Brice: AD down Fulmer and Blackburn, but...

We don't set our SEC opponents, the conference has a system, and Bama is our set game for a West opponent.

Not true. The reason we play Alabama every year is because UT And UA refuse to give up the game. I'm not advocating a position here, but the SEC would love to see Tennessee vs LSU or Alabama vs Georgia more than once every 6 years.
 
Not true. The reason we play Alabama every year is because UT And UA refuse to give up the game. I'm not advocating a position here, but the SEC would love to see Tennessee vs LSU or Alabama vs Georgia more than once every 6 years.

According to who?
 
According to who?

That statement you bolded is my opinion. Should have added that, and sorry that I mislead. My first statement is based on articles I've read over the past several years. In summary, 2 rival games between 4 teams stand in the way of eliminating the permanent cross division opponent - Tennessee vs Alabama and Auburn vs Georgia.
 
And cheated to accomplish it!! Multiple NCAA violations. And he did the same at USC, Twice.

CLK did not cheat! He did stupid stuff but none of it was cheating. He and Hamilton both stated he was doing things on a secondary level to get the Tennessee name out there. Hence, only secondary violations and no sanctions!
 
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CLK did not cheat! He did stupid stuff but none of it was cheating. He and Hamilton both stated he was doing things on a secondary level to get the Tennessee name out there. Hence, only secondary violations and no sanctions!

He did have an assistant named in NCAA sanctions. That is cheating.
 
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And why do I care what the rest of the SEC thinks when it comes to UT/AL?

I have no idea whether you care or not. That wasn't even the point of my post concerning this upcoming season. Another poster took a small portion of my post and stated Tennessee has no choice but to play Alabama every year because the SEC forces the Vols to play the Tide. I responded just above to that statement as being untrue. UT plays UA by choice. My main point way above these posts was that it's time Butch Jones' Tennessee beat Alabama. He's 0-4 and the losing streak is 10. Other SEC teams have managed to beat Alabama during this time.
 
No, I'm saying that Hart initially was trying to put restrictions on incoming coaches bringing their own staffs. He was tasked with improving the bottom line and UT was already paying multiple hefty buyouts and Hart wanted to curtail the outflow. This was a sticking point in negotiations and by the time UT got down to Butch Jones, Hart was under extreme pressure to make a hire. Butch's agent was in a position to demand that Butch be allowed to bring his staff and have free rein to dismiss any UT staffers he wanted, and Hart had to acquiesce. Butch Jones had the Colorado deal on the table, ready to close, and his agent used that to get favorable terms from UT.

I don't understand why some people find this offensive and controversial. This is how deals are made. When one side has leverage, the other side demands-- and gets-- concessions.


Do you think this whole "manage the bottom line" business is why they have waited to hire an A.D.?

It was already seeming that way to me when they wanted to wait for Davenport to arrive and Hart's contract technically not up yet.
 
If we are scheduling Bammer, then we've got to beat them occasionally. Otherwise, we have no business playing them. We aren't a cupcake program looking for a pay check in exchange for butt whippings. In the midst of our 10 game losing streak, Auburn, Texas A&M, LSU, and Ole Miss have beaten the Cheatin Tide. Yes, we were in FBall pergatory for half those years, but that's not the case now. Losing at home by 39 points to Bammer should never happen.

Yes, in this case it should. Avoid injury and try to win out. Had it worked we would be in high cotton now.
 
I have no idea whether you care or not. That wasn't even the point of my post concerning this upcoming season. Another poster took a small portion of my post and stated Tennessee has no choice but to play Alabama every year because the SEC forces the Vols to play the Tide. I responded just above to that statement as being untrue. UT plays UA by choice. My main point way above these posts was that it's time Butch Jones' Tennessee beat Alabama. He's 0-4 and the losing streak is 10. Other SEC teams have managed to beat Alabama during this time.

We will beat AL sometime in the future. We will even likely have a streak. We will have a party when Saben retires.
We play Bama each year to be on TV. Gets us those 5 stars.
It would be nice to get a lower level west team to balance the schedule.
Everybody start sending Saben retirement gear. Fishing pole, tents etc.
 
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The Athletic Department is a bigger mess than the football program was when Butch was hired. Whoever gets the job will need time to fix the ineptitude of his predecessors. It's not going to be an over night fix. He has to evaluate his staff, the existing policies, and his coaches. He has to deal with a new chancellor, demanding boosters, and a rabid fan base. Honestly, that's why I see Blackburn as the best choice. He knows most of the ins and outs of the UT system. His learning curve will be less.
 
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Do you think this whole "manage the bottom line" business is why they have waited to hire an A.D.?

It was already seeming that way to me when they wanted to wait for Davenport to arrive and Hart's contract technically not up yet.

It's not financial. There's just internal dissension about the right path. Inject a new Chancellor into the mix and you have three factions wanting to move in different directions.
 
No, I'm saying that Hart initially was trying to put restrictions on incoming coaches bringing their own staffs. He was tasked with improving the bottom line and UT was already paying multiple hefty buyouts and Hart wanted to curtail the outflow. This was a sticking point in negotiations and by the time UT got down to Butch Jones, Hart was under extreme pressure to make a hire. Butch's agent was in a position to demand that Butch be allowed to bring his staff and have free rein to dismiss any UT staffers he wanted, and Hart had to acquiesce. Butch Jones had the Colorado deal on the table, ready to close, and his agent used that to get favorable terms from UT.

I don't understand why some people find this offensive and controversial. This is how deals are made. When one side has leverage, they can demand-- and get-- concessions.

So you are basically saying that a lot of what was put on in the media by many folks is not true.

From other sources, Jones had already said no to Colorado and told his boss at UC he was staying before he knew that Tennessee was an option. And it was his boss at UC that informed him that Tennessee was interested.

And you are saying that Strong changed his mind because of limitations on the staff, yet most say it was his wife. Maybe she told him that was a bad deal.
 
And per reports Strong turned down 4 million +. Jones contract was considerably well under that. So it is not like UT made concessions on the dollars.
 
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do you give credence to the notion that before one can get angry about something, they first have to care enough to get angry about it?

to me, settling for status quo or just being plain apathetic about anything you supposedly care about is more of an indictment about one's GAS factor than the other way around. i might say you don't care enough.:dunno:

show me apathy, and i'll show you rock bottom. give me a room full of people pissed off about how things are, i'll show you motivation to get better.:thumbsup:

I have a father, brother and a son who lettered at Tennessee. If you think I don't care about Tennessee football or other sports, you are barking up the wrong tree. I realsie the stuatus of the football program was at the bottom of the barrel whne Jones was hired and that the program has increased by leaps and bounds in the last four years, I am willing to see what develops over the next 2-3 years and then make an intelligent review of the status. I know for sure, that I do not want to go through another fire and hire when progress has been made and the program is again respectable. A fire and hire at this time is less than smart and will puts the program back to where it was 4-6 years ago.
 
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I have a father, brother and a son who lettered at Tennessee. If you think I don't care about Tennessee football or other sports, you are barking up the wrong tree. I realsie the stuatus of the football program was at the bottom of the barrel whne Jones was hired and that the program has increased by leaps and bounds in the last four years, I am willing to see what develops over the next 2-3 years and then make an intelligent review of the status. I know for sure, that I do not want to go through another fire and hire when progress has been made and the program is again respectable. A fire and hire at this time is less than smart and will puts the program back to where it was 4-6 years ago.
i'm not barking up any tree. just responding to the notion that if there are those that are not happy with the current situation and it's performance, doesn't mean they're necessarily fair weather fans.

sometimes patience is needed, sometimes it's not.

right now, i think we're in a position where we don't really have a choice but to be patient, and that's not necessarily a good thing either.

all things being equal, i think we can do better than what we have gotten to up to this point. that doesn't mean i don't recognize the progress he's made.

but all things are not equal at the moment, and given all the circumstances involved administratively, new coaches, new players etc....patience is probably warranted.

i've said multiple times in the last 2-3 weeks, in light of the staff changes, pending AD hire, and potential for what could be stand out year in recruiting instate for TN, it could definitley be worth seeing what happens thru 2018. afterall, one of the things we all wanted to see happen was for him to address the obvious areas needed for improvement, and he has addressed those issues. so we get to see if they do indeed fix them.

i've also said, if things were more stable administratively, and we had a clear direction of what this program's goals are, then I might have handed Jones his walking papers after the Vandy game.

but, it's the former, not the latter. so for now we put our chips on the Butch Jones table and see what happens.

i want him to be that guy. that'd be better for the program. i'm just not all that certain he will.

we are going to find out though....again.:thumbsup:
 
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Teams are getting to bowls with 5-7 records..I guarantee if Butch goes 5-7 or 6-6 he won't see 2018 at UT.
well i don't think we'd qualify for a bowl at 5-7, but regardless too many other issues involved. just in the time it would take for the new AD to get in, start to address the issue of a list of people that he'd want to interivew, align all the boosters and other decision makers...and address other issues administratively needing addressed over there....i don't think that in the span of less than a year that we'll be in all that much better position to fire CBJ and bring in a true upgrade in less than 12 months, unless he comes in with preconceived notion that he IS going to fire CBJ at the end of 2017, and i don't think that'll be the case.

financially it won't make much sense, and unless there's some epic meltdown where there's absolutely no choice but to make a change, i still believe a bowl game gets him to 2018.
 
well i don't think we'd qualify for a bowl at 5-7, but regardless too many other issues involved. just in the time it would take for the new AD to get in, start to address the issue of a list of people that he'd want to interivew, align all the boosters and other decision makers...and address other issues administratively needing addressed over there....i don't think that in the span of less than a year that we'll be in all that much better position to fire CBJ and bring in a true upgrade in less than 12 months, unless he comes in with preconceived notion that he IS going to fire CBJ at the end of 2017, and i don't think that'll be the case.

financially it won't make much sense, and unless there's some epic meltdown where there's absolutely no choice but to make a change, i still believe a bowl game gets him to 2018.

Plus even if he isn't fired in 2017, you can still read the tea leaves and see where Jones stands with the administration by how his contract is handled. He may not be fired but if they don't offer to raise his salary or extend his contract. That's usually a pretty good indicator of the inevitable.
 
I have no idea whether you care or not. That wasn't even the point of my post concerning this upcoming season. Another poster took a small portion of my post and stated Tennessee has no choice but to play Alabama every year because the SEC forces the Vols to play the Tide. I responded just above to that statement as being untrue. UT plays UA by choice. My main point way above these posts was that it's time Butch Jones' Tennessee beat Alabama. He's 0-4 and the losing streak is 10. Other SEC teams have managed to beat Alabama during this time.

During the last 4 years, Alabama has lost 3 times, once to Auburn and twice to Ole Miss. Other SEC teams = 2.

Alabama did not lose to an SEC team in 2016 or 2009. They lost to Texas A&M in 2012. They lost to Florida in 2008. 2010 would have actually been the years to beat Saban and Bama - he lost 3 that year.
 
Plus even if he isn't fired in 2017, you can still read the tea leaves and see where Jones stands with the administration by how his contract is handled. He may not be fired but if they don't offer to raise his salary or extend his contract. That's usually a pretty good indicator of the inevitable.

You are already assuming that 2017 is bad - if 2017 is a good year, you can bet there will be both a raise and an extension no matter what some of you think.
 
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