Report: Kiffin to be cited for a ‘failure to monitor’

The NCAA is expected to cite the University of Tennessee football program as well as current USC coach Lane Kiffin for a failure to monitor, according to a report published by Clay Travis of AOL’s FanHouse.com Wednesday.

The charges stem from improper contact Kiffin and other coaches might have had with recruits during the coach’s one-year stint with the Volunteers in 2009, resulting in a 7-6 mark overall.

“I have no comment on that,” Kiffin told reporters. “Nor do I know anything about that.”

Although since disbanded, according to Travis, Tennessee’s Orange Pride program, which allegedly made impermissible contact with recruits as outlined by The New York Times in December of 2009, is currently at the center of the NCAA’s investigation.

The allegations, initially reported by the Times, state that Vols hostesses had traveled to a high school football game in South Carolina to watch three Tennessee recruits play. One of those three players, defensive end Corey Miller, eventually signed with the school, while the two others signed with North Carolina and South Carolina.

Kiffin’s brother-in-law David Reaves, an assistant quarterback coach for Tennessee at the time and presently an assistant at the University of New Mexico, is also expected to be named in the report.

As reported by Travis, Reaves made improper contact with recruits personally in addition to instructing hostesses about which highly-ranked recruits to contact and how to contact them.

Hostesses were encouraged to contact certain prospects and inquire how official visits to other schools went before encouraging them to sign with Tennessee. Following such conversations, Reaves asked members of Orange Pride to relay updates to him and the coaching staff.

If Kiffin, Reaves and Tennessee do in fact receive official letters of allegations from the NCAA, they will have 90 days to respond to the findings.

Kiffin has yet to be reprimanded by the NCAA for any major infractions, but reportedly was cited for six secondary violations, all while serving as coach of the Volunteers.