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I don't think Butch Jones is the disaster everyone else seems to think that it is.  He certainly is a far cry from Dooley. 

• He has a proven track record of winning. 
• He has a better record over the past two seasons than Charlie Strong. 
• He was named the Coach of the Year this year in his conference.
• He has a winning record against Charlie Strong. 

And lastly, he is now our coach so we should rally behind him and help get this program turned around.

I'm not as upset as I thought I'd be, but it should be pointed out that he won at both CMU and Cincinnati with Brian Kelly's players and was only at each place for three seasons. And in both cases the players were recruited for and taught Kelly's program, which Jones was already familiar with. So it's up in the air how well he will do at actually running his own program and starting with a roster not recruited for it.

He was also 4-8 his first year at Cincinnati, which is the biggest worry for me. Kelly won 33 games and went to two BCS bowls in his final three years there and Jones took the next team to 4-8 in his first season before posting a couple of good seasons after that. What does that say for how 2013 is going to go here?

I'm not going to complain about the hire upfront. There is lots that can be said about the way Hart handled this and, frankly, I'm okay with him and Cheek being canned tomorrow. But I'll give Jones the chance to win...what choice do we have?

The first thing he has to do is go out and hire a good staff that includes some UT alums like Graham and Tee, as well as some guys who know how to recruit the SEC.

The second thing he has to do is improve our standing in this year's recruiting class, preferably by securing a Top 15 class.

The third thing he has to do is beat UGA, USC or UF next year.

He will do none of the above

I agree completely.  He is not the big name everyone had hoped for but it's done.  So let's get behind the man instead of griping about him.  I listened to Bill King on the way in this morning and he pretty much nailed it.  Tennessee is just not that an attractive job right now.  Hart took his best shot and he found what looks to be a pretty decent, young coach who wants to be at Tennessee.  I'll be interested to see who his defensive coordinator will be and if he can recruit.  But complaining about it openly on this board is working against us.  The decision is made so get over it (or not, up to you).  He has a lot of work to do so let's welcome him in and show support.

Sorry, I can not and WILL not accept the continuation of the decline of Tennessee football, which this hire does

Thee is always room on the bammer bandwagon.  :crazy:

Come on, I live in bubbaville these days  :doh: - Hunker Down!  :beer:

Well if you rooted against bammer and for uga in the SECCG, then I owe you an adult beverage sometime.  Bammer is the center of all that is evil.   :mad: :mad: :mad:

But Pirate, it's not a continued spiral down.  I don't see it that way.  Jones will be better than Dooley, how could he be worse?   

It may, at the end of the day, be that he gets us to mediocre from where we are now, which is really bad, and then we move on, but he will at least improve the situation.  IMHO.

I am pretty clearly on record with this hire as a fail, given our current circumstances, and have said jones is guilty until proven innocent with me.  If he does those three things I will definitely take notice.  I think there is less than 10% chance of that happening.

Well of the three, he can definitely achieve the hiring of UT staff.  Graham is almost certainly to be retained and Tee has supposedly already been contacted.   

As for getting a top 15 class, if the rumors about Derrick Green are true, and he can land Von Bell or Marquez or both, no reason we can't move into the top 15.  We are currently 23 even with defections from the Dooley firing.  But this will be tougher for sure.

Of the three teams, we might be able to beat uga or usc next year at home, but depending on the leaving early to the NFL situation, this will be by far the toughest one.

So I am going to say 30%.   :biggrin: