ESPN’s Piece on Lane Kiffin and Recruiting Violations Actually Turned Into a Recruiting Violation

Talk about a grenade with the pin pulled out. Lane Kiffin has been nothing short of a train wreck at Tennessee thus far. True, he has yet to even prove his coaching abilities out on the field, but like clock work every 30 days Kiffin makes an ass out of himself and the Volunteer program with some naive and head scratching indiscretion. From recruiting violations to just flat out lacking class and respect for his peers, Kiffin has put a huge target on himself and the program. ESPN’s Outside the Lines, did a piece on the rocky start to Kiffin’s regime at Rocky Top. Despite all the negative hoopla, a lot of insiders think the juice has been worth the squeeze as Tennessee has a new spark headed into the 2009 season. Unfortunately though ESPN’s piece actually stirred the pot once again as Kiffin is seen meeting with recruits on camera, a very well known recruiting violation ( 7:42 mark of video)

From Espn “According to NCAA recruiting rule 13.10.1, “A member institution shall not permit a media entity to be present during any recruiting contact made by an institution’s coaching staff member.” While a lot of the negativity surrounding Kiffin stems from his constant run ins with the media and NCAA recruiting violations, I think the real disdain for him stems from his arrogance, attitude, and flat out lack of respect for his peers within the SEC. Plainly speaking he is a sniveling ass who rode into town thinking he is better then everyone. At every bend of the road, he’s only reinforced this to be true and if you check his references with the Oakland Raiders, you’ll find more carnage left in his wake. Time will tell if Kiffin can ever get out of the hole he is digging but if he starts 2009 off on the wrong foot, you can bet the clock will start ticking as the Volunteer faithfuls patience is thin already and the Kiffin shtick is already wearing thin.