Tee Martin’s Addition to Kiffin’s USC Staff A Slap in the Face to Vols Supporters
They won't exactly be 'splitting the T' for Tee Martin anymore at UT.
He struck a deal with the devil.
That’s what Tennessee fans think of the only quarterback to lead their team to a modern national championship joining Lane Kiffin’s staff at USC.
No, not Peyton Manning; he never beat Florida (and always wound up playing in the Citrus Bowl). But Tee Martin, who is now coaching the Trojans’ wide receivers.
After one year in Knoxville of bravado, SEC reprimands, NCAA probation, player discipline problems and a still-unexplained car wreck (Kiffin totaled a vehicle given to him by a dealership and walked away not just from the crash but, apparently, the blame), Kiffin has hired one of Tennessee’s own kinfolk.
Kiffin is the Third Most Despised Man in Knoxville. Steve Spurrier is far and away #1 for what his Gators did to Manning and the Vols in his Florida days and Bear Bryant (or for the modern era of fans, Nick Saban) is #2. Kiffin leads the subcategory of “Those Who Have Coached at UT.”
Martin was at Tennessee from 1996-99 and was under center when the Vols won the BCS National Championship in 1988. But, unlike Manning, he doesn’t have a street on campus named after him, never led the band playing “Rocky Top” and, well, has never been recognized on par with other UT greats such as Manning, Johnny Majors or even Condredge Holloway or Richmond Flowers.
So maybe UT fans are not all that upset, certainly not so if it were Manning. But the fact that anyone who once wore orange is going with that guy is an unforgivable sin. Expect oranges to be hurled at TVs in Big Orange Country whenever USC games are on in Knoxville.
Martin arrives from Kentucky, where he was coaching receivers. And the Wildcats wanted to keep him, for Martin apparently is quite the capable recruiter. Asked via text by the Knoxville News-Sentinel’s Mike Griffith if he considered filling a position on Derek Dooley’s staff at UT, Martin responded, “never got a call.”
A report in the Louisville Courier-Journal stated that Martin had turned away overtures from UT (as well as Alabama and Auburn. Okay, what CAN you believe these days!? For starters, how about reporting when things happen, not IF you think they may have happened!?).
Regardless, Martin is now in the warm California sun. Song Girls, Tommy Trojan and Traveler. And while he never stood on the top of good ‘ol Rocky Top while at UT, he’s no longer as sweet as soda pop to anyone in K-town.
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[...] immediate action, but you’re not going to hire a quality, long-term coach in April or May. Lane Kiffin comes to mind, but he’s at USC now and not Tennessee, and why go down THAT road [...]