jakez4ut
Patience... It's what's for dinner
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2005
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1st, couple of positives one might draw from this...
1. i think we can lay Grumors down in a shallow grave and throw some dirt on them. finally.
2. in albeit the least desierable method of doing so, we have finally seen a majority of the fan base unite and agree on something........
but on to what's next...yesterday certainly changed our circumstances, and altered the dynamics of who might be our next coach. i've gone back and forth with several on some potential candidates, and until yesterday i felt pretty strongly about those opinions. but, things have changed, our wants/needs have changed.
so as i give you this list, i realize that a name or two are going to be diametrically opposed to views i've given on some of these, as recently as last week. and these are in no particular order.
1. Les Miles....vehemently opposed to him before...now...he's a name, he's a good recruiter, he has SEC experience, he has won at the highest level, and...(this is the best quality given our current situation)...he's a very good man, and he's a great personality that would endear himself to the fans and media alike. given the short term mess we're in right now, and the roster we have right now, he's a guy that could provide some immediate help PR wise, maybe put some of this class back together, and could maybe have this roster competing in a year or two. 3-5 years later, maybe then you go after a more proven Tee Martin? fwiw. imo, where miles had little to no value 3 days ago, i think he brings a lot of value now.
2. Tee Martin...or, skip to the end and give Tee a go. doing this though, requires everyone to apply a certain degree of patience. actually a lot of patience. he's not ready for this job, even under great circumstances. but he's a TN guy, he has p5 coordinator experience, a good recruiter, and everyone could probably get behind Tee Martin right now. but for this to be a long term solution, it is going to require patience. so, be ready. we DO NOT want to be in a positon to fire Tee Martin in 3 years b/c he's not "good enough". know what i mean?
3. Jeff Brohm...i was kinda high on him early on, cooled later in favor of other candidates, but he has a great resume(experience wise that is), good offensive mind, and has paid dues at WKU, and got his shot at the P5 this year. he's not a dynamic personality, but that's ok, i don't think he's a robot spitting our cliches either... i do think he is a very good coach. but again, he's not going to wow anyone, and he's certainly not going to rock anyone's boat. would be a good, safe hire, and again, would probably require some degree of patience if he's a long term answer. i would not expect him to save this class or be an immedate impact coach in terms of w/l's.
4. Lane Kiffin. i've said it many times, had 2009 not happened, he'd be on top of most of our lists. but it did, so he wasn't on the list. well, circumstances have changed, and kiffin checks nearly every box. he's dynamic, and while douchey, he's not a bad guy. great offensive mind, great recruiter, and he couldn't care less about how he's perceived. we may be the perfect fit for him, cause we sure as hell don't care how we're perceived...lol. in all seriousness, if there is a time he could come back, now is it. some would consider it a tough pill to swallow...but more than would care to admit it, would take him back. i do feel confident in saying this...he'd make TN football fun again. it's not been fun for a while.
5. Mike Norvell...will likely be on other's lists, and he'll have options, including staying at Memphis. not sure that our situation now says a guy like this could be successfull here long term, he'd have to win pretty much immediatley. but he's widely considered a very good coach, just needing the right opportunity. not sure if TN is it for him or not.
6. Kevin Sumlin...i think he could do well here, relatively speaking. not sure how well. i think he could probably equal the 8-9 win mark Butch did. he's a solid recruiter, but he comes with some of the same baggage butch left with. but he'd be a stabilizing name, and would fall in to the category of "we could definitely do worse". he'll have options as well, and i think the only way you get sumlin here, is to throw money at him.
7. charlie Strong...much like Sumlin, but w/out some of the baggage. the downfall here is he left Texas amidst bad circumstances, and i doubt seriously he'd want to enter Tennessee during bad circumstances. still, i think he was always going to be a better fit at a school in the Southeast than he ever was going to be at Texas. his career, and our program, may both be on much better trajectories had he actually taken the job in 2013. he just had a really good season at USF, and may just like where he's at, back in the home state, and just want to stay put. can't say i'd blame him.
8. Brett Bielema...another man's trash is another man's treasure? flame away. up until his arkasas stint, the dude had an awesome resume. another good personality, and brings a style of football that we identify with. definitely has the baggage of being awful at arkansas..........so it is what it is.
(i'm not necessarily advocating for any of these guys, jmo on each as a candidate now)
i think Scott Frost is definitely off the table. even if he wanted to come here before yesterday, i'm sure going to Nebraska, or staying at UCF, both seem more attractive to him at this point.
I don't know that Brent Venebles would want to make this version of the TN job his first forte in being a head coach. he may be in play at Arkansas though.
Cutcliffe already said no....again......and i think it's safe to assume that Gruden, Kelly, Peterson, Patterson, Fuente, Franklin etc...were never realistic or viable candidates to begin with, at least from the standpoint of ever getting to the table with any of them. it does make you wonder where we started, and when. it appears we reached out to OSU, around 3 weeks ago, which means that happened before we fired Butch. i have no idea if we reached out to any of these other names prior to, or around the same time.
the two candidates that i think we probably did have some realistic shot at getting were Mullen or Frost. and i don't know that we'll ever know exactly how hard we really pursued either one, be it due to overtures to gruden, or putting a lot of effort in to Schiano... or ultimately lack of interest on their part...Mullen obviously holding out for FL and Frost, likely NE. safe to say, i think we found out again, we ran thru a list of at least 5 names before Sunday, and didn't get one.
doesn't matter now obviously...so in the interest of moving on...time to move on.
1. i think we can lay Grumors down in a shallow grave and throw some dirt on them. finally.
2. in albeit the least desierable method of doing so, we have finally seen a majority of the fan base unite and agree on something........
but on to what's next...yesterday certainly changed our circumstances, and altered the dynamics of who might be our next coach. i've gone back and forth with several on some potential candidates, and until yesterday i felt pretty strongly about those opinions. but, things have changed, our wants/needs have changed.
so as i give you this list, i realize that a name or two are going to be diametrically opposed to views i've given on some of these, as recently as last week. and these are in no particular order.
1. Les Miles....vehemently opposed to him before...now...he's a name, he's a good recruiter, he has SEC experience, he has won at the highest level, and...(this is the best quality given our current situation)...he's a very good man, and he's a great personality that would endear himself to the fans and media alike. given the short term mess we're in right now, and the roster we have right now, he's a guy that could provide some immediate help PR wise, maybe put some of this class back together, and could maybe have this roster competing in a year or two. 3-5 years later, maybe then you go after a more proven Tee Martin? fwiw. imo, where miles had little to no value 3 days ago, i think he brings a lot of value now.
2. Tee Martin...or, skip to the end and give Tee a go. doing this though, requires everyone to apply a certain degree of patience. actually a lot of patience. he's not ready for this job, even under great circumstances. but he's a TN guy, he has p5 coordinator experience, a good recruiter, and everyone could probably get behind Tee Martin right now. but for this to be a long term solution, it is going to require patience. so, be ready. we DO NOT want to be in a positon to fire Tee Martin in 3 years b/c he's not "good enough". know what i mean?
3. Jeff Brohm...i was kinda high on him early on, cooled later in favor of other candidates, but he has a great resume(experience wise that is), good offensive mind, and has paid dues at WKU, and got his shot at the P5 this year. he's not a dynamic personality, but that's ok, i don't think he's a robot spitting our cliches either... i do think he is a very good coach. but again, he's not going to wow anyone, and he's certainly not going to rock anyone's boat. would be a good, safe hire, and again, would probably require some degree of patience if he's a long term answer. i would not expect him to save this class or be an immedate impact coach in terms of w/l's.
4. Lane Kiffin. i've said it many times, had 2009 not happened, he'd be on top of most of our lists. but it did, so he wasn't on the list. well, circumstances have changed, and kiffin checks nearly every box. he's dynamic, and while douchey, he's not a bad guy. great offensive mind, great recruiter, and he couldn't care less about how he's perceived. we may be the perfect fit for him, cause we sure as hell don't care how we're perceived...lol. in all seriousness, if there is a time he could come back, now is it. some would consider it a tough pill to swallow...but more than would care to admit it, would take him back. i do feel confident in saying this...he'd make TN football fun again. it's not been fun for a while.
5. Mike Norvell...will likely be on other's lists, and he'll have options, including staying at Memphis. not sure that our situation now says a guy like this could be successfull here long term, he'd have to win pretty much immediatley. but he's widely considered a very good coach, just needing the right opportunity. not sure if TN is it for him or not.
6. Kevin Sumlin...i think he could do well here, relatively speaking. not sure how well. i think he could probably equal the 8-9 win mark Butch did. he's a solid recruiter, but he comes with some of the same baggage butch left with. but he'd be a stabilizing name, and would fall in to the category of "we could definitely do worse". he'll have options as well, and i think the only way you get sumlin here, is to throw money at him.
7. charlie Strong...much like Sumlin, but w/out some of the baggage. the downfall here is he left Texas amidst bad circumstances, and i doubt seriously he'd want to enter Tennessee during bad circumstances. still, i think he was always going to be a better fit at a school in the Southeast than he ever was going to be at Texas. his career, and our program, may both be on much better trajectories had he actually taken the job in 2013. he just had a really good season at USF, and may just like where he's at, back in the home state, and just want to stay put. can't say i'd blame him.
8. Brett Bielema...another man's trash is another man's treasure? flame away. up until his arkasas stint, the dude had an awesome resume. another good personality, and brings a style of football that we identify with. definitely has the baggage of being awful at arkansas..........so it is what it is.
(i'm not necessarily advocating for any of these guys, jmo on each as a candidate now)
i think Scott Frost is definitely off the table. even if he wanted to come here before yesterday, i'm sure going to Nebraska, or staying at UCF, both seem more attractive to him at this point.
I don't know that Brent Venebles would want to make this version of the TN job his first forte in being a head coach. he may be in play at Arkansas though.
Cutcliffe already said no....again......and i think it's safe to assume that Gruden, Kelly, Peterson, Patterson, Fuente, Franklin etc...were never realistic or viable candidates to begin with, at least from the standpoint of ever getting to the table with any of them. it does make you wonder where we started, and when. it appears we reached out to OSU, around 3 weeks ago, which means that happened before we fired Butch. i have no idea if we reached out to any of these other names prior to, or around the same time.
the two candidates that i think we probably did have some realistic shot at getting were Mullen or Frost. and i don't know that we'll ever know exactly how hard we really pursued either one, be it due to overtures to gruden, or putting a lot of effort in to Schiano... or ultimately lack of interest on their part...Mullen obviously holding out for FL and Frost, likely NE. safe to say, i think we found out again, we ran thru a list of at least 5 names before Sunday, and didn't get one.
doesn't matter now obviously...so in the interest of moving on...time to move on.
