I wonder if Vols fans would have a more positive outlook on Kiffin if he'd never gone to the Raiders. Yeah, he wasn't ready to be a head coach in the NFL, and having that nutjob owner as his first boss was putting him on third and long before he even got started. But if you look at his resume without the "failure" of his experience with the Raiders, he looks to me like a IDEAL candidate.
The downside, if any, would be the idea that he might treat the UT job as a stepping stone, or a way of proving himself before he gets another shot in the NFL. But for him to be successful in that quest he'd have to do some great things at Tennessee, and I'm all for that.