Tennessee Reaction To Kiffin Drastically Overblown, Unnecessary

Last week Pete Carroll was the head coach of the USC Trojans.

Last Thursday he was a college coaching legend who appeared set to be the Bobby Bowden of Troy.

And then the news broke that he was going to leave what ESPN has consistently rated as one of the top three college football programs of all time to take the head coaching job of the Seattle Seahawks.

That's right, the glorious job that requires a man to live in one of the gloomiest and most depressing parts of the country with a team that the NFL forgot long ago.

Here is how bad Seattle actually is when it comes to football:

There is not a single player or position (D/ST) on Seattle's roster that is worth putting on your fantasy team, and adding Pete to the mix probably won't make that change.

If you could have the lifetime job as head coach of USC or the three year (I give him that before he is run out) job as head coach of the Seahawks, which would you take?

But Pete had his preference.  And he left the USC program in the worst state it has been in since he showed up.

Trojans fans bid farewell, sadly, but thanked Pete for what he had given us.

Lane Kiffin had no way of predicting the USC job would open up a week ago, much less when he took the head coaching position at Tennessee.  But clearly, as a guy who spent six years with the program, was launched by it, and is a California native, it would be his dream job.

As chance would have it, the job opened up and he got the call.

He answered.

The reaction in Tennessee has been to riot, break things, have the Athletic Director act like an immature moron, create a national media circus, and make threatening phone calls to Lane's wife.

WHOA THERE OLLIE!!!

Judging by what is going on it would seem like Knute Rockne was a twenty year coach at Tennessee until the Georgia job opened up and he just left heading south after taking a giant dump on the sacred rock.

I mean Lane Kiffin seems to be a decent head coach.  He went 7-5 at Tennessee after beginning to rebuild the program.  Not too shabby, but it could have been better.

Lane put Tennessee back on the map as far as college football is concerned and there will be interest from very good coaches now; but he wasn't Pete Carroll.

Let everyone remember who we're talking about here: its Lane Kiffin.

USC fans aren't so much excited about Lane, we're excited about the other guys falling in around him: one of whom is his father, another is a former USC guy, and the last one (who seems very probable) is a fan favorite (Norm Chow).  Were those guys going to miss out on the USC party?  Heck no.

Lane wasn't insincere in what he did for the Tennessee program.  He didn't predict his dream job opening up this off-season; it just happened.

And some of the guys he works with followed him because they have USC ties.  Fair enough.

The next coach of Rocky Top will be interested because of the publicity that Kiffin created for the program.

No matter who that is, Lane didn't do anything wrong by taking his dream job back "home."

No one really even knows if he is a good coach yet.

So why all the hatred from UT?  Don't the students have classes to get to?  When will the rioting calm down?

People move onto more desirable things.  It isn't an objective reflection of one school or another, it just reflects that person's preference.

Lane showed his and he jumped at opportunity.  That being said, I think everyone feels bad for Tennessee; unfortunately its getting harder to by the minute based upon the reaction of the University.

From Troy, we truly wish you the best with your program and your future direction.  I'd love to see you stomp Alabama, Florida, and Georgia on a yearly basis.

But please stop the foolishness.  You're a national research institution for crying out loud, not an extension of the Ringling Brothers.