Gotta read this.

[AM64]

In other news, Scott Frost and Mike Norvell apparently have no interest in playing defense today

Or any other day, but they certainly have their admirers here even if their style of play would be Titanic disaster in the SEC.

 

[Volador]

Because Fulmer wouldn't have FULL control of the football team if Gruden was in complete charge. Same circus, different ringmaster.

OK - I politely disagree with you, and here is why. Phil is LUCKY to have a job again at UT and he knows it. Phil is short term, and might get a long term nod IF and ONLY IF WE, Vol Nation, is made happy.

Plus, No coach on the planet would make the majority of us happier than Gruden, and I just don't see Phil getting in his way over any power struggles. (and i think Phil is smart enough to know that he is NOT to be Haslam's puppet moving forward)

Go Phil. Gruden to the Hill. Soon!

 

[KBVol]

Have to agree... Phil has a lot of reasons to "be in control of the program" as we work our way out of the wilderness.

New coach will toe the line and answer to Phil. Good or bad.

It’s good.

 

[Wolfeman_Vol]

We gonna regret not hiring Kiffin.

 

[KBVol]

OK - I politely disagree with you, and here is why. Phil is LUCKY to have a job again at UT and he knows it. Phil is short term, and might get a long term nod IF and ONLY IF WE, Vol Nation, is made happy.

Plus, No coach on the planet would make the majority of us happier than Gruden, and I just don't see Phil getting in his way over any power struggles. (and i think Phil is smart enough to know that he is NOT to be Haslam's puppet moving forward)

Go Phil. Gruden to the Hill. Soon!

Can we please stop with the Gruden talk?? Any earthly idea how foolish people sound still talking about him? He was never coming to Tennessee and he never will come to Tennessee. No offense, but can we stop with the unicorns and rainbows?

 

[slydwz]

I'm sure they are Bernie voters... lol

Bernie to the Hill! Gruden to the White House!

Grooooo-den, man!

Another sequel to Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.

 

[vols-1]

Trey Wallace on Twitter corroborating part of the OP’s post....


Source: Former Tennessee AD John Currie took a private plane associated with a previous employer to meet with Mike Leach in Los Angeles earlier this week in a bid to circumvent Phillip Fulmer’s influence in coaching hire.

I highly doubt the chancellor signed off on Currie using an associate of a former employers plane. Where I work, I can't even give the impression that I am associated with another employer without written permission.

 

[YorkVol]

I'm particularly fond of the Fulmer sabotage stories. There was a great one today in some self important news rag about how Phil has been laying in wait for ten years to get the crew who ousted him - including Currie.

I do have a real problem though reconciling the guy who was so addled by old age that the game passed him by and the good ole Middle Tennessee boy who could teach Machiavelli, Mao, and Ho a few tricks. Who knows; maybe it will all be explained in the further Adventures of Wu Fat Fil - the guy who buried James Bond and all the pretenders.

Why stop there though. Maybe Phil took an instant dislike to Currie one fine day, and deliberately sabotaged his career to set the whole plan in motion. According to a lot of guys here he was so devious and so self centered that he probably orchestrated the WY loss, bet heavily against TN, and bankrolled his whole savage payback with the winnings.

All I know is that if Phil single handedly and with malice pulled off a palace coup like this, he's absolutely who I want running Tennessee football. Oh, and for comic relief, I can't wait to see the special hell he has in store for John Adams.

If Fulmer really orchestrated this, wouldn't he have had his whole family, especially his wife, in town for the big moment.

 

[arkivol]

What is this? Plot lines for "As The World Turns" soap opera?

The only subject matter missing is an illicit sex scandle, cocaine, and a dead hooker!

They are saving that for "Outside the LINES"

"cocaine and hookers anyone"

 

[AM64]

If Fulmer really orchestrated this, wouldn't he have had his whole family, especially his wife, in town for the big moment.

They were probably disguised in the crowd with weapons just in case there still some "loyalists" lurking.

 

[arkivol]

I highly doubt the chancellor signed off on Currie using an associate of a former employers plane. Where I work, I can't even give the impression that I am associated with another employer without written permission.

I believe you missed the part where it stated he was unsanctioned which is why he will be fired with cause:hi:

 

[AM64]

We gonna regret not hiring Kiffin.

This is no BS. Once upon a time, on a dark and stormy night made frightful by the glow of burning mattresses and villagers armed with Tiki lamps and pitchforks ...

 

[Sudden Impact]

It's absolutely true. His brother is the Governor and head of the board. Currie was hand picked by him. Literally walked into the room, said this guy here is AD. I don't even think he was interviewed by the hiring committee. And it was done. At least that's the story of many in the situation.

Furthermore, Haslam had already tried to hire Schiano for the Browns. Apparently he owes him something. I am thinking hush money.

So Gov Haslam is going to nix any coach unless his brother approves.....LOL...

Don't think so...He will rubber stamp the decision if endorsed or back himself in a corner of a mess...

not going to jeopardize his Senate Run..

 

[slydwz]

I love all of these conspiracy theories. First were the Currie/Haslam conspiracies to squash Gruden. Now we have the Fulmer conspiracy to torpedo Currie. Fulmer is also in cahoots with Haslam to tank the program.

It must be real boring flipping burgers at Micky D’s to come up with this juvenile garbage.

 

[Perspective]

Let’s hope it’s not true, because if it were to be true we will never be anything but a disaster.

 

[kemotoe]

The part that gets me is Ergen donating 35m a year. I don't believe that

 

[TheRain]

OK - I politely disagree with you, and here is why. Phil is LUCKY to have a job again at UT and he knows it. Phil is short term, and might get a long term nod IF and ONLY IF WE, Vol Nation, is made happy.

Plus, No coach on the planet would make the majority of us happier than Gruden, and I just don't see Phil getting in his way over any power struggles. (and i think Phil is smart enough to know that he is NOT to be Haslam's puppet moving forward)

Go Phil. Gruden to the Hill. Soon!

I don't see any situation were Phil gives up one drop of power. I also believe he has no plans of leaving in two years.

 

[Yellowstone]

This was a post from UT booster on Twitter. Interesting read. Fact or Fiction??



Here's what REALLY happened at UT, not what you saw & heard at the press conference:
Remember that you read this here first:
Ergen, Thornton, & Davis, among others, had enough of Haslam's pick for AD botching the coaching hire & embarrassing our/their alma mater. It was becoming a bad reflection on them as businessmen to be portrayed in such a bad light nationally, since they are known to be prominent donors to UT.
They gave Davenport an ultimatum & she called Currie in off the road. He went anyway on a plane owned by one of his KSU donors at his former school, which is why no one could find him or contact him yesterday.
Peyton had aligned himself with the Haslams, & one rumor is that he has been offered a piece of the Browns to run them when they inevitably clean house for the second time at the end of the season. Other rumors abound that the Haslams have promised the Mannings they will help them be able to acquire another NFL franchise or a piece of one.
Leach is really interested in this job, but probably won't get it now. That's a real shame, because he & Kiffin are the two best coaches we could have hired, & Spurrier said so today on Finebaum. They know how to recruit & build a staff & run offenses that deploy their weapons to the utmost on the field.
Just a few hours ago, it was Haslam & Manning aligned on one side, pitted against Ergen, Thornton, & Davis on the other. They contacted Fulmer, who met them at the airport. Haslam & Manning wanted Sigmon named interim AD. The others wanted Fulmer & said they were ending their donations if he wasn't given the job on some basis.
Ergen was giving $35M annually to UT when Fulmer was here as coach & has only given $10M annually since. He told UT he would make up for any shortfall in what the Haslams may withhold.
You can tell that Davenport is in way over her head in this job & was visibly shaken at the press conference. She didn't know how to answer any of the questions.
The reason Currie didn't use a search firm is that he was given a list of 3 coaches to interview by Haslam that Davenport signed off on. In order, they were 1. Gruden, 2. Kelly, & 3. Schiano. Gruden was already signed & ready to come, as some of these other boosters had already gotten his agreement, but Haslam nixed the hire because Gruden wanted total control of the program like Saban has at Bama & Meyer at OSU, & Haslam was determined not to let go of his control of everything.
By the time Currie got to Kelly, he had already been approached by both Florida & UCLA, & had decided to go to one of those places. Currie went to the Bahamas knowing he was going to offer Schiano when he got back home. It was only when the firestorm hit on Sunday that Currie had to go beyond the original Haslam list, which is when we got started getting turned down by so many others. Currie made a last ditch attempt to save his job by going for Leach, but he wasn't authorized by Haslam or Davenport to be contacted.
Now, the rest of this is speculation, but maybe more educated guess than conjecture:
Cutcliffe, now age 63, & Miles, age 64, will be the two top targets now for HC, with Tee Martin as OC brought in under either of them & groomed to be their successor. That's the plan. Might involve Chavis or Steele as DC. Should have a hire within 48 hours.
Not sure where they will go if this plan doesn't fall through. Only thing that bothers me about Fulmer in this search is that there will probably be no "outside the box" thinking & any new blood other than Tee. Also, he went with Currie to interview Doeren in NC & had signed off on his hire, which would have been a disastrous hire, so it was just fortuitous for us that he turned us down.

~ Sounds like info for a 30 for 30 except ESPN would slant it their way!

 

[Orange_Vol1321]

This is an issue for me..

...but Haslam nixed the hire because Gruden wanted total control of the program like Saban has at Bama & Meyer at OSU, & Haslam was determined not to let go of his control of everything.

How in the name of everything sane can a booster nix a hire? He is not on the board nor was he part of the HC search committee... so that blows my mind. The only way that has legs is that Haslam has the enough of the weaker minded board members under his direct control. Which needs to be nipped in the bud, if true.

He was calling Tn Legislatures telling them you don't make the hire WE do. That's some BS. The man and family needs pushed very far away from UT. How can you accept any money from them that could possibly been fraud money from pilot?

 

[MyVolsDropped]

What bothers me is Fulmer signed off on Doeren and is now AD. Why would he do that?!

Is anyone else not a bit concerned?

What if now he just goes and pulls some average Joe off the street just to say we have a football coach.

 

[Sudden Impact]

What bothers me is Fulmer signed off on Doeren and is now AD. Why would he do that?!

Is anyone else not a bit concerned?

What if now he just goes and pulls some average Joe off the street just to say we have a football coach.

The Only way you do that is if you know the hire will

1 not be accepted
2 not be approved
3 will not ever get past square 1
4 It would have ended Currie's Reign and kinda did in a way.
5 If he had to use a KSU plane to get to LA that states it all...He went Rouge

Currie got caught in what is knows as the "burrito syndrome"

You squeeze it in the Middle and S**t is going to come out both ends.

 

[1972 Grad]

We gonna regret not hiring Kiffin.

Maybe, but more than likely, we would also regret it if we did hire him.

 

[1972 Grad]

What bothers me is Fulmer signed off on Doeren and is now AD. Why would he do that?!

Is anyone else not a bit concerned?

What if now he just goes and pulls some average Joe off the street just to say we have a football coach.

Good, then we all have a chance at being the next coach.

 

[Wezcoast]

What bothers me is Fulmer signed off on Doeren and is now AD. Why would he do that?!

Is anyone else not a bit concerned?

What if now he just goes and pulls some average Joe off the street just to say we have a football coach.

Maybe he thought Doeren would get Currie fired eventually and fate sped up the process.

 

[crow]

Good, then we all have a chance at being the next coach.