Lane Kiffin Yields Excitement For Volunteer Nation

The short wait is officially over for the University of Tennessee and Volunteer fans.  Lane Kiffin will be named Head Coach at 2:00 PM on December 1st.  This is the first time the head coaching position has been filled from outside the "Tennessee Family" since 1964 and the hiring of Coach Doug Dickey.

Coach Dickey was later credited with rejuvenating the Tennessee program, gaining honors such as SEC Coach of the Year in 1965 and '67 and winning SEC Championships in '67 and '69.  In addition to his coaching success, Dickey began the wear of the "T" on the side of the helmet and the tradition of running through the T, which both hold true to this day. 

Lane Kiffin's upside is huge.  He had great success at USC under Pete Carroll as an assistant for six years, had enough offensive sense to become a NFL coach at the age of 31, and brings with him a family tree which is loaded with college and professional level experience. 

Kiffin's downside is the simple fact that he has only 1 1/2 years head coaching experience.  During that time frame he was not successful; however, Al Davis has much to be blamed for that result.  Kiffin will not be handcuffed at Tennessee and will be given all the tools and means necessary to produce.

Speculation still swirls around who will be retained on the current VOL coaching staff, but reports indicate that the four defensive coaches will be gone.  This backs up the several reports that hint at Kiffin's dad, Monte Kiffin (Defensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers), will follow his son to Tennessee. Dan Reaves, former South Carolina QB Coach, has already joined the VOL staff and it is assessed that Ed Orgeron, New Orleans Saints Defensive Line Coach, is soon to follow. 

The family feeling that recruits gleamed about under Fulmer seems to be setting up to become a real family under Kiffin.  Dan Reaves is his brother-in-law, Monte Kiffin is his dad, and reports have circulated about his younger brother Chris Kiffin (Nebraska Grad. Assistant) will be following. 

From a fan point of view the water has somewhat divided. There are those who wish Fulmer was still to be and those who cheered at his departure.  I say to all, Kiffin will have the same/if not better success on the recruiting trail, will bring a better offensive mindset, and if Monte Kiffin follows, the defense will also be better.

Now it is time for those who will begin, on some sort of skewed analysis, to predict how many wins the Vols will get next year and when will the Vols return to the SEC Championship game.  However, I might be late on this but, I do predict the excitement starts now, and I now expect to see a similar response that Nick Saban garnered at Alabama (the orange and white game will be sold out!).