Lane Kiffin is wishing his Tennessee successor well.
In a post sure to get the attention of Vol Twitter, Kiffin took to X to offer good luck to Derek Dooley on his run for U.S. Senate in Georgia.
Good luck https://t.co/h3vNoJ2iQX
— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) August 4, 2025
For many UT fans, putting the names Lane Kiffin and Derek Dooley together in a sentence brings back bad memories. Dooley was hired as the Tennessee head coach after Kiffin bolted for USC following the 2009 season, and the Volunteers suffered 3 consecutive losing seasons from 2010-12.
Kiffin and Dooley never worked together, but they share ties as ex-Tennessee head coaches and former Nick Saban assistants.
Dooley was an LSU assistant from 2000-04. He followed Saban to Miami to serve as the Dolphins’ tight ends coach. He linked up with Saban again in 2022, joining the Alabama staff as an offensive analyst.
Kiffin had 3 seasons with Saban as Alabama’s offensive coordinator and QB coach from 2014-16. During that time, Dooley was the wide receivers coach for the Dallas Cowboys.
When Kiffin coached at FAU, Dooley returned to the SEC, becoming Mizzou‘s offensive coordinator in 2018. Dooley was back in the NFL when Kiffin came back to the SEC as the Ole Miss head coach.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
