Dooley Press Conference Recap

Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton led the press conference talking about how Tennessee's new coach has a great recruiting background and has a very famous dad. Sound familiar?

There is a big difference. Lane Kiffin was a guy coming from the NFL that had no head coaching experience at the college level. Derek Dooley talked about how much more popular his name would have been if he stayed on Nick Saban's staff at LSU, but he wanted the opportunity to turn around a struggling Louisiana Tech program. Kiffin mentioned how he looked forward to beating Florida while Dooley mentioned that he was not the type of coach to give soundbites that attack other SEC coaches. Tennessee fans thought Kiffin had integrity. Dooley said he was a man of integrity and class.

He even mentioned how he plans on respecting other SEC coaches. SEC Commissioner Mike Slive is smiling somewhere. Some people that covered Dooley at Louisiana Tech mentioned that he is great at winning press conferences, but the jury is still out on if he is a great X's and O's coach. His legendary dad, former Georgia coach Vince Dooley, will be a big help when Dooley recruits areas around Athens. Dooley mentioned that he has recruiting ties to the states of Georgia, Florida and Texas.

Kiffin was criticized for not embracing Tennessee's traditions. When asked about General Neyland's maxims, Dooley said, "I was just glad that I agreed with the maxims. Thank God he knew what he was doing." Kiffin thought General Neyland was a character from the board game "RISK".