That loud noise you heard recently did indeed come from Volunteer Nation. No, it wasn’t the sound of Smokey howling at the moon. It wasn’t the sound of Tennessee fans singing Rocky Top “all night long” in The Swamp. It wasn’t even the sound of the excitement over the basketball team’s stunning win against top-ranked Kansas over the weekend. It was the sound of true, genuine anger in the form of bottles, rocks, and four-letter words being thrown Lane Kiffin’s way as he exited Knoxville and grabbed the first flight out to Hollywood.  

Really, Lane? This is how it ends?

We’ve all seen quick exits in the past, but this was one for the ages. After being turned down by Jack Del Rio of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Southern California apparently sent Kiffin a contract offer that he agreed to and signed faster than Bruce Pearl can sweat through a three piece suit. Kiffin called a *wink-wink* press conference that lasted all of two minutes and then basically bailed from Knoxville before anyone in Volunteer Nation could figure out what was going on. 

It was a surreal end to a strange 14 months. Kiffin had all the hype and buzz of a Kiss concert at Madison Square Garden, but the results of a Vanilla Ice performance at a local dive bar. Sure, Kiffin managed to ruffle the feathers of many in the SEC and apparently can relate to the 18 year olds in the recruiting world (same maturity level, perhaps?) but made no real mark during his time in Knoxville.  

On Gameday, Lil’ Lanie looked clueless, desperate and smug all at the same time. If not for the defensive genius that is his father, Tennessee probably doesn’t win 4 games in 2009.  

Moral victories became all the rage in this administration. The Vols didn’t get blown out by Florida, which was apparently a cause for genuine celebration in Knoxville. They nearly beat Alabama, almost beat Auburn and “hung around for a while” with Virginia Tech, and the Tennessee faithfull seemed to be genuinely at peace with that. They were blown out at Ole Miss, lost at home to a hapless UCLA, and had to sweat to beat Ohio. The only actual victory that the Vols could cling to was against Georgia, a convincing win, yes, but against a Bulldog team that was far below their annual expectations.  

Worse than the pride in the “moral victories” were the off the field incidents, including arrests, shady recruiting practices, falsely accusing other teams of violations, and apparently an escorting service gone horribly wrong. Steve Spurrier used to have to work overtime to come up with jokes about Tennessee during the Phil Fulmer era. Can you imagine the stuff he could come up with now? I’ve heard some pretty good ones this year from various opposing fans of Tennessee:

-"You can't spell secondary violations without the Vols."

-“I visited the University of Tennessee and all I got was robbed at gunpoint.” 

-“South Carolina players may pump your gas, but Tennessee players will steal your Skittles.” 

-“Come to Tennessee, where a girlfriend now comes standard.”   

Honestly, how in the world did we all not see this coming with Kiffin?  

Tennessee fans, you were warned, though by perhaps not the greatest source.  

Typically when Al Davis hits my television screen, I hit the mute button, but we should have known when even he was repulsed by the sight of Kiffin that it was big trouble. Davis went on to call Kiffin a “compulsive liar” and that he had “definitely hired the wrong man.” The signs were always there, Volunteer people just didn’t want to believe them.  

Even those close to the Tennessee family noticed things were different.

Bob Kesling, the voice of the Volunteers Radio Network, commented upon Kiffin’s arrival last winter that he was a “different” type of guy and had a “west coast feel.” Something just never seemed right in this situation, yet Big Orange fans remained confident that the “Lane Train” would bring their program back to prominence. Now, not only is he de-railing from his rebuilding process, he’s taking most of his staff with him. That includes assistant Ed Orgeron, whose sleazy recruiting antics are already making headlines just hours after the announcement was made.  

Orgeron was busted by a couple of early enrollees for the Vols during the last full team meeting with Kiffin on Tuesday night. Orgeron was on his cellular phone attempting to persuade potential early enrollees at Tennessee not to go to class on Wednesday so that they could bolt UT and join the coaching staff in Southern Cal. Orgeron, however, was unaware that many of those early enrollees were actually in the team meeting with Kiffin. Those early enrollees in the meeting put Orgeron on their speaker phone so that any and all players could listen to him try to sway these recruits to leave a program they allegedly loved. Folks, that’s sleaze on quite possibly the lowest level I can think of in terms of college sports. 

So in the grand scheme of things, what does this mean for the rest of the SEC Eastern division? Well, Urban Meyer may call off his "leave of absence" a little earlier. Mark Richt can now breathe a little easier about recruiting in his own state. And last but not least, the Ole Ball Coach won't have to defend the integrity ;of working at gas stations any longer. Seriously, though, it means yet another new face will roam the sidelines for a traditional power in the SEC East in the 2010 season. 

What now for the Volunteer Nation? No offense to Kippy Brown, but I don’t see any way he can realistically be the head coach for this program. Rumors are circulating that Texas assistant coach Will Muschamp was the frontrunner (which would have been a real dig at Georgia) but some other names have also surfaced.

Randy Edsell at Connecticut is a possibility and Gary Patterson at TCU could also be mentioned, but one has to think the Vols may look for an even bigger splash.  Names on that front could include Chris Peterson at Boise State, Jon Gruden or even (gulp) Steve Spurrier, but those are long shots.

Long shots also include Mike Leach, who will probably take a break from football for a year or two, and get this, what about Phillip Fulmer 2.0 in Knoxville as a coach or even Athletic Director? Say what you want about Fulmer, but the man lives and breathes Tennessee and would do what was best for the program.

My honest opinion of a best-case scenario for Vol fans would be to hire Fulmer on as athletic director and name David Cutcliffe head coach. Cutcliffe has doen a masterful job at Duke and would bring back the traditional Volunteer legends such as Peyton Manning into the fold.

One more thing to note for Vol fans: with all the secondary violations handed down by the NCAA this season toward UT, one has to really wonder if maybe it was just the tip of the iceberg. If so, the backlash toward Kiffin may grow out of control. In addition, Kiffin has a real knack for taking "pot shots" at teams and fan bases around the country. You have to know that sooner or later, with the way Volunteer Nation has reacted to his departure, he will throw a jab or two toward the Big Orange faithful. 

Sorry, Vol fans, but it’s really hard for me to feel sorry for you, but I am trying to be civil about this. You made cracks at just about every team in the conference, celebrated moral victories, and beat your chest about how your coach would revolutionize and eventually dominate the conference. But regardless of all that, it hurts to be done wrong and I can recall being a fan in this situation myself (see Brian Van Gorder, Georgia Southern University).  Now Volunteer fans know how it feels.