Mark Stoops, Lane Kiffin both brush off questions regarding Tennessee recruiting violations

Despite some blatant cheating under Jeremy Pruitt’s watch, Tennessee football avoided disaster when NCAA gave out penalties to the Vols.

The Big Orange will still have a few more scholarship restrictions and will have to pay a fine, but UT avoided a postseason ban and can now move past the cloud hanging over the program as head coach Josh Heupel enters year three in Knoxville.

At SEC Media Days, Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops and Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin were both asked about the punishment since each has been outspoken about the Vols in the past. Both did their best to try and dodge the question.

“Really, at this point, I have no reaction. That was two years ago, and I’ve moved way beyond that. So
no disrespect, but I just don’t have anything,” Stoops told reporters on Wednesday. “I don’t know,
you know, much about it, and worried about my own backyard. And so it is what it is. I have no control over that.”

In an interview with KSR two years ago, Stoops discussed the Tennessee recruiting violations and didn’t seem shocked that the Vols got caught cheating.

“I gotta be careful in my response here,” Stoops said. “Did I see it coming? Yes, I’m grateful it came. Does it surprise me? Not one bit.”

On Thursday at SEC Media Days, Kiffin was a little more open about the situation. As you may have heard, he’s not the most popular man in East Tennessee after leaving the Vols for USC following the 2009 season.

“I got a lot of thoughts on that case and the case at USC and the case at Tennessee and the penalties and all that. I’m not really going to get into that,” Kiffin said at the Grand Hyatt in downtown Nashville. “We’re here to talk about the Ole Miss team. You know, happy for Coach Heupel. I read where he was ecstatic about the penalties and the $8 million fine. So that kind of probably tells you about how severe the penalties are in their eyes. I’m happy for them that they don’t have to go through what we went through. So good for them.”

We all know that the Kentucky-Tennessee rivalry can get very heated, and the Ole Miss-Tennessee will certainly pick up with Kiffin agreeing to a new long-term deal with the Rebels and with more meetings between the two once the conference eliminates divisions in 2024.