New Coach

The Knoxville News-Sentinal is reporting that Lane Kiffin is to be named Phil Fulmer's replacement. My thoughts were summarized as concisely as possible in the following (slightly edited) email to my brother, who also went to Tennessee:

I dont like that at all, man they should have gotten a guy with some head-coaching experience in college (ie Mike Leach), not some NFL washout. Gosh darn it, my turkey's coming back up. Great picture in the article, the guy's working a Fat Albert double chin...

I don't view his time at the Raiders as a resume-builder. As Bill Callahan proves, spending time working under Al Davis, while it may make you more capable of withstanding psychological torture or of providing insight into a Kafka novel, doesn't help you win games at the college level. Take that away, and you have a 33-year-old guy who's had one year as a coordinator at a major school. We're supposed to believe he is ready to build Tennessee back into a powerhouse? Maybe he is the guy, but I'm not all convinced.