Lane Kiffin: the gift that just keeps on giving months after a relationship has ended. Kinda like the thing that rhymes with “schmerpes”, come to think of it.
The latest brouhaha involving the current USC coach stems from his (very brief) time at Tennessee. According to ESPN.com‘s Joe Schad, and citing an unnamed source, Tennessee expects to receive a Letter of Inquiry at some point in the not-too-distant future regarding -- wait for it -- potential recruiting violations allegedly committed during Kiffin’s tenure as the Volunteers’ head coach.
It was already known that the NCAA was looking into/had looked into Vols recruiting hostesses having contact with potential recruits away from the Knoxville campus; Schad writes that “the NCAA is expected to interview other former Vols coaches, including Kiffin, about recruiting methods at Tennessee, including the timing of coaching staff contacts with high school players.”
Schad reports that, as part of the expanded probe, NCAA investigators this spring interviewed assistant coaches Lance Thompson and Jim Chaney, who are holdovers from the Kiffin “era” still on Derek Dooley‘s first staff. Additionally, Eddie Gran, a former Kiffin assistant now at Florida State, was interviewed as well.
A source told Schad that “a ton of people” had already been interviewed; among those questioned were recruits signed by Kiffin and his staff. Additional interviews are expected to take place before the NCAA officially sends its findings to the school.
UT athletic director Mike Hamilton would only say that his school has “not received a letter of inquiry and can’t comment any further at this time.”
