watch any games from that season? With the exception of the Ole Miss game where the team never made it off the bus, the effort and intensity was off the charts. Ole Miss was the result of the Pilot incident.

 

I'm not sure we could have beaten Ole Miss that day, as McCluster had one of the best performances I've ever seen out of RB in person (Lewis against UGA in 97 is only thing comparable) and I'm not sure he could have been stopped, but it was obvious Pilot hurt that team a lot.

 

I agree with that. I do think it would have been a lot closer if JJ was back there instead of Tyler Wolfe.

 

I did enjoy finally having our own version of Spurrier, a guy who would take shots at opposing teams and coaches at all times.

Kiffin saying he would just use the flu as an excuse for his team not playing up to par after the UF game was awesome.

 

I agree JJ would have made a huge difference. Maybe he lays a lick that knocks him out of the game. Who knows.

Not you, but several Tennessee fans have always tried to side step McCluster's game that day. Ole Miss showed up to play and easily played their best game that year against us. They had better talent and played to their potential. It happens.

 

Ole Miss wanted to kick Orgeron's ass. Tennessee wanted that week to end. That was the difference in the game. I'm not trying to down McCluster at all

 

[uck fay] Lane Kiffin and anyone that misses that piece of shit.

 

So angry

 

His was my favorite UT season of recent memory, until he left in the middle of the night weeks before NSD, on or around my birthday nonetheless.

What I liked:
For the first time I actually cared about recruiting prior to signing day. It was great because he leaked so much info and talked so much shit & like justingroves said, you weren't surprised when we hauled in big recruits. I loved it when he knocked Crompton down in the Vandy game. The UGA and SC games were so much fun to watch. The Alabama game was gut wrenching, but it had me on the edge of my seat and was one of the best UT games I've ever seen. He had me believing we were in the same tier as UF, Alabama, because we were in terms of coaching staff. I loved Monte. He assembled the best recruiting staff in the SEC in my opinion. I loved how he ran practice & the locker room and was a player's coach. I have a feeling that he wouldn't have allowed Da'Rick's antics to happen in the first place. His hiring press conference had me fired up. I watched Monte's part multiple times. As Justin Groves said, I miss his in-game adjustments, but I think you're off about him not making excuses. He didn't do it to the level that Dooley does, but he did it.

What I didn't like:
The Pilot incident sucked. The way he just said, "Sorry gotta go." to the players and us when he took the USC job. The way he & his staff tried to poach our players immediately after he left & possibly beforehand. The fact he hated wearing orange. I don't get fired up like the reds about him not respecting our traditions, but I wish he would've at least tried & not decorated things with a ton of USC stuff (some was ok). I feel like he didn't play to win at the end of the UF game. The Va. Tech game was pathetic and embarrassing. Some will say it didn't matter, but it did to me. I didn't like some of the things his staff was pulling during recruiting, & I believe we would've eventually gotten some sanctions having his staff around. I'm sure some of the stuff they were pulling is done elsewhere, but when you're loud and drawing attention to yourself, you have to be more careful. The wreck with the co-eds was embarrassing. Had that been pursued harder, we may have had a Bobby Petrino-lite situation.

Kiffin was a mixed bag while he was here. Was he was a lot of fun to have around? Of course, but I think we may have paid a price for that. He didn't care about our university since this was a stepping stone job for him, and it might have cost us. I think some people take the waxing nostalgic about him a bit too far. Whoever was putting up the "Bring Back Kiffin" stickers in Neyland on this board was ridiculous (Tenacious D?). I enjoyed his time here, but sitting around wishing we had him back is a joke. We never "had" him in the first place.

 

I don't really miss him, I just miss having a coach that doesn't suck.

If Tennessee had hired someone other than a pathetic loser to take his place, no one would really remember him for anything other than pissing off Meyer.

 

Is that you Big Vol Daddy?

 

This.

 

The only reason people miss Lane Kiffin at all is because the past season that USC had. Dumb people somehow believe that would be UT had he stayed. The guy's entire tenure was a [uck fay]ing joke. From the moment he took the podium he was steadfast in his determination to embarrass UT, he accomplished that on an epic level.

I cannot for the life of me understand why so many like or wish to have him back when he took a steaming shit on UT.

 

You should absolutely hate Kiffin then, if not for him leaving like he did, Dooley would still be n Rustin, LA.