WWE wrestler Kane reports Les Miles is interested in the Tennessee head coaching job

Glenn Jacobs is a mayoral candidate in Knox County, Tenn. He’s also a professional wrestler in the WWE, who dresses up like a big red demon and is The Undertaker’s burned-alive brother. And now, he’s a purveyor of Tennessee coaching rumors.

To recap: Professional wrestler Kane, who is also candidate for Knox County mayor Glenn Jacobs, is reporting that ex-LSU coach Les Miles is “extremely interested” in taking over the woebegone football program at the state’s flagship university.

Here is Jacobs at work in his capacity as Kane:

The Vols are reportedly trying to hire NC State’s Dave Doeren. This comes after they tried to hire Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano but backed out of a deal after unprecedented fan backlash. The fervor about Schiano was partially about him being a retread coach and bad fit. It was also partially about his time at Penn State in the 1990s, and about the Jerry Sandusky scandal that unfolded there:

The allegation came from a former Penn State assistant, Mike McQueary, who became a coach at the school almost a decade after Schiano left and who said he heard another coach, Tom Bradley, say Schiano claimed to have seen abuse. McQueary was under oath at the time, though if you take his word as fact, you only advance to the question of whether Bradley was telling the truth. The allegation wasn’t pursued, and Bradley and Schiano denied it.

When Schiano was almost hired at UT, local politicians including Jacobs made their displeasure known. That’s highly unusual in a coaching search, but it happened here.

The upshot of all of this is that the Vols’ coaching search is such a huge deal in Tennessee, and is bringing out such strong opinions, that local politicians feel a need to get involved and have public stances on it. Jacobs has been near the forefront of that.