The Beginning of the End for Dooley

#26
#26
When you can't motivate your team to beat a team you've owned for 26 years for a chance to go to a bowl game, then you've lost your team, then you have no business coaching in the SEC.
 
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#27
#27
Hamilton was the idiot that made the biggest mistake by firing Fulmer.

Fulmer never should have been fired until after Hamilton had a really good coach and recruiter already lined up and ready to sign the contract.

Hamilton hiring laMe kiffScum was the 2nd huge mistake because he should have known that laMe would never stay at Tennessee long term and would leave as soon as he could get back to the West coast so lame even as a stop gap measure was ignorant.

When laMe ran off then Hamilton was behind the 8 ball and then he could find NOBODY at all that wanted the UT job and as he went down his coaching list farther and farther he finally realised that Tennessee simply is NOT a dream destination for any big name coaches so he got the best coach he could whos name kept popping up as a good coach/AD that might be willing to take on such a huge 5 year total rebuilding chore and CDD took the job.

Despite what many here think I still don't think it's going to be easy to find a top named, good coach that's also a good recruiter that will want to come to Tennessee and start the 5 year rebuilding project all over again.

I think it's very realistic that if we fire CDD we could be forced to take whoever we can get and end up with a coach that's no better than CDD part 2 and we set our program back another 5 or 10 years and I'll hate to see that.

VFL...GBO!!!
 
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#28
#28
If Dooley could pull off an upset this week against South Carolina, he would have a good chance of winning out and, if he wins a bowl game, his job is safe. Do I believe that will happen? No. He hasn't proven he can win yet but it is possible. 7-5 might get him another year but 6-6 probably will not. The blame has to lie with Mike Hamilton for hiring an unproven coach at any level.
 
#30
#30
Titan&Volfan4life said:
Hamilton was the idiot that made the biggest mistake by firing Fulmer.
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Ayep. And it goes deeper. It wasn't so much that "Summer's Eve" Hamilton couldn't find anybody to replace Kiffturd as it was that he had no clue or plan in place. He was told that if the So Cal job opened up that Kiff would try to get it. To his credit, Kiff was open and honest about it. Hamilton went to CO to ski instead of bothering to figure out a plan. He didn't even return quickly to start a search but waited a couple of days to get more skiing time. He was behind the 8 ball. Had he called some people before leaving, he might (MIGHT) have gotten a better answer. It would have also provided him time to sell Dooley if that was THE choice. Instead, he sold Dooley down the road as "only one available" after being turned down PUBLICLY by several others.
 
#31
#31
WooleyDooley2010 said:
IMO the 2010 LSU game. At the time it was considered a huge deal to lose that game but think of all the positive repurcussions a win wouldve brought to this program. Not only would it have been a signature win for Coach Dooley early in his career, but would have also boosted the confidence of future Tenn players in the belief that Dooley could get the job done. Apparently the lack of confidence in Dooley by the players has been the underlying problem with Dooley's tenure.
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That was the biggest "What if" game of his tenure, because a lot could have changed-especially regarding the confidence factor.

I don't know how it was a big deal to lose that game seeing as how it was on the road, LSU was in the top 10, and TN had just barely beaten UAB the week before.
 
#32
#32
When the decision was made to jump to a 3-4 defense in his 3 year
 
#33
#33
A halfway competent defense would have bought us wins vs Uga and possibly Florida this season
 
#34
#34
Yankee_Vol said:
For me, it was when he was hired
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I did not like the hire when we got Dooley, but had to realize that he was our coach and nothing I could do about it.

I supported him here on this board and to others, and did until the Georgia game. We may not have had the better team, but we had a shot and gave it away. That started the slid for me.

By the time we lost to MST ... I was totally over him
 
#35
#35
I think everyone can pretty much forgive the LSU and UNC losses in 2010.

I think the beginning of the end was Justin Hunter getting hurt in 2011. At first people were understanding that losing him was going to hurt us against good teams. But it seemed that lowered expectation kept getting lowered, until losing Justin Hunter and Tyler Bray not being 100% was why we lost to Kentucky running the veer with a wide receiver.
Then "we'll be good when Bray and Hunter are back" but we aren't playing much better with them than without them the year before.
 
#36
#36
The beginning of the end was probably the Kentucky game. Signs the end was near was the 2nd half florida blowout. I was done with Dooley after Miss. State.
 
#37
#37
OrangeByBirth said:
I had to put a lexan keyboard protector on my keyboard before I typed this to keep from puking on my keys, but ... I agree with that statement.

However, I'm sure it isn't for the same reason that you wrote it. Most of the folks on this site don't actually remember Bill Battle. When he replaced Dickey he was widely despised by the fan base. After all, he wasn't named Majors. He was the youngest head coach in football. He was from (gasp) 'Bama. There was a litany of reasons. The internet of that day was called a newspaper. The newspapers were filled with anti-Battle letters and comments. Moving vans were sent to his house. For Sale signs were placed in his yard. He was the anti-Christ. The venom and hatred took its toll and consequently recruiting fell off with all of the newspaper clippings put in recruits faces. It became a self-fulfilling prophesy and he was fired with the great savior, Majors, brought in to return the glory. The glory never quite showed up. Yet, all was forgiven and Majors enjoyed support of the fan base. A rare peek at the top of the SEC interwoven with a decade of mediocrity was sufficient as long as it was Majors in the saddle. UT is at the point again where the venom has forced a change.
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I remember Coach Bill Battle quite well. He was fired because he never beat Bama, and with UT down to Georgia by 3, in the closing moments Battle went for the touchdown rather than kick for the tie. Battle said in his P-release, "Kicking for the tie would be like kissing your sister, therefore I decided to go for the win..." UT lost the game and the AD lost confidence in Battle.
 
#38
#38
Yankee_Vol said:
I don't blame Dooley. I actually give him credit for taking the job as I think he knew what he was getting into. I blame Mike Hamilton and the way he handled the situation.
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Yeah, the low buyout in Kiffin's contract... AND the FOUR-DAY head coach search. Hamilton was a great fundraiser, but he was a dunce at running the Athletic Dept.
 
#39
#39
skelleher20 said:
I agree :good!: this is not the place to learn that is not what I was trying to say. What I am saying is he is a good coach and he will eventually figure it all out. I wish he had more experience when we hired him, because there is no denying he has made our program better. When our 2nd team comes in (most of them) I dont panic like i did 2 years ago. And while we are not challenging to win the SEC right now we are more competitive than the last few years with some exceptions. So to say he is not a good coach is inaccurate we just have a GOOD coach that hasn't figured it out yet.
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he has a losing record at the 2 head coaching jobs he has had. THAT MAKES HIM A BAD COACH. YOU ARE INACCURATE. gez..where do these clowns come from?
 
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#40
#40
carpbc said:
I remember Coach Bill Battle quite well. He was fired because he never beat Bama, and with UT down to Georgia by 3, in the closing moments Battle went for the touchdown rather than kick for the tie. Battle said in his P-release, "Kicking for the tie would be like kissing your sister, therefore I decided to go for the win..." UT lost the game and the AD lost confidence in Battle.
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what are you talking about? he beat bama the first year he coached against them 24-0. it was in all the papers. he tried a fake punt on his own side of the field against georgia and georiga then rammed it in and beat us. i was there. no clue what you are even talking about.
 
#41
#41
Titan&Volfan4life said:
Hamilton was the idiot that made the biggest mistake by firing Fulmer.

Fulmer never should have been fired until after Hamilton had a really good coach and recruiter already lined up and ready to sign the contract.

Hamilton hiring laMe kiffScum was the 2nd huge mistake because he should have known that laMe would never stay at Tennessee long term and would leave as soon as he could get back to the West coast so lame even as a stop gap measure was ignorant.

When laMe ran off then Hamilton was behind the 8 ball and then he could find NOBODY at all that wanted the UT job and as he went down his coaching list farther and farther he finally realised that Tennessee simply is NOT a dream destination for any big name coaches so he got the best coach he could whos name kept popping up as a good coach/AD that might be willing to take on such a huge 5 year total rebuilding chore and CDD took the job.

Despite what many here think I still don't think it's going to be easy to find a top named, good coach that's also a good recruiter that will want to come to Tennessee and start the 5 year rebuilding project all over again.

I think it's very realistic that if we fire CDD we could be forced to take whoever we can get and end up with a coach that's no better than CDD part 2 and we set our program back another 5 or 10 years and I'll hate to see that.

VFL...GBO!!!
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As others have posted in various threads, I believe that the quality of our next head coach will depend on how much $$$ Hart and our "prominent donors" are willing to shell out, along with the liberties offered to that prospective coach to run the program as he sees fit and the ability to keep/fire assistants as he desires.

The right guy is out there, we just need to be patient and offer the dough that will convince him to move to Rocky Top.
 
#42
#42
carpbc said:
I remember Coach Bill Battle quite well. He was fired because he never beat Bama, and with UT down to Georgia by 3, in the closing moments Battle went for the touchdown rather than kick for the tie. Battle said in his P-release, "Kicking for the tie would be like kissing your sister, therefore I decided to go for the win..." UT lost the game and the AD lost confidence in Battle.
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and the kissing your sister quote was made by bear brant about another game. had nothing to do with tennessee or bill battle. nice fairy tale story you got there but it's all bull crap.
 
#43
#43
Doyle Hargraves said:
For me it was Florida this year. Yeah, I know where the gators are ranked right now but he had everything laid out for the taking. Gameday on campus, "experts" starting to talk the program up, and an electric crowd to support him and the team. Dooley was one step from crossing over from questioned to being considered legit. Instead, like always, he pissed it away.
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Totally agree. The Kentucky game last year for me was the needle that popped the balloon but it still had a tiny bit of air in it until the Florida game this year. He's totally lost me now.

To the other guy saying his fate isn't sealed just yet. With all due respect, he's as much of a sitting duck as they come. Heck, I'd be surprised if he makes it through this season. If he's still here come next year, I'll come back and tell you I was wrong and you were right.
 
#44
#44
VolFan4Life87 said:
The beginning of the end was probably the Kentucky game. Signs the end was near was the 2nd half florida blowout. I was done with Dooley after Miss. State.
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You pretty summed it up for me... I believe Dooley is a great guy... but he is not experienced enough to coach on the D-1 level... especially at a major program like UT. That being said, I believe we fans owe Dooley a great deal of appreciation for the sense of integrity he has brought back to the program after the Hamilton/Kiffin fiasco.
 
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#45
#45
Kentucky was when alot of people lost faith. Then came Florida this year, many rallied behind the team only to be let down. As mentioned above, this was Dooley's signature game to secure his job.
 
#47
#47
winsec said:
what are you talking about? he beat bama the first year he coached against them 24-0. it was in all the papers. he tried a fake punt on his own side of the field against georgia and georiga then rammed it in and beat us. i was there. no clue what you are even talking about.
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Wrong game winsec, I'm talking about the game where Battle went for it instead of kicking a field goal for the tie. Do you not remember Battle saying, "I felt like going for a tie is like kissing your sister, so we went for it..."??? I remember him saying that as clear as if it were yesterday, instead of around forty years ago. I think may have been the season before he was fired...

And, I do remember the game against Georgia with the fake punt... and I remember the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach as I watched the play unfold... thinking, "He's gone..."

And, I forgot that UT did win his first game against BAMA, thnks for the reminder. However, his youth and lack of experience helped account for his aggressiveness and SOMETIMES not-so-good decisions.

I liked Battle, and thought that if he had had some more time... well, that didn't happen.
 
#48
#48
WooleyDooley2010 said:
IMO the 2010 LSU game. At the time it was considered a huge deal to lose that game but think of all the positive repurcussions a win wouldve brought to this program. Not only would it have been a signature win for Coach Dooley early in his career, but would have also boosted the confidence of future Tenn players in the belief that Dooley could get the job done. Apparently the lack of confidence in Dooley by the players has been the underlying problem with Dooley's tenure.
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ABSOLUTELY. This was the career killer for Dooley and it all came tumbling down for the same reason he's 0 for SEC against the leagues real players; he lacks discipline. He lacks it in his own life. Note the smarta$$ remarks he makes anytime a reporter has the temerity to ask him a hard question. He behaves like a spoiled child who should always have his way. Maybe it's because he was a spoiled child. I know this; the place to call out your players is in the locker room, not in the media. If he can't discipline his own comments why should we expect him to be able to instill discipline in his players.

In the end, that LSU game was a precursor of things to come. We lost that game, not because of lack of effort, but because we were undisciplined as a staff. We couldn't get ELEVEN guys on the field. In last week's game, at a time when we were moving the ball, had momentum, we try to run the surprise wildcat with Patterson and guess what? We still can't manage the game, still can't count to ELEVEN. Don't tell me Dooley's improved us. He can't even improve himself.
 
#49
#49
I cant put my finger on an "it was exactly at this moment" .. but what is gradually knocking me off the fence is game mismanagement. I look at the roster, its getting better but we still need some pieces (especially more speed on the back end on D) .. but the game management aspect .. if you call a run under 90 seconds, have a second play called in the huddle, if the players are looking at the sideline with their hands out waiting on a play and you have 2 timeouts then use one. We had enough time and with 2 timeouts could have ran a couple more plays going into the half.
 
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