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Commo_Soldier
02-09-2009, 07:49 PM
After mistakenly calling Urban Meyer a cheater, it appears Lane Kiffin made a few recruiting violations himself.

From MSNBC (http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/29108777/)

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Tennessee officials self-reported two secondary recruiting violations committed in January under coach Lane Kiffin and his staff in a letter to the NCAA and Southeastern Conference.The Tennessee athletic department said one violation occurred when nine prospects on an official visit to the school participated in a mock press conference at Neyland Stadium’s media center.

Another violation occurred when a fog machine was used as a recruit entered the field at Neyland Stadium during his official visit on Jan. 9.
Under NCAA recruiting rules, schools are prohibited from simulating a game experience for recruits during official visits.

Tennessee issued letters of admonishment to Kiffin and recruiting coordinator Ed Orgeron and provided the staff with a review of NCAA recruiting policies. Neither the NCAA nor the SEC has issued any punishment.

“They understand that they must ask questions of the compliance office about anything ’creative’ regarding campus visits,” the Jan. 26 letter said.
The violations were first reported Monday by The Knoxville News Sentinel.

Tennessee’s coaching staff believed the mock press conference was allowed because it was not done in public. They thought the use of the fog machine was allowed after seeing it used at other universities.

Kiffin, who was introduced as Tennessee’s new coach on Dec. 1, was reprimanded by SEC commissioner Mike Slive on Thursday for falsely accusing Florida’s Urban Meyer of a recruiting violation.

Kiffin said Meyer broke recruiting rules by phoning wide receiver prospect Nu’Keese Richardson as he was making his official visit to Tennessee. Doing so would not constitute a violation of either NCAA or SEC rules.

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier questioned whether Kiffin broke rules by contacting a recruit before being cleared by the NCAA to do so. Kiffin assured fans that he had been notified by the NCAA that he was cleared before making his first phone call.

Kiffin joked later that he received a 39 out of 40 on his recruiting test required by the NCAA.

Swaggs
02-09-2009, 07:57 PM
Pretty hard to believe that Coach O., with his experience, would not be aware of recruiting rules.

tarcone
02-09-2009, 07:58 PM
A fake press conference and a fog machine? The NCAA sucks.

JonInMiddleGA
02-09-2009, 08:05 PM
Didn't we discuss the fog machine thing in the recruiting thread already? Or did I just read about it when they reported & discuss it with my wife instead?

That one was the subject of a pretty good rip in the News-Sentinel comments section, as it revolves around a rule that prohibits simulating game conditions. Problem is, UT doesn't use a fog machine on game day so there was considerable question whether it was actually a violation or not. But in any event, an astute poster pointed out that it should be clear to anyone that there was no attempt to recreate gameday conditions since:

-- Nearly 100,000 people were not driven from their seats in frustration by the middle of the 3rd quarter
-- The words "Crompton sucks" were never chanted
-- Nary a hint of thousands of people saying "Oh crap, not again" was heard
-- There was no sign of another embarrassing loss

GoldenEagle
02-09-2009, 08:05 PM
Those are stupid rules IMO.

JonInMiddleGA
02-09-2009, 08:14 PM
The rules in question were, as I heard it last week, the result of some creative tactics on a larger scale used by Oregon a few years back. Right, wrong, or just out of context I have no idea but that's the explanation I heard.

Incidentally, Sarkisian at UW just got caught on this same rule, apparently it's not all that uncommon.
Steve Kelley | New UW coach Steve Sarkisian needs to make sure he doesn't turn into the next Slick Rick | Seattle Times Newspaper (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/stevekelley/2008695759_kelley02.html)

Chief Rum
02-09-2009, 10:34 PM
The rules in question were, as I heard it last week, the result of some creative tactics on a larger scale used by Oregon a few years back. Right, wrong, or just out of context I have no idea but that's the explanation I heard.

Incidentally, Sarkisian at UW just got caught on this same rule, apparently it's not all that uncommon.
Steve Kelley | New UW coach Steve Sarkisian needs to make sure he doesn't turn into the next Slick Rick | Seattle Times Newspaper (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/stevekelley/2008695759_kelley02.html)

You guys all do realize what Lane and Sark have in common, right?

sooner333
02-09-2009, 10:41 PM
You guys all do realize what Lane and Sark have in common, right?

U$C

dawgfan
02-09-2009, 10:44 PM
You guys all do realize what Lane and Sark have in common, right?
Bingo. Maybe if someone other than USC toady Scott Wolf was covering them, the Trojans might actually get nailed with some violations...

Eaglesfan27
02-09-2009, 11:07 PM
Bingo. Maybe if someone other than USC toady Scott Wolf was covering them, the Trojans might actually get nailed with some violations...

Wolf is far from a USC toady. If anything, he is overly critical of them.

dawgfan
02-09-2009, 11:26 PM
Wolf is far from a USC toady. If anything, he is overly critical of them.
He's certainly overly critical of Sarkisian and Holt...

I'll put it this way - I do agree that Wolf is willing to criticize USC, but he also appears to have the attitude that nobody else better do anything he feels can be viewed as hurtful towards USC (like Sarkisian leaving and convincing Holt to come with him).

Chief Rum
02-10-2009, 01:45 AM
Wolf, lol...

On Signing Day, he was saying... Te'o to USC...Sua-Filo to USC...Moore to USC (okay he got that one)...Carroll to USC...etc, etc. He also kept trying to muck up the Toma story when it was already clear from multiple sources that the issue was Toma, not UCLA. The guy IS critical of Pete Carroll at times, I'll give him that--that said, he is still little more than a mouthpiece. If the Daily News were serious about their USC coverage, they would hire a nonbiased writer like they did with UCLA in Brian Dohn (Rutgers grad and one of the best--and most critical and jaded--blogger reporters around in college football).

BishopMVP
02-10-2009, 02:12 AM
Your poll appears to be missing the "both" and "every SEC coach outside Bobby Johnson" options.

DanGarion
02-11-2009, 12:42 PM
You guys all do realize what Lane and Sark have in common, right?

Hey looky here, the UCLA fan is pointing out that they all coached at USC, too bad you forgot to mention Oregon too. ;)

Just kidding with you, you can have your slick rick.

Senator
02-11-2009, 12:47 PM
Being a child of the 80's, I keep merging them as Lane Meyer.

/obscure?

DanGarion
02-11-2009, 12:52 PM
Being a child of the 80's, I keep merging them as Lane Meyer.

/obscure?

I think he's better off dead...

Poli
02-11-2009, 05:00 PM
“My goal was to be the least popular coach in the SEC,” [Bruce] Pearl said of his first season as UT’s basketball coach. “It took me one year. It took Lane Kiffin one week.”

“I like to have fun with some things,” Kiffin said. “The example I can give you is that Steve Spurrier came out the first day I was here and accused me of recruiting without having passed the test (as required by the NCAA).


“I didn’t call the (SEC) commissioner whining about it. I just shot back at him, joking around with him. We’ll make sure we’re aware of how sensitive people are around here."