Kiffin Wrongly Accused?

Tennessee denied Friday that it had self-reported a secondary violation to the NCAA concerning contact between football coach Lane Kiffin and South Carolina signee Alshon Jeffery after national signing day on Feb. 4. On Thursday night, WBIR-TV confirmed a story on The State newspaper’s Web site that Kiffin’s phone call was indeed a violation. Coaches are not allowed to contact athletes after they have signed with other schools. UT officials weren’t aware until told Friday afternoon that UT associate sports information director John Painter had confirmed the secondary violation report to The State, the daily newspaper in Columbia, S.C. However, UT director of public relations Tiffany Carpenter, after consulting UT’s compliance department Friday, said the contact “is not an NCAA violation,” but rather what she called a “national letter of intent infraction.” Kiffin called Jeffery after ESPN.com reported in March that Kiffin told Jeffery he would be “pumping gas for a living” if he signed with South Carolina. Kiffin denied the ESPN.com report. He also said that in his second call to Jeffery the player confirmed the coach did not make the comments about “pumping gas.” – govolsxtra.com

Rutgers to play Penn State, Miami in 2018

Rutgers has announced Thursday that that TBD would be Texas Southern, the team’s second Football Championship Subdivision (formerly 1-AA) on next season’s docket. But as Pernetti promised, he’s making sure that the TBD situation doesn’t show up again. Which is why after Thursday’s news of Texas Southern being the Scarlet Knights’ 12th and final game of the schedule, he backed up his statement with some news about future Rutgers schedules. The Scarlet Knights will play a two-game series with Penn State, starting in 2014 with a game at Rutgers Stadium. Rutgers will then head for Happy Valley the following season. But he didn’t stop there. Beginning in 2018, the Scarlet Knights have a tentative agreement for a home-and-home series with Miami, with Rutgers hosting the first year then traveling to Florida in 2019. – Newark Star-Ledger

Kiffin Violates NCAA Rules with South Carolina Signee

Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin’s failed attempt to recruit Calhoun County player and USC recruit Alshon Jeffery continues to generate headaches for the Volunteers. A Tennessee official confirmed Thursday the school has self-reported Kiffin to the NCAA for a secondary violation, which took place when the coach called Jeffery after the Feb. 4 national signing day. Coaches are not allowed to contact athletes who sign with other schools after that date. – The State

Weis confirms talk with family about leaving ND

Notre Dame football coach Charlie Weis confirms he talked with his family about quitting at the end of last season, though he says he never thought he’d leave. Weis says he would have been negligent to his family if he hadn’t talked about the possibility of leaving. He says it was in the context of discussing ‘what ifs.” The comments Wednesday were in response to a story in the Chicago Tribune on Sunday. The newspaper reported Weis thought about leaving Notre Dame and returning to the NFL as a coordinator. But Weis says he needed to have a plan just in case. Following a 38-3 loss to USC in the regular-season finale, athletic director Jack Swarbrick took several days before announcing that Weis would return as coach. – AP

Fulmer: “I’m not retired”

Don’t say the word retirement to former UT football coach Phillip Fulmer, because he isn’t saying it. “I’m not retired,” Fulmer said. “I’m doing some different things right now like working with an investment firm with one of my former players in Knoxville, and I’ve done some work with (TV). “And I want to coach again, but I am not retired.” … Fulmer said his next move is still up in the air. “I’m Episcopalian, and before a priest can become a bishop, the church wants him to take a year’s hiatus to go out and try other things and rest,” Fulmer said. “I wanted to do the same thing after the end of last season. “I told myself I wasn’t going to do anything for six months, but that lasted about six weeks.” – Jackson Sun