DAYTON, Ohio — I really enjoy reading about Lane Kiffin.
The Tennessee football coach is a lot of laughs. Either he's taking shots at Urban Meyer or breaking NCAA rules and just generally making people think he's a lunatic.
But I think Kiffin has a plan. As many marketing specialists will tell you, any attention is good attention. Which college football program is getting more attention this offseason than the Volunteers?
None of what Kiffin has said or done has caused any serious trouble.
He's creating rivalries immediately within the conference (granted, Meyer doesn't seem like the guy to pick a fight with, but it's Kiffin's plan, not mine). Who doesn't love a good coach-against-coach rivalry?
Now we're all waiting to see what happens when the season starts in Knoxville. Could we have said that before Kiffin was hired?
This is how UT Athletic Director Mike Hamilton put it to The Associated Press last week: "Everybody says, 'Does he really understand what he's doing or saying?' Yeah, he does."
It just doesn't seem like anything a sane person would do, especially for those of us who spend a great amount of our college football attention on Ohio State coach Jim Tressel.
Crazy? Sure. Crazy like a fox.
Kyle Nagel writes for the Dayton Daily News. E-mail: knagel(at)DaytonDailyNews.com.