Nov. 26, 2008

(WVLT) -- Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton told the Sports Overtime team Wednesday afternoon that he has not offered the University of Tennessee football coaching position to former Oakland Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin, contrary to reports from WVLT's media partner, WIVK-radio.

“We have not offered the job to anybody,” Hamilton said. “If anybody has said that, that would be incorrect information.”

Hamilton did tell WVLT's Rick Russo that the athletic department is "on the right track" in the hiring process, but that he is committed to honoring his previous timetable of naming a coaching in the first or second week in December.

WIVK's Jimmy Hyams cited multiple sources Wednesday as saying Kiffin had been offered the job.

“Our process is fluid,” Hamilton said. “I understand there is a lot of interest in what’s going on. It would not surprise me that people would want to talk about these kinds of things. The process is not over.”

The 33-year-old Kiffin served as Raiders coach for the 2007 season and part of the 2008 season before being fired by owner Al Davis after a 1-3 start. His overall record was 5-15.

He has been widely rumored as a leading candidate for the Tennessee job since it became open, alongside such names as Texas Tech coach Mike Leach, North Carolina coach Butch Davis and Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly.

Kiffin has no college head coaching experience. Before heading up the Raiders, he served as an assistant at USC for six seasons, starting in 2001. He was the Trojans' offensive coordinator in 2005-06.

Kiffin also held the roles of wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator at various points in his tenure at USC. Each of his three seasons as recruiting coordinator, at least one recruiting service ranked the recruiting class as the best in the nation.

Kiffin grew up in a football family -- his father, Monte, has been the defensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers since 1995. In fact, some have speculated the elder Kiffin would join his son's staff if and when he became a college head coach.

Should Kiffin accept the Tennessee job, another potential defensive coordinator candidate would be former Ole Miss head coach Ed Orgeron, who is currently an assistant for the New Orleans Saints. Orgeron and Kiffin served together at USC under Pete Carroll.

Kiffin was born in Bloomington, Minn. in 1975. He was a backup quarterback at Fresno State until his senior year, when he quit the team and became a graduate assistant under Fresno assistant coach and current Cal head coach Jeff Tedford.

His coaching career has taken him from Fresno State to Colorado State and then to the Jacksonville Jaguars before he landed at USC for six seasons. When Kiffin was hired at the age of 31 to coach the Raiders, he was the youngest head coach in NFL history.

WVLT will have more on the story as it develops.