KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — During the madness of Tennessee’s football coaching search, seemingly every name involved in college football was thrown out there in connection with the opening.
Mullen! Cutcliffe! Brohm! Leach! I swear I saw a message board posting asking if Knute Rockne owned any land in east Tennessee.
One of the more popular possibilities among some Tennessee fans was for the return of Lane Kiffin. Nearly eight years after students set fire to a mattress to protest Kiffin’s leaving for the USC job, some fans were chanting his name at a Vols basketball game. Pleas for Tennessee to re-hire Kiffin were even painted on The Rock.