Pretend you're a booster

#1

coffeevol

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#1


Imagine you are a booster for a moment....Your last name is Haslam or Anderson or something halfway recognizable to the fan base. In 08 Fulmer finally slips enough and booster start cutting checks to go a different direction, they bring Kiffin in, less than a year later he skips town and you realize the administration wasn't smart enough to tie a large buy out to him. In a rush to save the recruiting class they bring in a thoroughbred last name with an average to below average record to lead your team, the administration has botched it, he is pampas and arrogant with nothing to back it up, fails after his time is up and the same administration comes calling for cash again, you cut the check, they are on a plane to get Gundy a raise, Strong leaves them stranded in Louisville coming back empty handed and in steps a snake oil salesman full of one liners and hope. His time comes to an end without significant improvement and a decision is made, again you cut the check.....now comes a story about an AD who cant be reached, we have a quirky pirate on the line, no now theyre at Doren at NC State, nah hes staying, Brohm is a done deal, nah he's not, whispers of Schiano drop on a Sunday and Volnation ties him to Penn state to make themselves feel warm and fuzzy to overthrow the hire because its not Stoops, Gruden, or Urban......chaos ensues, the AD gone, the country laughing at us, and now a former coach the same one you wrote a check to remove in 2008 is making the hire and we are down to Coordinators because no one else wants a part of the clown show. ...... so back to your last name and that check book....do you mind taking it out for one more check....we'll get our guy this time, you can trust ole Phil. Now belly up to the bar we just need a few million from each of you.
 
#2
#2
I know one billionaire. I don't think he'd open the wallet without having an extraordinary amount of say in the hire. I imagine the ones who float UT feel the same way and that is likely why we always fail at coaching searches.

Being independent of booster influence would be ideal. You know the strings aren't solely attached to the proverbial purse.
 
#5
#5
If I was a billionaire, I would do it on one condition, I get to be on the search committee. I would then make every single big name head coach in P5 tell me to go away. Then I would start making offers. We need a proven winner at a high level.

If I was a billionaire, I would gladly pay millions to see us back at the top before I die.

Also I would pay good money to make the woo in rocky top go away.
 
#9
#9


Imagine you are a booster for a moment....Your last name is Haslam or Anderson or something halfway recognizable to the fan base. In 08 Fulmer finally slips enough and booster start cutting checks to go a different direction, they bring Kiffin in, less than a year later he skips town and you realize the administration wasn't smart enough to tie a large buy out to him. In a rush to save the recruiting class they bring in a thoroughbred last name with an average to below average record to lead your team, the administration has botched it, he is pampas and arrogant with nothing to back it up, fails after his time is up and the same administration comes calling for cash again, you cut the check, they are on a plane to get Gundy a raise, Strong leaves them stranded in Louisville coming back empty handed and in steps a snake oil salesman full of one liners and hope. His time comes to an end without significant improvement and a decision is made, again you cut the check.....now comes a story about an AD who cant be reached, we have a quirky pirate on the line, no now theyre at Doren at NC State, nah hes staying, Brohm is a done deal, nah he's not, whispers of Schiano drop on a Sunday and Volnation ties him to Penn state to make themselves feel warm and fuzzy to overthrow the hire because its not Stoops, Gruden, or Urban......chaos ensues, the AD gone, the country laughing at us, and now a former coach the same one you wrote a check to remove in 2008 is making the hire and we are down to Coordinators because no one else wants a part of the clown show. ...... so back to your last name and that check book....do you mind taking it out for one more check....we'll get our guy this time, you can trust ole Phil. Now belly up to the bar we just need a few million from each of you.
Even IF fans protested under false pretenses, which I'm sure a small percentage did, who the f would want Schiano as Tennessee's coach anyway? Rutgers still sucks, in case you didn't know.
 
#12
#12
I know one billionaire. I don't think he'd open the wallet without having an extraordinary amount of say in the hire. I imagine the ones who float UT feel the same way and that is likely why we always fail at coaching searches.

Being independent of booster influence would be ideal. You know the strings aren't solely attached to the proverbial purse.

And it is even worse than that. Yes, they want a say in the hire, but they also believe they should have access to the coach after he gets here. A disaster on multiple levels.
 
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#15
#15
You have to wear those boosters down. keep Pruitt for a good 5 years and if he hasn't succeeded they will come to you for a change.
 
#16
#16
I think if a really good coach would have wanted the job the boosters would have paid, didn't anyone want the job that was worth a crap. Thats how we ended up with JP, even then i think he was about 8th on the list.
 
#17
#17
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#19
#19
If I was a billionaire booster, this would have been very simple.....I would have handed Lane Kiffin a blank check and never-ever have let him leave UT regardless of his terms and conditions. As long as Kiffin was our coach, I would GLADLY each year write UT a check for his salary!!
 
#21
#21
I think if a really good coach would have wanted the job the boosters would have paid, didn't anyone want the job that was worth a crap. Thats how we ended up with JP, even then i think he was about 8th on the list.
8th on whose list, yours? Show us a link to any coaching search rating list that has ever has been made public by an Athletics Department.
 
#22
#22
Again, according to the financial statements filed by the Athletic Dept with the State of Tennessee, there hasn’t been Daddy Bigbucks stepping up with millions of dollars to buy any of the previous coaches out.
Yea, and Lee Harvey Oswald killed JFK on his own.
 
#23
#23
I have a really good imagination, and I'm very good at seeing other people's points of view. I had never really thought about this before. Since you asked, honestly, I would not give a nickel to get rid of Pruitt. not one nickel. I would tell them to go ahead and give him 10 years. If they came to me with their hand out after 10 years, saying "Oh, it turns out we gave him a 12 year contract" then I'd tell them to give him 20 years. I never really thought about it before.
 
#24
#24
If I'm a big time booster....as of right now I'm not putting up one penny to buy anyone out until there's 100% absolute agreement among all the other big time boosters that we are committed to winning in football and that we're gonna go out and throw 6, 8, 10 million a year at a very select few and just see what happens. If they accept, great, if they don't keep adding money and/or other benefits until they do.

Otherwise you may as well keep Pruitt and hope he can figure out, because otherwise you're gonna continue to repeat this cycle over and over and over again and I'm not investing in something that's proven to fail.

The biggest problem in all of the above, however, is all the big name guys cant and won't get on the same page. All the money in the world would be there for us to go out and pay a ridiculous amount money to land a big name guy. Would they accept the job? Don't know unless you try. But we will never find out because our boosters have always been in a pissing contest.
 
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