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Is Kiffin Just Excited, Or Plain Nuts?

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By JOE HENDERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 5, 2009

Uh, Lane?

Lane Kiffin?

I have a simple question: Are you nuts?

The baseless charge that Florida's Urban Meyer "cheated" when he had the audacity to (legally) call one of your recruits had 'em hootin' and hollerin' in Knoxville, but let's see how funny it seems to the mob come Sept. 19 when Tennessee visits Florida in The Swamp.

Meyer has a LONG memory (just ask Mark Richt, whose "end-zone stomp" a couple of years ago was mild compared to accusing the coach of the national champions of cheating. This was after he announced he was looking forward to "singing Rocky Top all night long" after beating Florida this season.

He also tried to hire UF receivers coach Billy Gonzales while the Gators were preparing to play Oklahoma for the national title.

Kiffin has been making all kinds of friends about the Southeastern Conference since coming to Tennessee.

Part of me likes his spunk; he was not brought to Rocky Top to please his rivals around the SEC. He and Steve Spurrier have traded barbs about recruiting and he hired Lance Thompson off Nick Saban's staff at Alabama a couple of weeks before signing day.

Thompson was said to be 'Bama's best recruiter. His departure didn't stop the Tide from having one of the top recruiting classes in the country, by the way.

At the same event where he made the accusation against Meyer, Kiffin said Saban should have thanked Thompson for signing eight of Alabama's top recruits.

Some of Kiffin's tactics rate as good ol' fashioned hardball – take the hiring of Thompson, for example. But it crosses a line when you accuse an opponent publicly of cheating without the facts to back it up.

I would imagine that all over the SEC today, rivals are triple-checking each Tennessee recruit for any signs of funny business. I would also imagine that will go on for as long as Lane Kiffin coaches there.

And since the Vols don't figure to have full cupboard of talent for a while, he may soon discover what street justice looks like in the SEC.

It won't be pretty.

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