THE ANSWER TO TENNESSEE'S COACHING SEARCH: OVERSIGNING

New plan for the Tennessee coaching search, y'all. Nick Saban has shown us the way to enlightenment, if only we will listen.

Last season, Saban signed something like 140 players to his 2008 class. No worries, he said, it will all work itself out. If Saban and the airlines can do it, then so can we. So here's the plan:

Hire Mike Leach. Then hire Brian Kelly. Then promise Butch Davis $5M per and Jon Gruden $5.5M per. Tell Lane Kiffin you want him on Rocky Top and that you're going to make him the next Belichick. Substitute somebody he likes and respects if that doesn't do it for him. Lock up Trooper Taylor, Mike Gundy, and Bill Cowher.

That would give us far and away the No. 1 head coach recruiting class in the nation this season. Eight Five-Star, Ten-Jar blue-chip coaching recruits.

What do we do with all eight? Well, the first thing is to not fret about it, Virginia. It will all work itself out. I guarantee you that by the beginning of fall camp, we'll be under the limit of one. One of them may become unexpectedly ill. Maybe another will discover that East Tennessee is no place for someone with allergies. Another may wake up one morning with a knife in his back with Doug Dickey's fingerprints on it and the smell of Johnny Majors' cologne filling the room. The possibilities are endless, really, so don't concern yourself with it.

Maximize your odds. Hire them all and worry about the rest later.