My understanding with Paul is that he thought the way that Kiffin acted like a child when he was bragging about the coaches that he stole away, not the idea that he stole them away. There has also been talk about the fact that Kiffin asked Lance Thompson to recruit players to UT that he had previously recruiting to Bama. I am not in the recruiting circles but what I am hearing is that it is general courtesy to call the class that is signing on this upcoming NSD should not be recruited by Thompson.
Finally, don't be so quick to call Finebaum and Alabamian. HE lives and has lived here for a long time and has made a good living but he is a UT grad.

with the way the mountain west panned out this year, i don't think losing to wyoming should be a big deal, other than the fact that everyone else beat them

Good article. Making a big deal out of Tennessee coaches salaries is ridiculous. All together the cost of the Vols staff is fourth in the SEC. It's not like we were breaking the bank compared to everyone else. If anything, it was Bama who set the new bar. Also, I can see how some would say Kiffin was "bragging" about getting the other coaches, but from a TN fan's standpoint, he needed to make comments like that. He promised a lot when he came to Knoxville, and it's his way of saying "i'm already living up to my promises" - that's also important for recruits to see and hear, it creates excitement.
I have no idea how many games Kiffin will win. He might be a bust. But so far, I think most TN fans have a lot to be optimistic about. As far as the other coaches, I don't think they're scared as much as they are showing some frustration about having another no-holds barred competitor. Fulmer knew how to win (as long as he had some magic dust), but he was of the old guard. Kiffin's attitude seems much more like the Miles, Saban, Meyer brand than a Fulmer - and Fulmer was two things: predictable, and a pushover.
Sage: as for Finebaum, he may be a UT grad, but I can't ever recall reading anything of his that praised UT.

You left out the part that fulmer had money to throw around!!!

One big reason Terry Bowden got bounced from Auburn was due to the fact he would not embrace Auburn tradition. That from a former Auburn QB who played under him. Bowden set himself up as the new sheriff and essentially turned his back on everything before him. Wanna p$SS off alumni and writers...that's a great way to do it. Kiffin better grow up fast and do some photo opps with Fat Phil and Smokey.

damn i'm so shocked, people saying good things about ut on here, i figured yahoo sports was run by espn who all good ut fans know will go out of their way to diss ut in any sport, just because ut caught them. lying, hard to believe ESPN's experts would lie or miss-inform the publc, just because they got caught.....LYING...oh by the way what coach has won more basketball games than anyone, it it was a dean smith, bob knight, john wodden, ESPN would never keep it off the air when they hit 1000 wins. it will be a few second blurb when she does it in a week or so, just my opinion

dr. saturday:
Please, in the future, when you feel the urge to comment on anything pf utters resist that urge. nothing worthwhile comes from his show and columns because he has and will always be a shill for the bammers and it's head boy.

Good luck Lane!!! Beat em all!!! We miss you at the Bee's!!!

"There has also been talk about the fact that Kiffin asked Lance Thompson to recruit players to UT that he had previously recruiting to Bama."
Imagine that, a coach asking an assistant to recruit players to his team.

Tennesse is getting good quality coaches for the amount that they're paying them.

It doesn't matter, anyone want to bet the gators kick thier ass again this year? Players make the differance in college among the elite. The coaching is pretty much the same.

He's just mad that Kiffin's wife is hotter than his!!!!!!

Watch as your defense gets run on up the middle and third and long receivers are wide open over the middle. Monte is the most over-rated coordinator in history. He won with Sapp, Brooks, Lynch, Barber, Jackson, etc. in a lousy NFC central then struggled the last years. People know how to beat his scheme- it has not changed in years.
This is the Gerry Faust hire of the new millenium.

Was Finebaum ever "sensible?" He is a Tennessee grad.

If Kiffin is getting under Satan, Urbie, and Stevo's skin I think the majority of college football fans would agree that that is nothing but a good thing. The reason there has been so many lies, inuendo, and misrepresentation regarding all things Kiffin is obviously due to these other coaches nervousness. Lane has come in and in 6 weeks, he has hired the nation's best recruiting staff hands down and designated UT as "the" destination for those college athletes whose primary objective is to be groomed for a starting role in the NFL. He has the coaching staff in place that can coach mediocre talent to good, and great to superior. UT is on the rise again and the rest of the SEC isn't interested in the Vols becoming nationally relevant once again, where they belong. They have one of the highest winning percentages in all of NCAA, tradition that comes with 100 years of playing ball, some of the best football and weight training facilities in the country, and now, hopefully, the staff to coach up the huge amount of raw talent UT is known for bringing in every year. Fulmer was on his way to a top 10 recruiting class this year after the debacle that was last year's lackluster class but, no one has expected Lane to have as much of an impact as he has in such a short period of time. If this year's class falls out of the top 10 into the top 20, it will be due to his conscious decision to NOT LIE to his recruits about their chances to play in this program. We have watched as Kiffin personally discouraged 5 star talent from commiting to UT because he knew that with his pro-style scheme, some of the previous administration's targets were not cut for this specific mold. Thus far, he has illustrated no behavior whatsoever to indicate he is anything less than a stand up, respectable ball coach, like Phil Fulmer was. He has brought a hardline to the program, dismissing problem players regardless of skill level, he is pushing the physical training of his team to never before seen levels at this school, and he has been bright enough to make a few pokes and jabs at the SEC Alumni: Spurrier, Saban, Meyer, etc... He is doing EXACTLY what he was hired to do, reinvigorate a traditional football powerhouse in decline back into competitiveness against its peers once more. He is pretty transparent about his plans. 1) Hire the best group of recruiters and NFL quality coaches available and paying them what he has to, to get them there in the first place (meanwhile, he has taken a much lower salary himself in deference to his assistant hires). 2) Present his team as a training program for NFL bound talent. Backing this up with hiring the right assistant with the required skill sets and experience to prepare players to not only compete in the SEC but, to get to and play at the next level. 3) Go out and recruit the best of the best. DO this constantly and consistently and as long as the coaches believe in it with passion, the highest quality talent will come. 4) Get the team members into excellent, superior physical shape. No one will ever beat him due to a lack of effort or because his team wasn't properly prepared physically. 5) Every day, every minute is a competition. No one has a lockdown on any position on his team. Everyone will compete to play and regardless of age, seniority, or hype, only those that win will play. 6) Play ball. Translation of all the work and effort into on-field success. Nothing else matters in the SEC except the final score.

This is news? For goodness sakes, none of this has ever happened before. I'm perplexed.

I guess Kiffin's real sin is not bowing down to local reporter's perceptions of what a Tennessee coach should do.
There is only one issue here: Will he win? If he does, a new tradition is born. If he doesn't the reporters can write endless articles on why he never fit in....

David Reaves, one of the coaches pilfered from another school, is Kiffin's brother in law. Quite a nest of nepotism going on there in Knoxville. Reaves is a major weasel by the way, blatantly and unapologetically calling on his former South Carolina recruits and totally bad mouthing the Gamecocks in the process. In addition to being an ineffective way to recruit players, it shows a complete lack of class and is very revealing about the character of the regime about to tarnish Rocky Top.

Wow mudslinging in the SEC, a new first in sports history!

Wow, BleedOrange is quite delusional. Tnnessee is no more a powerhouse in the SEC than Georgia, Auburn, LSU or Florida, not to mention Alabama. Kiffin may or may not win, but based on what is happening in recruiting, he has taken exactly ZERO players from the relevant teams (Georgia, Florida, Alabama and LSU). Lance Thompsn was option #3 after so many others rejected Kiffin. Saban isn't going to worry about Kiffin...he will beat UT 80% of the time or more. Duping Fulmer was STUPID. No coach EVER in the SEC in the last 50 years has been successful when following a legend. Good luck, Lane...you'll need a lot of it.

I"m sorry but the coaches in the S.E.C. don't see a guy who worked for Al Davis , they see a guy who is trying to steal some of their recruits. This doesn't sit well with the big time programs in the S.E.C. because Kiffin once worked for their fear ,the guy who thry don't really want to play in January PETE CARROLL.!!

The only reason Kifflin turns off other people is because other coaches are afraid of him; he's young and energetic, and bringing his defensive genius father with him to Tenn, those coaches want to throw as many road blocks at him as possible.

mark my words UT will be a force in the SEC. other schools better quit crying about his recruiting. he's got the best recruiter in the nation in Ed O. With monte running the defense and Ed O the D line. UT is going to be USC east!

Finebaum would eat you for lunch, Hinton, and you know it.
He's a respected journalist and personality, while you're just some punk who spouts inane blogs on a word processor.