Lane Kiffin

KNOXVILLE -- Lane Kiffin is supremely confident that he made the right decision, but that didn't make Monday much easier for the University of Tennessee football coach.

Less than one year after convincing Nu'Keese Richardson, Mike Edwards and both players' families that UT was the best fit for their futures, Kiffin dismissed the duo for their recent attempted armed robbery arrests.

Kiffin promised both families last winter that he'd do everything in his power to protect and promote their futures, but he's made and will continue to make similar promises to other families.

That combination, the coach said Tuesday, is why his investigation into last week's incident concluded with dual dismissals.

And those factors, Kiffin added, are why no action has been taken into the third arrested Volunteer -- Janzen Jackson, whose role in the matter hasn't been revealed.

"That's why I took some time," Kiffin said. "The last thing I wanted to do was to react to something (before making) sure that we had all the information. It was a very, very difficult decision. These are two kids that we recruited. We sat with their parents and with the people around them in their house. This has been very tough on me.

"Our number one rule is to protect the team. As the head coach, I have to make decisions that sometimes you don't want to do. It was a sad day yesterday for those two kids. I wish them the best of luck. They obviously made a very poor decision. We can't allow that to be a part of our team. That decision making can't be anywhere near what we are doing. The last thing I'll do is have something like that go on and keep people around who do that, then go in on someone's couch and say, 'When you come here, we are going to have a great culture. This is the best place for your son.'

"I had to make the best decision for our team."

Several veteran Vols, including senior defensive tackle Dan Williams, said they supported that decision.

"I think it just sets an example," Williams said. "I think Coach Kiffin and them made the right decision. I think this is kind of going to be the example for how he's going to run the program. He's going to run a clean program, and there's not much room for error here now.

"Those guys made a bad decision. We understand what decision the coaches had to make."

Kiffin said his role as a first-year coach was "irrelevant" and had nothing to do with his decision.

"I think it's always important to take a strong stance on discipline, whether you've been doing it for 20 years or one year," he said. "The discipline involved in this and the decision had nothing to do with because it's our first year. It has to do with how our culture will be, and what we're going to build here for the future."

That culture likely won't include a curfew, said Kiffin, adding that he didn't see the feasibility of a nightly bed check.

"I don't like to make rules or have things that you can't really enforce," Kiffin said. "What are you going to do when they're broken? I'd be interested to hear anyone around the country that has one, because we have 120 kids on our team. Are we going to go to 120 houses at 11 o'clock at night and knock on their door and find out if they're there.

"I've never heard of that, and I don't really know how you do that."

Williams said he and several other veterans have talked to underclassmen about daily decision making.

"We kind of tell them what spots to hang out at and what spots not to," Williams said. "We tell them, 'When it's getting late, you don't want to be in this area.' But for the most part, I really think that if they haven't listened to us in the beginning, now they really see how Coach Kiffin is going to react if you make a bad decision. I think we have set an example, and they're going to really listen and really take heed. Now I guess the words we've said in the past, now I guess they really will listen.

"I keep on telling them they can come to me for anything. But hopefully, now, they'll just stay out of trouble."

Junior defensive end Chris Walker said he's "kind of taken a hold of some of the freshmen, especially some of the guys that could be leaders in that class.

"I've told them, 'Listen, just because y'all have a little bit of freedom, don't abuse it, because it can be taken away from you real fast, as you can see with those three guys,'" Walker added. "It's really easy to get lost, just because you're up here playing big-time college football and you don't have your mama breathing down your neck.

"You can really get caught up in stuff if you're not careful."

Kiffin said the incident hasn't harmed UT's recent hot streak on the recruiting trail, and he doesn't expect any major problems unless off-the-field problems become a trend.

"I think everybody at times goes through issues," he said. "We've been very fortunate to have a great run of over 11 months without any, and this one hit us. But I think the message was sent with how we dealt with it. We've already talked to a number of parents and a number of kids on the phone the last two days. They understand that situations happen everywhere, and it's more about how do you deal with them. Do you keep that type of activity around your program? Do you suspend them for a half? Do you suspend them for a game?

"When that happens, then you do have the parents questioning, 'OK, am I going to send my son to that environment, when you've let someone get arrested, and you've let those things happen, and they're on a suspension but they're still in your program?'"

Kiffin maintained his quiet stance on Jackson's situation. He declined to comment on the possibility that Jackson could play this season, provided his charges were dropped.

"I don't want to speculate," Kiffin said. "If that happens, then we'll deal with it then. Otherwise, I'll spend too much time every day trying to figure out, 'Well, if this, then that.'

"We wait until we get all the information in before we make any decisions of speculate on any decisions."

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