Guitar Shots to the Head: FoleyGate In Retrospect

I don’t know about you, but for me, the spring game can’t get here fast enough.  Personally I love it when Lane goes to the mic.  However, there are scores of Vol fans and other SEC trolls that don’t necessarily share my enthusiasm.

After listening to the audio from the event, here is my final take on the situation.

Lane needs a script.  He was obviously shooting from the hip at a big booster meeting.  It wouldn’t be a crime to choose words more carefully.  Using words like “cheat” in relationship to your peers is not going to get you on the Teleflora list.

Luckily I don’t really like flowers, and I still think that Jeremy Foley managed to make a mountain out of a mole hill.  Mike Slive (understanding where his bread is buttered these days) was complicit in the construction of that mountain.  Look no further than Spurrier’s similar, unchecked comments about Kiffin for further proof of Slive’s hypocrisy.

Here are some quick thoughts on the entire ordeal.

Trash talk is a part of our athletic culture.
This will not be popular with most of you, but trash talk is part of the competition these days.  For most recruits that actually remember this incident, it will be more positive than negative.

Tennessee fans have taken on the personality of their former head football coach.   There are several that are lamenting Lane’s lack of experience.  Let me be the first to tell the naysayers that the days of “don’t speak unless you are spoken too” are gone in the SEC.   The idea that a coach has to “shut up” and earn his respect is Pollyannaish to say the least.  A passive coach in this league will do nothing but watch recruits slip off of his board onto the recruiting boards of more aggressive coaches.

This is really the proverbial “tip of the iceberg”.
Admit it.  When UT was on top and Bama was on probation you had to often wonder about why anyone would really want to play for the Crimson Tide.  All payroll jokes aside, now the shoe is on the other foot.  Expect accusations to fly around the SEC for the next few years.  Coaches and fans of SEC football will always assume a team is cheating when they are doing well.  Why? The answer is simple. Historically dominant SEC teams (Bama in football and UK in basketball) have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar more than once.

The REAL Brightside…
UT will have to keep their program as clean as a whistle.  If the Orange Swarm doesn’t keep their ducks in a row regarding NCAA rules, UT will be on probation faster than Bobby Petrino can leave a job.

Recruits have a very short memory.
A few fans are terrified that this entire incident will sully the future recruiting efforts of this coaching staff.  That couldn’t be farther from the truth.  This team will recruit defensive players in the next few years that have never even heard of Monte Kiffin.

A lot of these young men are isolated in their own greatness, and have little time to keep up with the fame or misfortune of others.

Lane Kiffin’s message was clear.
I think Urban will think twice about calling another player while he is on his official to UT.  If so, this entire ordeal was worth going through.

Meyer wanted Nu’keese Richardson to play for the Gators.  While he was visiting the Vols he received several calls and messages from the Gator head coach.  Lane managed to steal two recruits from the same Gators.  Both were considered to be as solid as verbal commitments get.  Kiffin 2  Meyer 0.

Collective fears and other musings…
In the coming months you will read opinions of other fans.  They will tell you that you have an ignorant coach and that they have nothing to be afraid of.  They will pretend that the coaching and recruiting staff that Kiffin has established doesn’t worry them one bit.

These same fans understand the magnitude of the assembled talent on UT’s staff, and they are lying if they say they aren’t a little concerned about the prospect of recruiting against them.  How many of these clowns have traveled to the Mississippi State board to rag on the hiring of Dan Mullen?

What other fans say about your program is irrelevant in the end anyway.  If it mattered Bobby Petrino wouldn’t be able to field a team at Arkansas.

Are there more effective ways to fire your boosters up?  Sure.
Do you have to directly call a guy a cheater?  Probably not.
Is it nice to finally see your head coach push back when he is getting bullied?  You better believe it.

Go Vols!