I have always thought Hamilton hired him because he was completely averse to Fulmer. I also think, at that time and moment, since we were moving on from Fulmer, CLK was a good choice because he was literally the opposite of.
Face it; we basically had 32 years of the same type of football which had become not only stagnated but costing games. Second, we had a young coach with two pedigrees-his father and USC NC’s. Third, he had a very good plan to get (us) Tennessee football back in the public domain.
I’m not a CLK apologist but he was a good choice for us at that time. Now, unless you are Ole Miss, Miss St., USCe or so on, you don’t hire him. He’s not going to get you a NC. May make you relevant but not a champion.