Despite radio and website (that’s us) reports, Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton says that Phillip Fulmer’s old job has not been offered to anyone yet, including Lane Kiffin.

“We have not offered the job to anybody.  If anybody has said that, that would be incorrect information.”

“Our process is fluid.  I understand there is a lot of interest in what’s going on.  It would not surprise me that people would want to talk about these kinds of things.  The process is not over.”



That means either:

a) The search is indeed on-going and nine out of 10 Knoxville media members have been horn-swaggled by bogus Kiffin stories.

b) Kiffin is getting a little ahead of himself in terms of offering assistants’ slots to friends and colleagues.

c) Hamilton is protecting himself in case contract negotiations hit a snag.

d) Hamilton is hinging his denials on technicalities because he doesn’t want to take any of the luster off of “Phillip Fulmer Day” this Saturday at Neyland Stadium… which is a little bizarre in its own right, considering Fulmer has been forced to resign.  It’s a nice touch, and it makes sense to not overshadow Fulmer’s final game with the specter of the new guy, but it’s still an odd situation all the way around.



(For the record, we’re glad that The Knoxville News Sentinel is quoting Jimmy Hyams’ radio reports, but they could have at least thrown us a bone… technically, we posted the story on MrSEC quite a while before Jimmy announced things on the radio.)



Here’s an update on all of the candidates as they stand this evening:

Butch Davis – It was believed earlier today (check our posts) that Tennessee would be making one last push to land Davis this weekend.  Could that be why Hamilton is not committing to the Kiffin stories?

Mike Leach – For one reason or another, Hamilton was not impressed with Leach during a scheduled interview in Texas this past weekend.

Gary Patterson – Was interviewed this past weekend but was not a serious candidate.

Brian Kelly – He was a hot name this weekend, but it’s believed he never received an offer from Tennessee, possibly due to some baggage from his days at Central Michigan.  He now says that’s he’s staying at Cincinnati, in part, because his son told him, “Dad, I don’t want to go to Tennessee.”



Here at MrSEC, we’re going to stick to our guns and continue to say that Lane Kiffin will be the next Tennessee coach, probably announced early next week AFTER “Phillip Fulmer Day” on Saturday.

Jimmy and I discuss the situation including the rumors of Monte Kiffin and/or Ed Orgeron joining the UT staff in this webcast from The MrSEC Lounge.

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