Vols' coach is dumb and dumber

A good friend who has produced and written hundreds of hours of prime-time network TV once told me that you can't write the truth because it just comes across as too unbelievable.

That's certainly the case with Tennessee football coach Lane Kiffin, who has stirred up lots of controversy by saying dumb, insulting things about his SEC foes. And he hasn't even coached the Volunteers in a game yet.

Now Kiffin is doing incredibly dumb stuff on TV. In Sunday's episode of ESPN's "Outside the Lines," Kiffin was seen talking to two recruits. Which might not seem like such a big deal, except that NCAA recruiting rule 13.10.1 reads, "A member institution shall not permit a media entity to be present during any recruiting contact made by an institution's coaching staff member."

"Outside the Lines" host Bob Ley even told viewers that the video it was showing was a violation of the rule.

It's a minor violation. Tennessee has reported at least five minor violations since Kiffin was hired six months ago, and none of them are expected to amount to much.

But that, perhaps, says more about the NCAA than it does about Kiffin.

KIFFIN DESERVES every bit of criticism he's gotten over the ESPN clip.

But what about ESPN? Is "the worldwide leader in sports" in any way culpable for airing the video?

The fact is that ESPN had every right to air the footage. The responsibility is all Kiffin's.

And in the current media climate in which every rumor — founded or unfounded — is all over sports talk radio and the Internet, let alone the 24-hour sports TV channels, it's certainly not surprising that ESPN used the footage.

But it's hard not to be at least somewhat sympathetic to those who criticize ESPN for "enabling" and "facilitating" the Tennessee coach.

Weirdly enough, I've faced similar circumstances as a TV critic. I've interviewed celebrities who told me things they shouldn't. One told me about problems with one of his children — which had absolutely nothing to do with the reason I was interviewing him.

I'm not a gossip columnist. If I was working for the National Enquirer or TMZ, I would have jumped on the story. But, given that we were talking about a kid about the same age as those recruits on "Outside the Lines," I never for a moment considered using the information.

I couldn't possibly care less if Kiffin gets in trouble with the NCAA. If he gets fired.

But I can't imagine using footage of high-school recruits that might come back and hurt those kids. Not to mention all the other kids Tennessee recruited.

Maybe I'd think differently if I didn't have kids of my own who are that age. I hope not.

I'm obviously not ESPN material. But then I'm not National Enquirer or TMZ material, either.

E-mail: pierce@desnews.com