Avoid Tennessee For A Bit

Because the Volunteers are about to blow it up with rage.

Holy. Carp.

Tennessee’s Lane Kiffin has agreed in principle to become the next head coach at Southern California, sources close to the situation told ESPN.com’s Chris Low on Tuesday.

Kiffin would replace Pete Carroll, who jumped to the NFL as coach of the Seattle Seahawks.

Kiffin, the former Oakland Raiders coach, led the Volunteers for only one season.

Sources told ESPN Kiffin will bring his father and defensive coordinator, Monte Kiffin, and assistant head coach and recruiting coordinator Ed Orgeron to Southern Cal with him, and wide receivers coach Kippy Brown will be named interim head coach at Tennessee.

Kiffin has been on the move of late. He was 7-5 in his one season at Tennessee and 5-15 in one-plus seasons with the Raiders before being fired in September 2008.

He was a member of the USC coaching staff from 2001-06.

Whoa (and I mean that in the Keanu Reeves way).

I guess that answers the question: How do you manage to get a coach to agree to take a job with the NCAA breathing down their neck? And how do you do it while being totally transparent with the new coach? Hire a guy who was in on most of it while it was happening.

Rivalry, consider yourself reborn.