OK, i am good with firing MH. Letting the program get to this level is the bottom line. Any casual observer can see that the program has gone on a downward spiral since he took over. Let's not say that Dickey was a wiz at the job either, but ever since MH took over, we've seen the program's overall performance suffer. I think people who blame Fulmer may be somewhat correct, but let's remember that Fulmer can only do what Fulmer was allowed to do. I have no idea what all goes on, but i can tell you that i have gone through changes from one boss to another where all other variables are the same and something is drastically different. I know that each time i've seen this up close, you have the younger-up-and-coming professional wanting to make a name for him/herself. And each time, a lot of the BS that goes on that you didn't have to put up with before may not alter how you go about doing things but it just doesn't sit well and you start to wonder if it is all worth it. I think we only see the head coach on the sidelines and in the paper. But who knows who does all the stuff behind the scenes. There are other reasons that the AD may/may not have a hand in but you gotta wonder why EVERYTHING that changed, changed for the worse:
1. We lose David Cutcliffe. We replace with Sanders. We keep Sanders until it's either Sanders' job or Fulmers' that gets lost. Too long. Why not ask your coach to come up with a replacement plan to A. promote within and B. Go out and find a better OC than then the one we had and evaluate which is best for UT.
2. We lose Rodney Garner. Not sure who replaced him. Same deal as above, but here, we lose probably the best recruiting coach for TN. He knew GA well. He recruited the players that won us a NC. Replacing him with just another position coach is not acceptable. Did Fulmer present a plan to MH to upgrade this position or save some money and hire within?
3. We have reduced the stadium capacity to 102,000 from a high of 107,000+. Only 5,000 people you might say and those newer seats command much more $$. But, we have lost the edge/buzz that we had. We were top two or three on campus stadiums. That's an easy sell to recruits. What are we going to say now? Oh, uh, we have more high paying seats now. Does that resonate well with recruits? Probably not. It doesn't resonate well with me because i think fans are now so pampered that we are becoming similar to the Dodgers where everybody leaves after the 5th inning once the food becomes cold and the halftime hotdogs and ice cream are gone.
4. Where was the Vote-of-confidence for Fulmer? Where was it? Did he once get in front of the media and say "Fulmer is our coach"? No. He went on the air and flat-out outlined a plan whereby we could find the money to buy Fulmer out. Who does that? At that point, when you have an AD publicly stating that it's doable to fire the coach even though he has a 16-year track record and a national championship, you don't go out and make him look already fired when he is trying to motivate a team, a fanbase and trying to get to a bowl game. That to me was inexcusable. Fulmer deserved more than that and that showed me that somebody else was pushing MH and his own big mouth should have stayed shut.
5. We fire a UT legend and hire a snot-nosed brat that was out of here first opportunity to "better" hisself. OK, nuff said.
6. Charging students whom this whole program is about for attending games.
7. Charging absurd rates for tickets and mandatory donations.
All of these things were done on his watch. For that, i think you're on to something.
BYOBBIO
