Time Machine: What If Brian Kelly Accepted UT HC Position

#77
#77
Wilhelm16 said:
Really? You have a time machine, and you want to use it to get Brian Kelly? Why not go get the General from 1939, let him mentor a coaching staff under a false name for 5 years, and then take him back to the moment right after you took him? Brian Kelly? Seriously?
Click to expand...

Actually, if I had a time machine, I'd install it in a hot tub filled with naked fashion models. But, in this case, yes, I think the hypothetical question is valid as Notre Dame is ranked #1 and we vols are ranked #... umm...
 
#78
#78
Orange81 said:
Kelly probably wouldnt do as well as dooley has. he doesn't know recruiting in the south.
Click to expand...

Kelly would have done better than Dooley up to this point. I have no doubt about that. I do think he's overated somewhat as a coach and ND is overated and has played a weak schedule that has been overhyped, but comparing him and Dooley is crazy. Dooley has had one winning season in what... 5 years as a head coach? He has nowhere near the resume. And I still feel Kelly would have been a bad fit in the SEC and wouldn't have recruited to the level needed. ND recruits itself and always has. But you still take him all day over Dooley.

Tennessee more so than just about any other SEC program needs a home run hire who can attract the talent necessary to compete in this league. They just dont have the homegrown talent and/or in-state loyalty that the heavyweights in this league do. They are at a disadvantage compared to Florida, LSU, Auburn, Alabama, and Georgia from that standpoint.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#79
#79
"What if Brian Kelly Accepted the UT HC Position?"

I am glad he didn't. He's not nearly as good as he thinks he is and he's smartass. Look at ND. He walked into a pretty good situation there and hasn't accomplished much at all. They're doing OK this year, but have yet to play anyone. Both Michigan and Michigan St are mediocre AT BEST.

UT would probably be 5-0 right now too with the same schedule
 
#80
#80
TennesseeOrange said:
Kelly specifically negotiated a series of facility upgrades in his 2007 contract extension. The commitment was there, the money to pay for the upgrades needed was not. I always heard that he was extremely miffed about the fact they wouldn't build him an indoor practice facility. The way Kelly left though was completely classless and IMO worse than Kiffin.



Dantonio certainly deserves some credit.


I think UT would be in better shape if Kelly had been hired instead of Kiffin. The poor 2008(?) recruiting class and the attrition that followed two straight coaching changes was a serious set back. The Kiffin hire/departure was really the straw that broke the camels back.
Click to expand...

Cincinnati's biggest issue is $$$ and the commitment from the University to financially support the football program. Also, as we both know Cincinnati (in general) is notorious for having ridiculously fair weather fans.

Kelly definitely did a good job there but he did win with mostly Dantonio's players. He also got people excited about football in Cincinnati, but I always felt like the guy was a big huge phony. Something about him always rubbed me the wrong way and was always more about himself than he was the team.

I think Butch Jones is the complete opposite of that. He may very well leave UC in the future, but the guy is a 180 from the personality that was Kelly. And I dont think he'd leave in the fashion Kelly did. I also think Jones is a much better recruiter overall as well. He's in his third year at UC and he's winning with an extremely young team that are mostly players he has recruited. I hope UC can keep him. He's a great fit for that program.
 
#81
#81
2ironVol said:
"What if Brian Kelly Accepted the UT HC Position?"

I am glad he didn't. He's not nearly as good as he thinks he is and he's smartass. Look at ND. He walked into a pretty good situation there and hasn't accomplished much at all. They're doing OK this year, but have yet to play anyone. Both Michigan and Michigan St are mediocre AT BEST.

UT would probably be 5-0 right now too with the same schedule
Click to expand...

I agree. He inherited a very healthy situation at both ND and Cincinnati. Dantonio had built up a very talented roster when Kelly stepped in and the same thing was the case at ND. As bad as Weis was as a coach he recruited very good talent to the school. You look at the 12 schools ND has on their schedule most years and you could argue Kelly inherited a roster that was probably more talented than at least 10 of the 12 teams they've had on their schedule each of the last 3 years.
 
#82
#82
Isn't it harder to get into Notre Dame academics wise? Wonder how Kelly would recruit here? However recruiting is not our issue.
 
#84
#84
bleedorange0037 said:
Wow, facts are just running rampant in this thread. :crazy:

When Kiffin left for USC, Kelly had already been the ND coach for over a month. He didn't coach Cincy in their bowl game that year and would not have switched gears to come to UT after 5 weeks on the job in South Bend.

The only hypothetical worth discussing would be "what if UT had hired him INSTEAD of Kiffin?" Still to this day I wish Hamilton had found a way to get Kelly. At the time I was fine with the Kiffin hire, but obviously looking back Kelly would have been the better choice.
Click to expand...

Thats what I was saying, even if we hired him except Kiffin he would of done the same. "Notre Dame would probably be the only job I would of left for."
 
#85
#85
Vol_Maul said:
Yeah, they were just busy playing USC, Stanford, Michigan, FSU and Michigan State. Nobodies. Dooley would fare no better with that schedule especially when you consider that Florida has had a couple of down years and the last time I checked, Michigan State might have been better than Georgia last year.
Click to expand...

That's a great argument. However, the only team that Notre Dame beat was a Michigan State team that beat Georgia (arguably the 4-5th best team in the SEC last year) by 3 points. He did that with better players (better according to statistical data). Notre Dame has not performed much better at all than Tennessee all things considered. Again, just think about it.
 
#86
#86
dooley2 said:
That's a great argument. However, the only team that Notre Dame beat was a Michigan State team that beat Georgia (arguably the 4-5th best team in the SEC last year) by 3 points. He did that with better players (better according to statistical data). Notre Dame has not performed much better at all than Tennessee all things considered. Again, just think about it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, they'd probably get whipped by Kentucky
 
#87
#87
Montrell Hardy said:
Kelly would have done better than Dooley up to this point. I have no doubt about that. I do think he's overated somewhat as a coach and ND is overated and has played a weak schedule that has been overhyped, but comparing him and Dooley is crazy. Dooley has had one winning season in what... 5 years as a head coach? He has nowhere near the resume. And I still feel Kelly would have been a bad fit in the SEC and wouldn't have recruited to the level needed. ND recruits itself and always has. But you still take him all day over Dooley.

Tennessee more so than just about any other SEC program needs a home run hire who can attract the talent necessary to compete in this league. They just dont have the homegrown talent and/or in-state loyalty that the heavyweights in this league do. They are at a disadvantage compared to Florida, LSU, Auburn, Alabama, and Georgia from that standpoint.
Click to expand...

You have no doubt??? Seriously, no doubt?? Kelly has taken decent recruits, and his own recruits and has not done anything significant. Nothing. So how can you know for sure?

Comparing the two is unfair until Dooley at least gets a full cycle of recruits. Saying that you have no doubt Kelly is a better hire is crazy, without having more information to base your decision on.
 
#88
#88
oregonvol said:
Yeah, they'd probably get whipped by Kentucky
Click to expand...

Again, another close minded person that can't see beyond a win/loss record. Do you honestly think UT loses to Kentucky had Tyler Bray, Justin Hunter and Herman Lathers not gotten hurt. Lathers was potentially the anchor of the defense and Tyler Bray and Justin Hunter were 2/3s of one of the scariest offenses in the nation. Use your head.
 
#89
#89
dooley2 said:
Again, another close minded person that can't see beyond a win/loss record. Do you honestly think UT loses to Kentucky had Tyler Bray, Justin Hunter and Herman Lathers not gotten hurt. Lathers was potentially the anchor of the defense and Tyler Bray and Justin Hunter were 2/3s of one of the scariest offenses in the nation. Use your head.
Click to expand...

yeah, it was all because of the injuries. You were probably one of those people last year who was saying that Hunter would have been the difference in the Florida game, right? Well, I'm sure Notre Dame is also a couple injuries away from getting crushed by Kentucky.

If you're not interested in win/loss records, you should probably find a hobby that isn't sports.
 
#90
#90
oregonvol said:
yeah, it was all because of the injuries. You were probably one of those people last year who was saying that Hunter would have been the difference in the Florida game, right? Well, I'm sure Notre Dame is also a couple injuries away from getting crushed by Kentucky.

If you're not interested in win/loss records, you should probably find a hobby that isn't sports.
Click to expand...

Lol. Actually, if you must know, when Hunter got hurt I told some people around me that our season was virtually over. I don't like to brag, but I nailed that one. Find a new hobby because I'm more interested in analysis than a simple statistic? Apparently school wasn't one of your hobbies. Lol.
 
#92
#92
Montrell Hardy said:
Cincinnati's biggest issue is $$$ and the commitment from the University to financially support the football program. Also, as we both know Cincinnati (in general) is notorious for having ridiculously fair weather fans.

Kelly definitely did a good job there but he did win with mostly Dantonio's players. He also got people excited about football in Cincinnati, but I always felt like the guy was a big huge phony. Something about him always rubbed me the wrong way and was always more about himself than he was the team.

I think Butch Jones is the complete opposite of that. He may very well leave UC in the future, but the guy is a 180 from the personality that was Kelly. And I dont think he'd leave in the fashion Kelly did. I also think Jones is a much better recruiter overall as well. He's in his third year at UC and he's winning with an extremely young team that are mostly players he has recruited. I hope UC can keep him. He's a great fit for that program.
Click to expand...

Agree with you on everything. Jones has recruited well, and I think he may end up being the best coach out of the 3.
 
#94
#94
if you just look at the top 10 games and assume kelly loses those. then his record is no better than dooleys here. but im sure some would like to argue that kelly would win those games... im not in that group. for the record, i did want kelly when we were doing the coaching search
 
#95
#95
VOLnMiami said:
Notre Dames schedule gets tougher at the end of the year usually...USC is always a big one for them and they do play Michigan every year...But yeah the rest of the schedule is crap.
Click to expand...

Not this year.

Mich State, Miami, Stanford, Oklahoma, Mich, USC.

With our current squad I doubt Dooley would be 5-0 with ND's schedule.

UT has more cupcakes than ND (ND has no Troy, Ga State, Akron, etc) has but UT has an edge in upper tier competition.
 
Last edited:
#98
#98
he never got an offer. it never got past the would he be interested in talking about the job
 
#99
#99
I don't think Hamilton really pursued Kelly that hard. Hamilton stressed he was looking for the young energetic type when Kiffin was hired. Then he stressed southern gentleman type when Dooley was hired. I guess coaching record was irrelevant.
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.
Advertisement



Back
Top