Events that changed UT history.

[TennEddie]

Doug Dickey doing what he said he was not going to do: sneaking out of Knoxville and going to UF.
DD had it rolling on The Hill. Every year they were getting better. He had his foot firmly on the Bear’s neck.
Leaving when he did was one of the worst things to happen to UT and one of the best for Bama.

Bruce Pearl getting canned on account of a back yard cook out. Looking back from today’s perspective
where players are openly paid and some teams ( Bama ) are actually playing former NBA pros to play,
a weeny roast looks awfully lame.

Pat Summit becomes ill with a life threatening disease and is unable to coach. Arguably the most visible person
from UT in the national media, is suddenly taken from us. We have never recovered.

We FINALLY get a program that brings us national recognition and championships, and just as quickly as he arrives
Tony V leaves us. It remains to be seen how dramatically this change will effect us, but I doubt if he can be replaced.
Not just in the win/loss records, but his dynamic personality. He was SPECIAL !


.

 

[10seV4L]

ADDW allowing his most successful coach to be poached away will come back to haunt him. It also stinks of the possible notion that DW thinks it's his magic that made things happen, and that he can do it again if need be; lmao.
Mark my words, and despite wanting success for Elander, but DW will never hire a better baseball coach or have more success than he did with CTV, yet he will still be a credited with having a hand in those teams and ultimately the championship

 

[kckempf]

ADDW allowing his most successful coach to be poached away will come back to haunt him. It also stinks of the possible notion that DW thinks it's his magic that made things happen, and that he can do it again, if need be; lmao

I don't think anybody else would have been more likely to keep Vitello from going to the Giants. I can understand disagreeing with White's approach but I would come into any criticism of that event assuming that no matter what Tony's going to take an opportunity that literally no other college coach has ever been given.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

Doug Dickey doing what he said he was not going to do: sneaking out of Knoxville and going to UF.
DD had it rolling on The Hill. Every year they were getting better. He had his foot firmly on the Bear’s neck.
Leaving when he did was one of the worst things to happen to UT and one of the best for Bama.

Bruce Pearl getting canned on account of a back yard cook out. Looking back from today’s perspective
where players are openly paid and some teams ( Bama ) are actually playing former NBA pros to play,
a weeny roast looks awfully lame.

Pat Summit becomes ill with a life threatening disease and is unable to coach. Arguably the most visible person
from UT in the national media, is suddenly taken from us. We have never recovered.

We FINALLY get a program that brings us national recognition and championships, and just as quickly as he arrives
Tony V leaves us. It remains to be seen how dramatically this change will effect us, but I doubt if he can be replaced.
Not just in the win/loss records, but his dynamic personality. He was SPECIAL !


.

Pearl didn't get canned because of the cookout. He got canned because of what he did afterwards. He could have retired at UT if he would have followed the directions the AD gave him. He actually did what they told him not to do and then lied about it.

 

[OffTackleVol]

Doug Dickey doing what he said he was not going to do: sneaking out of Knoxville and going to UF.
DD had it rolling on The Hill. Every year they were getting better. He had his foot firmly on the Bear’s neck.
Leaving when he did was one of the worst things to happen to UT and one of the best for Bama.

Bruce Pearl getting canned on account of a back yard cook out. Looking back from today’s perspective
where players are openly paid and some teams ( Bama ) are actually playing former NBA pros to play,
a weeny roast looks awfully lame.

Pat Summit becomes ill with a life threatening disease and is unable to coach. Arguably the most visible person
from UT in the national media, is suddenly taken from us. We have never recovered.

We FINALLY get a program that brings us national recognition and championships, and just as quickly as he arrives
Tony V leaves us. It remains to be seen how dramatically this change will effect us, but I doubt if he can be replaced.
Not just in the win/loss records, but his dynamic personality. He was SPECIAL !


.

The 3 coaches getting killed by a train was huge as well. Dickey may have been replaced by Bill Majors instead of 28 year old Bill Battle.

I don't believe Bama would have dominated the 70's had Dickey stayed at Tennessee.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

The 3 coaches getting killed by a train was huge as well. Dickey may have been replaced by Bill Majors instead of 28 year old Bill Battle.

I don't believe Bama would have dominated the 70's had Dickey stayed at Tennessee.
[/QUOTE
Never thought about Bill being the next coach had he not died tragically in that accident. Even with that reality, Johnny probably should have gotten the nod a instead of Battle.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

The 3 coaches getting killed by a train was huge as well. Dickey may have been replaced by Bill Majors instead of 28 year old Bill Battle.

I don't believe Bama would have dominated the 70's had Dickey stayed at Tennessee.

Never thought about the possibility that Bill might have been the next coach, but it certainly could have come to fruition had he not died in that tragic accident. Even with the reality of that event, brother Johnny probably should have followed Dickey instead of Battle.

 

[NighthawkVol]

ADDW allowing his most successful coach to be poached away will come back to haunt him. It also stinks of the possible notion that DW thinks it's his magic that made things happen, and that he can do it again if need be; lmao.
Mark my words, and despite wanting success for Elander, but DW will never hire a better baseball coach or have more success than he did with CTV, yet he will still be a credited with having a hand in those teams and ultimately the championship

“To be poached away.”

He went to an MLB team. The 2nd winningest MLB franchise of all-time. The first time any sitting college coach has ever had that opportunity.

Nobody is turning that down to stay at a college program.

 

[NighthawkVol]

Doug Dickey doing what he said he was not going to do: sneaking out of Knoxville and going to UF.
DD had it rolling on The Hill. Every year they were getting better. He had his foot firmly on the Bear’s neck.
Leaving when he did was one of the worst things to happen to UT and one of the best for Bama.

Bruce Pearl getting canned on account of a back yard cook out. Looking back from today’s perspective
where players are openly paid and some teams ( Bama ) are actually playing former NBA pros to play,
a weeny roast looks awfully lame.

Pat Summit becomes ill with a life threatening disease and is unable to coach. Arguably the most visible person
from UT in the national media, is suddenly taken from us. We have never recovered.

We FINALLY get a program that brings us national recognition and championships, and just as quickly as he arrives
Tony V leaves us. It remains to be seen how dramatically this change will effect us, but I doubt if he can be replaced.
Not just in the win/loss records, but his dynamic personality. He was SPECIAL !


.

Letting Spurrier go to Florida because we were still running the single wing. If Dickey had been hired earlier and landed Spurrier, that changes a lot.

Hiring Bill Battle to replace Dickey instead of Johnny Majors. Majors could’ve had a dynasty if he’d arrived in 1970.

Alternatively, Bill Majors was considered the best coaching prospect in that family. If he hadn’t been killed, he probably takes over for Dickey and has tremendous success.

Also, what happens if Tennessee hires Rick Barnes instead of Wade Houston or Kevin O’Neill? I believe he was a candidate both of those times.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

Letting Spurrier go to Florida because we were still running the single wing. If Dickey had been hired earlier and landed Spurrier, that changes a lot.

Hiring Bill Battle to replace Dickey instead of Johnny Majors. Majors could’ve had a dynasty if he’d arrived in 1970.

Alternatively, Bill Majors was considered the best coaching prospect in that family. If he hadn’t been killed, he probably takes over for Dickey and has tremendous success.

Also, what happens if Tennessee hires Rick Barnes instead of Wade Houston or Kevin O’Neill? I believe he was a candidate both of those times.

Glad we got Barnes anyway, even if it is on the back end of his career. He's probably a better coach now having learned things in his vast experience as a coach

 

[BigBadVol]

DW spent tens of millions to renovate the stadium because CTV said it was needed. He made CTV the highest paid baseball coach in the NCAA. CTV had the third highest NIL budget in the NCAA for baseball. What was DW suppose to do to keep CTV? DW doesn’t get enough credit. IMO Tony made a mistake leaving and I think he now regrets it. The San Francisco media has already barked at him for talking about Tennessee too much. He was a rock star in Knoxville and will be nothing more than the manager that came from the college ranks in San Francisco. For 9 months a year he will barely see his family. Good luck with that BS!

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

I must mention it since this is in the basketball forum. We were a solid program under Mears who had pioneered the phrase, "Big Orange Country's, but the signings of Ernie Grunfeld and Bernard King in 1973 and 1974 took us to unprecedented heights in basketball

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

Doug Dickey doing what he said he was not going to do: sneaking out of Knoxville and going to UF.
DD had it rolling on The Hill. Every year they were getting better. He had his foot firmly on the Bear’s neck.
Leaving when he did was one of the worst things to happen to UT and one of the best for Bama.

Bruce Pearl getting canned on account of a back yard cook out. Looking back from today’s perspective
where players are openly paid and some teams ( Bama ) are actually playing former NBA pros to play,
a weeny roast looks awfully lame.

Pat Summit becomes ill with a life threatening disease and is unable to coach. Arguably the most visible person
from UT in the national media, is suddenly taken from us. We have never recovered.

We FINALLY get a program that brings us national recognition and championships, and just as quickly as he arrives
Tony V leaves us. It remains to be seen how dramatically this change will effect us, but I doubt if he can be replaced.
Not just in the win/loss records, but his dynamic personality. He was SPECIAL !


.

Nice choice putting this thread topic in the basketball forum on GameDay with a hated rival

 

[VOLINVONORE]

Pearl didn't get canned because of the cookout. He got canned because of what he did afterwards. He could have retired at UT if he would have followed the directions the AD gave him. He actually did what they told him not to do and then lied about it.

And he had previous problems with the NCAA.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

He got canned because he lied to the NCAA.

And to the administration at UT