I know a lot of Tennessee fans will be disappointed when Dooley is kept for the third year. What you should keep in mind is that Tennessee will be just the latest in a long line of schools totally ignoring the obvious evidence on the field and the desires of their fan base to keep an obviously incompetent coach. Some examples:
1. In 1966, Penn State hired one of the former assistant coaches to rebuild a program that went 6-4 and 5-5 the prior two years The coach managed to go 5-5 but the clueless administration kept the coach and had to suffer through 46 seasons and 409 wins under the hapless Joe Paterno.
2. In 1976, Florida State hired Bobby Bowden, who had just had a 4-7 season two years prior to his hiring. He demonstrated his incompetence by promply going 5-6 in his first season. Poor Florida State has had to endure 30 straight winning seasons since.
3. In 2001, USC actually hired a guy with a losing record in the NFL. There was a reason he was a loser and he proved it by going 6-6 his first year. By the admin drank the Carroll-Aide and the 77-13 record and two national championships in the next eight years must have been hard to stomach before they finally rid themselves of him.
4. Michigan State was probably the most unbelieveable. They hired a coach and he was 1 game over .500 in his first four years there before going 9-2 in his 5th year. He parlayed that into a job at LSU. Some people never learn as LSU didn't fire Saban after he went 8-4 his first year and Alabama must have been on crack to keep him after his first 7-6 season there. I hope their penance is to polish those National Championship trophies.
5. The delusion of many administrations is not limited to football. In basketball, Duke hired a guy from Army with a 73-59 all time record. Then the bozo has losing seasons two of his first three seasons and missed the NCAA tournaments. Must have been some stupid people running that program as they kept him and all he's done is 11 final fours and four national titles with 902 wins. Should have been fired 30 years ago.
6. Even the NFL, which has professionals running their teams, buy into the nonsense. The Patriots in 2000 hired some buffoon that had A 36-44 record at Cleveland. For their foolishness, they have had to suffer through three Super Bowl seasons under Bill Belichick.
So take comfort fans, our administration is not alone. Youth and experience should never be an excuse and the coaches listed above have been quite forunate their administrations have been asleep at the wheel. If we had our way on this board, we'd have canned them all.
1. In 1966, Penn State hired one of the former assistant coaches to rebuild a program that went 6-4 and 5-5 the prior two years The coach managed to go 5-5 but the clueless administration kept the coach and had to suffer through 46 seasons and 409 wins under the hapless Joe Paterno.
2. In 1976, Florida State hired Bobby Bowden, who had just had a 4-7 season two years prior to his hiring. He demonstrated his incompetence by promply going 5-6 in his first season. Poor Florida State has had to endure 30 straight winning seasons since.
3. In 2001, USC actually hired a guy with a losing record in the NFL. There was a reason he was a loser and he proved it by going 6-6 his first year. By the admin drank the Carroll-Aide and the 77-13 record and two national championships in the next eight years must have been hard to stomach before they finally rid themselves of him.
4. Michigan State was probably the most unbelieveable. They hired a coach and he was 1 game over .500 in his first four years there before going 9-2 in his 5th year. He parlayed that into a job at LSU. Some people never learn as LSU didn't fire Saban after he went 8-4 his first year and Alabama must have been on crack to keep him after his first 7-6 season there. I hope their penance is to polish those National Championship trophies.
5. The delusion of many administrations is not limited to football. In basketball, Duke hired a guy from Army with a 73-59 all time record. Then the bozo has losing seasons two of his first three seasons and missed the NCAA tournaments. Must have been some stupid people running that program as they kept him and all he's done is 11 final fours and four national titles with 902 wins. Should have been fired 30 years ago.
6. Even the NFL, which has professionals running their teams, buy into the nonsense. The Patriots in 2000 hired some buffoon that had A 36-44 record at Cleveland. For their foolishness, they have had to suffer through three Super Bowl seasons under Bill Belichick.
So take comfort fans, our administration is not alone. Youth and experience should never be an excuse and the coaches listed above have been quite forunate their administrations have been asleep at the wheel. If we had our way on this board, we'd have canned them all.
