Think Tennessee’s search for a football coach can’t get any more ridiculous and dysfunctional? You very much might want to think again.
On Wednesday, the Volunteers’ dumpster fire got just a bit more fiery when former coach Lane Kiffin tweeted a meme reading “BREAKING NEWS: Kim Jung Un has turned down the Tennessee job,” complete with the North Korean leader’s head on a Tennessee coach’s body. Amusingly, Kim’s name is spelled wrong (It’s Jong, not Jung).
Kiffin is apparently angry at Tennessee after former Vols quarterback Erik Ainge DMed him on Twitter to let him know how unwelcome he is at the school he once coached for a single season, then bizarrely shared the exchange publicly.
Though Ainge obviously doesn’t want Kiffin as Vols coach, a whole bunch of Tennessee fans might not complain about having him back, given how the search has gone. Athletic director John Currie attempted to hire Greg Schiano, but an angry mob drove the ex-Rutgers coach from town over some combination of his mediocre track record and his alleged complicity in the Penn State sexual assault scandal. Since then, Currie has been reportedly rebuffed by top targets Mike Gundy and Jeff Brohm, with David Sutcliffe, Matt Campbell, Chad Morris and others saying they are not interested. As Kiffin observed, turning down the Tennessee job has become somewhat of a meme.
Remember when Tennessee fans thought they were getting Jon Gruden? Gooood times.
I can’t stand Lane Kiffin, but I have to give him credit here. That’s really funny.