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Tennessee Vols Fans Should Just Embrace Lane Kiffin

By Zach Ragan

ATLANTA - DECEMBER 31: Coach Lane Kiffin of the Tennessee Volunteers watches pre-game warmups before the Chick-Fil-A Bowl against the Virginia Tech Hokies at the Georgia Dome on December 31, 2009 in Atlanta, Georgia. The Hokies beat the Volunteers 37-14. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images)
ATLANTA - DECEMBER 31: Coach Lane Kiffin of the Tennessee Volunteers watches pre-game warmups before the Chick-Fil-A Bowl against the Virginia Tech Hokies at the Georgia Dome on December 31, 2009 in Atlanta, Georgia. The Hokies beat the Volunteers 37-14. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images) /
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Former Tennessee Vols coach Lane Kiffin is owning social media at the moment.

For the most part, fans of the Tennessee Vols have let go of their disdain for Lane Kiffin.

But I think it’s time for not only all of the hate to end, but for Vol fans to actually embrace Kiffin.

At this point, I don’t see how anyone can be upset at Kiffin’s departure from Tennessee.

Disappointed? Absolutely.

But mad? Nah, no way.

Look, 2009 was a fun year to be a Tennessee fan. I know the final win/loss record wasn’t that great, but the Vols had swagger in 2009. They nearly beat one of the best Alabama teams of all time.

And that was all thanks to Kiffin. So it’s understandable that fans were disappointed when he left. It was even more understandable after the Vols were stuck with Derek Dooley.

(In fact, Vol fans should be way more mad at Dooley for hiring Sal Sunseri to lead the UT defense in 2012 than they are at Kiffin.)

But Kiffin left for his dream job at USC. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Wouldn’t Tennessee fans want a former coach/player to do the same for the Vols?

Kiffin obviously has a great football mind, and he’s had a somewhat bizarre career. There’s no doubt he’s made his fair share of mistakes, but he was quite young when he was tasked to lead the Oakland Raiders. And he was still quite young when he became the Vols’ head coach in late 2008.

It’s clear that Kiffin has learned from his mistakes. He’s obviously matured, and he’s now able to poke fun at some of the crazy things that have happened to him in his career (such as comparing his departure from USC to Reince Priebus’ abrupt departure from the White House).

And it’s also clear that Kiffin still has strong, positive feelings for Tennessee.

Look at his recent hire of former Vol Montario Hardesty, and subsequent tweet, for example.

I mean, come on you can’t hate Kiffin when he’s out there tweeting “Vol 4 life”.

Kiffin has charisma, he’s incredibly self aware, and he’s a pretty good football coach.

And he provided Tennessee fans with one hell of a fun ride in 2009 (even if some of it was a bit crazy).

I’m not saying fans should give Kiffin the #VFL designation……but, well hell why not?

Kiffin is certainly more of a #VFL than Antonio Brown or JJ Watt, if you know what I mean (insert winky face here).

Besides, college football is all about good fun, right?

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