| 18 November 2009
Lane Kiffin is young. Kiffin is brash. According to rapper Lil Wayne, Lane Kiffin talks a LOT of trash. What does anyone expect? The head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers is young and his motives are easy to understand: get the school's logo in front of the kids, make noise, win games. It really is that simple.
Kiffin stepped on several toes with his attitudes and incorrect statements ... he has learned from his mis-steps.
There are certain members of the national news media that simply do not like Lane Kiffin. While these media members are not exactly fans of Phillip Fulmer, they do not like the in-your-face brashness that Kiffin brings to the table.
One thing that these old school newspaper guys and gals need to understand:
Kiffin doesn't care about you. He is in Knoxville to win games. He does not care what you think. He does not care if you like him, love him, or hate him. It really is that simple.
When Lane Kiffin accepted the position of head football coach at the University of Tennessee, the entire fan base was in a struggle against itself. Phillip Fulmer and his staff had created fan apathy to such a degree, many UT fans agreed that the party was truly over. Lane Kiffin is essentially having to build a program from the ground up.
The national media has been waiting for the first screw-ups of the Kiffin era. That time has come. With the off-campus arrests of three UT Vol football players, the announcement of the suspension of lineman William Brimfield, and the late announcement of Nyshier Oliver's citation for shoplifting the local and national media are literally making hay with UT's misfortunes.
In the case of the local media, the rub is obvious to see: Kiffin does not play by the good old boy system as was the case under Fulmer ... no one in the local media has a true 'inside' source. Under the Fulmer administration, sources were literally everywhere, including Coach Fulmer's secretary. The sources are not available and the local media has for the most part ranted and cried like a three year-old child.
Too bad several of the media members are geting it wrong. Do not take this the wrong way, I have several friends that are key members of the national media. To their credit, they report it the way they see it ... unfortunately, for Lane Kiffin and the University of Tennessee, there are some rogue reporters that will do anything for a headline, such as this article that is found as an Associated Press filler article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
Fourth Volunteers freshman arrested
That was the headline for Nyshier Oliver's citation. True, three UT players were arrested (together) for using a pellet gun in the commission of a crime. Two of the players (Nu'Keese Richardson and Mike Edwards) were sent home, the third (Janzen Jackson) was released on his own recognizance. This indicates that the charges against Jackson may end up being dropped. Jackson was arrested, but was released on zero bail.
While this does not make up for his actions, there is a semantical difference. Nyshier Oliver was cited for shoplifting a $110 polo shirt from a Dillard's Department Store in Knoxville's West Town Mall. No arrest was made. If you want to charge someone, charge Dillard's for charging $110 for a polo shirt ... especially in this economy.
Maybe this nameless AP reporter Retorter simply made a mistake. Maybe not. One thing is for sure, there is a section of the national (Southern) media that do not like Lane Kiffin. In fact, Kiffin appears to be their number one enemy. Guess what? Kiffin could care less. While the MSM continues to push drivel against particular teams, the fans will take notice ... not of the violations, but the yellow journalistic efforts.
Not all of the sports journalists out there hack a story from a mole hill into a mountain. AL.com's Mike Herndon has a unique take on the entire situation and for the most part "gets it".
The funny thing about the entire debacle is easy to understand if you know anything about the SEC: players get arrested all around the conference. Heck, we quit counting the Florida Gators arrests when it hit the twenties ... winning BCS titles will do that for a program. At the same time, Kiffin and his staff could have handled the trio of arrests more efficiently.
If Lane Kiffin had taken a note from the Urban Meyer media playbook, once this story originally hit the news wire, Kiffin should have been burning the midnight oil to get the story off of the front page of the paper. When a Florida player is arrested, an action is taken and the team moves on. It took Kiffin four and a half days to boot two players from the team. The next time a UT football player is arrested, I am sure we will see Kiffin acting faster.
Tony Adams and Darrell Owenby collaborated on this article. If you see any mistakes, blame Tony.
