Official Jon Gruden Thread XLVI

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#1,527
#1,527
RockyTopSC said:
David is dealing with other things from what I understand and I will leave it at that and ask that everyone respect that and please don’t run wild with speculation. We should just start a public push for Charles. Strategically our friends at the NAACP may help us out with that one.
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Heard the same and wish him the best- he's too good to be down long.
 
#1,528
#1,528
VFL-82-JP said:
Okay, I was all in on this "social movement" while it was about trying to find the best coach for the University of Tennessee. I thought that was the goal. Turns out we've veered off into some political crusade that is only tangentially related to that goal, and may even be harmful to it.

We stood up to Currie last Sunday because he tried to trot out Schiano, a hugely underwhelming option, a man of questionable character who is also, apparently, not a very good leader or football coach. When we did that, we had the goal firmly in mind. The goal was Gruden, or Patterson, or Peterson, or another coach of that pedigree. Shciano was a miserable first failure, and it was right to object. Good so far.

Then the goal morphed a little. It remained to find a great coach...but it also started being about firing Currie. Which I'm totally good with; the man has shown some fairly incredible incompetence in the realms of communication, expectation management, values and leadership. So I didn't mind adding "fire Currie" as a second goal.

Then the goal shifted again, so that "fire Currie" took first place in the list of goals. Finding a great coach dropped into the secondary position. And that was okay, sort of, since it didn't look like Currie would find any coach worth a damn anyway.

But quietly in there, growing slowly in volume as the days went along, the goal was morphing again. Firing Currie wasn't enough, we needed to somehow separate Jimmy Haslam from the program, remove his influence. This was introduced as the Game Behind the Game, the Big Win.

And a lot of us, me included, saw what we thought were Actors with Purpose leading that charge. The enigmatic Beav and Bubba, of course, but most of all, Atlanta_Vol. AV being kind and generous to the kinds of people we like to care about, parents with children and vets, and that gave him huge instant credibility, and he said this is what it's all about, it is a Booster War, one that will turn out great for Tennessee if we can only win it. And our part, as fans, was to make things uncomfortable for the Haslam-Currie duo, to give the Booster Cabal time, energy and support to do...well, whatever it is they expected to do.

Errm...what was that, exactly? None of this Booster Cabal have ever explained what they're trying to do. Or how they mean to accomplish it. Is the goal to vote Bill Haslam out of the Board of Trustees Chairmanship? Or is it to in some other way force Bill to tell Jimmy to back off, leave the program alone? How exactly, I mean precisely, do they expect to accomplish that? And exactly how long do they expect that to last? And how do they expect to enforce it, say, six months from now? Or two years from now? Ten?

And if it's not about a long-term solution, if it's only about getting Haslam and Currie out of the way so we can get the best possible coach for the program now, if that's all it's about, then why are we supposed to rail against even decent coaching options that Currie comes up with?

I've read not one or two, but several people here, who have written that we need to fight to prevent any coach from being hired as long as Currie still has his job and Haslam is in the background pulling strings.

What if Currie gets Gruden? We fight that?

What if he gets Patterson? Or Peterson?

I'm not saying Currie could land any of them, or any great option at this point, only pointing out that our priorities have become all jumbled.

What the heck are we doing here?

For me, this is about getting a great coach. I am amenable to it being about more, about removing the Haslam influence from our program, but only if someone who actually knows what the Boosters are doing (not guesses, or thinks they know, but literally and truly knows ) can explain in great detail what the plan is, what result we're shooting for and how we expect to get there, and how it will give this program long-term benefits.

Short of that, I'm dropping back to our foundations: about us getting the best coach we can.

Right now, that might be Mike Leach. I'm not hugely in love with him as an option, but he may be our best choice.

That's where I see us being, today.




tl;dr: the mysterious and largely hidden Movement Leaders have lost my support. They can get it back by explaining, with great clarity, in detail, the goal and a plan to achieve it. Short of that, I'm backing Leach and any follow-on coaching candidates who make sense given where we are at the time.
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Back to the political campaign analogy: You're like a random campaign volunteer, coming into the campaign office after a hot day of knocking on doors, yelling and screaming: "I'm sick of doing this grunt work! I wanna see the campaign strategy memos. I wanna see the fundraising report and the advertising budget. I demand to talk to the candidate personally. I deserve to know everything about everything or I'm just gonna go support the other guy."
 
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#1,530
#1,530
Someone had a good point on Twitter:

Based on reason alone two things can happen

Leach is hired
Currie is fired


Or if we’re reallg fkd Currie gets a raise
 
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#1,531
#1,531
Deerhunter47 said:
Here comes Gruden, Here comes Gruden, right down Fulmer Way
Lane is a *****, Gruden is a Grinder, a champion who will stay
Jon's recruiting, Phil's pooting, all is merry and bright
so pray to Drunk Johnny and lardaass Phil that Gruden comes through tonight. OOOOOOOOHH.
Her comes Gruden, Here Comes Gruden, right down Peyton Pass
those who doubt the word of Revere will kiss my rosie red ass
kids will clamor, adults will get hammered, butts will fill the seats.
a great recruiter, a real straight shooter, Gruden is tough to beat.
Merry Christman Vols
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I doubt any of your information.... don't take that to serious as I doubt everything ... but you skills are impressive.... I even sang this in my head
 
#1,535
#1,535
JawjaVol said:
Back to the political campaign analogy: You're like a random campaign volunteer, coming into the campaign office after a hot day of knocking on doors, yelling and screaming: "I'm sick of doing this grunt work! I wanna see the campaign strategy memos. I wanna see the fundraising report and the advertising budget. I demand to talk to the candidate personally. I deserve to know everything about everything or I'm just gonna go support the other guy."
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Except you generally have an idea of what you are supporting when you volunteer for a campaign. You've also got public accountability and a face leading the charge.

All we've got is...'the good guys are winning', 'keep pushing', etc.etc....

I've not seen one, NOT ONE, statement from a major 'leader' in this movement to the public that the Admin and HoH are destroying UT football and they have been challenged (though i agree with the fact that they are). All we've been given are cryptic chatter and fan squabbling to prevent ANY coach from taking the head job based on said chatter.....
 
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#1,536
#1,536
JawjaVol said:
Back to the political campaign analogy: You're like a random campaign volunteer, coming into the campaign office after a hot day of knocking on doors, yelling and screaming: "I'm sick of doing this grunt work! I wanna see the campaign strategy memos. I wanna see the fundraising report and the advertising budget. I demand to talk to the candidate personally. I deserve to know everything about everything or I'm just gonna go support the other guy."
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And your point is?

Are you trying to imply that a person who volunteers to support a political campaign should NOT want to know what the purpose and goals are?
 
#1,537
#1,537
To all the powers that be,
Please continue to reject ANY hire that's put before you until Currie has been fired. If we don't play a game this year I'm fine with that. We will never be what we should be until Currie and HOH has been removed. This has gone on for far too long and it's time to take a stand for what's right. Please consider Blackburn fore the AD position and know I will fully support any hire he would make.
Thank you for your time and for standing up for the University of Tennessee. We will be great again.
 
#1,538
#1,538
vol.E said:
Except you generally have an idea of what you are supporting when you volunteer for a campaign. You've also got public accountability and a face leading the charge.

All we've got is...'the good guys are winning', 'keep pushing', etc.etc....

I've not seen one, NOT ONE, statement from a major 'leader' in this movement to the public that the Admin and HoH are destroying UT football and they have been challenged (though i agree with the fact that they are). All we've been given are cryptic chatter and fan squabbling to prevent ANY coach from taking the head job based on said chatter.....
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For all we know the next man up, whoever it would be, is absolutely worse than Haslam.

This hidden, cloak-and-dagger BS is either fake, greatly exaggerated (highly likely), or 100% real (I doubt it). This isn't Game of Thrones, people's lives aren't in jeopardy, and most of this stuff is probably ginned up by low-level donors or people attached to donors as a great big LARP.
 
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#1,541
#1,541
Dudleys87 said:
Leach under Haslam and Currie: bad for business
Leach under anyone else: good for business
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Again, I agree with this. But the point of my post was people calling for us not to get Mike Leach do not get the point of where we currently stand as an organization. However, if the Feldman report this morning is accurate, I would love to see what happens before we offer. BUT if Leach wants an offer now and doesn't seem to care what's going on with the in-fighting, which appears to be the case, then I say offer unless Fulmer, Blackburn, whoever has an actual "yes I will sign if it's you and only you" from Gruden. Otherwise, bring on the Pirate, kick Currie to the curb, and let's get some Ws!
 
#1,542
#1,542
UTVolinExile said:
Tennessee fans have been absolutely amazing through this. By any objective measure, our fans are the most loyal, passionate, engaged, and fiercely determined in all of college football. Perhaps in all of sports.

I hope the chatter is false. I hope Leach gets a fat raise from Wazzou, and that Currie is fired tomorrow.

I hope.
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i do too ... but at some point, someone higher up the food chain than the fans has to make something happen. eventually, haslam and currie will hire someone the fan base will accept.
 
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#1,546
#1,546
Mike4Vols said:
Ha. Well done.

I've been following your tweets (along with several other people here). I noticed your profile picture and clicked on it. Lordy girl. :)
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I can say the header pic is real lol. It’s from a little island in the Keys we used to hang out on....folks would be visiting and would make signs for where they were from and hang them out there. I went out one day and spotted the Knoxville one. Made my day.

Sadly, Irma pretty much took out that little island. All the signs are gone.
 
#1,548
#1,548
Fire Currie then Hire Davis....ALLLL Aboard....keep this train moving :superman:
Charles Davis
Davis is a former Vols defensive back who was born in Elizabethton, Tenn., but lived most of his childhood in New York. Clearly, though, he’s a Vol through and through. He’s often on talk radio in Knoxville and still keeps close tabs on Tennessee, as well as close friendships with several former Vols.

Davis has a strong career in broadcasting, so it’s unclear if he’d want to walk away from that. But he recently said at a speaking function that he thinks the Vols need to hire someone with ties to Tennessee. Was that hint that he may want the job?

Davis isn’t just a talking head. He should have a working knowledge of how to run an athletic department. He was an assistant athletic director at Stanford and the director of the U.S. Olympic Training Center. Fundraising likely wouldn’t be an issue as Davis is known for being engaging and likable.
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“Tennessee is good enough to kick the tires on the best in the business,” Davis said.
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“Did I want a Tennessee person through and through? Yeah,” Davis said. “I made that perfectly clear. I thought it was time to get someone with big-time Tennessee ties. Someone who understands Tennessee, has been around and gets it.”
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