It has been a long, controversial season for Tennessee football Coach Lane Kiffin, and it just got longer.
Three freshman Tennessee football players, part of Kiffin's first recruiting class, were charged with an attempted armed robbery today.
According to Knoxville police, wide receiver Nu'Keese Richardson and defensive back Janzen Jackson and Mike Edwards were arrested after the early morning incident.
The victims told police they were sitting in their parked vehicle at a gas station near Tennessee's campus when two men, one brandishing a handgun, approached. When the victims showed they had no money, the suspects joined a third man in a Toyota Prius and left.
Police located a Prius matching the description, and the victims identified Richardson and Edwards as the men who approached their vehicle.
Officers say they found a pellet gun, drug paraphernalia and a plastic bag containing what appeared to be marijuana.
-- Houston Mitchell
Photo: Tennessee Volunteers head coach Lane Kiffin watches from the sideline last Saturday. Credit: Jim Brown / US Presswire.
Fourth-and-two does not appear to be Tennessee Coach Lane Kiffin’s lucky numbers.
The Volunteers, trailing 19-13, drove to the UCLA two-yard line with just over two minutes to play. On fourth down, Montario Hardesty was stopped for a one-yard gain.
Kiffin, as USC’s offensive coordinator, faced a fourth-and-two situation with a little at stake during the 2006 Rose Bowl, which was to decide the BCS national champion. The Trojans had the ball at the Texas 45 leading, 38-33. On fourth-and-two, LenDale White was stopped for a one-yard gain. Vince Young drove Texas to the winning touchdown.
The common denominator? Reggie Bush wasn’t in Kiffin’s backfield either time.
No one should lose sight of the fact that Saturday’s game between
UCLA and Tennessee is all about the glare-down between Norm Chow and Lane
Kiffin.
Chow, the Bruins offensive coordinator, and Kiffin, the
Volunteers coach, worked together at USC from 2001-04. Chow, then, was Kiffin’s
boss. That ended, when head coach Pete Carroll either …
a) Promoted Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian in order not to lose them.
… or ...
b) Ditched Chow because he was getting too much credit after
back-to-back national championships. USC hasn’t won one since.
So when the Bruins face Kiffin’s Volunteers, grudges will need to
be settled. Or not.
“Coach Chow was very instrumental in my development as a coach,”
Kiffin said. “I got a chance to spend four years next to him. I watched him
call plays. I watched him run the quarterbacks. I watched him run the offense.
I am very grateful to have had that chance.”
Legal counsel has advised USC not to talk about the ongoing NCAA investigation that may, or may not, imperil the school's football and basketball programs.
But USC Coach Pete Carroll and two top Trojan assistant football coaches during the Reggie Bush era, Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian, are dominating as nonstop chatterboxes on Twitter, the new social network microblog.
Kiffin and Sarkisian are now head coaches at Tennessee and Washington, respectively, and have learned from the master about getting the message THEY want to get out to the masses.
There is -- shockingly! -- fraudulence going on in the brave new world of Twittering. St. Louis Cardinals' manager Tony La Russa just settled a lawsuit with Twitter over a bogus site using his name. UCLA football Coach Rick Neuheisel does not have a Twitter account, but there are two sites out there with his name on them. One has the username Slick R. Neuheisel -- probably not the real Rick.
Former USC assistant Lane Kiffin, now head coach at Tennessee, continues to struggle with the rule book. Tennessee, according to the Associated Press, has reported four minor recruiting violations to the NCAA since Kiffin was hired late last year.
The most recent came today after ESPN's "Outside the Lines" on Sunday included a segment showing Kiffin in his office with two high school recruits.
That would be a violation of NCAA recruiting rule 13.10.1, which states: “A member institution shall not permit a media entity to be present during any recruiting contact made by an institution’s coaching staff member.”
The ESPN program also included a statement from the Oakland Raiders, who fired Kiffin in September. The two sides are in litigation over pay Kiffin claims he is owed.
“Lane Kiffin is a flat-out liar. He lied to the team, he lied to the fans, and he lied to the media,” the Raiders’ statement said. “He will try to destroy that university like he tried to destroy the Raiders, and will eventually clash with [women’s basketball coach Pat] Summitt and [men’s basketball coach Bruce] Pearl.”
The university had no comment about the statement to the Associated Press.
-- Randy Harvey
Photo: Rocky Top? More like rocky start for Lane Kiffin at Tennessee. Credit: Wade Payne / Associated Press
Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive went on the offensive Wednesday at the conference meetings in Destin, Fla. He told football coaches and athletic directors to quit sniping at each other.
"I had all 5-9, 170 pounds of me into every word I said,'' Slive told reporters.
Most of the controversy has surrounded Lane Kiffin, the former USC assistant coach who is now head coach at Tennessee. He and South Carolina Coach Steve Spurrier had a confrontation Tuesday.
Here is the video of Lane Kiffin's calling out Urban Meyer, accusing Florida's head coach of a recruiting violation. The accusation led to today's decision by the SEC to reprimand Kiffin.
As Chris Dufresne pointed out in a post this morning, "What is it about former USC assistant Coach Lane Kiffin that produces venom-spewing press conferences and/or tersly worded released statements?"
Kiffin not only was wrong (what Meyer did is NOT a violation) perhaps made it worse by saying: "I love the fact that Urban had to cheat and still didn't get him." Listen to the video, courtesy of ESPN.
Well, that didn't take long. The Southeastern Conference just issued a reprimand to former USC assistant and first-year University of Tennessee football coach Lane Kiffin.
Here's the statement from SEC Commissioner Mike Slive:
Coach Kiffin has violated the Southeastern Conference Code of Ethics. SEC Bylaw 10.5.1 clearly states that coaches and administrators shall refrain from directed public criticism of other member institutions, their staffs or players.
The phone call to which Coach Kiffin referred to in his public comments is not a violation of SEC or NCAA rules. We expect our coaches to have an understanding and knowledge of conference and NCAA rules.
-- Chris Dufresne
Photo: Lane Kiffin, seen here during a news conference in late December. Credit: Wade Payne / Associated Press
What is it about former USC assistant Coach Lane Kiffin that produces venom-spewing press conferences and/or tersly worded released statements?
Raiders' owner Al Davis fired Kiffin last fall and held a rare -- and very bizarre -- press conference afterward to rip the young coach, Davis calling Kiffin a "Flat-out Li-ah" (Liar).
Kiffin recovered by getting named head coach at the University of Tennessee, in the cutthroat Southeastern Conference, where on Thursday he found out what happens when you accuse Florida's coach of of evil doing.
That's right, Kiffin accused Florida Coach Urban Meyer of violating recruiting rules in pursuit of receiver Nu'Keese Richardson. WVLT -TV out of Knoxville reported Kiffin told a group of fans at post-recruiting breakfast that Meyer called Richardson during the player's recent visit to Tennessee. Richardson ended up signing with Tennessee.
Kiffin told the crowd: "I love the fact that Urban had to cheat and still didn't get him."
This produced an almost instant response from Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley, who said in a released statement:
"There was no rule violation and we have confirmed this with Southeastern Conference. It is obvious that Coach Kiffin doesn’t know that there is not a rule precluding phone contact with a prospect during an official visit on another campus during a contact period. His allegations are inappropriate, out of line and, most importantly, totally false. It is completely unfair to Urban Meyer, our coaching staff, our football program and our institution. The appropriate action at this time in my opinion is for Coach Kiffin to make a public apology. His comments not only slandered our coach, but he violated SEC rules by publicly criticizing another coach and institution."
No apology from Kiffin yet.
Hmmm. Wonder if this will have any carry-over to next season? Florida, which has won two of the last three national titles, returns almost everyone on offense and should be the clear-cut preseason No.1
First things first: What a day for NFL officials. Questionable rulings all over the place -- on the field and from "under the hood" along with one referee getting a bloody nose. Where to begin? How about Baltimore, where the Ravens hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers. With the Steelers down, 9-6, Pittsburgh's Santonio Holmes(here is what Holmes said after the game) caught a four-yard pass with 43 seconds left. Was it a TD or not? His feet were in the end zone when he had possession but it appeared the ball did not cross the plane of the goal line. Officials on the field said no, no, it wasn't a TD. Uh, wait. Yes, yes it was. Referee Walt Coleman said it was after reviewing the play. Once again, what we saw on TV showed Walt may have been wrong. Even NBC analyst Cris Collingsworth, a former All-Pro receiver, said it wasn't a TD. Here's another view of the catch by Holmes. And here's what Ravens Coach John Harbaugh had to say:
Let us know what you think. Vote now in our poll here.
Bad Call, Good Call, Part 2: Receiver Torry Holt, whose Rams lost, 23-20, to the Seahawks on the last play of the game, said an official used a video scoreboardto call pass interference on a key play in the third quarter. The call was made by a rookie referee. Rams Coach Jim Haslett said, "If that is what he called, then that is what he called." During a questionable call in the Cowboys-Giants game, in which Tony Romo's foot was behind the line of scrimmage (or was it?), even Al Michaels couldn't hold back, saying, "Oh, here we go again."
Computer call? Tennis has the solution. Because it is simply too difficult for humans to always make the correct call, maybe a Hawk-Eye system for the NFL is in order. Here is what The Times' Lisa Dillman wrote when Hawk-Eye was introduced to professional tennis. And The Times' Karen Kaplan made clear not long ago that the human brain is imperfectwhen it comes to the eye.
Sunday, bloody Sunday:Referee Jeff Triplette, who worked the Jets 31-27 win over Buffalo, got knocked face first into the turf at Giants Stadium. "It's not a broken nose," he told AP. "It's just bloodied." The hit came during Shaun Ellis' fumble return for a TD. Bills center Duke Preston, going for the loose ball (sort of), hit Triplette from behind. It looked more like Preston wanted a better view of Ellis. Watch it.
Hats off: This is belated, but Dustin Brown'shat trick Thursday night in the Kings' 6-2 winover St. Louis was fun watching, especially when ex-Kings Coach Andy Murray started looking so frustrated. Here are the game's highlights.
And finally -- Lane Kiffinmight be more successful now, and not just because he moved to the college coaching ranks. Tampa Bay Buccaneersdefensive coordinator Monte Kiffin made it official -- he will join his son's staff for the Tennessee Volunteers. The elder Kiffin announced his decision Sunday after the Bucs' lost to the Atlanta Falcons, 13-10, but that he told players and his assistant coaches last week.
-- Debbie Goffa
Top photo: Santonio Holmes catches a touchdown pass in front of Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed, right, with 43 seconds left in the game. The Steelers won, 13-9. Credit: Doug Kapustin / The Baltimore Sun
Pop-up photo: Santonio Holmes feet clearly are in the end zone but does the ball break the plane? Gail Burton / Associated Press
Well, that didn't take long. The Southeastern Conference just issued a reprimand to former USC assistant and first-year University of Tennessee football coach Lane Kiffin.
