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 acredited 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

 

[cgbtn]

It’s interesting that all the events are negative. How about the hiring of Doug Dickey in the first place. How about hiring Bob Neyland. How about hiring Bowden Wyatt before alcoholism destroyed him???

 

[ChadwicksFumble]

Hiring Bill Battle instead of Majors in 1970.

 

[aWhiteLoftonChism]

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 !


.

Rick Barnes was the hire who gave Tennessee some much needed credibility and stability. Pretty much every major sport was in borderline shambles when he was hired. They have all improved substantially since 2015. Tony V and other coaches have even mentions how significant his influence has been on the athletics department. It’s true his teams have either streaks of poor offense or a bad injury to a key player, both at the worst possible times. But he’s a winner and get kids that are easy to root for who are rarely if ever poor representatives of UT. We are all spoiled by success and expect ELITE 8s every year. I hope he stays 4 more years but I worry this will be his last.

 

[a vol n tears]

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.

My problem was not that Tony left, it was the stupid reaction to hiring his replacement.
Tenn had become a top 3-4 national program, with a huge budget, and DW didn’t even have a national search for a replacement HC. Within a couple of days he names Elander as HC. I appreciate Elander, but you don’t just hand over a top national program to a rookie HC. White claimed all the players wanted him, he had the best chance of holding the incoming class to gather, etc. What a joke. Did LSU just hand over their program to an assistant, NO……. Did it kill their recruiting, NO……
They got a proven talent that quickly has added 2 additional MCWS championships.
Danny White is not interested in anything other than items that create cash from football. Look at his plans for the stadium and surroundings . All other athletic programs are on autopilot.

 

[sambronkowitz]

And to the administration at UT

Exactly. If he would have told the truth at the beginning, the NCAA would have likely just let us off very lightly. Just a slap on the wrist. But when he lied to the NCAA and to his bosses within the UT Administration and kept trying to cover everything up is when Jimmy Cheek said enough is enough and Bruce Pearl had to go. And as much as I loved Pearl, we did what we had to do by letting him go. Mike Hamilton was forced to cut loose from Pearl from orders from Cheek. He was entertaining the idea of keeping him around. If we would have kept Pearl, the NCAA would've come down hard on us. The thing I was pissed about is that we hired Cuonzo Martin to replace Pearl.

 

[wmcovol]

This baseball team is the team TV built. This is the team he was going to play with. Let’s all forget he lost 5 of his last 6 SEC series last year.

 

[HeavenUniversity]

North Carolina ceding land to the federal government to create a new territory. If not for that you all might be singing Rocky Top at Western Carolina Catamounts games lol

 

[sami]

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

This is in no way defending White, but Vitello wasn't "poached" away. He got an offer that is every coach / manager's dream, to manage a MLB team. Being "poached" would have been if another school stole him away. This is the f***king Major Leagues. There are things to criticize White about, but there wan't a damn thing he could do to keep Tony.

 

[Volador]

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

LOVED the Mears Stall. Without 24 second clocks, he'd hold the ball for 3-4 minutes at a time. Nobody did it better in the NCAAM

 

[Butch Jones]

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 !


.

Lane Kiffin leaving after 1 season and the crap show that followed for many years. 16 years later he is the highest paid coach in college football. (Kirby makes like 250k more but he’s right there)