Volunteers' Search to Replace Lane Kiffin Is Under Way

In November of 2008, just 14 months ago, Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton (right) found himself in the exact same position that he is in today, searching for a new coach. Hamilton's search, which ended in the hiring of Lane Kiffin offers a template for the modern-day coaching search and, based on the details I reported in my book, "On Rocky Top", we have a pretty good sense of how this current search will play out.

The past isn't always prologue, but it's a pretty good road map. During his last search, Hamilton ditched his car in Shoney's parking lots off interstate exits, traveled without his normal UT luggage, flew commercial, never appeared publicly with any candidate, and eventually settled on Lane Kiffin after conducting interviews in six major metropolitan areas.

If you're interested in reading the full excerpts from the book about the last search, that link is right here. In the meantime, let's get inside Mike Hamilton's head and find out what he's likely to be doing as he seeks to replace Lane Kiffin.

1. Don't bother tracking University of Tennessee planes.

All over Tennessee fan message boards today and in future days, there will be breathless threads about flight tracking software and speculation about who Tennessee is meeting with based on where planes are located.

That's all hot air.

Mike Hamilton flew commercial during his last search rather than fly in university planes. Why? Because he wanted to stay one step ahead of the message board obsession and he knew the latest manifestation of that obsession was flight tracking software.

2. Likely the Neinas sports search firm has already been hired to act as a go-between to contact agents and intermediaries to gauge coaching interest.

Last time Hamilton contracted with Chuck Neinas, an expert in the black arts of coaching hires, and was impressed with how smoothly the search went.

My money is on the fact that he's already hired them again.

Word has yet to be released on that, but it probably will.

Athletic directors favor these arrangements because it theoretically keeps the school from being embarrassed if a coach isn't interested in a job. It also permits a potential coach to answer questions by saying, "No one from (insert school here) has contacted me."

That's true ... technically.

Instead an independent representative of the school has contacted the coach's agent.

Intermediary meet intermediary.

Yep, hiring a coach at a major university is a lot like finding a fourth grade girlfriend; your friend passes a note with, "yes, no, maybe," listed as options and you wait to hear back.

3. Right now Hamilton is probably hunkered down in a major metropolitan area where he can disappear, work the phones, and perhaps conduct the entire search in one sitting.

Last time, Hamilton's first stop was Atlanta. My best guess as to where he is this time?

Atlanta or Nashville.

At this very moment he's probably checked in to a hotel-conference room with the search agency and trusted advisors making telephone calls.

4. The real question this time is, what's Hamilton's time frame? Hiring Kiffin took 22 days.

That's the entire time from the first meeting on the hire in Atlanta, to Hamilton officially extending the offer to Kiffin on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

But does Hamilton have anywhere near that time now?

No.

Twenty-two days from present, starting today, would put him at February 4.

Big deal, you say?

Uh, yeah.

That's the day after National Signing Day.

5. Who did Hamilton interview last time before selecting Kiffin?

Troy Calhoun of Air Force.

Turner Gill of Buffalo.

Brian Kelly of Cincinnati.

Gary Patterson of TCU.

Mike Leach of Texas Tech (via phone interview).

Will Muschamp -- Hamilton was scheduled to meet him before Muschamp signed his coach-in-waiting deal at Texas the day before.

This is a good starting point. Clearly Gill is now at Kansas, Kelly is now at Notre Dame, and Leach is likely off the table due to being removed from Texas Tech.

That means Hamilton is probably starting with Muschamp and Calhoun as two serious candidates. From there, who knows?

Remember when Mitch Barnhart at Kentucky had egg on his face after hiring Billy Gillispie and locked down John Calipari?

Well, Kiffin is now Hamilton's Gillispie.

6. How is this search most different?

We discussed it above, but the recruiting angle is altered.

Hamilton fired Fulmer in the wake of the South Carolina loss, on November 2, 2008, because he wanted to have a new coach in place in time to hit the ground running for recruiting.

That's why he didn't wait until the end of the season to make his determination, he wanted to salvage a year's recruiting class.

But now we're just three weeks from signing day.

And what was once a guaranteed top five, and potentially higher class, put together by Kiffin, now threatens to crumble.

The choice before Hamilton is this, can he get a rush hire who helps preserve the class or is he going to be forced to sacrifice this year's recruits to get the right guy?

And, more ominously for Hamilton and Tennessee, is the right guy out there?

Clay Travis is the author of three books. His latest, "On Rocky Top: A Front Row Seat to The End of an Era" chronicles the 2008 Tennessee football season and is on sale now and makes a great stocking stuffer. You have a stocking for Martin Luther King Day, right?