Lane Kiffin Cited by NCAA for Transgressions at Tennessee

As first reported on National Signing Day, Lane Kiffin has been cited for failure to promote an atmosphere of compliance, failure to monitor and impermissible recruiting activities stemming from his brief tenure at the University of Tennessee. UT also received a copy of the notice of allegations. In addition to the 2 violations regarding the football program, Bruce Pearl’s basketball program was cited for 9 violations.

From the Daily Trojan:

"According to a 26-page document released by Tennessee, Kiffin and his then-Volunteer coaching staff failed “to promote an atmosphere for compliance within the football program and [failed] to monitor the activities regarding compliance of several assistant football coaches.” One of those coaches might be current USC recruiting coordinator Ed Orgeron. From Jan. 3 through Jan. 9 2010, Kiffin and his staff made impermissible telephone contact with five recruits – a total of 16 calls spanning 47 minutes. Additionally, Kiffin allowed a recruiting intern, Steve Rubio, to accompany him on a recruiting trip to St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., despite forewarning from the school’s football operations department. On that trip, Rubio allegedly made “in-person, off-campus contact with high school administrators,” which, as an intern and a non-authorized off-campus recruiter, is a violation of NCAA rules. “This trip and these contacts occurred after David Blackburn, the institution’s director of football operations, informed both Kiffin and Rubio on or about October 10, 2009, that Rubio was not permitted to enter a high school’s property while accompanying a football coach on a recruiting trip,” said the NCAA. In spite of the allegations, Haden’s support of Kiffin has not wavered in the slightest. “Since his return to USC last year as our head football coach, Lane has been vigilant in making sure he and the football program follow the NCAA’s rules and compete the right way,” Haden said. “Lane has my support as our head football coach.”"

Kiffin and Tennessee have 90 days to respond to these allegations.

Punishments toward Kiffin could include a ban from off-campus recruiting for an entire year. While at the University of Washington, current UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel was given that penalty for recruiting violations while at the University of Colorado.

The Committee on Infractions needs to be fair in the proceedings. Tennessee alleges that they told Kiffin not to take Rubio, but the Volunteers have an incentive to lie. It is no secret that they hate Lane Kiffin, and they would likely take any chance they get to build up the case against Kiffin while trying to protect themselves.

The most perplexing aspect of this story is how angry Tennessee fans continue to be at Lane Kiffin. I continue to see comments on websites about how he is a loser and a scum bag and a plethora of other names. Volunteer fans have been so caught up in spewing hate across the country at a guy who left to take a better job that they have lost sight of the clown coaching their basketball team. Bruce Pearl apologized for lying to the NCAA about cheating and then preceded to commit a violation four days later. Obviously, Pearl hasn’t learned his lesson and fans should be much more embarrassed that a liar is coaching one of their current teams while Kiffin is not even associated with the Tennessee program anymore. If Kiffin is a low-character guy, then Pearl is a no-character guy.