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Pitt won the Backyard Brawl 19-15 over West Virginia. Good win for Wannstedt.

Good to see it's now on ESPN.

I'd like to see Trooper back, it's no coincidence that each unit he coached improved as soon as he took over. I do worry about his playcalling ability, though, since he's never done it. Surely with those three all possibilities we'll be able to land one of them. I'm not sure how I feel about Orgeron as a defensive coordinator, though. His absolutely horrid stint at Ole Miss worries the heck out of me.

Funny thing is, Kiffin is one of the biggest retreads Mike Hamilton was looking at. He and Butch Davis are the only coaches in the running who have been fired from somewhere. Mike Leach and Brian Kelly are both up and comers. Just thought that was kinda funny. Thanks for the input. It's good to hear opinions on Kiffin from USC, the fanbase who would know the most about him.

it's my understanding that Orgeron would coach the DLine (no longer separate coaches for DE's and DT's) and would serve as recruiting coordinator. He's already reportedly been doing research on current commits, current players, and the state of Tennessee as a whole. He would be BIG in Memphis. The latest on Trooper Taylor is that he's been contacted for an offensive staff position- presumably OC and most likely RB's. That would make the Offensive staff Trooper Taylor (who will share playcalling with Kiffin, undoubtedly), David Reaves (QB's), Latrell Scott (WR's... and maybe TE's) and an unnamed OL coach. Defensively (and this is all just conjecture at this point), I'm hearing/guessing Kiffin as DC and LB coach, Orgeron at DLine (and recruiting coordinator), and an unnamed DB's coach, though I have heard Joe Whitt Jr, who is another outstanding recruiter. That leaves room for a Special Teams coach on the staff, which Fulmer would never do. I have heard no names or even speculation that this might happen, but if it were to, Shane Beamer would be the unanimous choice amongst UT fans. We will know something by Tuesday. Very interesting. I like the looks of most of that staff. Any idea why Orgeron would leave an NFL gig (albeit small) to take a position coach job at the collegiate level? Either way, that staff can most definitely recruit very well and that's incredibly important at Tennessee. Is it Tuesday that we should know whether UT offered and Kiffin accepted or do you think we'll know earlier and he'll assemble his staff quickly? Thanks for the info.

I'm starting LenDale, Chris Johnson, the Titan D and Rob Bironas. I'm up 62-0 already. :D

Don't worry. You could try to avoid running up the score and still accidently score against the Detroit Lions. Exactly what I'm worried about. :-))

As a Titan fan, I feel a little bit bad right now. Pretty soon, we're going to be running up the score. But I don't think it'll be intentional . . . Detroit's amazingly bad.

I feel fairly confident right now saying that the Titans are going to win this one. 21-3 over the Lions and we have more than 110 rushing yards, in the first quarter. And Dave Ball (DE) just ran an interception on a screen pass back for a TD.

Yeah. It wouldn't surprise me if Kiffin was trying to get fired his last couple weeks, but that's only because he knew he was going to be fired at some point anyway, with the end of the season being the latest. Al Davis wanted Kiffin to quit so Davis wouldn't have to pay the rest of the contract but Kiffin refused to quit. That whole situation is all on Davis because he's completely crazy and I don't blame Kiffin at all for what he supposedly did. He was a lame duck coach who wasn't going to be there next year regardless of how the team performed because Davis hated him. As far as his coaching ability, it's tough to tell because he only had a year and a half and he was stuck with such a pathetic offense. Last year he was stuck with Daunte Culpepper and Josh McCown as his QB's because Davis refused to pay Russell so Russell missed all of camp. The receivers have sucked for the past couple years. The O-Line is amazingly bad as well. No coach could possibly turn that group into even a decent offense. Basically what I figured, thanks.

Okay, here is what I am hearing. Kiffin is a done deal. Monte is believed to be on his staff (this is HUGE). Orgeron is rumored to be on the staff, as well, though there are rumors that O is being considered for the expected opening at DC for LSU (as is John Chavis, who is also rumored to be in the mix at Arkansas). David Reaves (current QB coach at South Carolina and Lane's brother in law) is on the offensive staff (presumably as QB coach), and I'm hearing that maybe two current coaches (Scott and Drayton) are being retained. TIFWIW. We'll know Tuesday at the latest. The source has been dead-on accurate regarding player dismissals and coaching moves in the past, and has strong ties to Trooper Taylor, who *might* be in the mix on this staff as well. What I like about this staff is that it keeps the recruiting class mostly intact. Oku will recommit, as will Giles. I think Marlon Brown signs at UT with that staff in place, and I like our chances at keeping Boyd. Defensively, you'd have to be out of your mind to not want to play for Monte Kiffin, so I think that a couple of guys who've been wavering, and have even decommitted might reconsider. Interesting, thanks. Any idea who the offensive coordinator is? And what role would Orgeron play? I would assume recruiting coordinator, but would he leave the NFL for that and perhaps a D-line position? And keeping the recruits here is the lone positive Kiffin brings over Leach, in my opinion. Had we hired Leach, Oku would be gone, Giles would likely be gone and Boyd would be highly in doubt. That said, I keep thinking we're hiring Kiffin for the staff and recruits when we should be hiring a coach for the merits of the coach directly (which makes me go back to Leach).

Last few yrs Tennessee, or should I say Phil Fulmer constantly lost some of it best talent to conference rivals. Need proof look at Alabama. One of their stud LBers, Don'ta Hightower and two other top 10 prospects in the state for 2008 ended up at Alabama. Hightower, Jordan, and Barrett Jones would have tremendously help Tenn this yr. Last yr Tennessee signed 4 of the state's Top 20 prospects. That's bad. Not to mention Tenn only has 2 of the Top 25 state prospects commited to them this yr. So yeah Tenn does have talent, they just can't keep them in state. Which will be Lane Kiffin's #1 job. And even when Fulmer struggled to pull in top-end instate talent, he still managed top 5-10 recruiting classes fairly consistently. It can be done at Tennessee, it's just much more difficult than a Fla, Georgia or Bama. No I am not joking. The SECCG should not split the headlines with Tennessee's HC search. So either announce it immediately after the game on Saturday, or wait till after the SECCG. The world will not, and should not, stop turning during SEC Championship week. Tennessee was in it last year and I couldn't have cared less that Michigan was trying to pull in Les Miles from LSU. Teams should do what's in their best interest, not the best interest of CBS. First: Unlike alot of Bammers, I do not "hate" Tennessee, I "hate" Phillip Fulmer. Alabama was going to get caught with those violations, Fulmer didn't have to be a snitch. Not to mention I didn't like how he backstabbed Johnny Majors for the UT job. Second: As anyone who have read my posts in the college football threads already know, I am a Alabama first, then a SEC diehard. I want the best in the conference. I don't see how Lane Kiffin is considered a "great" option. Besides I want Tennessee/Alabama game to matter, which means better coaching from Tennessee would be appreciated. I know, I was just messing with you.

Pretty much my take on Leach. He's a great coach who had a built-in ceiling on his recruiting upside. The best any coach could do there is take the castoffs from Texas, OU, LSU and, to some extent, TAMU. The fact that he took those castoffs and beat the big guys every once in a while, had an extremely successful offense and had such a great year this season tells me he's a heck of a great coach.

I don't think he's that qualified, I wasn't very impressed of him when he was at USC (ask SpongeWorthy but I feel like a lot of USC fans haven't liked the OCs who followed Norm Chow). I also think RedFlash is off in blaming Kiffin so much for the Oakland mess...I'm judging this based on what I've read from Raiders beat writers in LA and the Bay area. I've heard alot that he's unqualified, and considering Hamilton had Leach "very interested" in the job and Brian Kelly on the list as well, I kinda wonder why he settled on Kiffin. I'm hoping, much like the Bruce Pearl pick, he knows what he's doing.

Raisin, as a west coaster, I suspect you've seen quite a bit of Kiffin while USC was beating up on UCLA ( :wink: ). I know you think this is too big of a risk for UT, but what do you think about Kiffin in general? And if soccer10k is out there, what are your feelings from Kiffin's short tenure in Oakland. I know you hate Al Davis, but how much can be laid upon Kiffin in that situation?

No offense dew, but Leach would have been horrible for Tennessee. Tennessee doesn't have the talent and a yearly basis to run Leach's type offense and the rumor is Leach isn't a strong recruiter. Leach, imo, would have been run out of the SEC in less then 4 years. Sure we have the talent. We've had "down years" the past four years, according to popular perception, and still pulled in two recruiting classes in the top 10 and had the seventh-best class this year before Fulmer was fired. If Leach can contend off and on at Tech and occassionally beat OU and Texas, he can win at Tennessee at a high level. I can understand that reasoning, but the word around the grapevine is that Monte is likely to stay with Tampa Bay. Would it surprise me if Monte does head to Tennessee with his son? No, but at this point he is more likely to stay with TB then go to Tennessee. I can definitely see that. I really hope Monte comes with Lane, but it'd be alot to ask of him to leave a cushy job in the NFL. Personally I think it would be stupid to wait till Monday to announce Kiffin as HC as that week should be dedicated to the UA/Fla SECCG. If I had my way Tennessee would have to wait till AFTER the SECCG before they could announce the decision. Barring that, having them announced on Saturday is prolly in the best interests of both the school and the conference. I hope you're joking, because UT not being allowed to announce a hiring before a championship game they're not involved in is pretty silly. That said, I'll be surprised if a hire is not announced next week - whoever it is. I actually paralleled the Kiffin signing to that of Alabama signing Mike Shula. The difference: Kiffin has slightly more experience then Shula. Otherwise this will be a tough sign given the lack of success Kiffin has had as a HC and about to take a job in arguably the toughest conference in America. So this is a tremendous risk. If he doesn't work it then he set the school/football program back four years. I can see the comparison, but think Kiffin is coming in a bit more prepared. Kiffin has had experience as a head coach in the NFL and learned under Pete Carroll - overrated, but still a pretty darn good coach. Al Davis is old and senile but he wasn't the only problem in Oakland. Kiffin's professionalism was questioned regardless of his public persona. In some ways Kiffin stilled acted like an immature child when he was coach of an NFL team. Just look at Kiffin trying to get himself fired near the end of his tenure. You could tell those last few weeks he was daring Al Davis to fire him. I understand that Davis is hard to work for, but you still owed it to the franchise and the league to act llike a professional. It is an extremely high risk, but I wish Tennessee would have landed a more experience and better coach. A Bama fan rooting for Tennessee to hire a good coach? Interesting. :D I followed that saga pretty closely when Kiffin left. Davis had already mistreated him so badly I don't blame him for wanting out - I would have too. And of course he was daring Davis to fire him, Al was threatening to for months before that. Al Davis sent him a form resignation letter for him to sign, I believe, what would you have done?

Yeah, I don't hold his Raider tenure against him in any way. And it's good to know he was the recruiting coordinator at USC, I knew he was the co-offensive coordinator but didn't realize that. I've actually seen some rumors that Kelly would be a major candidate if Notre Dame fires Charlie Weiss this offseason. No idea about the truthiness of that, though.

I tend to agree. Kiffin could be a great hire, or he could be awful. You can say that about pretty much any of them except Leach, IMO. Leach and Butch Davis. Has Davis been mentioned? If he has, then I would put him in there with Leach as well. Davis was Tennessee's first choice from the time the announcement was made that Fulmer wouldn't be back. After the first week or so he said he was staying at UNC, but he was definitely a candidate early on. And there were the ever beloved "sources" that kept saying not to discount him.

I tend to agree. Kiffin could be a great hire, or he could be awful. You can say that about pretty much any of them except Leach, IMO. Leach and Butch Davis.

Monte Kiffin going to Tennessee rumor came be dubunked. I doubt Monte will be at Tennessee but Oregron is expected to be part of the staff. As for Kiffin, apparently he could be officially named the HC AFTER the Kentucky game. The only reason I think it's realistic that Monte would follow Lane is because the dad wants to see the son succeed - and what better way than having a great D-coordinator from day 1? I agree that he's the least likely piece of the coaching staff to follow, though. And even if these reports are true that the job has been offered, you're right that an official announcement won't come until after Saturday. Monday's the earliest I think anything would come out officially. Definitely a big risk. I wanted Mike Leach, no doubt about that, but Kiffin is an interesting hire. He's young, so he could be a longterm solution. But he's inexperienced, so he could be more hype than substance. I wouldn't hold much against him in Oakland. That was a situation where Al Davis was going to fire him, it was just a matter of when. Kiffin was in a no-win situation nearly from the time he took the job. Working for Al Davis cannot be compared to any other job out there.

Now the Knoxville News-Sentinel is debunking that he's been offered the job. I tend to believe the initial report, though. Jimmy Hyams (where the first report is coming from) is usually extremely reliable and the Sentinel report is coming from AD Mike Hamilton - what would you expect him to say? Hamilton almost has to refute it because he doesn't want official word out until after Fulmer's gone, though.

I tend to agree. Kiffin could be a great hire, or he could be awful.

Yea, I was hearing that he was the most likely guy for the past few weeks. The primary candidates from the start were Leach, Kiffin, Kelly, Jon Gruden and Butch Davis.

That'd be a great choice, IMO. I wanted UK to go after him when he was the QB coach at USC and it looked like Brooks was on the outs. I've heard opinions ranging from awesome move to way too big of a risk. It does bother me that he's never been a collegiate head coach and it's debatable how much power he actually had in Oakland. He did a good coaching job there, though.

Ought to be a win for the Titans this week. After the shellacking the Jets handed us last week, it's important that we now beat the bad teams in front of us (Lions, Texans, Browns) before taking on the Steelers and Colts. I want that #1 seed.