Rethinking Hamilton's Tenure

[DNBVOL]

Rather if it was intentional or the guy was just completely incompetent, his series of decisions drug a traditional perennial powerhouse down to the worst and most embarrassing era of the program's history. In other words, dude was straight garbage.

 

[ajvol01]

Dooley
Martin

Enough Said

+Raleigh for the hat trick

 

[oregonvol]

I've seen his family and how he interacts with them. I honestly think Mike Hamilton is probably a very good person.

That said, the hiring of Dooley alone proves that he was utterly incompetent (it also proved that he didn't really care about the program, since no one with any intelligence could have thought that would benefit us). He did as much harm to the program during his tenure than any other coach or administrator in memory. Though he doesn't deserve all, he should certainly be given a good deal of the blame for taking our football program to a historic low.

 

[gunner]

UT AD is a moneymaker it always has been. Dickey ran it for years without any problems. Then Hamilton comes in and tries to fix things, well we all saw the results.

 

[ReaderVol]

I was thinking about Hamilton's time at UT, and while it was time to go, I do think he accomplished some good things at UT.

1. Gave Neyland a beautiful facelift
2. Transformed TBA
3. Hired a coach that made b-ball relevant again.
4. Avoided NCAA sanctions (admittedly from hires he made)

Often times, I heard people characterize Hamilton as a slimeball, but from those close to him, he was a man of good character who involved himself in the community and charitible endeavors. He is a man of faith, and adopted children in desperate need of a family. I imagine while he was here, he gave his all for Tennessee.

Don't get me wrong, Kiffen and Dooley fall on his watch, and he needed to go. I just think as quick as we are to criticize coaches and AD's, we should have some perspective and give credit where it is due. Perhaps we can say the same for our basketball coach.

Flame away!

Not a slimeball but an epic failure as AD. Good person? Yes.
Horrible AD? Without question.

 

[mscelinaVol]

I have nothing good to say about Hamilton, nothing I am grateful to him for, no hire that I applaud, no innovation that I feel we needed, no comment that I agree with, no goal that I share, no moment I cherish, and no action that I admire.

Other than that--

Well, nothing.

 

[flatiron]

I was thinking about Hamilton's time at UT, and while it was time to go, I do think he accomplished some good things at UT.

1. Gave Neyland a beautiful facelift
2. Transformed TBA
3. Hired a coach that made b-ball relevant again.
4. Avoided NCAA sanctions (admittedly from hires he made)

Often times, I heard people characterize Hamilton as a slimeball, but from those close to him, he was a man of good character who involved himself in the community and charitible endeavors. He is a man of faith, and adopted children in desperate need of a family. I imagine while he was here, he gave his all for Tennessee.

Don't get me wrong, Kiffen and Dooley fall on his watch, and he needed to go. I just think as quick as we are to criticize coaches and AD's, we should have some perspective and give credit where it is due. Perhaps we can say the same for our basketball coach.

Flame away!

This might come in handy

 

[Gramps]

How many millions of dollars did Mike Hamilton's poor decisions cost the university in buy out money, Fulmer and Dooley was what $11 million?

 

[CountryBoyBob454]

Bingo. However, no one also could have predicted that Kiffin would have left a tornado's path of destruction in his wake, either. Kiffin leaving was the major blow to our program, I agree, but by the same token, had we kept him (i.e. gave him a raise, or as you said, had better contract language--like a MUCH bigger buyout, etc.) we would've probably been in it deeper than we were with the NCAA.

I agree. Not having a bigger buyout was his biggest mistake. He gave us the coach we wanted. Maybe he was thinking, as we all do, there is no better place to be than Tennessee

 

[vol_in_ar]

I was thinking about Hamilton's time at UT, and while it was time to go, I do think he accomplished some good things at UT.

1. Gave Neyland a beautiful facelift
2. Transformed TBA
3. Hired a coach that made b-ball relevant again.
4. Avoided NCAA sanctions (admittedly from hires he made)

Often times, I heard people characterize Hamilton as a slimeball, but from those close to him, he was a man of good character who involved himself in the community and charitible endeavors. He is a man of faith, and adopted children in desperate need of a family. I imagine while he was here, he gave his all for Tennessee.

Don't get me wrong, Kiffen and Dooley fall on his watch, and he needed to go. I just think as quick as we are to criticize coaches and AD's, we should have some perspective and give credit where it is due. Perhaps we can say the same for our basketball coach.

Flame away!

If you've enjoyed the almost decade of mediocrity, then yeah, Hamilton was a great AD

 

[ttocswob]

If Hambone was any good, Smokey would have been on that like...well, like a dog on a bone.

 

[Rasputin_Vol]

I was thinking about Hamilton's time at UT, and while it was time to go, I do think he accomplished some good things at UT.

1. Gave Neyland a beautiful facelift
2. Transformed TBA
3. Hired a coach that made b-ball relevant again.
4. Avoided NCAA sanctions (admittedly from hires he made)

Often times, I heard people characterize Hamilton as a slimeball, but from those close to him, he was a man of good character who involved himself in the community and charitible endeavors. He is a man of faith, and adopted children in desperate need of a family. I imagine while he was here, he gave his all for Tennessee.

Don't get me wrong, Kiffen and Dooley fall on his watch, and he needed to go. I just think as quick as we are to criticize coaches and AD's, we should have some perspective and give credit where it is due. Perhaps we can say the same for our basketball coach.

Flame away!

I've heard him called a lot of things, but slimeball wasn't one of them. He adopted some kids from Africa or something and most people thought he was a good guy that was over his head. His 2 biggest mistakes were not firing Fulmer after 2005 and giving Fulmer a raise and extension in the summer of 2008. He hit a home run with Pearl and excited the fanbase by rolling the dice with Kiffin. Feeding hot dogs to Aaron Craft and Pete Carroll taking the Seattle job were what made those hires blow up on him.