SEC Talk

Say one thing for Lane Kiffin, the Univ. of Tennessee’s new football coach. He sure has livened things up in Knoxville.

First, he went after the ole’ ball coach Steve Spurrier, then accused Florida’s Urban Meyer of cheating. Then he took things up a notch and insulted an entire town, Pahokee, Fla., resulting in Kiffin and his assistants being banned from recruiting there (they have all since kissed and made up).

And now he has twittered his way into a minor NCAA infraction.

Twitter is a social messaging utility that allows users to “tweet” a sentence or two about what they are doing. Additionally, it allows others to follow each other by subscribing to get updates when they are posted. Twitter has become incredibly popular in the sports world. In fact, Shaq has more than one million followers.

Coaches have latched onto the service as a way to stay in touch with recruits as well as fans. Being the dutiful blogger I am, I have subscribed to every SEC coach that twitters (and that is most of them). Lest you think there is anything exciting being posted, I assure you there isn’t. Lots of weather reports (it’s a gorgeous day here in Oxford/Tuscaloosa/Gainesville/Athens/etc.) and booster club reports (ya’ll come on out!).

Nothing exactly newsworthy coming out of those posts… that is until Lane Kiffin signed on.

As I was in my car the other day, my phone beeped. I checked and had a “tweet” from Kiffin. It said:

“It’s a beautiful day in Knoxville, Tennessee today. I was so exited to hear that J.C. Copeland committed to play for the Vols today!”

My first thought? I’ve just witnessed an NCAA violation.

You see, coaches and representatives of a university cannot comment on an athlete by name until he or she has signed the national letter of intent. Kiffin had a similar run-in last February, when he commented on prospect Bryce Brown on a radio broadcast. He had been reprimanded. So we know that he knows the rule.

Yet here he was again, commenting on a recruit.

AD Mike Hamilton immediately backtracked on behalf of his coach. He released a statement claiming that the post had been “made by a newly hired assistant to Kiffin who didn’t consult UT’s compliance office before making the post.”

Ok, that alone is troubling. What I’m hearing is that a grad assistant in his first day or two on the job was allowed to send a message that went to thousands of fans, media and recruits, in the name of the head coach.

The infraction, which Tennessee self-reported, is secondary, and no punitive action is expected. But it leaves me to wonder: with all that has occurred in Knoxville since Phillip Fulmer was unceremoniously shown the door, what’s next?

One thing is for sure… Life with Lane won’t be boring