Lane Kiffin's Approach Is Moving Tennessee in The Right Direction

(Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)

Only four months into his job and Lane Kiffin has easily become the most hated coach in the Southeastern Conference, and the prime target of national and local media. Does he care?

Absolutely not, because in only four months, Kiffin has ultimately changed the entire culture of Tennessee Football. He brings in a culture of openness and visibility.

The only things the national media will report on Kiffin are his rips on Urban Meyer and Florida, his alleged "gas station" comment, his handful of secondary violations, and whatever future Kiff-ism that may (probably will) happen. What the national media fails to cover is the overall accountability and outreach efforts Kiffin has brought to the University Of Tennessee.

His first accomplishment was, above all else, putting Tennessee back on the map. The more ESPN and other outlets showed Kiffin's face, the more publicity the university recieved, and ultimately, the more recruits he reeled in.

He capped off a top-10 recruiting class with the number one player in the country, Bryce Brown. A week doesn't go by that Kiffin isn't on television.

So far he has been on countless sports shows on television and radio. In the last decade or so, Tennessee has been an afterthought.

It was the doormat of the SEC, but Kiffin has changed that for the better. One of Kiffin's first promises to his players and fans was that everyone gets a chance to play, regardless of age and/or seniority.

This was in stark contrast to the Phillip Fulmer era in which talented underclassmen would be buried in the depth chart as a result of Fulmer's loyalty to juniors and seniors. So far in spring practices, younger players who fans have never heard of are starting to emerge as physical, almost violent players that will help Tennessee compete at the highest level of SEC football.

The flip-side of Kiffin’s equal treatment is the fact that everyone is held accountable, regardless of talent or age. He has kicked off several players since coming to Tennessee, all of them for disciplinary and academic problems.

The most notable boot was given to Demetrice Morley, the Vols’ 5 star defensive back who was a sure-fire shot at All-American status this coming year. Morley failed to get on board with this new team first philosophy and was let go.

As much as it stinks for Morley, it sends a message to the rest of the team and the fans: everyone is accountable for their actions. This is a major change from the last regime that gave players enough leeway to screw up and supplemented that with multiple opportunities to come back and screw up yet again.

Local and national media can now come and watch those players excelling in Kiffin's open practices, another example of Kiffin's visibility effort. This was previously unheard of in the 17 years under Fulmer; in fact, the only practices Fulmer allowed local media to come watch were special teams workouts.

Kiffin challenged fans to go to the practice facility at five in the morning to watch his team go through morning conditioning, a challenge that yours truly took on. This open practice policy not only gives rabid Tennessee fans to see some football in the spring, but it gives media the ability to accurately report on player development and team evaluations and chemistry.

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