ClayNation Mailbag on Florida, Meyer, Kiffin, and the Duel
Friday, February 6, 2009
I agree with everything Kiffin said. Here's why, what most people don't know is that the Tennessee football family has been incredibly divided over the past five years. Incredibly. There's been a ton of infighting. As fans we haven't focused our hate on our rivals at all. Instead we've been poor-mouthing our own situation, lamenting what we do have, kicking proverbial rocks in the street with our heads down. Instead of being excited about what we were going to do to another team, we've been too worried about what our own team was going to do wrong.
That's a fact. Every Tennessee fan reading this right now knows it to be true.
When we punted, we worried someone was going to return the kick for a touchdown against us (Desean Jackson once or Brandon James--three times). When third and long arrived we worried that our third and Chavis defense was going to forsake us and a drive would continue. When we had a first and goal we worried that we'd fumble or be forced to kick a field goal. All too often all of these things were true. In other words, somewhere along the way, we've gotten so concerned about what our own team was going to do wrong on the field that we couldn't even focus on what we were going to do to other teams.
Our team was bathed in negativity. Tennessee football only had to look into the mirror to find it's own worst enemy.
That's why I wanted Mike Leach. Because I wanted an injection of pure unadulterated optimism into the program. I wanted a coach who other schools worried about doing something to their team. I wanted Spurrier in the 1990's, a cocksure, swaggering embodiment of his team on the field. A guy who lost a game because he ran out of bullets in his six-shooter, not because he curled up into the fetal position and focused on making less mistakes than the other team.
But more than that, I wanted a coach who made football games fun again. A fearless, beaver pelt trading, wild man who wasn't afraid to spit in the eye of tradition or rattle the proverbial cages of the SEC establishment. Up until the past week I'd only seen glimpses that Lane Kiffin could be that guy.
After yesterday's barnstorming tour of the state, I'm convinced Lane Kiffin is that guy. In one day, he united the Tennessee football community in a way that I don't remember ever seeing in the past 8 or 9 years. What other fan bases have been focusing on is the literal truth of Kiffin's comments. Which is fine. So it wasn't an actual recruiting violation. Big deal.
But what the focus on the specific words misses is the tone of those words. And the tone was absolutely perfect. Because Kiffin's comments weren't intended for anyone but Vol fans. They just weren't. Now you can argue that Kiffin should have swept the room of press, but I think he knew exactly what he was doing, sending a message to Tennessee fans that the days of fetal position football are over.
What's more, his comments actually got an apoplectic Florida administration to whine to the SEC and cite, are you ready for this, SEC bylaws. Bylaws? We're talking about bylaws? Are you kidding me?
Football's a game, an entertaining game, and it's about having fun. Bylaws are about the business side of football. And the business side of football isn't fun. It's about numbers and rules and regulations. At Tennessee we've been focused on the not fun aspects of football for a long time.
In one day yesterday Lane Kiffin made football more fun for Volunteer fans than it has been in the last four years. That's a start, a tremendous start to his time at Tennessee. I'm not sure yet that we've got the Bruce Pearl of football, but I'm more confident today than I have been at any point in recent history. Bully to Lane.
Anyway, I got a lot of emails yesterday on this, so I'm going to go to y'all with four that are representative. Here goes with All That and a Bag of Mail
Matt S. writes:
"I demand satisfaction!"
Your recent posts about duels could be prescient. I'm pretty confident you were a fan of the "North and South" mini-series? I'm picturing Kiffin as the arrogant guy who challenges Charles to a duel then begins crying when Charles\Urban stares him down with his free shot after Kiffin makes only a flesh wound with his hurried and drunken shot. Couldn't find the video. Only difference is Urbs isn't going to fire his shot in the air, he'll coolly shoot Kiffin right in the balls on Sept 19th.
PS I also like to imagine Layla in the role of Ashton.
Emails like this are why I find it so hard to dislike Gator fans. North and South is the perfect analogy to the duel. And of course, I loved North and South. Here's the link to the wikipedia page. Johnny Cash played abolitionist John Brown? Really? God, this thing was awesome. I remember watching the miniseries on television when Ashton was having sex with someone (Ashton had sex with everyone) in front of a roaring fire. I was like 6 or 7. As Ashton's clothes came off, I turned to my mom and said, "Why is he taking her clothes off?"
And without skipping a beat my mom said, "Because he wants to see what she looks like naked, I guess."
This made perfect sense to me. Anyway, Ashton and Layla seem to share a similar talent for canzz. Undoubtedly Ashton's canzz helped to explain how this show is still the highest rated mini-series of all times.
Rich M. writes:
SEC bylaw 10.5.1 cited.
How awesome has today been? My Florida friends are absolutely apoplectic over this. Seriously, when your head coach can say something so egregious that it causes the SEC front office, not to mention compliance officers from a rival school, to issue rapid response statements, citing conference bylaws, you've clearly won.
This could be a reach, but is it possible that Lane Kiffin could be the Spencer Pratt of SEC coaches, i.e. crazy like a fox and clearly delighting in the villainous role that he's carved out for himself?
I completely agree on the bylaw argument. I think Florida overreacted a great deal. Again, Kiffin and UT didn't complain to the conference when Spurrier accused Kiffin of making a recruiting violation on the same day he was announced as the new UT coach.
The Pratt/Kiffin angle is a great one. Does this mean Kiffin and the black Brody Jenner/Wayne Chism are going to have a falling out? Could it happen during a game? Chism throws a headband into the crowd and it hits Kiffin and the two enter into a mock-feud? I can see this happening. WWE comes to college athletics.
Better question, is there a more testosterone-laden coaching staff in college football history? It's possible the entire UT cheerleading staff is going to end up pregnant just from standing on the same sideline. (And not, as you would expect, from sleeping with wide receiver Gerald Jones.)
Hunter R. writes:
Why do Florida fans (and J. Foley included) care so much about what Kiffin said? Why the concern? If UT is what they claim . . . a back sliding program with less talent and an inexperienced head coach . . . why do they care? They've won two National Championships in three years. They had the highest per player rating of any recruiting class this year. They got their Superman back with no signs of slowing down.
Why the anger? Why let it bother you? What purpose does that serve other than to encourage the same type of baiting in the future? What's with the insecurity? As a UT fan, I didn't give a shit when Spurrier inaccurately called Kiffin out in December. Why do they care so much? Why wouldn't Foley come out and make a subtle, backhanded, self-righteous comment about Kiffin's inexperience then briefly set the record straight? Instead it sounded like whining. As if Lane had stolen Urban's milk in the lunch line.
From what I can tell, Florida fans have NO reason to be insecure. Zero. So why are they? Are they worried? Do they see some cause for concern? I'm not sure. They must or why else would the response sound like it does?
Great question. I think Florida overreacted. I really do. They made this a bigger story than it otherwise would have been. And I think the Kornheiser/Wilbon take linked above has been indicative of how most national voices have responded. I watch PTI every day. They've never said anything positive about UT football in the past five years.
Ben S. writes:
Clay,
Admit it, you're afraid that we're going to hang a hundred on you in the Swamp this year, aren't you?
No, not at all. Florida is going to be better than Tennessee next year. Just like they've been better for the past two seasons. But am I afraid of what the score is going to end up? No, I'm not.
Look, this Tennessee team wasn't a double-digit underdog to anyone last year. The defense gave up 14 touchdowns all season. The offense was just awful. I think Tennessee will win 8 games minimum next year, I really do. This is not a bad football team. There is a lot of talent. Plus, and this is key, the schedule is pretty favorable. Five of the first six are at home. I think the confidence will build and we'll be 4-2 at worst coming out of the October 10th game against Georgia in Knoxville.
But every Tennessee fan expects to lose that game at Florida. We'd expect to lose even if Bill Belichick were on the sideline for us. You've got Tebow and a great defense. We've got Crompton and a great defense. But do I think Florida will play any harder than they would have if Kiffin took the Fulmer route and never said anything at all? Nope.
In fact, Urban already ran up the score against us in 2007. He scored 59. I sat through every point in the baking sun with the entire Florida Gator student section behind me. Here's the article I wrote about that game for CBS. At least 21 of those points were in the fourth quarter after the game was long-since decided. I was more upset then by the fact that Urban disrespected us so much that he didn't call off the dogs. He had Tebow throwing deep balls into the fourth quarter. Generally you don't run up the score against someone because you fear the shoe being on the other foot some day, clearly Meyer had no fear that Fulmer would ever dominate him in a similar fashion. Urban was right.
Again, I think Kiffin has set a tone that he's not afraid of anyone. I think saying this and believing it is the first step. The next is being able to instill fear in opponents. We're not there yet, but I think we will be. It's taken a while to say it, but after yesterday (combined with the recruiting and other things I'm seeing and hearing from inside) I'm now a Kiffin guy.
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