Tennessee football: Five reasons to never forgive Lane Kiffin for wrecking Vols

1. NCAA Investigation

When Derek Dooley took over for Lane Kiffin, Tennessee football’s roster was made up of a bust of a 2009 class, a bad 2008 class and a 2007 class that Kiffin gutted to make room for his own recruits. All he had was his top 10 2010 class, a group of freshmen, to rely on.

Obviously, 2010 would be a rough year, and Dooley would have to recruit top talent to help restock the cupboard. However, thanks to Kiffin, the Vols were also under investigation by the NCAA throughout the fall and the following spring, including through National Signing Day in 2011. As a result, Dooley was hamstrung there as well.

Kiffin and his staff committed 12 secondary violations in just one year on Rocky Top, most of which involved contacting recruits using illegal methods, including the “hostess” program. That situation wasn’t resolved until the summer of 2011. By that point, Dooley was halfway through having to put together his 2012 class.

This is why the Vols didn’t have another top 10 class until 2014. Combine that with everything else Kiffin did, and he flat-out made Dooley’s job impossible. Tennessee football had four straight losing seasons from 2010 to 2013, and while that happened for many reasons, nobody deserves more blame than Kiffin.