Be Careful What You Commit To
January 13th, 2010 - byOnce again Lane Kiffin is a man on the move. Within a 5 year span he has moved from assistant coach at USC, to head coach of the Oakland Raiders, Tennessee Volunteers and last night moved back to be the head coach of USC. Along the way he promised many a recruit that he would be their coach and that they would build something special at school X.
Three weeks away from National Signing Day he has once again packed up his bags to leave a school and left dozens of recruits in complete limbo. Many Volunteer commits like Brandon Willis were actually ready to start classes today!
“They had the nerve to call me and ask me to come to Southern Cal. And coach Ed Orgeron [who is going with Kiffin to USC] said that he was going to be my coach at Tennessee.”
Contrasting his feelings are those of J.C. Copeland.
“I didn’t commit to Tennessee because of the coach, I committed because of the school.”
It might not be the easiest thought to stomach for a 17 year old, but they need to understand the business side of college sports and realize the coach that recruits them could easily be gone well before graduation. For that reason recruits need to choose a school based on a myriad of factors. It also helps to have several choices in case the rug is pulled out from under you at the last second and you are suddenly searching for a new school.
Recruits need to be prepared for anything to happen because all to often it does happen.
