If Kiffin had stayed.

[tennrich1]

Yeah, Murderers say they wish they had done it different too. Changes nothing. He is now just a little smarter piece of crap. Still looking to be upwardly mobile. Just no takers.

Murderers?? I get your point. Sports are fun…until they hurt!

 

[#1fulmerite]

If they would have survived continuous NCAA investigations and severe penalties, he likely would have won a natty, or two, or more, imo.

They were the hottest thing in college football for that time period. They were cherry picking players they wanted, or buying whoever they wanted?? Idk, I have no proof of the latter.

They were certainly on their way to big, big things at UT. I'll always content that was the most stupid career move ever. I get that USC was his dream job and I believe that, he's a West Coast guy. I totally blame Mike Hamilton for allowing to him just to walk away. In defensive of Kiffin, apparently he was up front with Hamilton about leaving for USC if it ever came open.

Many of you will say that he failed at USC and there is truth to that. He walked into a horrible situation at USC with all the NCAA restrictions and probation caused by Pete Carroll.

If Kiffin would have stayed at UT, he'd either still be here, or coaching in the NFL after much success at UT. Just my thoughts......

I’m in the minority with you. He had the staff and the brashness to get the top athlete’s. I always said had he stayed and kept that staff in place a few years, we would have won big.

As for sanctions and trouble, there would have been nothing major. Even Hamilton stated Kiff told him they had to do things to get attention for us.

Too bad his one recruiting class didn’t pan out. Had he stayed, that one aspect may have been largely different!

 

[#1fulmerite]

Just imagine had we given Fulmer a sabbatical instead of firing him.

 

[jarnol32]

Kiffin learned a lot under Saban. If he had stayed, I believe he would have used so many problems with the fans and the Administration, he would not have survived. He has become a very good coach and a good recruiter and I give a lot of that to Saban. I still think we came out on top be hiring White as our AD and his hiring JH.

Winning cures all, and Kiffin would’ve won here. He is a great coach, but Hamilton was the worst A.D. in the history of the university, and did not place a significant buyout on his contract. He left and Dooley was tasked with rebuilding after the departure of two coaching staffs in two years, which at the time was impossible. Butch was close but then his bricks just crumbled and his program fell apart. Then we got the reject from Alabama, of all places Alabama. Makes me sick just thinking about the University of Tennessee hiring an Alabama guy. Thankfully either by luck or by genius Danny white landed heupel, and we are back on track to compete for championships again.

 

[chambers1517]

The Kiffin hire always intrigued me - was it the best hire at the time? Probably not.
Was it the best Mike Hamilton could get? Probably not.
Was he the only guy that would have the cajones enough to follow a legend? Probably so.

The question posed here though - would UT look more like Ole Miss or more like UGA if Lane had stayed?
We would look more like Ole Miss...in the upper half of the SEC, winning "the game" once in a while, but never really getting over the hump to make it the SECCG or win a title...in other words we would be in about the same place we were in Fulmer's last 6 or 7 years.

Thanks for an actual response.

 

[EZE]

I’m just wondering if they will still be seeing Kiffin threads on here after we’re all dead and gone.

 

[Score50]

Who cares. He left and I say good riddance!! Kiffin is a prick. He doesn’t deserve to be mentioned for anything Tennessee again. He is a descent coach but is in the Deion Sanders coaching tree. What has he done or won. Absolutely nothing but run his month. Put Deion on Kiffin in a bag, they are pretty much the same.