SEC: Mike Hamilton
Lunchtime links: Phillips narrowing down class
- Kentucky coach Joker Phillips is trying to be judicious with his last few scholarships, citing defensive line and receiver as positions of need.
- Tim Tebow arrives at the Senior Bowl with a stated goal. He says, "I'm here to be an NFL quarterback."
- After a brief suspension, South Carolina tight end Weslye Saunders is back for the spring.
- Georgia's newest safety, Jakar Hamilton, hits the ground running, writes David Hale of The Macon Telegraph.
- Florida adds a quarterback in this recruiting class. Tyler Murphy, who had committed to Temple in January, got an offer from the Gators on Sunday and switched his pledge.
- Coaching shuffles put Tennessee's athletic budget in the red last year.
- LSU running back Charles Scott, who broke his collarbone during the season, isn't medically cleared to play in the Senior Bowl and is replaced by Alabama's Roy Upchurch.
Lunchtime links: Lattimore narrows choices
- Top running back prospect Marcus Lattimore of Duncan, S.C., has narrowed it down to Auburn and South Carolina.
- Former Florida defensive back Wondy Pierre-Louis is being sought on suspicion of committing domestic assault through strangulation.
- Mississippi State picks up a commitment from running back Nick Griffin, one of the top-rated players in the state of Mississippi.
- Andy Bitter of The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer asks and answers five key questions facing Auburn for next season.
- Joker Phillips is already putting his stamp on Kentucky's program, writes Chip Cosby of The Lexington Herald-Leader.
- New Tennessee coach Derek Dooley values the Nick Saban connection, writes David Climer of The Tennessean.
- Mike Hamilton's fumbling of the coaching search will cost Tennessee, writes Matt Hayes of The Sporting News.
One thing's for sure: Lane Kiffin's mad dash to the West Coast after 14 loudmouthed months on Rocky Top leaves the program in a precarious position.
Here's a link to a story I did on the state of the Vols' program right now.
Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton said he met with the eight early enrollees Wednesday morning and advised them to go to class.
However, there have been reports that some of the players didn’t start their semester classes.
Hamilton said it’s a moot point because, “after 12:01 on the first day of class, if the student-athletes are here on campus and enrolled in a minimum of 12 hours of class, they have matriculated to the University of Tennessee.”
He was responding to several players saying on Tuesday night that they overheard former recruiting coordinator Ed Orgeron on a speakerphone telling the freshmen not to go to class and that they instead had scholarship offers from USC.
If that indeed occurred, Hamilton said he would consider such methods “unethical.”
Hamilton later added that those players on campus were already locked in at Tennessee “contrary to what they were told by someone else,” which was obviously a shot at Orgeron.
Hamilton said he had no intention of letting any of those players out of their scholarships.
Kippy Brown, hired last month as the Vols’ receivers coach, has been named interim coach until a new coach is hired. Brown previously worked on the staffs under both Phillip Fulmer and John Majors.
Linebackers coach Lance Thompson has also remained and will help bridge the gap, Brown said.
And, really, with the recruiting period set to go live again Sunday, the Vols can’t afford to go much past this weekend without a coach.
The sooner, the better.
Will Muschamp, Texas’ defensive coordinator and head coach-in-waiting, remains the Vols’ top target, and Hamilton was expected to have talks with Muschamp later Wednesday evening or Thursday morning.
One of the keys in landing Muschamp will be going in and getting him and not letting this thing drag out in search-like fashion.
Tennessee is prepared to offer some serious cash, potentially more than $3 million per year.
Muschamp has made it known that he will certainly listen for that kind of money. He’s making close to $1 million right now with the Longhorns.
It’s going to take a sweet deal to pry Muschamp away from Texas. But if Hamilton goes about it the right way, moves in quickly and makes it known that Muschamp is unequivocally his man, then the Vols will have a chance.
If Muschamp elects to stay at Texas, then former Tennessee assistant and current Duke coach David Cutcliffe may end up being the guy. At this point, it looks like Hamilton is interested in talking with Cutcliffe.
Former Tennessee star quarterback Peyton Manning would be a strong advocate for Cutcliffe.
Others to watch include Air Force’s Troy Calhoun, Ole Miss’ Houston Nutt, Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy and Connecticut’s Randy Edsall.
Tennessee director of athletics Mike Hamilton on Lane Kiffin's departure.
Muschamp was also high on the Vols' list when they hired Kiffin, but Texas took him to nearly $1 million per year and also gave him the coach-in-waiting title for when Mack Brown retires.
Some other names to watch are Ole Miss' Houston Nutt, Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy, Air Force's Troy Calhoun, TCU's Gary Patterson, Connecticut's Randy Edsall, Duke's David Cutcliffe and Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart.
The long shot would be Jon Gruden, whom the Vols had interest in when they hired Kiffin. But with Gruden out of coaching now, he might not be as much of a long shot anymore. Plus, he does have Tennessee ties. He was a graduate assistant under John Majors in the 1980s, and his wife is a former Tennessee cheerleader.
If Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton is looking to make a splash, the two biggest splashes he could make with Vols fans right now would probably be Muschamp or Gruden.
And make no mistake: Given what just happened with Kiffin, Hamilton definitely needs to make a splash.
Lunchtime links: Tide's McCarron one play away
- Alabama freshman quarterback AJ McCarron is just "one play away from going in" for the Crimson Tide, writes Gentry Estes of The Mobile Press-Register.
- Tennessee boosters aren't overly upset with the NCAA investigation, according to athletic director Mike Hamilton.
- Photos on the Internet of alleged Florida recruits are stirring controversy, writes David Jones of Florida Today.
- South Carolina's underclassmen are staying and not leaning toward turning pro ... for now.
- New Memphis coach Larry Porter is set to hire Alabama intern and former Michigan State running back Sedrick Irvin as the Tigers' running backs coach.
- LSU's new assistants remain in limbo while Les Miles is checking to see if Larry Porter, who took the Memphis head job, can remain on staff to coach the bowl game.
- Kentucky's Rich Brooks is named the SEC Coach of the Year by CollegeFootballNews.com.
Tennessee, Southern California working on series
Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low
Tennessee's future nonconference schedule already includes a ton of heavyweights, including Oklahoma, Oregon, Nebraska and Ohio State.
But Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton confirmed Tuesday that the Vols also have a verbal agreement in place to face Southern California in 2021 and 2022.
The SEC has taken some heat, and rightfully so in a lot of cases, for its nonconference scheduling.
Most of the schools now, though, are at least making an effort to schedule some legitimate nonconference matchups. Tennessee has been one of the leaders in that area and has historically played one marquee nonconference game every year, usually an intersectional matchup.
The Vols keep adding, too. They announced on Wednesday that they have agreed contractually to play Cincinnati during the 2011 season in Knoxville. The Bearcats won the Big East Conference championship last season and played in the Orange Bowl. Their coach, Brian Kelly, was one of the candidates Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton interviewed for the Vols' head coaching job last year.
Tennessee will also play North Carolina in 2011, and when you look at the Vols' first seven games that season, it's obvious that Lane Kiffin has his work cut out.
After opening the season against North Texas at home, Tennessee faces Cincinnati at home, then North Carolina and Florida on the road in back-to-back weeks, before returning home to face Georgia following a bye. The Vols will close out that grueling stretch with a home game against LSU and then a road game against Alabama.
The 2010 schedule features a home date with Oregon the second week of the season and is equally daunting with road games against Georgia and LSU and home games with Florida and Alabama, all in the first seven weeks of the season.
It doesn't get much easier down the road, either. Oklahoma, Nebraska and Ohio State are all set to appear on the Vols' schedule in the next 10 years.
Vols trying to keep Brown from missing games
Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low
Tennessee is trying to make one final plea on behalf of freshman running back Bryce Brown with the hope of keeping him from missing any games this season.
The NCAA has been investigating his amateur status dating back to his high school days in Wichita, Kan., and Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton said Wednesday that the NCAA has handed down its initial ruling.
Tennessee isn't saying for sure what that ruling is, but it sounds like Brown could be suspended for a game or two and have to make restitution for any funds or extra benefits he might have received back in high school as part of his relationship with his adviser, Brian Butler.
Tennessee officials have gone out of their way to clarify that the Vols aren't under investigation. This issue deals with Brown's amateur status and goes back to before Tennessee was even recruiting him.
The whole thing has weighed heavily on Brown and angered Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin, who feels that Brown is being singled out.
Freshmen have enough distractions just trying to acclimate themselves to practice and college life their first year. But when you start having to answer questions from the NCAA during the middle of camp, it really gets hairy.
Nothing is final in this matter, and Tennessee is still trying to present enough facts and other information to the NCAA that would keep Brown from having to miss any games.
A final verdict should come in the next couple of weeks. The Vols open the season Sept. 5 against Western Kentucky.
Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low
DESTIN, Fla. -- For the umpteenth time, Tennessee's Lane Kiffin wants everybody to know that it's not personal.
Despite everything he's said and anybody he might have offended along the way in his first six months on the job, Kiffin's confident that he's on track to do what he was brought to Tennessee to do -- restore the Vols to national prominence.
Have all the headlines (many of them negative) been worth it?
Kiffin said the proof is in the first signing class the Vols were able to put together in a short period of time, a signing class that included three nationally rated players who chose the Vols post-national signing day.
"Unfortunately nowadays, there aren't six-year plans anymore. We had to make an immediate impact and get players immediately," Kiffin said of his propensity to stir it up and generate headlines. "To sit back and say, 'Maybe we'll take it easy, sit in the weeds and sign a few players here and there, and maybe the next year or the year after that, we'll get a Top 10 class,' we didn't have time to do that.
"Do I love everything that I had to do to get us to this point? No, I don't. But my job is not to love everything I do. My job is to do the best thing for our university and the best thing for our people."
Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton, the man who hired Kiffin to do that job, said the energy surrounding the Vols' program is exactly what he envisioned when he settled on Kiffin to replace Phillip Fulmer.
"I want him to have the freedom to be who he is," Hamilton said. "He's also said very little [that was controversial] since those original comments back in February at our recruiting celebration. It's just that those comments keep getting replayed."
Kiffin understands that it's the price he'll have to pay. And until he wins that first big SEC game or makes some noise in the SEC race, he's going to be tagged as the new guy with the big mouth.
That's OK, too, because he thinks it's good for business when it comes to recruiting great players.
"I think as you look at kids nowadays, they respond to confidence," Kiffin said. "I think as you read articles about our kids we've signed, they talk a lot about the confidence of our staff and that we have the players' back. We're not backing down. I think it's very positive, and the evidence is in last year's class and in all the recruiting stuff you're reading now.
"The kids like that. They like that energy around our program."
As for how much of what he's said and done has been calculated, Kiffin turned coy.
"If I answered that question, you guys wouldn't have anything to write about," Kiffin quipped.
Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low
Tennessee has completed its 2010 schedule and will open the season against in-state opponent Tennessee-Martin.
The game will mark Tennessee's first meeting with an FCS school (formerly Division I-AA) in 27 years. The Vols also become the SEC's last school since the league's expansion in 1992 to schedule an FCS opponent.
Tennessee's other nonconference games in 2010 are home against Oregon, home against UAB and away against Memphis.
"The University of Tennessee always has placed a priority on scheduling FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) opponents in football," Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton said. "FBS buy games are becoming much more difficult to acquire. As we began to review the possibilities of playing an FCS opponent, it made sense to schedule a game against a school in the UT System and keep the money in-state."
Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low
Another Tennessee president is on his way out.
If you didn't see it, John Petersen is leaving after losing the confidence of the Tennessee faculty and being widely criticized by those inside and outside the university.
How does this affect the Tennessee football program?
It will be interesting to see. There's no question that Petersen had given Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton free reign to make the tough decisions he felt were necessary within the athletic department.
Since being promoted in 2003, Hamilton has made coaching changes in all three major sports -- football, basketball and baseball.
Most notable was his decision to oust Phillip Fulmer after 17 years and bring in 33-year-old Lane Kiffin, who's never been a college head coach.
Hamilton scored big with the hiring of basketball coach Bruce Pearl, but his future will still nonetheless be tied to what kind of success Kiffin has in football.
With a new guy running the university (former interim chancellor Jan Simek for the next two years), Hamilton will obviously have a new boss.
If things go well with Kiffin, it won't matter who the Tennessee president is.
If things don't go so well, then Hamilton doesn't have his guy in the lead office anymore.
And when you've just made a tough decision, it's always more comforting to know that the guy above you that signed off on the move is going to be there for what comes next.
As it turns out, Kiffin didn't fire anybody
Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low
Despite his comments in a Sports Illustrated article that he had fired somedody and run some other people off in the Tennessee football office, Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin hasn't fired anybody, according to his boss.
Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton said Kiffin was mad when meeting with the Sports Illustrated writer because somebody was late to pick him up at the airport after returning from California following the birth of his son. Hamilton said the firing comment was more a "figure of speech."
Hamilton reiterated that nobody was fired, nor were any employees in the football office "run off."
In the article, Kiffin suggested that the work ethic around the Tennessee football office wasn't what it needed to be when he arrived.
"You can't count the number of people we've run off because they couldn't keep up, and I'm including secretaries," Kiffin said in the article. "They had to go because they weren't going to make it, and they knew it."
As for the person Kiffin said he fired, that person was sent home after the snafu at the airport, but remains on staff, Hamilton said.
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Chris Low
Low joined ESPN.com in 2007 after 10 years with The (Nashville) Tennessean covering the University of Tennessee and SEC. The Rock Hill, S.C., native lives with his wife in Knoxville and has three sons.
