I think we can all agree that the comparison of similarities between Tennessee’s head coach Lane Kiffin and Auburn’s head coach Gene Chizik can thankfully, finally be put to an end. Apparently Chizik has a couple of things that Kiffin does not. Can you guess? A working offense? Yes, that and dignity.
The 34-year-old Tennessee coach (also my age, which weirds me out quite a bit) is starting to look like the Big Orange’s answer to Mike Shula. Except younger and maybe a bit more naive. Definitely a brasher version.
Take, for example, Kiffin’s change from a black windbreaker to an white-and-orange windbreaker at halftime. As my friend, TWER photographer and sometimes contributor Ike Blake said in the second half of the game that we attended, “Kiffin’s made more wardrobe changes than Erin Andrews so far!”
Another example? The Eric Berry 4 Heisman campaign. The effort looks like a massive amount of money is being thrown its way. All for naught.
The Eric Berry video (rap? leaking barrel of radioactive waste?) that was shown on the big screen at Neyland Stadium before this past weekend’s game was embarrassingly bad.
Renaldo Woolridge a.k.a. Swiperboy is guilty of the half-ass rap about “Eric Berrrryyyyyy/he’s very scary.” Ugh. The same dancers in the video took to the football field to move/hemorrhage to the “beats.” It was finally over after what seemed like a lifetime. No one clapped. Awkward murmurs. Everyone in the stands (Tiger and Vol) looked at each other like “What in the hell was that?!?!”
I was embarrassed for the Vols. I’m not kidding. I had that “just watched Larry David screw himself over” feeling in the pit of my stomach. I was less embarrassed for UT when I saw this video of Bruce “BP” Pearl, his jacket and his crew:
[Another friend attending the game with me, Thomas “Big Sexy” Jones, had this thought on Berry: “I respectfully submit that if there is an award for the hardest hitter when the recipient of said hit is extended in the air for a pass or otherwise looking the other way, then Eric Berry is some kind of killer. Give him the ‘Blindside Heisman.’ But if it comes down to trying to tackle Big Ben Tate or Mario Fannin when they’re actually looking bearing down on him, well then I volunteer that he is a tangerine-colored snowflake pansy.”]
But I think the wardrobe change and the Berry video and Heisman campaign offers us a glimpse into some larger occurrence that is unfolding at the University of Tennessee: an unfortunate slide toward style over substance.
Style over substance is not happening on the Plains (so far). And thank God for that!
Our Tigers are made of meat-and-potatoes substance.
Oh sure. Tiger haters out there hiding in the interwebs like to point to high profile Trooper Taylor waving his towel over his head, wearing his hat backward and chest bumping the players. They ridicule this summer’s well documented and celebrated Tiger Prowl and Big Cat Weekend. But folks, we are seeing the fruits of an off season where these coaches excelled at looking at new ideas and strengths and weaknesses on the team. The coaches and players MUST HAVE WORKED THEIR BUTTS OFF.
5-0? That is real. Even though I’m still having a hard time wrapping my brain around it.
There is a buzz surrounding our Auburn Tigers and it isn’t manufactured. Real. It is all real.
But I think we can also look to our fellow SEC school in the East and see what could have been … like an alternate Tiger Universe of Nightmares.
Think about how close our Auburn came to taking that first misstep by grabbing a wrong coach and football philosophy. What if all our worst fears in the off season were now manifest … if Chris Todd or Kodi Burns turned out to be a Crompton in burnt orange … if The Other World Coach had his Auburn Tigers sitting at 2-3 right now … if the team turned on itself, reverting back to the schisms of ’08 … the rift between fans opening wider and wider … the “I told you so” echoes into the yawning chasm …
It just seems to me that somehow this group of miraculous coaches stopped it from happening. The first step from the pit of 2008 was on solid ground.
Say what you want about what the future holds. But no one saw this Auburn team perched on its place in the sun. The coaching staff and players deserve every single bit of praise.
5-0. Tied for first in the SEC West. Ranked in the Top 25. Articles are gushing. Tongues are wagging. Auburn is going to be playing in a bowl game.
It feels like a dream. But it’s real. It’s not an accident. It’s entirely earned.
I couldn’t believe the gigantic amount of fail that was the Berry video. I was watching it Saturday night and silently prayed that no one at Auburn thought that the video was a good idea or something we might do in the future.
I acknowledge the different “style” that has permeated the Tennessee athletic dept. And, I’m not happy with it either, as a Vol fan for a very long time.
However, what is potentially more significant and troubling has nothing to do with the school itself. It is about the young men out their that are to be recruited in future years.
Based on an inside source (a booster at the university), Kiffin spoke with high-level boosters of the program (before he ever spoke with the press) and issued a statement that many at the time found disturbing. He basically told them that the Vol program had slid into the depths of irrelevance with outdated thinking – that it’s about wearing the orange jersey, that it’s about representing the university. He told them that the young men of today are only interested in getting to the pros – and they will make their choice of school based on the chance of someday playing in the NFL. Speaking to these boosters, he sad that you have top rated facilities, medical staff, training staff, etc., etc., but third-rate thinking. Whether you like it or not, it is a new day dawning in college athletics. It’s going to take new (and perhaps distasteful to some) methods to continually maintain visibility with one goal in mind – to attract the best athletes to UT.
My contact said that Kiffin really didn’t care what the reaction of the boosters was going to be – this is something that he thinks is the landscape of the future, and the sooner that Tennessee realizes it and plays the game, the better off they will be (in wins and losses).
I don’t like it, no.
But, if Kiffin turns things around (which will take a bit of time), and I think he has a better than 50-50 shot of doint it, it will be interesting to see what folks like me think then. Will winning matter more than everything else?
I can’t wait to find out.
NorCalVol, I do agree that Kiffin is skilled with the gift of gab and hype. It just looks funny when the Vols are struggling. I understand the thinking (long-term benefits) for the Berry Heisman campaign. Kiffin is effectively telling recruits (a multitude appeared to be at the game) that UT will push your name like hell for recognition and awards. It is smart but it feels (to me) like it is too far too fast.
This gets into my thinking about the disconnect between the average fan/booster and a university athlete in this day and age. One example (that me and my buddies discussed at the game) is song choice during pregame warm ups. Here, Tennessee gets it right 100 percent. The music was hip-hop and the orange and white on the field was into it. They were getting pumped.
Back at Jordan-Hare, the song selection is quite different: G’n’R, Bon Joni, etc. What football player and current student is into that music? Not many. It delights the white middle-aged audience, sure. But shouldn’t Auburn consider getting the Tigers amped for the battle ahead?
J.M.
Point taken on the too far too fast angle. It feels that way to me as well.
Your point on the music – I never thought about it. Exceptional point. Have you approached the folks in charge at Jordan-Hare? You ought to.
Good luck to you the rest of the year. Your squad plays a great brand of football – a real joy to watch. Beat ‘Bama!
I also appreciate your blog very much. My favorite one from Auburn.