It’s been so long since I posted I almost feel like I will be off my game. Oh well, let’s see how you like this.
The NFL and college football coaching carousel is in full swing this year. There aren’t as many NFL firings as the Great Purge of 2008 but there were a few open jobs: Seattle, Washington, and Buffalo plus possibly Oakland and Jacksonville. Washington has been filled by Mike(can’t win without Elway) Shanahan and Seattle has been filled by Pete(so long USC)Carroll.
Which brings me to my main point. The players in the NFL are professionals who are well paid for their services. The coaching changes and things being in flux is part of the business. It should be expected and people shouldn’t really feel bad for the players. Who I do feel bad for is the college players of today. With the NCAA being run more like a corporation more and more, college players(especially in basketball and football) are treated as commodities, not as student-athletes. It’s sad and disappointing.
Which brings me to Lane Kiffin. This guy symbolizes all that is wrong with college football when it comes to coaches. After working for Tennessee for barely a year he bolted as soon as the more prestigious USC job open when Pete Carroll left. He said it was the only job he would have left Tennessee for. I have a difficult time believing that. He seems more like an opportunist than a college football head coach. All he wants is a chance to further his college coaching career(which to be perfectly honest is limited to a 7-6 record with Tennessee). Sure, he can be credited with some recruiting success while he was an assistant at USC. But those aren’t his victories, they’re Carroll’s.
What really gets me angry is how he left the Tennessee football players hanging. Last year when he was hired he made great exclamations of how he was going to restore Tennessee to the top of college football. He then got into a verbal sparring match with Urban Meyer. While he was doing that he made several minor NCAA infractions having to do with recruiting. Now he left the players. The players he recruiting and thought he was going to be there for years. They are kids, 18-22 year old kids. So now their first introduction into adulthood is someone who straight up lied to them. That is pathetic.
My point is that he is changing lives by his actions and just his own. His former players at Tennessee whom he made promises to are now probably sort of lost. If I were them, I would honor my commitment to Tennessee. Then I would get on the field and work as I could to kick the shit out of USC . Hopefully they will get a coach who stays for longer than year. The kids deserve better than this. They deserve someone who is a man and a real coach who will mentor them and make them better people, not just better football players. I hope they hire Tony Dungy.
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