Back in February 2009, when he was just 33 years old and just weeks into the job as head coach at Tennessee, Lane Kiffin accused Florida of recruiting violations because, you know, when it comes to following the rules, what better authority is there than Lane Kiffin?
It turns out the accusations were all wrong, one reason then-SEC commissioner Mike Slive issued Kiffin an official reprimand and Kiffin apologized. Slive later held a closed door meeting with league coaches and sternly lectured them about publicly airing their feuds.
It was a rocky start on Rocky Top.
It all seems so quaint now.
On Tuesday, the SEC held another closed door meeting in which representatives from all 16 schools voted to essentially ban former professional players from the league.
It came in response to Kiffin, now the head coach at LSU, attempting to land at least three players who were recently cut from NFL training camps but had won temporary restraining orders from an East Baton Rouge Parish judge allowing them to play.
The vote was unanimous: 16-zip. That means even LSU (initially at least) voted against its own coach. It followed the Big Ten and others hastily making their own rules in response to Kiffin’s eve-of-season recruiting that once seemed so ridiculous that no one thought a rule was needed.
“College sports are for college athletes,” the SEC actually declared in a statement.
“Feel like I took a freakin’ gummy,” Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay said when discussing having waived-NFL rookies go back to college. McVay spoke for seemingly all of football save a few plaintiff attorneys.
Lane Kiffin v. Everyone. Always.
