Tennessee football’s 10 coaches who inherited biggest mess

He’s not popular in Knoxville anymore after only staying one year, and his decision to bolt for the USC Trojans while bringing in a bust of recruiting class made things significantly worse. However, when Lane Kiffin took over Tennessee football for Phillip Fulmer in 2009, the program was definitely in a bad situation.

Although the Vols won the SEC East in 2007, they went 5-7 with a historically bad offense in 2008. It was their second losing season in four years. On top of that, the Vols had suffered through two horrible recruiting classes in three years, one ranked No. 23 in 2006 and one ranked No. 35 in 2008.

That was a bad situation for Kiffin to walk into. Remember, the Florida Gators still had Tim Tebow and Urban Meyer, the Alabama Crimson Tide had arrived with Nick Saban, the Georgia Bulldogs still had Mark Richt, the South Carolina Gamecocks had Steve Spurrier, the LSU Tigers had Les Miles and the Arkansa Razorbacks were coming under Bobby Petrino.

Kiffin also had to reinstall the pro style offense. Amidst all of that, he had help with Eric Berry on defense and helped the Vols go 7-6 that year, securing a top 10 2009 class. But then he went to USC, leaving behind a trail of investigations, a bust of a 2009 class and a wrecked 2010 class. So things got way worse.