Quote Originally Posted by dkbaseball View Post
I'm having a hard time seeing the case for Kiffin. Five and fifteen with the Raiders, just a kid, really, in his early 30s, with little or no (?) experience in the college game. Despite the media frame, I came away from the set-to with Davis thinking that a little more truth was coming out of Davis. In any case, it appears that Kiffin didn't want to draft JaMarcus Russell, who is, IMO, a phenomenal prospect, probably because he wanted a someone more ready right away to play. Ties in with the Davis theory that everything Kiffin did was to cover his own butt, rather than take a long-term view of the Raiders' success.

Gruden, OTOH, would be a real coup for the Vols, if he was interested enough to get involved with recruiting.
I guess it's a matter of how you see the whole Raiders situation. I think you believe more of what Davis says and I probably believe more of what Kiffin says. It probably doesn't help that I view Davis as a demented old man who looks like an idiot dressed up like Evil Knievel.

Kiffin can say that he was the coordinator of one of the best offenses in the history of college football with USC in 2005 - granted he was dealing with the dream team of offensive skills with Leinart, Bush, White, Dwayne Jarrett, Steve Smith, Fred Davis, etc. Regardless of your opinion of USC, Carroll is near the top of the college coaching world right now and you'd have to think that Kiffin would have learned a few things from being under him. I think Tennessee fans will be looking for a young coach to bring some energy and excitement to the program, and to help out recruiting in a big way. However, I agree that Gruden would be a huge hire if he was interested in moving to Rocky Top. I guess that would then make the Ole' Ball Coach the 4th best coach in his own division of the conference? Wait, maybe 5th behind the Vandy coach.