Chris Low just said Fulmer wouldn’t sign off

Fulmer could have allowed Freeze to pursue who he wanted on the knowledge that any candidate, especially Freeze, would have to be vetted very hard.
None of this is ever as easy as you imply.
Amen x 1,000,000 = the USA today article where the allegations came out about Freeze's time at Briarcrest was written well over one year ago. A quick google search and boom there it is. Any competent HR administrative professional could have easily found the article that contained those mere allegations - no testimony - no court proceedings - just a handful of allegations (which is in my opinion significantly different that Schiano where there was sworn testimony about him in addition to specific findings of sexual abuse of children at the hands of Sandusky).

However, I digress.

The point is that this OC search just illustrates the ongoing ineptitude of the UT Administration, the Athletic Department, the Trustees and the Boosters. A due diligence investigation should have been conducted before interviewing every candidate especially Hugh Freeze which would have revealed the USA Today article. Point is that the AD and the Administration let Pruitt go down a pretty long road with Freeze only to quash it. Different set of power players but the same keystone cop inept coaching search. And by pretty much all accounts Freeze was Pruitt's #1 candidate - not a good look.

And there you have it. Another mismanaged coaching search. New AD, yet same foolishness...
 
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We are UT and we don't make splash hires. Well....Rick Barnes, but look how THAT turned out. Couldn't beat pre-season number one and looked ragged against a Southland Conf. team.

Stick to the script - hire someone we'd least expect (or express a desire for).
 
And there you have it. Another mismanaged coaching search. New AD, yet same foolishness...
We don’t have the new OC yet. It could end up being a great coaching search that takes UT one step closer to prominence again.
 
We are UT and we don't make splash hires. Well....Rick Barnes, but look how THAT turned out. Couldn't beat pre-season number one and looked ragged against a Southland Conf. team.

Stick to the script - hire someone we'd least expect (or express a desire for).

Blue Font? Might be the worst post I’ve seen this week and that’s saying A LOT.
 
When Clawson was hired, everybody was tired of watching the poor offense, and everybody knew that the new OC needed to do at least moderately well in his first season, but Phil named Clawson anyway, when everybody knew his system took a long time for players to learn. Like everybody knew that Dooley needed to hire a winning DC, and then he named Sal with a switch to three, four defense. Lookit, fans are tired of losing. We want and need a good hire who can move the chains, put points on the board, and attract great players.

Its not a perfect world, and it appears on the surface that UT has made questionable hires, it takes no energy or data analytics when looking at past performance. Some UT fans on VolNation voiced concerns on all the hires, however, the truth of the matter, no one wanted to come in behind Fulmer and then started the longest melt down in UT history, and fans can't hide from some responsibility for the drama, there was A LOT of Toxic drama on that side, and it scared the crap out of potential coaches. Pruitt is the man, and AGAIN, we will have to give him the time to rebuild this squad. Assistant Coaches will come and go, but as Saban has demonstrated, a stable HC is more important than a great OC or DC. Pruitt is comfortable being himself, UT fans are not use to seeing that, and I don't really think he gives a damn what we think of him...........I like that.
 
Sorry if already posted but there's an SI article stating Auburn won't hire Freeze bc of booster interference.
 
I'm just going to throw this out there. Perhaps interest in Freeze is overstated and Sexton is leaking a lot of these stories to the press to drive up interest and price for his client.
No, Auburn is blocking Freeze because they aren't allowing Malzahn to sign a new assistant to a deal more than one year. Freeze wants multiple years. This is the Auburn boosters making sure Malzahn fails.
 
They wanted to fire him after the Iron bowl. Buyout to high. Made him renegotiate his contract. They met with and wanted Bob Stoops behind back channels.

2 theories for why Malzahn would take a reduced buyout to stay

It is has been reported that they attempted to get him to renegotiate, but there have been no reports that he actually did it. Why would he renegotiate to make it easier for them to fire him? To keep from getting fired immediately? The existing contract has his buyout at $32 million. I think he would stand pat.

They don't need him to fail to fire him. They can fire him anytime they want to fire him.
 
It is has been reported that they attempted to get him to renegotiate, but there have been no reports that he actually did it. Why would he renegotiate to make it easier for them to fire him? To keep from getting fired immediately? The existing contract has his buyout at $32 million. I think he would stand pat.

They don't need him to fail to fire him. They can fire him anytime they want to fire him.
Finebaum says they have renegotiated. They can't just fire him owing him a 32 Million buyout. I seen one report that with his assistants that number actually pushes 38 Million. You can't fire someone and hire another coach and assistants owing the fired coach that kind of money.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sa...malzahns-attempts-to-hire-top-assistants/amp/

"The Auburn football program is a bit of a mess at the moment. After going 7-5 during the regular season, the Tigers are off to the Music City Bowl — a big disappointment after high preseason expectations.

Making matters worse is all the turmoil around coach Gus Malzahn, who many in the fanbase — boosters included — want fired.

On Wednesday, Alabama reporter Josh Moon, who mostly covers politics but interacts with some big boosters on his beat, tweeted about some strong new restrictions on Malzahn.

As you can see below, Moon is reporting that Auburn isn’t letting Malzahn offer deals to assistants that are longer than one year. Moon says that’s hindering Malzahn from hiring Hugh Freeze as his offensive coordinator:"

 
Seems like there would be better ways to go about this at Auburn.

Who would want to coach/play there with those kinds of things happening to Malzahn. They don't think they'll win with him, but owe him a massive buyout. So their solution is to hinder their pool of assistants and probably guarantee them losing more? Not to mention the effect on recruiting this would have.
 
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Seems like there would be better ways to go about this at Auburn.

Who would want to coach/play there with those kinds of things happening to Malzahn. They don't think they'll win with him, but owe him a massive buyout. So their solution is to hinder their pool of assistants and probably guarantee them losing more? Not to mention the affect on recruiting this would have.
Agreed. I would beg to be fired and go tan my azz in Aruba.
 
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If I had retired (6 weeks ago, as the markets began their plunge) with $32 mill, heck with $20 mill, I doubt that I would have started this PT contracting gig...
 
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I'm not a scholar by any means, but Tennessee Football is a cash cow on the level of very few. The higher ups have to see this too. I guess they think we'll spend money whether or not the product is any good or not
 
It is has been reported that they attempted to get him to renegotiate, but there have been no reports that he actually did it. Why would he renegotiate to make it easier for them to fire him? To keep from getting fired immediately? The existing contract has his buyout at $32 million. I think he would stand pat.

They don't need him to fail to fire him. They can fire him anytime they want to fire him.
In theory yes.

Selling that to your fans maybe hard. And your next coaching options even harder. AU has gone full on stupid and it start when they boosted Gus after rumblings of letting him go before he beat UGA and Bama last year.

To the renegotiation, Gus should have chuckled and walked out.
 
This fiasco is the very reason that nobody wanted the head football coaching at Tennessee.... Too many chiefs and not enough indians. One must go through 8 or 10 people in order to hire an assistant coach.. Simply BS !!!
What exactly makes this a fiasco? Because we did hire the first available OC? Give it a break. This stuff does not happen overnight. The pool of available OC's is not exactly full or full of spectacular candidates. I don't really care how long it takes as long as they get the right OC. You shouldn't either.
 
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Fulmer could have allowed Freeze to pursue who he wanted on the knowledge that any candidate, especially Freeze, would have to be vetted very hard.
None of this is ever as easy as you imply.

Doing a freaking google search pulls up the USA Today article on page 1. So yes even the lowest level of inquiry would have revealed the article with allegations from Freeze time at Briarcrest. That "news" is well over a year old. Same old ineptitude at UT.
 
There was sworn testimony from Mike McQuery that he heard Schiano had seen something third hand from someone who heard it from someone else. Basically he swore he heard some beauty parlour gossip. McQuery could not testify he had seen or heard Schiano do anything himself. Literally this was triple hearsay at a deposition, it would never be admitted at a civil or criminal trial because it's not evidence of anything. When investigators went to the other two someone's involved, they both said McQuery was FOS. McQuery is a very suspect guy, he is the one who originally said he (McQuery) saw Sandusky having sexual relations in the shower with a kid and was freaked out and essentially walked away. McQuery caught hell for this and rightfully so, he then backtracked and changed his story to "he made sure the sex stopped before leaving" (leaving the kid alone with the perp). Since that time he has made multiple unsubstantiated/uncorroborated claims trying to rehabilitate his image. In short, he is no hero, and not real credible to start with.

I am happy as I can be that we didn't get Schiano because I think he would have been a terrible fit and another failed coach for UT, but it amazes me the number of people who continue with the Schiano Penn State thing. It's sad, and it's a dangerous position for society to be in that so many are willing to use such a flimsy connection to something horrible to unjustly and forever taint a man just because it serves your short term purpose. It's all fun and games until it happens to you, I've spent my life working in the justice system and if we don't demand evidence, everyone is really just one liar away from some serious trouble.

The Schiano garbage is just that. I believe 100% that many coaches looked the other way while Sandusky committed horrific crimes. The Sandusky abuse lasted for years and Joe Pa and others buried it.

But what I "think" doesn't matter; I have practiced law for over 20 years and I deal with hearsay on an almost daily basis. But that wasnt the point of my post/
 
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