By JOHN ADAMS, Scripps Howard News Service

The game ended, and the show began at Thompson-Boling Arena on Thursday night.
First came the photographers, who raced across the floor so fast you might have wondered if they had been tipped that Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt was planning a sudden getaway after winning her 1,000th game. Then came the confetti.
Up next: dignitaries bearing gifts.

Fans who attended the University of Tennessee's recruiting celebration here early Thursday morning didn't need coffee. New UT coach Lane Kiffin and his staff provided plenty of stimulation.

When you look ahead to the next college football season, the view should be pleasantly familiar to Southeastern Conference fans.
The conference's top two teams have both been in the running for the national title in each of the last three seasons. Expect more of the same in 2009 as the conference goes for a fourth consecutive national championship.

College football has enjoyed a great laugh at Auburn's expense for the last month. To the detached observer, it has been almost as funny as watching Ohio State unravel in a big game.

I learned the folly in evaluating coaches on a first impression a long time ago.
Thirty years ago, I covered football coach Steve Sloan's first press conference at Ole Miss. I combined what I saw and heard with his successes at Vanderbilt and Texas Tech and concluded he would return a mediocre program to its glory days.
His best record in five years at Ole Miss was 5-6.

New Tennessee football coach Lane Kiffin is only 33 years old. So he's obviously too young to be a head coach.
Then, so was ...
-- Vince Dooley, who became the head football coach at Georgia when he was a kid of 32. He was in his late 40s before he had his first losing season. He won 201 games, six SEC titles and a national championship.

If you remember nothing else about the University of Tennessee's hiring process, remember this: The process only matters if you get the wrong guy for a football coach.For example, take your football neighbors to the south.

North Carolina football coach Butch Davis says he's happy in Chapel Hill and committed to building a championship program there. His agent, Jimmy Sexton, also downplayed the Davis-to-Tennessee rumor.So you immediately crossed Davis off your University of Tennessee coaching candidates list, right?Of course, you didn't.

If you're looking for a great opportunity and a great challenge, call Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton. He has a job for you.The pay is high. So are the expectations.Coach Phillip Fulmer met those expectations for a long time. He won two SEC titles and a national championship in the late 1990s. He won a high percentage of his games.

The Southeastern Conference has seen its top-10 stock drop from five to three teams. And the Big 12 has replaced it in the national spotlight.But the SEC still has its goals intact as the college football season heads into its final month. It can qualify a team for the national championship game, put two teams in BCS bowls and fulfill all of its bowl opportunities.