Good player.
The lumps will keep coming.
That's why imo, we need to bite the bullet nd hire the right guy now.
This interim coach stuff only puts us behind another year, in addition to the transfers from this year leaving. Come 2022 our roster could be full of Ga Tech level players.
I agree we need to hire someone. But I don't agree in the "hurry up approach." If it's not the right guy, it's not the right guy. I'd rather sit through a year of Steele and endure whatever comes of that (which for all we know could be the best season and recruiting class we've had in a while), than to hastily hire another coach out of desperation.
I know we are all scared because 2022 is such a great in-state class. But one class is not worth making a crap hire. You make a crap hire, and you don't get any of them anyways. We need to get this hire right, even if it means riding Steele for a year.
I think worst case scenario is that we take a minute to hire an AD (which won't happen, I think it'll happen by the end of January), and we don't hire a head coach this year. Steele wades through a tough season, and then we hire a proven coach. One more year gives us further intel on Chadwell to see if he is the real deal, further separation from Freeze and his misgivings, and another chance to see if Fickell or Campbell is interested.
Plus, after another year, Chaney's contract will be up, along with Tee, Graham, Weinke, Ansley, and the other coaches.
A new coach could come in and start from scratch and we would have plenty of money to throw around for him and his assistants. It'd be a blank slate.
I know the roster is a concern, but with the right coach, AND with the one time transfer rule, it could fix itself fairly quickly. There is nothing that says that any player who chooses against Tennessee right now couldn't come back once we have a Head Coach in place.
Personally? I'm excited as heck to see where this program goes from here. I feel like we're in a good place to really set up a culture that can win here.