Lane Kiffin Reportedly Will Replace Philip Fulmer at Tennessee After This Season

Ever since Lane Kiffin vacated the head coaching position with the Oakland Raiders, he has been mentioned in almost every possible rumor riddled coaching search, particularly for the Tennessee Volunteers and Clemson Tigers. Both schools have plenty of talent, a ton of recruiting cache and plenty of tradition.

And, if sources from the Knoxville Sun-Sentinel (via MDS at CFT) are to be believed, Kiffin has agreed in principle on a deal to head to Knox County and will be the next head coach for the Volunteers.

Barring any unforeseen snags, Kiffin will be announced in the coming days.

Kiffin will replace Phillip Fulmer who was forced to step down Nov. 3. Fulmer's last game as head coach will be Saturday against Kentucky at Neyland Stadium.

Three things, in particular, to note here. First of all, Tennessee has, as recently as Wednesday, denied that Kiffin was being offered the job.

Secondly, this could be a pretty huge coup for the Volunteers if, as I believe, Kiffin turns out to be a great head coaching candidate in the college setting. He's young, enthusiastic and learned from Pete Carroll, who's done a decent job at USC. Bringing me to the final point: cutting the cord on Fulmer in the middle of the season, while certainly a tough thing to do, really gave Tennessee a jump start on finding a high end replacement, if the reports are true.