Nearly the entire spectrum of feelings have been expressed since Tuesday night when it was made official that Lane Kiffin was leaving the University of Tennessee to become the head coach at the University of Southern California.

Kiffin, who coached just one season at Tennessee before taking the USC job, made highly ambitious promises and was a very outspoken head coach during his short tenure at UT.  That likely only increased the surprise and disappointment when Kiffin chose to jump ship to the west coast.
"If I had been in his shoes and made those promises to all those families . . . and then if I had gone to my dad and said this is what I'm gonna do, I think my dad would've taken me behind the woodshed and I would've come out and said I love Tennessee," said Chris Wampler, who played at Tennessee from 1979 to 1982 and is currently the head coach of the North Panthers middle school team. 

Wampler said his immediate reaction to the news was a little bit "major disappointment" and a little bit shock.  
"I didn't see it coming," he explained of Kiffin's sudden decision.  "The people I felt more sorry for were the players," he added.

Greenback student and football player Daniel McCloud echoed Wampler's views on the matter.  "I was really disappointed," McCloud said.  "I thought he would be around here for a while."
Loudon resident Kent Everett, whose son Ben plays football at UT-Martin, said of the Kiffin departure, "I think it could have been done in a different manner." 

There should have been some advance notice given, Everett said.
"If USC was willing to hire him, they would have given him a couple days to handle things a little differently," he said.

Fellow Greenback resident Jerry Titlow, whose son Mykal plays on the Cherokee basketball team, said perhaps the Kiffin departure showed that the Vols should have looked elsewhere before hiring the California native.  
"In the beginning, they should have looked closer to home," Titlow said.  "I think he was just looking for a stepping stone to get back into college football."

Titlow added, "They probably should've listened to (Oakland Raiders owner) Al Davis."
And then Loudon High School student Chelsie Sampson expressed an opinion that many Vol fans may have had in the days immediately after Kiffin's move west.  "I think he's mean and he should've never come to Tennessee if he didn't intend on staying here," she said.

Now, though, Volunteer fans will have a new hope to look to for the upcoming season.  
New Head Coach Derek Dooley, 41, is older than the 34-year-old Kiffin and, perhaps in answer to Titlow's request, is a native of Georgia.  
Dooley's entire coaching career has spanned southern schools (Georgia, LSU and Louisiana Tech) and a southern NFL team - the Miami Dolphins.

For a school that had two coaches (Johnny Majors and Phillip Fulmer) in a 32-year span, Vol fans will certainly hope Dooley enjoys a longer stay than Kiffin did.