Vols' AD backs Kiffin's actionsKNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Lane Kiffin has done just what his new boss at Tennessee wanted him to do: Put the Volunteers back in the national spotlight.And while the new coach has ruffled some feathers with his bold moves and brash comments, athletic director Mike Hamilton told The Associated Press Thursday that Kiffin's statements have been "misunderstood." "Everybody says, 'Does he really understand what he's doing or saying?' Yeah, he does," said Hamilton. "He might have been shocked initially or surprised initially at the attention that anything he says will get."Kiffin was forced to apologize to Florida and drew a reprimand from the Southeastern Conference in February after joking that Gators coach Urban Meyer broke rules in recruiting Nu'Keese Richardson, an eventual Vols signee."I have found him to be different from the media persona that was painted of him, stemming from those original February comments," Hamilton said. "He's not as cavalier as the media painted him to be."Instead, Hamilton sees a football coach that is bright, focused on team goals and doing a good job.And most importantly, Hamilton says, "He has gotten Tennessee back on the map.""When you think about the fact that our football program was 5-7 last year, and we've got a coach that's not coached a game yet in college football, but yet, we're on the front page of USA Today sports [Tuesday] ... it's really quite amazing," he said."Now we prefer that attention to always be positive, but sometimes you take the good with the bad in that regard. I feel like for the most part it's been good."The attention has paid off with recruiting. Kiffin has landed a top 10 recruiting class for his first season, including running back Bryce Brown, the nation's top-rated prospect.Hamilton said he's also pleased with how the 34-year-old coach put together his staff of assistants -- which features father Monte Kiffin as has defensive coordinator -- and has handled discipline and encouraged classroom attendance.Kiffin was back in the spotlight on Wednesday when Tennessee confirmed it would self-report a secondary violation of NCAA recruiting rules after a comment about a recruit was posted to coach Lane Kiffin's Facebook and Twitter accounts.Hamilton said it was an inadvertent mistake made by a newly hired staff assistant who posted the note which read: "I was so excited to hear that J.C. Copeland committed to play for the Vols today!"It's the fourth minor violation by the Vols since Kiffin was introduced as head coach in December.Hamilton said the school hasn't reported an unusual amount of secondary violations this season -- it's just that the ones being reported are receiving a lot more attention because of Kiffin's high profile.Kiffin has also spent some time recently trying to smooth over relationships with officials at Pahokee High School in Pahokee, Fla., a place where he and coaches have been recruiting.In February, he suggested school officials might try to interfere with Richardson's efforts to sign with Tennessee. Kiffin apologized to various school and community leaders, and just this week running backs coach Eddie Gran was allowed to attend a Pahokee practice.The back-and-forth spurred criticism for both Kiffin and Pahokee officials on blog posts and Internet message boards.Still, Hamilton isn't too worried about the fallout."Have you heard some of the things our basketball coach has said," he joked, referring to the animated Bruce Pearl. "Some of the things Bruce says sometimes are much more cavalier, but because the attention Lane garnered early on for some reason the media seems to be more focused on that. And that's OK."
(1) In private meetings, 1 of which I attended, Mike Hamilton admitted that the basic accusations of the Super Bowl party were true. (2) Coaches have equipment managers ice beer down for their consumption in the public areas of the complex after practice. Remember: 1 of the coaches has a DUI, 1 is an admitted alcoholic/addict and another is the son of a convicted drug dealer. (3) Cutting walk-ons after they paid their fees for the spring semester - and couldn't get a refund and attend another school. (4) One of the coaches is regularly seen at an apartment of a known Knoxville drug dealer. (5) The secretaries who were described as "not being able to keep up" in January provoked Lane and Assistant head Coach Ed Orgeron because they were not comfortable hearing the words g***amn and m*f***er every 30 seconds. (6) Lane uses the student managers (driving UT vehicles) as his own personal designated driver service. Before Layla got to Knoxville, he often used this service to get him to his favorite watering holes. Someone should ask Lane where he spent the evening after the lettermen's party at Ray Hand's house - after leaving OCI with the daughter of ... (out of respect for the father of this girl, I won't finish the sentence.) (7) Kiffin had to be reprimanded by Hamilton for drinking with college students at Hannah's and OCI. (Again, before Layla came to town.) (8) Assistant Head Coach Ed Orgeron has instructed staff members that he doesn't give a darn about their families. They should get somebody to raise their children for them, because their life belongs to him. (9) Throughout the spring, world's oldest GA Mitch Browning didn't review install packages with his players. He would give them pages from a playbook, accompanied with "I don't know why we're doing this; it's stupid and won't work." It really installed confidence in the players. (10) After his first week on the job, Eddie Gran described the personal lives and habits of his new co-workers to a friend still on the support staff at Auburn "one thing I can tell you about the guys I work with: haven't any of them found the Lord." (11) The physicians are no longer the final decision-maker of the health care of the student athlete. If a doctor says that a player should be held out of contact or certain types of activities, the coaching staff regularly overrules these decisions. I know that Mark Smith and Assistant Head Coach Ed Orgeron have butted heads over this many times. Athletic trainer Jason McVeigh has been threatened with his job if he objects to Orgeron's medical decisions.
What is the deal about the Super Bowl party?
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