Biggest Villian in modern Tennessee football history

#78
#78
Big Orange Captain said:
1. Kiffin
2.Fulmer
3. Mike Hamilton
4. Pruitt
5. Saban
6. Butch
7. Nico
For me personally it’s always been Kiffin his leaving in the midnight hour after just one season kick started a series of chain reactions of terrible decisions and coaching hires. Which pretty much nuked our football program into the wasteland of irrelevancy for a decade plus. So yea Kiffin will always be numero uno of the legion of doom villains to UT football.
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I’ll never understand how the coach that won a NC and had one of the most successful decades in school history would ever be considered a villian.

For me, it’s Hamilton for undermining Fulmer and the whole chain of events that followed until Danny White was hired.

I said to a buddy the day Fulmer was fired, I’m not looking forward to the revolving door of coaches we are about to go through for the next decade or so.
 
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#79
#79
RDU VOL#14 said:
I’m more pissed that we lost to him in Atlanta in 2001 than the years we didn’t even belong on the field w/ Bama while he was there.
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100% agree. The Matt Mauck loss still sticks in my craw as possibly the worst in the 45 years I've watched this team, mainly because it was a game to send us back to play for a natty and it was flat out given away to a QB who couldn't throw the ball.

Saban is hated because we were so bad - period, end of story. Spurrier is hated because he owned Fulmer and let him know it every chance he got - and actually, the "Citrus UT" line is pretty damn funny.
 
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#80
#80
Going with Kiffin and Hamilton for the Kiffin reasons the OP stated. Hamilton did a lot of damage to the program but I hesitate to say he was a villain, he was just incompetent at his job. Don't disagree with those who pick Pruitt but IMO he was way down the line in the string of damage, he just piled on.
 
#81
#81
I seem to remember quite a few at the time when Cheek retired, were pushing to hire Fulmer as the AD. I thought it made some sense as well. He had been an almost great coach, just lacking the ability to not let Spurrier and Meyer get in his head. I was actually happy to hear the announcement that he had been hired as the AD. I even thought the Pruitt hire made some sense. He had a very good resume as a defensive coordinator so I thought he might do well here. Looking through hindsight, those were two of the worst hires in that lost in the wilderness time frame of Tennessee football.
 
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#82
#82
It's Mike Hamilton and Pruitt without a doubt. Hamilton completely sent the football program on a down slope without brakes and Pruitt's results speak for themselves. I also just recently found out that Hamilton had an interview with David Perno for the baseball position and went with Serrano instead.
 
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#85
#85
NO SIR EEE said:
It's Mike Hamilton and Pruitt without a doubt. Hamilton completely sent the football program on a down slope without brakes and Pruitt's results speak for themselves. I also just recently found out that Hamilton had an interview with David Perno for the baseball position and went with Serrano instead.
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By the time Serrano was hired, he had a better previous 4 seasons. Perno had started to tail off at UGA.
 
#86
#86
Big Orange Captain said:
1. Kiffin
2.Fulmer
3. Mike Hamilton
4. Pruitt
5. Saban
6. Butch
7. Nico
For me personally it’s always been Kiffin his leaving in the midnight hour after just one season kick started a series of chain reactions of terrible decisions and coaching hires. Which pretty much nuked our football program into the wasteland of irrelevancy for a decade plus. So yea Kiffin will always be numero uno of the legion of doom villains to UT football.
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No order: beamer, Spurrier, toootoooo, Pavia, the dude that gave beamer our signs, dabo, drinkwitxs, the ncaa
 
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#89
#89
My list of biggest "villain" in UT football - and by villain I mean people that damaged the football program and left it worse than when they arrived.
1. Mike Hamilton - his biggest problem wasn't hiring Kiffin, but NOT having a plan in place to replace Kiffin.
2. Pruitt - he assembled some decent rosters and to go out and have the worst seasons in UT football history is inexcusable.
3. Butch - I still shake my head at the number of NFL players that were on those rosters.
4. Dooley - Did the man ever recruit an O Lineman?
5. Dave Hamilton - he proved to not be much better when it came to football management than Hamilton.
6. Fulmer - I'm only putting Phil on my list because of my definition...BOTH times, Phillip over-stayed his welcome. It could be argued though that the first time around, as a coach, he did leave it better than he found it though.
 
#91
#91
YankeeVol said:
By the time Serrano was hired, he had a better previous 4 seasons. Perno had started to tail off at UGA.
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Out of all the coaching hires this AD has made over the last 35 years, that one remains the most baffling why it didn't work. Serrano had such a great resume. He wasn't even an average coach here. He couldn't even get us to Hoover most of the time. Just never made sense.
 
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#92
#92
YankeeVol said:
By the time Serrano was hired, he had a better previous 4 seasons. Perno had started to tail off at UGA.
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That's true. Just a little nugget I recently learned about. I coach under Perno here in Georgia for high school football, he was telling me the story.
 
#93
#93
Fulmer is the reason for the downfall of the program, but he is not a villian.

I'd say it's probably Spurrier. There has been some grudging respect given to him as he has gotten older, but I remember being a little kid and the absolute seething hate the fanbase had for him when he was at Florida. You had the little digs, the fact he kicked our ass and prevented so much potential titles, it's got to be him.

We sucked so bad during Saban's time, he's not a personal villian to me. Like the tech billionaire that you know is evil but doesn't affect your life.
 
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#94
#94
Big Orange Captain said:
1. Kiffin
2.Fulmer
3. Mike Hamilton
4. Pruitt
5. Saban
6. Butch
7. Nico
For me personally it’s always been Kiffin his leaving in the midnight hour after just one season kick started a series of chain reactions of terrible decisions and coaching hires. Which pretty much nuked our football program into the wasteland of irrelevancy for a decade plus. So yea Kiffin will always be numero uno of the legion of doom villains to UT football.
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So you're saying the second biggest villain to UT football is the guy who went 152-52 and won our only NC since the 60s? You lost me there.
 
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#95
#95
IndianaVol said:
My list of biggest "villain" in UT football - and by villain I mean people that damaged the football program and left it worse than when they arrived.
1. Mike Hamilton - his biggest problem wasn't hiring Kiffin, but NOT having a plan in place to replace Kiffin.
2. Pruitt - he assembled some decent rosters and to go out and have the worst seasons in UT football history is inexcusable.
3. Butch - I still shake my head at the number of NFL players that were on those rosters.
4. Dooley - Did the man ever recruit an O Lineman?
5. Dave Hamilton - he proved to not be much better when it came to football management than Hamilton.
6. Fulmer - I'm only putting Phil on my list because of my definition...BOTH times, Phillip over-stayed his welcome. It could be argued though that the first time around, as a coach, he did leave it better than he found it though.
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If you are referring to where the program was in 2008, I completely disagree. Outside of maybe Smart taking over Georgia and Miles taking over LSU, I'm not sure anyone in the last 35 years has inherited a better situation than Fulmer in '92 (SEC-wise)
 
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#99
#99
Pruitt brought more problems to our doorsteps. He's stupid getting caught holding the bag but not so much a villain. He's paying for that stupidity which I am fine with.

To me guys like Jack Sells and that putz Kiffin are villains. Fax a playbook to the Florida. Leave in the middle of the night and try to poach players. No respect for either of these guys.

Spurrier is and always will be one who can dish it out but can't take it.
 
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#100
#100
zjcvols said:
Out of all the coaching hires this AD has made over the last 35 years, that one remains the most baffling why it didn't work. Serrano had such a great resume. He wasn't even an average coach here. He couldn't even get us to Hoover most of the time. Just never made sense.
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In defense of Dave Serrano, Todd Raleigh destroyed the baseball program! Destroyed our relationships with TN high school coaches. Destroyed everything. Dave walked into a disaster. I blame Dave for nothing. It is what it is. Program was moving in the right direction, albeit, slowly. New AD comes in hires Tony V. and the rest is history.
 
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