While I agree that those are the expectations, and Dooley has not lived up to them...
I STILL want to know who his replacement is BEFORE he gets fired... No point in the U spending that much money unless we get the right guy..
without the right guy.. all a move does is set us back a few more years.
Things need to be thought out before emotionally driven decisions get made that hurt the team in the long run..
I mean is there ANYONE who honestly thinks firing fulmer was still the right move? Would it even have been possible for fulmer to lose as many games in the last 4 years as Dooley and kiffin did?
It would have taken a decade for fulmer to lose that many IMO..
Fulmer haters bash away...
OK. I'll take a stab at it.
First, I'm not a Fulmer hater. Until around 2003, I was on the Fulmer bandwagon. However, his recruiting fell off bigtime (don't hold me exactly to the 2003 number).
By the time he was fired, there just wasn't a lot to get excited about. We had been on a slow downhill slide. Overall, it just wasn't getter any better. He is a nice guy, but it was time to move over and let someone else have a turn.
Great coach. His time had passed.
Any time you make a change, there is risk involved. Still, it needed to happen.
I was all for the Kiffin experiment. However, it failed miserably. I did think it was an interesting ride though.
Unfortunately, when he left as he did, it left the team in shambles. Dooley, a bright young coach, inherited a mess. This mess has been slowly but surely rebuilt.
Obviously, losing such a high number of assistants last year did not help. Hiring Sunseri as a coordinater - so far - has been a disaster. Giving another year probably isn't going to be an option.
So, here we are. We have a coach who has done a very good job in recruiting - given the circumstances. But his on-the-field coaching, I would give a B- - given the circumstances.
I agree with the above posters who say that we SHOULD be competing for championships. The thing is, I have watched Tennessee football since the late 60's. We have our ups and downs. Sometimes our downs last a while. We are on the upswing.
We have three choices, IMO. We can continue on the course that Dooley has set (I don't think the AD is going to do this. Nor will the whathaveyoudoneformelately fanbase). We can fire Dooley, and take what is available (again, another very risky move that could set us back another 3 or 4 years). Or, we can dish out a record amount of money, and go for a "sure thing."
Nothing in life is a sure thing, but I think I am being realistic like a lot of other big-picture thinkers on here: Either let Dooley finish his job, or hire that "sure thing" guy. We have already "wasted" enough time giving the up-and-comer a chance.
So, I guess I at least agree with one of your three assertions. Dooley has certainly made me wonder if he is ever going to get over the hump. Someone has to get this team thinking they can win, or knowing how to win. I guess it is just hard to do that when your "all-star" qb is such an enigmatic person.
I do not live and die by any coach. I just think that you can't compare Dooley's situation to Zook, etc. You have to take it on it's own merits.
Dooley has brought us part of the way back up the mountain. Now, lets stay the course (probably not gonna happen) or let's let somebody that knows how, finish the job. (No, Fulmer is NOT our guy. Leave the past where it belongs.)