VolFan..But
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It all started in 2003. Doug Dickey was retiring. John Shumaker was President. He decided to have a public search for an athletic director. The great ones wanted no part of it. So no candidate was available so they looked to promote Mike Hamilton from within. With no alternative, they got Coach Fulmer and Coach Summit to support it. It was done.
In 2005, Buzz Peterson was struggling. Haslem told Hamilton to decide. It was a Saturday and Hamilton decided to give Buzz another year. He called a couple of big money guys to tell them. They told their friends. The next day, Hamilton called Haslem to say he was staying with Buzz. Haslem said no. tHE OTHER MONEY GUYS WHERE PISSED. He told Hamilton to get out of the way and Ernie Grunfeld would find a coach. That Coach was Bruce Pearl. This was the first strike on Hamilton. He waited his time and took credit for the school record Pearl success. He waited. When Pearl had a Friday BBQ at his house there was one big time recruit taking an unofficial visit and one commitment. When on an unofficial, they cannot leave campus and attend any functions. Their player host did not know that and brought them to Pearl's house. Minor infraction. Pearl did not even know they were coming. He did no wrong. Now at this point, Hamilton like any AD, is supposed to get their coach out of trouble. Instead he saw the opportunity to get back at those that went around him to hire Bruce. He didn't tell Bruce what the NCAA had on purpose. Had he done that, it would have been a slap on the wrist and done. But Pearl knew he did no wrong and didn't want that to deal with. Not knowing they had a picture, he denied. That was his mistake but Hamilton could have fixed it. But he was vindictive.
Now it is just before 2005. That is when Hamilton had the idea that he was going to make a splash. He was reading message boards (he admitted it in Clay Travis's book) and heard the vocal minority nuts. So he started the process. First he had to test the waters. He wanted to fire Rod Delmonico. So when Rod, who finished as the schools by far most successful coach and 4th all time in SEC history, was in line for a 2007 NCAA bid, Hamilton called the selection committee and asked them not to pick Tennessee. That way he wouldn't look as bad when he fired Rod. Prior he started sabotaging the baseball program by withholding funds for coaches and facility upgrades. Upgrades Rod had done. Upgrades that started when Hamilton hired that idiot from Clemson. You see the hires after Rod and the success. Strike two.
Hamilton started sabotaging football. Withheld funds for improvements and staff. He even tried to recruit Ainge and others ON THE GET fULMER BANDWAGON. . Ainge has admitted this on his radio show. Hamilton also worked on the Haslems telling Big Jim that Fulmer was about to break all of Neyland's records and they needed to get him out. See Phil and Pat saw Hamilton as a punk kid and he wanted his own in there to get the respect he thought he deserved. So things started to bounce back and Cut was moving on to Duke. Hamilton made Fulmer take Clawson as the OC and behind the scenes coach in waiting. Clawson is a good football coach but not a fit at Tennessee. He needs very smart players like he had at Richmond and now at Wake. Things did not go well. Big Jim was working on the Governor race and finally told Hamilton OK but he better get it right. He didn't and he paid the price.
Bill Webb, the very successful track coach, saw what was going on and said screw it. He quit in 2009. They have also been a mess every since.
So Hamilton got rid of Rod, Phil and Bruce. Webb left on his own to stay out of the cross hairs.
When a legend, a Hall of Famer and relative to the circumstances of the day, most successful football coach in school history is fired, other coaches take note. The College Football Coaches Association voted Fulmer their President. Very well liked and respected. Hamilton reached out to Bob Stoops. He told them "if Phil can't make you happy then neither can I". Hamilton started to see that no name coach would want to come to this situation. So you can see the mess in football that happened.
They hired Currie. Everyone hated him at Tennessee as he played a role in all the mess as well. He was despised at Kansas State. No successful coach would ever want to work for him. As seen by the recent search. By the way, Schiano would have taken it but no one has tried to hire him anywhere else for a reason.
Back when Hamilton was dismantling baseball, Rod reached out to Big Jim to save him. He did nothing. This fall Rod was inducted into the Greater Knoxville Hall of Fame. Big Jim was there. He was over the top nice due to his guilt. He even sent Rod hand written notes after. He knew that he let things get away. And because of that, Jim would not let Currie fire Jones earlier in the year when everyone thought he should have been fired. He remembered jumping the gun. After Missouri he finally allowed it.
Now here we are. The Hall of Famer is back and will be able to get a conversation with anyone in the business. Currie was used by all AND THEY really had no intention of working for him.
So you see how this entire mess unfolded and got us where we are. Barnes has basketball on the right path. Track is still down. Baseball is on what coach #3 and still terrible. Football is the worst it has ever been. Let's hope Phil gets the right guy and in time they will get it built back.
Finally, when you look at the true history of Tennessee football, it is not what the Fulmer era of 16 years was. That was an anomaly that will never be duplicated here. Wins, winning %, SEC Titles, the only legit National Title in school history, SEC Title games every 4 years. More future NFL Hall of Famers from his era then the school's entire history. His down period is better than most of the UT history. Not to mention how Majors was circling the drain after his 0-6 start and the next year he named Phil offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator and that lead to two SEC titles. One was a split.
Had they counted SEC titles in Phil's day the way they did in Neyland's day, Phil would have several more. Had the playoff been around, several more of his teams would have been involved.
Bottom line, you don't spit into the wind, you don't tug on the Hall of Famer's cape and you don't mess around with a legend. Get on board or get out of the way.
And all of this is 100% truth from the inside. I left out a few things due to time etc. More things that would prove them. This is not the truth that many of you thought you knew but it has all come full circle. Believe what you want. :rock:
In 2005, Buzz Peterson was struggling. Haslem told Hamilton to decide. It was a Saturday and Hamilton decided to give Buzz another year. He called a couple of big money guys to tell them. They told their friends. The next day, Hamilton called Haslem to say he was staying with Buzz. Haslem said no. tHE OTHER MONEY GUYS WHERE PISSED. He told Hamilton to get out of the way and Ernie Grunfeld would find a coach. That Coach was Bruce Pearl. This was the first strike on Hamilton. He waited his time and took credit for the school record Pearl success. He waited. When Pearl had a Friday BBQ at his house there was one big time recruit taking an unofficial visit and one commitment. When on an unofficial, they cannot leave campus and attend any functions. Their player host did not know that and brought them to Pearl's house. Minor infraction. Pearl did not even know they were coming. He did no wrong. Now at this point, Hamilton like any AD, is supposed to get their coach out of trouble. Instead he saw the opportunity to get back at those that went around him to hire Bruce. He didn't tell Bruce what the NCAA had on purpose. Had he done that, it would have been a slap on the wrist and done. But Pearl knew he did no wrong and didn't want that to deal with. Not knowing they had a picture, he denied. That was his mistake but Hamilton could have fixed it. But he was vindictive.
Now it is just before 2005. That is when Hamilton had the idea that he was going to make a splash. He was reading message boards (he admitted it in Clay Travis's book) and heard the vocal minority nuts. So he started the process. First he had to test the waters. He wanted to fire Rod Delmonico. So when Rod, who finished as the schools by far most successful coach and 4th all time in SEC history, was in line for a 2007 NCAA bid, Hamilton called the selection committee and asked them not to pick Tennessee. That way he wouldn't look as bad when he fired Rod. Prior he started sabotaging the baseball program by withholding funds for coaches and facility upgrades. Upgrades Rod had done. Upgrades that started when Hamilton hired that idiot from Clemson. You see the hires after Rod and the success. Strike two.
Hamilton started sabotaging football. Withheld funds for improvements and staff. He even tried to recruit Ainge and others ON THE GET fULMER BANDWAGON. . Ainge has admitted this on his radio show. Hamilton also worked on the Haslems telling Big Jim that Fulmer was about to break all of Neyland's records and they needed to get him out. See Phil and Pat saw Hamilton as a punk kid and he wanted his own in there to get the respect he thought he deserved. So things started to bounce back and Cut was moving on to Duke. Hamilton made Fulmer take Clawson as the OC and behind the scenes coach in waiting. Clawson is a good football coach but not a fit at Tennessee. He needs very smart players like he had at Richmond and now at Wake. Things did not go well. Big Jim was working on the Governor race and finally told Hamilton OK but he better get it right. He didn't and he paid the price.
Bill Webb, the very successful track coach, saw what was going on and said screw it. He quit in 2009. They have also been a mess every since.
So Hamilton got rid of Rod, Phil and Bruce. Webb left on his own to stay out of the cross hairs.
When a legend, a Hall of Famer and relative to the circumstances of the day, most successful football coach in school history is fired, other coaches take note. The College Football Coaches Association voted Fulmer their President. Very well liked and respected. Hamilton reached out to Bob Stoops. He told them "if Phil can't make you happy then neither can I". Hamilton started to see that no name coach would want to come to this situation. So you can see the mess in football that happened.
They hired Currie. Everyone hated him at Tennessee as he played a role in all the mess as well. He was despised at Kansas State. No successful coach would ever want to work for him. As seen by the recent search. By the way, Schiano would have taken it but no one has tried to hire him anywhere else for a reason.
Back when Hamilton was dismantling baseball, Rod reached out to Big Jim to save him. He did nothing. This fall Rod was inducted into the Greater Knoxville Hall of Fame. Big Jim was there. He was over the top nice due to his guilt. He even sent Rod hand written notes after. He knew that he let things get away. And because of that, Jim would not let Currie fire Jones earlier in the year when everyone thought he should have been fired. He remembered jumping the gun. After Missouri he finally allowed it.
Now here we are. The Hall of Famer is back and will be able to get a conversation with anyone in the business. Currie was used by all AND THEY really had no intention of working for him.
So you see how this entire mess unfolded and got us where we are. Barnes has basketball on the right path. Track is still down. Baseball is on what coach #3 and still terrible. Football is the worst it has ever been. Let's hope Phil gets the right guy and in time they will get it built back.
Finally, when you look at the true history of Tennessee football, it is not what the Fulmer era of 16 years was. That was an anomaly that will never be duplicated here. Wins, winning %, SEC Titles, the only legit National Title in school history, SEC Title games every 4 years. More future NFL Hall of Famers from his era then the school's entire history. His down period is better than most of the UT history. Not to mention how Majors was circling the drain after his 0-6 start and the next year he named Phil offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator and that lead to two SEC titles. One was a split.
Had they counted SEC titles in Phil's day the way they did in Neyland's day, Phil would have several more. Had the playoff been around, several more of his teams would have been involved.
Bottom line, you don't spit into the wind, you don't tug on the Hall of Famer's cape and you don't mess around with a legend. Get on board or get out of the way.
And all of this is 100% truth from the inside. I left out a few things due to time etc. More things that would prove them. This is not the truth that many of you thought you knew but it has all come full circle. Believe what you want. :rock:
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