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http://www.volnation.com/forum/tennessee-vols-football/283632-hiring-proven-power-five-coach-nearly-impossible.html

As the coaching search warms up and the Grumors are going crazy, the thing I see Tennessee fans complain about the most when it comes to hiring is that Tennessee is "cheap". They hire up and comers, never proven coaches because of money, and other schools do, so why can't Tennessee?

Well, because nobody hires proven winners anymore.

Since 2007, I have counted three absolute home run, proven hires. Nick Saban at Bama (2007), Urban Meyer at Ohio State (2012), and Jim Harbaugh at Michigan in 2015. All had weird/different circumstances that led to that. Saban left the NFL during the season, Meyer quit Florida and was out of coaching for a year, and Harbaugh lost a power struggle in the NFL, eschewing other jobs for his alma mater.

Because of how huge college football is, money is no longer an option. Both Gary Patterson and Chris Petersen coach at non-traditional big-time programs in the power five. Both make $4M+. In today's climate, everybody is on TV and with the playoff, anyone power five school can have a chance at the national championship. We saw that with Washington last year.

Take a look at some SEC schools. Florida's last four coaching hires before this year? A career NFL assistant, an MWC coach, a career college coordinator, and another MWC coach. Last two Georgia hires? Both college coordinators. LSU? Just hired a guy who was previously 10-25 as an SEC coach before. Auburn hired a 5-19 coach from Iowa State and a guy from Arkansas State that had one-year head coaching experience.

Tradition and prestige don't matter anymore. What matters is having an AD you like and money. If you are at a power five school that provides both, why leave? Sure you could a Bret Bielema who can't get along with an AD, or a guy goes to his alma mater. Or someone tries his hands at the NFL from college and fails, deciding to come back to college ball. But this isn't the 1970's or 1980's anymore where you drop whatever you are doing if you get a call from a traditional power.

Tennessee has the facilities and the money. They now have a good support system. They can definitely find a great coach, but it will most likely come from the group of five range or coordinator ranks because that's how it works. It won't be because of money or Currie didn't try hard enough or Tennessee isn't a worthwhile job or booster interference.

Exactly spot on.  How many "proven P5" coaches are there?  There are only two in the SEC that anyone would consider, and that's Malzahn and Mullen.  (Saban won't leave bammer, so he doesn't count).  Malzhan won't leave Auburn.  That leaves Mullen, who may not be the worst choice but is one that Vols won't have anything to do with.

There are no others, and you can construct a similar case for all the other P5 conference coaches.

That leaves hiring a coordinator or upcoming FCS coach.  We have had two consecutive FCS coaches. 

In these discussions, what is left out is that neither Dooley (in particular) nor Jones was really "up and coming".  Dooley was below average to mediocre at his previous job, Butch was above average.  Yes he won conference championships at both CMU and Cincy, but he never lost fewer than 3 games at either.  That's not really an "up and comer" in my opinion.

Dooley was a "oh shizzle I gotta hire a warm body" panic hire and Butch was honestly the 3rd or maybe even 4th offer made. 

So maybe the key is not that "upcoming FCS coaches" don't pan out, but that you have to make sure they are truly "up and coming". 

But good luck finding the "proven P5 coach".  As the poster above points out, none of our SEC rivals have done so with the sole exception of bammer and Saban.

Can't argue. Many on VN & Twitter are adamant they better not trot out another long shot up & comer with $350 million in renovations. I have to agree with that sentiment. The prevailing philosophy has seemingly been build it & they will come. Not sure UT doesn't need a change in that philosophy. JMO.

Take a knife to the $350 million & "we" can do whatever "we" want & STILL have real nice renovations.  :loco: :naughty: :powert:

Agree with that, but that cost is spread over about 4-5 years. 

Good points. We've passed on Brian Kelly and Gary Patterson before. That speaks to our bad decisions, not the job's value.