The Coaching Changes Have Just Begun

I was just about ready to write up a nice summary of the SEC coaching changes for the year (seriously, it was nearly ready. I even had this great joke about running away, screaming, from the undead visage of Mike DuBose) Even the internet-famous LSUFreek had prepared a eulogy for those we have lost this year.

Then some fool at Oak Ridge takes a crow bar to a crate marked "Failed Experiment: DO NOT AGITATE" and the tear gas falls in Knoxville. Watching some College B-ball last night, the crawl on ESPN seemed like a practical joke. Then they break in with the news and suddenly the world seems giddy. The news is so absurd, it takes 6 years of stress off of Urban Meyer. Then the details pour in. It's not just Lane, but Monte and YAWYAW too. There are even talks of him getting Norm Chow to bolt from UCLA.

It's all so surreal, but then it would be. After last year's off season filled with fiascoes we should have seen this coming. Lane Kiffin exits the SEC the same way he entered it; Backwards, On Fire, in a Lambo.

Of course, now this puts every other fanbase in the SEC (with the exception of Kentucky, who seems to be enjoying the Rich Brooks retirement party/OMGJOHNWALL, and Vandy, you know why) into panic mode about their staff getting poached. As well they should be. After letting the flashy yet inexperienced mercenary run the show, Tennessee will likely be very conservative in it's next HC choice(they may even go hyper-conservative and try to mend things with Fulmer) and pick someone with proven wining experience in the SEC. I wonder if the ink is dry on Tuberville's contract at Texas Tech. Add to this UGA's continuing difficulties of replacing the deposed Willie Martinez and friends, there are now 2 upper echelon D-1 programs looking for a defensive staff. We nearly lost Chavis to UGA, but unless The Great Pumpkin returns or they offer an insane amount of money, he has even less reason to make a lateral move back to Rocky Top.

And UT will have to act very fast. It's only 3 weeks till signing day and COACHO was poaching players just minutes after the press conference. Their current Interim Coach is Kippy Brown, a former Fulmer assistant who they brought in after we brought Frank Wilson back home to Louisiana. He has only been at UT for just over a month.