Duped By Kiffin

On Tuesday, I did something I've never done before.

I texted a Tennessee Athletic Department staff member, and told this person I thought Lane Kiffin did an excellent job explaining the recent arrests of three football players on armed robbery charges.

It took Kiffin four days to do it, but his reasoning seemed sound-- he really did want to weigh all issues before making a decision to kick two of the players off the team. A third player remains a Vol-- although he's banned from all football activities until further notice. 

I've been sold on Kiffin since he was hired. His style isn't personable and he has no use for small talk. Tried it once. Didn't work. Fine with me. 

On Tuesday, Kiffin answered all questions.

He talked about how difficult it was to dismiss the players. He spoke of credibility issues with future players and their families, and how it wouldn't be right to preach about a new discipline in Tennessee football if he allowed players who've been accused of illegal acts to remain on the team. He took his usual indirect shots at other coaches-- known for suspending players for one-game, or a half a game, when their players break rules.

He was straight-forward, complete, thoughtful, patient and honest. 

Uh, except for one thing.

Kiffin has referred to last Thursday's arrests as the first "incident" for any Vols football player since he was hired. It took 11 months and 11 days, Kiffin said, for something to happen. He has said it repeatedly. 

Then, just a few hours after his press conference-- news broke that another Vol football player was cited for shoplifting at a nearby mall. On November 7th. 

While the charge against the player isn't as serious as the arrests last week, the shoplifting allegation does cast a questionable light on Kiffin's claim of a team that's been incident-free until November 11th.

Perhaps Kiffin just meant it was 11 months and 11 days before anyone noticed.