Think about this for a couple of minutes......

[JeffCountyVolFan]

Just contemplate it without trying to find reasons or excuses for it.

Tonight we had a coach turn down a reported $8M/year contract, which would have basically doubled his current salary. We offered the 3rd or 4th best coach in the Big 12 the opportunity to become the 4th or 5th highest paid coach in college football. Only a couple of NFL coaches would have had higher salaries.

That is...... devastating?

This athletic department has screwed up more coaching hires in the past decade than others do in half centuries. That cannot be coincidence.

The athletic department must change for things to improve. That's what I think it will take to fix what's broken at UT. Even after changes are instituted, assuming that they are, change will not happen overnight. It's taken years to dig this hole. Climbing out will take some time.

I sure hope that change begins tomorrow.

[Tnphil]

Top coaches have a far less opinion of UT than UT fans do. It's why we got Kiffin....Dooley and Botch and this next hire will probably make those 3 look like Knute Rockne. Just the way it is.

[BanditVol]

Top coaches have a far less opinion of UT than UT fans do. It's why we got Kiffin....Dooley and Botch and this next hire will probably make those 3 look like Knute Rockne. Just the way it is.

yep

[BanditVol]

Just contemplate it without trying to find reasons or excuses for it.

Tonight we had a coach turn down a reported $8M/year contract, which would have basically doubled his current salary. We offered the 3rd or 4th best coach in the Big 12 the opportunity to become the 4th or 5th highest paid coach in college football. Only a couple of NFL coaches would have had higher salaries.

That is...... devastating?

This athletic department has screwed up more coaching hires in the past decade than others do in half centuries. That cannot be coincidence.

The athletic department must change for things to improve. That's what I think it will take to fix what's broken at UT. Even after changes are instituted, assuming that they are, change will not happen overnight. It's taken years to dig this hole. Climbing out will take some time.

I sure hope that change begins tomorrow.

Gundy simply wasn't going to leave OSU.  He has stated often, if not dozens of time, he loves Oklahoma and won't leave.

The offer was more CYA (Cover Your Ass) by Currie.  It looks good, but it was never going to work.

It's not nearly as bad as you state.  I am certainly not defending the AD, but the plain fact is, even if we had the best run AD in the world Tennessee is a hard sell to a coach right now.  

I agree with TnPhil on this one.  Our fanbase has consistently overestimated how desirable the job might be after running off a 0.670 coach that won an NC.  Doubt that;s part of it?  Just look south.  LSU has had more recent success than us and a much better recruiting situation and they also just ran off a coach with a very similar level of success to Fulmer.  And...after an extensive coaching search that included Jimbo Fisher (also for appearance sake only IMO) they settled for...Orgeron.  A guy that was 10-25 at Ole Miss.  And they did look very hard to not have to do that, believe me.

So...this is what it is.  The pack of fools that ran Fulmer off in 2008 failed to factor in  how hard it would be to replace him, and we simply haven't recovered.

But cheer up...I may be in the minority, but I definitely  believe we are in  a better place than 2012.  Although the talent is not top of the line, it's far better than 2012.  It was so bad then (on the defensive side at least) that when I went to watch the Auburn game in Jone's first year, there were 3 walk-ons in the defensive 2-deep, and one of them was a starter.  At the NFL combine that year our fastest defensive player trying out ran a 4.7.  People seem to forget these things, but I haven't.

And yes, the Dooley offense (CHANEY offense actually) was potent in 2012, but both our stud WRs and QB, all juniors, went pro a put a quick end to that.

You talk about digging our of a hole...at least it's not as deep as 2012.

I am concerned that it might get deeper.  This coaching hire is huge.  

[JeffCountyVolFan]

So, why do you think that is?

I could suggest that there have possibly been some good coaches interested over the past decade that were never given a look, for whatever reason.

But let's assume for discussion that is untrue. Why do you think that UT is looked down on as a less than desirable place to coach?

[BanditVol]

So, why do you think that is?

I could suggest that there have possibly been some good coaches interested over the past decade that were never given a look, for whatever reason.

But let's assume for discussion that is untrue. Why do you think that UT is looked down on as a less than desirable place to coach?

See previous post. 

[BanditVol]

Let me add I am not saying coaches are staying away just because of how Fulmer was treated, although I think that's certainly a factor just like it was at LSU last year.  What I am saying is that those wanting Fulmer greatly underestimated how hard it is to replace a coach with that level of success with another.

It's not that coaches stay away, they just have better options at this point. 

I'm definitely not saying Tennessee is bottom of the heap, I am saying that our fanbase thinks it just so easy to hire a coach, and it isn't.  It isn't easy anywhere. 

And part of thinking it's easy is overestimating how eager coaches are to come to Tennessee.  Tennessee is hardly the worst place even with all the recent problems, but the fact is that it's not as easy to get a successful coach to leave a comfortable situation for anywhere.  Period, dot. 

I think we will end up with a decent coach out of all this. 

[Black Diamond Vol]

We can fire Currie right now, but nothing will change until something is done about the man behind the curtain.

[JeffCountyVolFan]

Gundy simply wasn't going to leave OSU.  He has stated often, if not dozens of time, he loves Oklahoma and won't leave.

The offer was more CYA (Cover Your Ass) by Currie.  It looks good, but it was never going to work.

If this is how they actually felt before meeting with Gundy, then this was as ridiculous an offer as was the Schiano bid.  To me this is toally absurd.

You don't think that there is any way that Gundy will come to UT, so you go meet with him and waste at least one entire day of the search.  That in itself is not the smartest move, but to offer him double his salary all the while thinking that he is just going to flat turn you down is beyond idiotic.

Offering this ridiculous amount of money to someone that you thought there was zero chance of landing just adds to the damage.  You have now been turned down by a coach that was offered to moon, so to speak, and the remainder of the coaches that you plan to offer afterwards are going to expect similar monetary offers.

If they indeed thought along the same lines as you, Bandit, then the people running this crap show are even more out of touch than I thought.

They thought that they could buy Gundy.  It didn't work.  Uh oh!

It's not nearly as bad as you state.  I am certainly not defending the AD, but the plain fact is, even if we had the best run AD in the world Tennessee is a hard sell to a coach right now.  

Your opinion.  I disagree.  I see a football program this is in dire straits.

[JeffCountyVolFan]

We can fire Currie right now, but nothing will change until something is done about the man behind the curtain.

I completely agree.       This is the major issue that must be addressed before healing can begin inside of this football program. 

[BanditVol]

If this is how they actually felt before meeting with Gundy, then this was as ridiculous an offer as was the Schiano bid.  To me this is toally absurd.

You don't think that there is any way that Gundy will come to UT, so you go meet with him and waste at least one entire day of the search.  That in itself is not the smartest move, but to offer him double his salary all the while thinking that he is just going to flat turn you down is beyond idiotic.

Offering this ridiculous amount of money to someone that you thought there was zero chance of landing just adds to the damage.  You have now been turned down by a coach that was offered to moon, so to speak, and the remainder of the coaches that you plan to offer afterwards are going to expect similar monetary offers.

If they indeed thought along the same lines as you, Bandit, then the people running this crap show are even more out of touch than I thought.

They thought that they could buy Gundy.  It didn't work.  Uh oh!

Your opinion.  I disagree.  I see a football program this is in dire straits.

Given the amount that was offered, it was a serious offer.  And there was a chance it would work, just not a great one.

I don't have a problem with it at all.  It signals we are serious about the coaching search and that could help with the next candidate.

[BanditVol]

I completely agree.       This is the major issue that must be addressed before healing can begin inside of this football program. 

The problem is Jim's boy Jimmy.  Old Man Haslem was fine..  Was known as the most influential BOT member during the glory years, played on the 51 NC team, etc. 

Reminds me of Malcolm Forbes vs. Steve Forbes.  The first built a great empire, the second is a useless twit who inherited it.

Maybe Jimmy will get out of the way.....

[JeffCountyVolFan]

Given the amount that was offered, it was a serious offer.  And there was a chance it would work, just not a great one.

I don't have a problem with it at all.  It signals we are serious about the coaching search and that could help with the next candidate.

You stated in an earlier post:
"Gundy simply wasn't going to leave OSU.  He has stated often, if not dozens of time, he loves Oklahoma and won't leave.
The offer was more CYA (Cover Your Ass) by Currie.  It looks good, but it was never going to work."

Which was it, a serious offer or one that was never going to work and only used to cover Currie's rear?

[BanditVol]

You stated in an earlier post:
"Gundy simply wasn't going to leave OSU.  He has stated often, if not dozens of time, he loves Oklahoma and won't leave.
The offer was more CYA (Cover Your Ass) by Currie.  It looks good, but it was never going to work."

Which was it, a serious offer or one that was never going to work and only used to cover Currie's rear?

I had a strong opinion that it wasn't going to work.  I don't know what Currie thought.  I think Currie thought there was a chance, even if small.

In other words, I expressed an opinion that Curie might have also "known" it would not work but did it for appearance sake.  But I'm not a mind reader, and I am giving the benefit of the doubt.  He probably at least considered it unlikely, but the chance is not zero, even for me.   

For me it's one in a thousand, but so far as I know for Currie maybe it was one in ten, in his opinion.

Just discriminating between my very strong opinion that Gundy would not leave and my guess or speculation at what Currie thought about the odds.