This is not for the faint of heart, but like anything in life, if you want something, you have to go get it. If UT wants to be great, they have to clean up the administrative hurdles, get a white whale and be willing to pay for said product.
As a fan base, we have given more than adequate funds and support for this to happen. To carry this even further, we have, as a collective whole, one of the more well-endowed booster bases in the country. I haven't crunched the net worth down to the penny (assets included) of our BIG BRASS, but we have 25B+ in backing power (and no, for the word parsers, this is not allocable funds, just worth).
As far as I'm concerned, if we have fans who are content with settling for anything less than a Patterson/Peterson hire, then go support someone else. I have experienced greatness, and that's what I expect. This is the University of Tennessee, not Vandy, UK, Ole Miss, or even UGA. The excuses stop here, and I challenge all of us to stick it to the UTAD if this gets fugged - they deserve reprimand for reprehensible decisions.
Go Vols!