Lane Kiffin Defection Legitimizes Brian Kelly's Move to Notre Dame

In a sense, they're two peas in a pod.  USC's Lane Kiffin and Notre Dame's Brian Kelly are both members of Thomas Neuman's "Disloyalty Club," but everything about Kiffin's departure from Tennessee has given Brian Kelly a degree of credibility, for the way he handled leaving Cincinnati.

ESPN's Neuman recently published a list of notables, that have in his opinion, reached the top of the disloyalty meter.  Lane Kiffin just replaced Brian Kelly as the newest member of the club.

Neuman's list is made up of 18 sports figures and one Marcus Brutus.  Benedict Arnold was not on the list!

Bobby Petrino, Rich Rodriguez, Nick Saban, and Larry Brown are some of the names.  New York Yankee pitchers Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich are on the list—in 1973 they swapped wives and families.

Although Brian Kelly, a member in good standing of Neuman's disloyalty club, ripped the hearts out of his Cincinnati Bearcats players, fans, and the city that loved him, Lane Kiffin has taken disloyalty to a higher ground.

The differences in the way these two coaches conducted themselves, and the situations surrounding them, have been apparent.

Although Kelly left his team on the brink of the biggest game in school history (this year's Sugar Bowl), Kiffin departed Tennessee in more shocking fashion.

Kelly's leaving was disappointing to everyone, discounting Notre Dame fans, but he didn't leave in the final stages of the recruiting drive, the way Kiffin did.

Rumors of Kelly tampering with Cincinnati recruits haven't surfaced the way rumors about Kiffin and Tennessee have.  It may not be illegal for a departing coach to take with him his recruits, but it's wrong.

Miami sports show host Jim Mandich has a name for anyone using the Internet on company time.  He calls them "Corporate time-stealing weasels."  If the Kiffin rumors are true, he's a weasel.  He got paid by Tennessee to recruit these players.

Although both coaches walked out, Kelly left Cincinnati in far better shape than Kiffin left the Volunteers:

Kelly put in three great years at Cincinnati, recorded 10 plus wins in each season and  he resurrected the program. With new coach Chuck Jones, Cincinnati is in good shape.

Tennessee did show improvement in Kippin's first and only year as head coach.  He took a team that finished 5-7 in 2008 to a 7-6 season with close losses to Alabama and Florida, but his methods have to be questioned.

When three Kiffin recruits were arrested for armed robbery midway through the season, it raised red flags as to whether he was playing by the rules.

When it was revealed that Kiffin used "recruiting hostesses" to entice students to go to Tennessee, it raised red flags. 

Charges of outright recruiting violations have already been tagged to the 14 months Kiffin spent at Tennessee.

Although Kelly's departure was unfortunate, Kiffin's could be described as immoral.

When Brian Kelly made it official that he was taking the Notre Dame job, his words stung but he didn't walk up to a podium and deliver a five minute speech, as did Kiffin.  Kelly confronted his players, head on like a man.

There's also been a huge difference in the way that USC and Notre Dame have gone about their business:

Notre Dame negotiated with Kelly during the 2009 season, and that was questionable at the least, but they got the man they wanted.  USC, in what appeared to be a panic mode that former coach Pete Carroll's departure caused, seemed made a rash decision when they hired Kippin.

Cincinnati and Tennessee conducted themselves differently when they replaced Kelly and Kiffin:  Cincinnati hired a proven winner in Chuck Jones.  Tennessee, after being turned down by Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp and Duke's David Cutcliffe, and running out of time, selected Louisiana Tech's Derek Dooley.

Who is Derek Dooley?

Derek Dooley is the son of long-time Georgia Coach Vince Dooley.  He brings a 17-20 lifetime record with him, including a 4-8 season in 2009.  This is a hire that reeks of "Bowdenism"—famous father, plus chance to work under top-flight coaches because of famous father=big-time job.

You could say Tennessee was looking for an image more than anything when they hired Dooley and when they hired Kiffin.  Both have the blood lines, both have the looks, but neither has a resume deserving of a high profile coaching job.

Enough time has passed to understand what Kelly did and why he did it.  It will always be hard to justify Kiffin's move.  Kiffin left a school that gave him a chance to resurrect his career and he walked out after one year—he's brought a new meaning to the word "disloyalty."

So while Kelly and Kiffin both join the ranks of Johnny Damon, who left the Red Sox for the Yankees, Brett Favre, who went to the Vikings after all those years in Green Bay, and Boston College for leaving the Big East, Kiffen's departure and everything surrounding it far exceeds Kelly's in terms of "Disloyalty."