Biggest Villian in modern Tennessee football history

#101
#101
Sam I Am said:
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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I am a bandwagon and was not following the baseball program intently at that time so that makes sense.
 
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#102
#102
Rickyvol77 said:
For opposing villians clearly Spurrier and Saban were the ones who kept us from being as elite as we could've been and cost us at least 4-5 NC game appearances.

But for me it's a mix of Kiffin/Hamilton/Hart. Kiffin's sudden departure may have rallied the fanbase into one angry monolith, but the hiring of he and the coaches that followed sent our program into the worst decade in its history and we are now only thankfully back to normal thanks to Heupel. Hiring Gary Patterson instead would've been the better choice.
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I’d argue Spurrier and Saban only cost us one championship appearance apiece. Spurrier did cost us a few SEC Championship games though.
 
#103
#103
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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social media
 
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#105
#105
zjcvols said:
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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I see your point, and it's a good one.
But in my mind winning us a Natty (even if it was 10 yrs prior to him leaving) was leaving it better than he found it.
That said, it's like I stated...he was guilty of over-staying his tenure.
As a coach he should have been asked to vacate sometime around 2005 or 2006, but then the fluke of 2007 happened and that was that...
 
#107
#107
IndianaVol said:
I see your point, and it's a good one.
But in my mind winning us a Natty (even if it was 10 yrs prior to him leaving) was leaving it better than he found it.
That said, it's like I stated...he was guilty of over-staying his tenure.
As a coach he should have been asked to vacate sometime around 2005 or 2006, but then the fluke of 2007 happened and that was that...
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Nah, the allure of that natty had worn off by then. You go look at the rosters and it's not even a fair comparisons, especially the OL and DL.
 
#109
#109
I would argue that the title goes to Jimmy Haslam. While he and his family made huge financial contributions to the program, he was the driving force behind the Dooley and Jones hires that set this program back for years.
 
#110
#110
JWM65 said:
I would argue that the title goes to Jimmy Haslam. While he and his family made huge financial contributions to the program, he was the driving force behind the Dooley and Jones hires that set this program back for years.
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I don't know about Jones, but I am pretty sure Hamilton was the sole decision maker with the Dooley hire.
 
#112
#112
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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Serrano tried to play West Coast Ball in the SEC where gorilla ball reins. By the time he realized his mistake, it was too late.
 
#113
#113
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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The front office
 
#115
#115
Kiffen is only listed there because he deserted! If he had stayed he would still be winning championships in Knoxville!!

Fulmer is another story! A few years after he won his championship he became the single worst culprit in vol history! Those who feel otherwise have a big heart!
 
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#117
#117
I don't like the word "villain", especially with regard to Fulmer, who has clearly always bled orange. The problem with him is how many incredible rosters, many better than 1998, he underachieved with or lost the one game that could have catapulted us to a shot at another natty. Then there's the condition he left the program in when fired, and the hiring of Pruitt, bringing the program to maybe its lowest point ever.

Yeah, he led one of the great periods of UT football, and we'll always have the natty, but he worked overtime to take some of the shine off his legacy.
 
#119
#119
LargeOrange1 said:
Fulmer pushed for Cornbread. 🤬
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I'll never forget when Pruitt was the favorite for the Miss State job early from multiple reporters. He then interview with Miss State and immediately got reported he was out of contention. Two weeks later, Fulmer hired him. Always gave me a bad feeling.
 
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#121
#121
TheDeeble said:
I'm quoting this and repeating what you said just so if can understand.

Fulmer picked Hamilton to be the Athletic Director that replaced Doug Dickey. Mike Hamilton only got the AD job because of Fulmer.

If any of y'all have any hate for Mike Hamilton, it's because Fulmer put him there. Another in the long line of Fulmer's bad personnel decisions.
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I wonder if he feels that Hamilton stabbed him in the back like Majors felt he did?

The only thing Fulmer said related to Hamilton was that he “was not prepared for the job” and that he was “middle management” and “got twisted like a pretzel” where as Majors never let the back stabbing go.
 
#122
#122
#1fulmerite said:
I wonder if he feels that Hamilton stabbed him in the back like Majors felt he did?

The only thing Fulmer said related to Hamilton was that he “was not prepared for the job” and that he was “middle management” and “got twisted like a pretzel” where as Majors never let the back stabbing go.
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He shouldn't. That wasn't just a Hamilton decision. The Athetlic Department/Big-Time Boosters all agreed it was time.
 
#123
#123
I’ll never forgive Dickey for lying to us about staying at UT
and then running away to UF. We were loaded and about to
take over the SEC. Dickey had his foot firmly on Bama’s neck.
His leaving at that time was one of the worst things to happen to
the Vols and one of the best things to happen to Bama.
 
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#124
#124
What's hilarious is that 2 of our worst ADs made 2 incredible hires. Hart hired Barnes and Currie hired Tony V.

As much as DW "gets it," honestly the job that he individually has done here is a little overrated. He hired Heupel, which has also worked out well, and the jury is still out on Caldwell but the early returns are promising. But the "everything school" momentum was already well underway when he took the job. The basketball program was already rolling under Rick and baseball was right on the verge of breaking out.
 
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#125
#125
05_never_again said:
What's hilarious is that 2 of our worst ADs made 2 incredible hires. Hart hired Barnes and Currie hired Tony V.

As much as DW "gets it," honestly the job that he individually has done here is a little overrated. He hired Heupel, which has also worked out well, and the jury is still out on Caldwell but the early returns are promising. But the "everything school" momentum was already well underway when he took the job. The basketball program was already rolling under Rick and baseball was right on the verge of breaking out.
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I will disagree. He didn't hire Tony V but he took some massive steps to help give everything the baseball program needed to succeed and was able to keep Vitello when a lot of attractive jobs were open. And while Heupel has done a very good job, White's ability to help transition into the new era of college football has been vital in turning the program around. Barnes didn't need much help and the jury is out on Caldwell, that is correct. Danny pinches every penny he can, that is annoying. But his leadership has been critical in turning around the AD.
 
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