John Brice for Volquest.com reporting to Jim Wogan of WATE TV 6 Knoxville that now-former assistant University of Tennessee coach Ed Orgeron was on the phone with current Tennessee recruits and early committals at the same time Lane Kiffin was at the podium announcing his resignation from Tennessee.
This interview is a real eye opener because it accuses Kiffin and Ed Orgeron of even telling early commits who were even on the UT campus ready to enroll the next day that they had a scholarship waiting for them at USC. Only last week I mentioned that we all like the sausage. Well this is a report shows how the sausage was being made last night in Knoxville.
This is Bill Plashcke of the LA Times reaction:
What was Mike Garrett thinking?
Other than, why not hire a 34-year-old former Trojans errand boy who won't challenge my power or ego?
I mentioned about 86 names of potential candidates in my Tuesday column, but I purposely did not mention Kiffin even though I covered him and liked him during his six seasons here on Pete Carroll's staff.
Chris Dufrense of the LA Times asks if Lane Kiffin comes at an infraction of the cost?
Pardon us for not considering that a program on the brink of probation would hire a guy who spent his one and lonely 7-6 year at Tennessee getting his hand slapped by the SEC schoolmarm for his brazen disregard for the minor details of a governing body's operating manual.
Mark Whicker of the Orange County Register says Kiffin was not the best choice.
If Garrett wanted somebody to give Rick Neuheisel a Wet Willie or to flatten the tires on Harbaugh's Stanford bus, this was a worthy hire. If he wanted a grown-up football coach who can excavate USC from its current rut, he had miles of avenues to explore, and yet he wound up with Kiffin...The first thing Kiffin should do with his salary is buy a fake mustache in case he ever needs to go within 100 miles of Knoxville again.
Vincent Bonsignore of the LA Daily News says Kiffin's hire smacks of desperation.
If Mike Garrett is going to entrust the USC football program to a young, inexperienced coach with a penchant for saying dumb things and not having command of the NCAA rule book, at least he understood the importance of insisting Lane Kiffin surround himself with a veteran coaching staff.