1. Tennessee still has a head coach, named Butch Jones, for at least a few more days. In the meantime, discussion about who’ll coach the Vols in 2018 is in full swing.
POLL: Pretend Tennessee’s only choices are Lane Kiffin and Jon Gruden. Which should UT hire?
Yes yes yes, we know these are unlikely hires. Let’s see who wins the poll.
2. Monday Night Football announcer Jon Gruden has turned down the Tennessee job at least three times before, as far back as 2008. You kids might not remember that he used to be a football coach. He’s back in rumors, mainly because he entered the state while on a work trip.
3. Former Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin (to put it bluntly) has since won 10 games in a season at USC, contributed to a national title as an OC, studied under Nick Saban, brought a lot of talent to FAU, and positioned the Owls for a 2017 C-USA title run! Nevermind all the other stuff. He’s back in rumors because Tennessee fans would like a new coach, and he’s — as always — encouraging stuff via Twitter.
THEREFORE:
There are really easy arguments against pursuing either.
- Gruden hasn’t been a head coach in nearly a decade, has never even been a college coordinator, hasn’t recruited a college athlete since the 1980s, and spent one year as a I-A position coach. Class of 2019 recruits were 2 years old when he won his Super Bowl. Also, he’s turned down Tennessee multiple times and recently repeated that he’d hate recruiting and dealing with the NCAA.
- After a year of angering more competent rivals and drawing NCAA attention, Kiffin dumped Tennessee in the middle of the night and raided its recruiting class, contributing plenty to the Vols’ Lost Decade-Plus. He then spent part of his time at Bama trolling the Vols. No one really knows how grown up he is now.
When we polled you on which coach Tennessee should call as soon as it cans Butch, you picked Chip Kelly. Gruden was second. I’ll never understand.
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