Well rumor around town today was that Lane Kiffin has accepted the job to replace Phil Fulmer as the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers. He has also decided that Ed Orgeron will replace "The Chief" John Chavis as the defensive cordinator. Athletic Director Mike Hamilton has denied any of this is anything more than pure speculation at this point.

   If the rumor is true though this could be a real coup for the Volunteer football program. They will be getting a young energetic head coach who knows how to recruit, and a defensive coordinator who also can flat out recruit. Anyone who is wondering why Ole Miss has such a good team this year should not be giving Houston Nutt all the credit all he is doing is coaching the talent that was assembled by Orgeron while he was head coach.

    The last time we saw Lane Kiffin he was leading the Oakland Raiders as the youngest head coach in the NFL. Oakland seemed to be showing improvement under Kiffin, but since his departure the Raiders may be as bad as the Lions. Kiffin's a good offensive mind as he was the guy that replaced Norm Chow when he left to be offensive coordinator of the Tennessee Titans. Kiffin was also the recruiting coordinator for the Trojans. During his three years as recruiting coordinator USC had the number one recruiting class in the country all three years. In his first season as the Offensive cordinator the high powered offense exceded everything they had done under Chow and set an NCAA record by becoming the first team with a 3000 yard passer 2 1000 yard rushers, and a 1000 yard reciever.

    Orgeron has been named recruiter of the year in college football in 2004 while at USC. When he was defensive line coach at the U he coached 8 All-Americans and was part of a coaching staff that one 2 national titles under Dennis Erikson. He also was also part of 2 national title teams at USC.

   If the rumors are true then Tennessee has the beginnings of a decent coaching staff coming in. They will have a head coach who could coach the team for many years as long as he was successful. A head coach and defensive coordinator who have both been very successful recruiters to bring in big time talent, and both have ties to the NFL with Kiffin's dad being the defensive coordinator at Tampa Bay in the NFL, and Orgeron being offensive line coach right now for the New Orleans Saints. Having ties to the NFL will get recruits to come their way that may have otherwise chosen a different school.

   The biggest area Kiffin should help out will be as a mentor to the quarterback's on the staff and would, hopefully for the Vols, bring some consistency to that position. Instead of the shinanigans that have taken place this year.

   If the rumors are true though it will also be a sad day for the Vols football team because the lone bright spot of the coaching staff, John Chavis, will no longer be on the side lines coaching on defense. Chavis had the ability to get the most out of every guy on the field during his tenure. It never mattered how undermaned the defense may have been Chavis could teach them how to play fundamentally sound defense. You also rarely heard about any defensive players getting into off the field trouble when "the chief" was lurking. If the rumors turn out to be false, however, if your a UT fan I guess you can still hang on the hope that "The Chin" Bill Cowher will take the job.