It works out well for UT if Barnes can get the UTBB dumpster fire extinguished while Wade gets more experience. However if he's too successful at VCU he might not want to try competing in the SEC. Conference competitiveness is cyclical and the SEC is heading upward after hitting rock bottom. VCU has better job security. Their fans probably don't turn on their coaches as quickly and viciously either.
I may be one of the few who think he has done a very good job. But throw out the women's BB decisions and I think he des r ves an A.
Good read on Blackburn:
Discipline when necessary, mold young minds, turn boys into men. Blackburn is a father figure on the gridiron. He has a deep, loud voice a snarl maybe but is soft and gracious in his lessons, earnest in his musings. He is strong in stature, intimidating even. Kippy Brown, former coach at UT Knoxville and of the Seattle Seahawks and one of Blackburn's many mentors, grew up around the Blackburn family and worked closely with David for a number of years with the Volunteers.
"I promise you, if I can describe him in one way, I would say that he is absolutely the real deal," Brown says. "He's a first-class person. Nothing was ever given to him, either. He worked for everything."
Blackburn started his career in athletics cleaning jock straps and tidying up locker rooms at UT. He was promoted many times over, first to a student assistant in the Johnny Majors era, then to an assistant director of compliance and director of football operations in the Phillip Fulmer era, finally moving on to fundraising as the assistant athletic director for development.
"He is the kind of guy who can exert authority," says Brown. "Not many people can do that and toe that line of efficiency and personality. He's been exposed to the whole gamut in this business. He makes everything he touches better by putting his spin on it."
David Blackburn: The man who helped change the game for UTC sports | Times Free Press
Blackburn...with Fulmer as a FB figurehead. We need an Orange Revolution to throw all of the carpet-baggers out and return UT to its previous glory. We've been too long without leadership that loves, and has a vested interest in being a Volunteer.
In an Aug. 10 email, University of Tennessee President Joe DiPietro told Chancellor Jimmy Cheek "for the reasons we have discussed concerning what is in the best interests of the University, including the fact that a new Chancellor will assume office within the next year, I agree with your decision not to extend Mr. Hart's contract for two years with increased compensation."