Why so difficult?

[OriginalCoach]

Let's see....UT has:
Some of the best facilities
Rabid fan base
Humongous athletic budget

So why can't TN attract big name coaches with successful resumes? Seems like coaches would be lining up outside the AD office instead of UT lining up outside a coaches office like a cold calling salesman, waiting to make a pitch.

 

[utvolpj]

What makes you think it's been difficult? It's only been a little over a week. The hand wringing is out of control

 

[volfannbama]

My understanding is boosters are a turn off.
Small instate recruiting base.
Admin shows a lack of dedication to winning.


Im sure coaches see a few things negative about UT.

I wouldn't worry too much, Alabama was a revolving door or failed coaches not too long ago.

 

[Zues1]

Coach O basically said he and Kiffy drew a 5 hour wide circle around Knoxville and was very impressed with the talent possibilities in those areas.

The "hard to recruit here" Is over stated.

 

[lonelawyer]

Let's see....UT has:
Some of the best facilities
Rabid fan base
Humongous athletic budget

So why can't TN attract big name coaches with successful resumes? Seems like coaches would be lining up outside the AD office instead of UT lining up outside a coaches office like a cold calling salesman, waiting to make a pitch.

Most of the best are in situations where they have no desire to leave. Saban, Meyer, Swinney. They are treated like royalty in comparable programs.

Secondly, our fanbase is a double edged sword. We have the most committed fanbase in the world but that also means we can go a little crazy sometimes. Even back as far as the 1970s we were sending moving vans to coaches houses.

Third, even though the best coaches are egomaniacs, our schedule is scary every year. Our schedule is usually one of the tougher ones in the nation, and the powers that be bunch up our toughest games. In any given year, we could face three or four top 15 teams by Halloween.

Fourth, while we are a football school, unlike Bama, the Barn, or even Oklahoma St.; we don't speak with one voice from the power brokers. From the administration, to the big money boosters, everyone has their own agenda.

Finally, unlike the media in Tuscaloosa or Gainesville, the media in Knoxville talks down our program. None of them want to be considered homers, and in fact two of the most senior members of the media in Knoxville aren't even Tennessee fans.

All of this makes it more difficult than elsewhere.

 

[K-town Vol Fan]

Let's see....UT has:
Some of the best facilities
Rabid fan base
Humongous athletic budget

So why can't TN attract big name coaches with successful resumes? Seems like coaches would be lining up outside the AD office instead of UT lining up outside a coaches office like a cold calling salesman, waiting to make a pitch.

Is this per your sources?

 

[Roustabout]

Let's see....UT has:
Some of the best facilities
Rabid fan base
Humongous athletic budget

So why can't TN attract big name coaches with successful resumes? Seems like coaches would be lining up outside the AD office instead of UT lining up outside a coaches office like a cold calling salesman, waiting to make a pitch.

Panic much??

UT is in a bad way because it has to replace a coach the first year of the early signing period. That is unchartered waters. If not for that I think UT would look towards someone like a Doug Marrone, but they don't have the luxury of hiring an NFL guy.

Aside from that, you have to find a proven winner who can greatly improve their situation. 7-8 years ago that was still hard, but easier than today. Now, with the TV contracts a program like TCU can pay Patterson 5 million and have 40k in attendance. If you think about that it's crazy. Based on that they should be paying under $2 million.

Consider that Dan Mullen is making 4.25 at MSU. That's insane. The only motivation is to work from a better platform.

So, the only route is to hire an up and comer out of a school from a lower conference, find a coach who is disgruntled, looking for a bigger stage, or promote a coordinator.

The other factor are the buyouts. When a guy like Campbell has a $9.4 million buyout, you've entered the twilight zone. Kudos to Iowa State.

That's why I would seriously consider a Les Miles who you could get at a bargain, or a Chip Kelly, baggage or not.

That's why LSU ended up with Orgeron and UGA went with Smart. For UT to think they are above this is ridiculous.

Stop being delusional. UT is not stealing away a great coach. Better programs haven't been able to do it.

 

[Carp]

I think previous issues were due to money. We were paying hefty buyouts and didn't want to pay top end prices on top of that. Also, reportedly Charlie Strong was our top option (other than Gruden) and for whatever reason, negotiations fell apart at the last minute. Several people were reporting Strong had agreed to become the coach, then the next day or so, everything fell apart. Even Swain admits this.

If we don't let money get in the way, we can have our pick, imo. The questions then become, who is our top choice and how much are we willing to spend?

 

[fade route]

Let's see....UT has:
Some of the best facilities
Rabid fan base
Humongous athletic budget

So why can't TN attract big name coaches with successful resumes? Seems like coaches would be lining up outside the AD office instead of UT lining up outside a coaches office like a cold calling salesman, waiting to make a pitch.

Xanax

 

[volfannbama]

Coach O basically said he and Kiffy drew a 5 hour wide circle around Knoxville and was very impressed with the talent possibilities in those areas.

The "hard to recruit here" Is over stated.

Although high school ball in the area has improved, it is an absolute fact that in state talent in Tennessee is not going to build a top program. Tennessee has always needed the capability to recruit nationwide.

 

[VFLBerg]

The season isn't even over yet. Look at past hires from other colleges. It is extremely rare for a coach to be announced before the season is over. Kiffin was announced on Dec 1st. Jones was announced on Dec 7. You are going to have to wait a while.

 

[germantown902]

Let's cut to the chase. We'll get a coach and the sunshine pumpers will rejoice, the Butch defenders will claim that the hire sucks and the admin should have kept Jones, and the Nega Vols will continue to hate and swear they'll never give another dime to the scalpers outside of Neyland.

So, whoever Currie picks will be our coach so we might as well embrace him and make him feel welcome.

 

[Boca Vol]

Let's see....UT has:
Some of the best facilities
Rabid fan base
Humongous athletic budget

So why can't TN attract big name coaches with successful resumes? Seems like coaches would be lining up outside the AD office instead of UT lining up outside a coaches office like a cold calling salesman, waiting to make a pitch.

90% of the vitriol spewed towards Jones was from people that were certified card-carrying sunshine pumpers just 3 months ago. It doesn't take much to have a fanbase turn on you.

 

[rjd970]

What makes you think it's been difficult? It's only been a little over a week. The hand wringing is out of control

This this this

 

[amillz]

My understanding is boosters are a turn off.
Small instate recruiting base.
Admin shows a lack of dedication to winning.


Im sure coaches see a few things negative about UT.

I wouldn't worry too much, Alabama was a revolving door or failed coaches not too long ago.

Our Instate recruiting is picking up. Middle TN is booming and Knoxville usually has a player or 2 every year.

 

[BondJamesBond]

If we don't let money get in the way, we can have our pick, imo. The questions then become, who is our top choice and how much are we willing to spend?

True, if we are willing to pay a $8-10M buy out and maybe pay someone $12M a year with a five year contract and big buy out. Otherwise, the notion of getting anyone you want by just throwing money at them is preposterous. Think we could hire Saban? Urban? What would that take? What would Bama and OSU pay to keep them?

 

[zqvol]

Let's see....UT has:
Some of the best facilities
Rabid fan base
Humongous athletic budget

So why can't TN attract big name coaches with successful resumes? Seems like coaches would be lining up outside the AD office instead of UT lining up outside a coaches office like a cold calling salesman, waiting to make a pitch.

Why do you think it is difficult?

Most of them coaches are happy where they are currently employed.

Just because we want them doesn't mean that they and their families want to leave their current situation. Throwing money at them is nice, but let's face it none of them are hurting for money, money is never an issue when talking about a head coaches salary.

We have a very undereducated fan base. The fans think that they know who the successful coaches are, but the fans have no idea other than a few names that they have heard. There are many successful coaches that the fans know nothing about that are beating Currie's door down to get an interview.

Fans are often mistaken about successful coaches, they go on name recognition, not success. Gruden is a prime example. Great name recognition, mediocre resume.

Time to have faith that Currie will make a solid hire. He hasan't had the opportunity to hire a UT football coach before, but except for Hamilton and Hart, UT ADs have a history of making home run hires.

 

[zeppelin128]

Because we have fans that want Dan Mullen..

 

[landscapingvol]

My understanding is boosters are a turn off.
Small instate recruiting base.
Admin shows a lack of dedication to winning.


Im sure coaches see a few things negative about UT.

I wouldn't worry too much, Alabama was a revolving door or failed coaches not too long ago.

Here we go again with the imaginary maniacal booster logic based on nothing but fantasy. Every major football program has powerful boosters or they aren’t a major football program, UT isn’t unique to that. It could be that there are only a handful of great coaches and every major program competes for them but I would continue to blame everything on these imaginary issues instead of the real ones. UTs issues in the past stemmed from the fact that weren’t committed to winning or trying to get the best coaches they could get. In the end, all you can do is make good faith efforts to hire the best coaches available.

 

[VOLnMiami]

Let's see....UT has:
Some of the best facilities
Rabid fan base
Humongous athletic budget

So why can't TN attract big name coaches with successful resumes? Seems like coaches would be lining up outside the AD office instead of UT lining up outside a coaches office like a cold calling salesman, waiting to make a pitch.

None of us have any idea what is going on behind closed doors...Only Currie does and he is not giving us any clues as to whom he is going after...We won't know until he lets us know...Gruden might be wrapped up!.."Doubt it seriously" but who knows?...Currie knows he can't screw up this hire or his job will be on the line.

 

[easleychuck]

Most of the best are in situations where they have no desire to leave. Saban, Meyer, Swinney. They are treated like royalty in comparable programs.

Secondly, our fanbase is a double edged sword. We have the most committed fanbase in the world but that also means we can go a little crazy sometimes. Even back as far as the 1970s we were sending moving vans to coaches houses.

Third, even though the best coaches are egomaniacs, our schedule is scary every year. Our schedule is usually one of the tougher ones in the nation, and the powers that be bunch up our toughest games. In any given year, we could face three or four top 15 teams by Halloween.

Fourth, while we are a football school, unlike Bama, the Barn, or even Oklahoma St.; we don't speak with one voice from the power brokers. From the administration, to the big money boosters, everyone has their own agenda.

Finally, unlike the media in Tuscaloosa or Gainesville, the media in Knoxville talks down our program. None of them want to be considered homers, and in fact two of the most senior members of the media in Knoxville aren't even Tennessee fans.

All of this makes it more difficult than elsewhere.

for John Adams to choke on a hot dog. I miss Ben Byrd and Tom Siler and yes, Marvin West. I thought Al Browning, Adams predecessor as sports editor, was bad but Adams is just a spiteful, hate spewing a-hole. I actually miss ole Jimmy Hyams when he was writing for the Sentinel. That is how bad Adam's writing is.

He is not clever or creative in his articles. All he has done since he got here is run the UT teams down.

I must admit that I have not clicked on an article by him in at least 3 years so maybe he has become fairer in his treatment of all things UT.......nah, I am sure that is not the case.

He did all he could to get Fulmer run off. He succeeded and because the fiddlers in charge of the university were clueless, they have whiffed on the last 3 coaching hires.

I should give them a pass on the Dooley hire because of the way that Kiffin ran out in the middle of the night. But they could have hired Cutcliffe to transition to the next big decision. Cut would not have been a show-stopper hire but he was/is a competent D1 coach who loves and understands UT. If the muckety mucks had allowed Cut to take the job with no strings attached the program would have never bottomed out the way it did under Dooley, who was just a pretty boy with a famous name. Sadly, I think that he was actually a better game day coach than our most recent failure.

The Butch Jones hire was just a case of hiring a very average coach for a job that was way too big for him. I swear that you can ask that man if the sky were blue and he could not provide a straight answer. I am so glad that good ole Charley failed at Texas but boy did he get a nice check to go away.

I do believe that AD Currie will make a good hire. I like how he is going about his business. The thing that makes a coaching hire such a crapshoot is that there is no way of knowing how it will turn out.

We are due at UT. After 3 straight swings and misses it just makes sense doesn't it?

 

[RockyTopWorld]

Although high school ball in the area has improved, it is an absolute fact that in state talent in Tennessee is not going to build a top program. Tennessee has always needed the capability to recruit nationwide.

We need to establish recruiting strongholds in North Georgia, the Western Carolina's and Metro ATL like we once had, and that's very doable.

 

[dyllisvol42]

Let's see....UT has:
Some of the best facilities
Rabid fan base
Humongous athletic budget

So why can't TN attract big name coaches with successful resumes? Seems like coaches would be lining up outside the AD office instead of UT lining up outside a coaches office like a cold calling salesman, waiting to make a pitch.

Who in your mind is a big name coach?
Saban, already at a prestigious school will retire there.
Meyer: never leaving Ohio st
Dabo: has it pretty good there plus 40 million dollar buyout. Will leave when Saban retires, and he takes bama job.
Harbaugh: at his alma mater, plus no thanks.
Gruden: loves hearing his name mentioned is not coming here. Makes 10 million a year to work 6 months.
I would believe coaches are lining up to get here. They are the next tier of coaches down who will be given everything they need tobecome the next Saban or Meyer. Big name hires normally do not leave big time jobs for another. Remember people in Clemson were furious when Dabo was named head coach. Meyer came from Utah at the time a mountain west school. Just let it play out hopefully this next coach is the one who gets us over the hump.

 

[Chilmonty]

OMG! OMG! OMG! ITS BEEN 9 DAYS...9DAYS, WHE'RE SCREWED!!! :yikes::yikes::yikes:

Jeez would you guys take a pill, get a massage, drink some herbal tea and chill out, its barely a week and for all we know they already have our guy!! :yes:



.

 

[volfannbama]

Here we go again with the imaginary maniacal booster logic based on nothing but fantasy. Every major football program has powerful boosters or they aren’t a major football program, UT isn’t unique to that. It could be that there are only a handful of great coaches and every major program competes for them but I would continue to blame everything on these imaginary issues instead of the real ones. UTs issues in the past stemmed from the fact that weren’t committed to winning or trying to get the best coaches they could get. In the end, all you can do is make good faith efforts to hire the best coaches available.

The level of involvment from boosters varies from program to program. From what i have heard, boosters are a turn off at Tennessee. There was a story about a weeknor so ago, a booster calling CBJ during his locker room speech after a loss looking for an explanation.