"We could have been legends there." Well, you're not. A little presumptuous I think.
Definitely some correlation between the downfall of our football program and the rise of Clemson.
Fulmer was wizard at plucking players from Tiger.It all started with Kiffin and Tajh Boyd. We have had the wrong coach in place each time when we have had recruits who grew up as fans. This was our loss and Clemson’s gain. Now we are starting to lay the foundation and change the toxic culture we have had since the Dooley era if not before.
Fulmer drove the bus into the ditch. The others didn't pull it out but it was his poor hires and poor program and field discipline that caused it.Too bad we BUTCHered the Football program with Dooley and Jones hires! Not to mention the Fulmer firing.
Exactly what I think. Seems he went the opposite of Fulmer as far as, get the hot (not in appearance; I'm not letting myself walk into that one) young gun who can recruit and have an exciting offense before we get too outdated...I believe Hamilton fired him with no plan - the ridiculous plan to hire Kiffin was the next bad idea in the sequence
Reading this thread a thought occurred to me. Fans do have a voice and football is a huge generator of cash, ($$$$), for this university. This is undeniable. The administration at UT actually let the university down by hiring the likes of Mike Hamilton to start this decline and two more ,"not-so-good" hires followed that for our Athletic Dept. So far I like what I see in Fulmer as director. I'm not sure if he has an assistant but imagine he may have some assistants but I'm talking about a "special assistant". We need to groom that special assistant to eventually replace Fulmer when that time comes and avoid all the politicking that will likely take place if we attempt to do the search/hire as we did prior to Fulmer's recent hire. Using this foresight now will save this university in many ways in the days to come ,imho.It's more on the head of the AD for being cheap and derelict in their duty.
He's needs to produce on the field, first. I would be against any actions this spring/summer to give that guy an extension until he actually wins on the field. We made that mistake with Fulmer after the 2007 season and gave that guy a raise and extension.
Reading this thread a thought occurred to me. Fans do have a voice and football is a huge generator of cash, ($$$$), for this university. This is undeniable. The administration at UT actually let the university down by hiring the likes of Mike Hamilton to start this decline and two more ,"not-so-good" hires followed that for our Athletic Dept. So far I like what I see in Fulmer as director. I'm not sure if he has an assistant but imagine he may have some assistants but I'm talking about a "special assistant". We need to groom that special assistant to eventually replace Fulmer when that time comes and avoid all the politicking that will likely take place if we attempt to do the search/hire as we did prior to Fulmer's recent hire. Using this foresight now will save this university in many ways in the days to come ,imho.
Butch did a good job the first 2-3 years he was here. It took thatlong for fans and recruits to see what he really was. A good Division ll coach that got in over his head to didn't know how to treat really good athletes. I supported him for 2-3 years until it became obvious that he had quickly exceeded his potential. I am convinced that most fans did/do not realized how deep into the ground he ran our football program.Other than OL recruiting, I don't see tangible difference between where we are now and where we were at the end of Butch's second season. This thing could go either way.