The Men that Killed UT Football

[VOLnMiami]

What did Lane Kiffin do?

He did nothing but people want to blame him for the demise of UT football...The man has been gone almost 10 years now but they STILL feel the need to blame him...He was only here one damn year...Get over it folks.

 

[MAUSERWERKE]

He did nothing but people want to blame him for the demise of UT football...The man has been gone almost 10 years now but they STILL feel the need to blame him...He was only here one damn year...Get over it folks.

I think Kiffin is/was immature, but a great offensive football mind. Had he stayed at TN he might have done great things. Or gotten us the death penalty. I really don't blame Kiffin for going to USC. It was the only position he would have left UT to take, and nobody had any idea when he took the UT job that Carrol would leave USC, or that Kiffin would be USC's choice to replace him. I do blame the AD at the time for the absurdly low buyout USC had to pay to get Kiffin. A reasonable buyout would have defrayed the costs of paying Fulmer et al to putter around in the garden.

 

[Rudy123]

I'd definitely say fulmer isn't to blame but it was absolutely the right decision to replace him when we did. of our last 4 seasons under him were sub .500. That's after having a ton of time to establish himself and bring in his type of players. The game had passed him by. Could you imagine saban or urban Meyer having a 4 year span where they lost more games than they won? Me either. Stop defending his coaching record. It was good in the 90's. But fell considerable afterwards.
But it's definitely not his fault. Now...I think it's absolutely ridiculous to have allowed him to make this most recent hire. Hiring a football coach is absolutely the most important part of an ads job. And how in the world a guy that was fired a decade early for not being able to keep up with the game made sent to hand the keys to...I'll never understand.

So do we get another fund raiser like Hamilton to be AD and make the hire?

 

[EastTN]

Pruitt

Sorry last quote was deleted......you have no clue about football it would seem. Pruitt took over a tram in shambles who didn’t know how to practice and you expect him to win 7-9 games in Year 1?

 

[utvolpj]

Sorry last quote was deleted......you have no clue about football it would seem. Pruitt took over a tram in shambles who didn’t know how to practice and you expect him to win 7-9 games in Year 1?

Not 9 wins but I expect him to not get throttled by vandy

 

[05_never_again]

Haslams
Mike Hamilton
Phil Fulmer
Lane Kiffin
Mark Richt
Urban Meyer

Those 6 names, in no particular order, explain about 95% of the struggle. People like Dooley, Butch, Currie, Davenport, Hart, etc. are the afterbirth of the failure. They failed because they were set up to fail by those before them.

 

[Samuellbronkowitz]

He did nothing but people want to blame him for the demise of UT football...The man has been gone almost 10 years now but they STILL feel the need to blame him...He was only here one damn year...Get over it folks.

I was pissed off about how he packed up his s*** and left in the middle of the night, but a part of me also understood.

The ones I blame most are Jimmy Haslam and Mike Hamilton. They are the ones that caused this s***show that we have today. I mistakenly thought that Kiffin was the right hire. But they messed up when they allowed that very low buyout clause in his contract that was easy for USC boosters to cover.

Then after he leaves, the only way under the circumstances that we would land a solid HC to replace him would be to load up the money truck for someone. But nope, they wanted to go cheap. Cutcliffe was interested in the job and Fulmer gave him blessing, but he wasn't allowed to bring his assistants from Duke with him as they wanted him to keep some of Kiffin's staff to avoid all the staff's buyouts.

Then Kippy Brown told them that he wanted the job, even just as an interim. It would have been better in the long run as we would likely have had better luck to get a better coach after next year. But nope, they were scared of the bad publicly that it was bringing us not being able to get someone to take the job. So they panicked, let their pride and egos get the best of them, and hired Big Doofus Dooley. That was the final nail in Hamilton's coffin.

Then after Doofus wore out his welcome and no longer useful to Haslam, he sends Dave Fart to Louisville to get Charlie Strong. But thanks to Fart and Jimmy low-ball offer to Strong, he was able to get a better deal staying in Louisville. And because of the low offers and the mess of our program, several other candidates laughed in our face before Haslam had his puppet go to Cincinnati and get Butch at a bargain price, which Fart did for Big Daddy Jim.

So it was indeed Haslam and Hammy that caused the damage to our beloved Vols that we are still dealing with today.

 

[theFallGuy]

When a coach wants to win at any legal means, he will take risks
For instance, Saban played the 2nd string QB last season against Clemson and they won
Pruitt should have played Keller more often; especially when it was obvious that JG wasn't getting it done
Pruitt did not want to bruise JG fragile ego so,he continued to,play him
Pruitt is NOT the coach to lead us to the promise land...... Does not really want to win

So Saban hires a guy to coach for him that "does not really want to win". Are you ***** kidding me? Get out of here with this BS and go home,

 

[Manning Up]

Damn, you people see Haslam everywhere. Might want to check your wife's cell phone. She's probably having an affair with him too.

 

[Old Man Kelsey’s Vols]

Bowden Wyatt! Sure! For not getting Steve Spurrier to come to Tennessee. Yep, it goes back this far.

 

[CINCYVOL]

When a coach wants to win at any legal means, he will take risks
For instance, Saban played the 2nd string QB last season against Clemson and they won
Pruitt should have played Keller more often; especially when it was obvious that JG wasn't getting it done
Pruitt did not want to bruise JG fragile ego so,he continued to,play him
Pruitt is NOT the coach to lead us to the promise land...... Does not really want to win

Are you serious?

 

[SmokyRiverDog]

He basically got fired because Ainge didn't recover fast enough in 2005, maybe because he got adicted to the pain meds like millions of other Americans and because they whiffed on a QB to replace Ainge in 2008. You don't think a Taj Boyd led 2009-2011/2012 would have not won more games than the real teams did? LSU/Bama, Florida/Ohio State have a lot more advantages than we have in recruiting but honestly I don't think those guys would have multiple bad seasons like that becuase they would leave first instead of trying to fix it.

They ended up with a better QB than him anyway. QB was not the issue.

 

[Jack Burton]

Davenport is a hero. She refused to sign Schiano’s MOU because the fans were revolting.

 

[mpfvol]

My list:

Hamilton
Hart
Curry
Haslam(s)
Cheek
Dipetrio
Kiffin
Dooley
Jones

I toyed with the idea of adding Fulmer to the list because this slide began under his watch.

Who am I forgetting?

Adding Fulmer would have been Moronic all coaches eventually have bad seasons just saying

 

[Jax_Vol]

Bud Adams helped kill UT football.

He moved the stupid oilers here in around 1999 and we have been messed up ever since.

We need to send the Titans to Birmingham and will confuse the bammers.

 

[UTvols#1]

Can we add shiitty players?????

 

[Jax_Vol]

Can we add shiitty players?????

No, but we can add Murfreesboro to the list. They crank out great talent who are mostly jive turkeys.

 

[CampBlount]

So it's been 60 hours since I posed the question below about "the Haslams" and not a single person has produced any motive of why the University's greatest benefactors would want to sink the football program, much less any proof. Conclusion: just a bunch of bloviating, mindlessly repeating nonsense read on message boards.

I really don't get this hatred of the Haslams.
1. The patriarch chose to attend UT, after playing high school ball in Florida and being recruited by Neyland. He played on the 1951 NC team. He has contributed more to the University of Tennessee than any other person. He served on the UT Board of Trustees for many years. (I could argue that since he was not reappointed to the board nearly 18 years ago, things have been going downhill.) The man very obviously and genuinely loves the University of Tennessee and he loves the Vols and wants what's best for everything UT. 2. The older son attended and graduated from UTK. He is also a heavy contributor, and the company that his father created and that he now leads is a major sponsor of UT athletics. 3. The younger son attended and graduated from Emory University (he originally wanted to enter the ministry and UT does not have a school of theology or divinity) but he is also a huge supporter and contributor and and frequently attends Tennessee games. I won't even begin to list all the things at UT bearing the family name.
So WHY do you think "the Haslams" want to destroy the football program? What would be the motive?

 

[RowdyTop]

So it's been 60 hours since I posed the question below about "the Haslams" and not a single person has produced any motive of why the University's greatest benefactors would want to sink the football program, much less any proof. Conclusion: just a bunch of bloviating, mindlessly repeating nonsense read on message boards.

People need someone to blame. Haslams are the easiest

 

[tm3]

So it's been 60 hours since I posed the question below about "the Haslams" and not a single person has produced any motive of why the University's greatest benefactors would want to sink the football program, much less any proof. Conclusion: just a bunch of bloviating, mindlessly repeating nonsense read on message boards.

IMO the Haslams didn't decide "Let's torpedo UT football" and then orchestrate a carefully conceived plan to accomplish same.

Rather, "Big Jim" et al felt that given their level of $$ contribution and prestige they were not just fans, they were The Owners. And, as The Owners, they began to micromanage. UT Admin went along with it, hence a major contribution to the downward spiral.

"Big Jim" once stated publicly that he didn't want UT to be known as "a mercenary football school, like Alabama" but instead to be known as "an academic school that also plays football, like Virginia." Also, The Owners reportedly had a long time love of Schiano thus his attempted hire at UT -- and we all see what a great choice that was and how well it worked out for UT. Kind of like all the great choices that The Owners have made for the Cleveland Browns, making them the NFL dynasty that they are.

 

[CampBlount]

...Rather, "Big Jim" et al felt that given their level of $$ contribution and prestige they were not just fans, they were The Owners. And, as The Owners, they began to micromanage. UT Admin went along with it, hence a major contribution to the downward spiral.
"Big Jim" once stated publicly that he didn't want UT to be known as "a mercenary football school, like Alabama" but instead to be known as "an academic school that also plays football, like Virginia." Also, The Owners reportedly had a long time love of Schiano thus his attempted hire at UT -- and we all see what a great choice that was and how well it worked out for UT.

1. But what EVIDENCE is there that they began to micromanage or even interfere -- or is it just speculation?
2. If "Big Jim" said he wants UT to be known as "an academic school that also plays football, like Virginia," I'm very glad to hear that. That's the way this alum wants it.

 

[Tnwoodsman]

Fulmer should be number one. He let the program go into the dump, and it has never recovered from his blundering.

 

[BenGrimm]

Hamilton is the poison pill that started the whole death spiral. From what I understand he did his best to start undermining Fulmer and failed to get him the resources he needed to keeep the best staff on hand.

The way he ousted Phil and replaced him with someone who clearly did not have the maturity to take over a program like TN, only to be burned by him, further exasperated the problem.

I don’t really blame Dooley to the same degree, he was a desperation hire and tried his best. He did lay down in that 3rd year on the recruiting trail though.

Butch tried. Had us going in the right direction then did some things to screw himself.

But ultimately it all started the day DougbDickey retired and Hamilton took over.

 

[GreGGo]

Fulmer should be number one. He let the program go into the dump, and it has never recovered from his blundering.

Fulmer had both Bryce Petty and Tajh Boyd committed to play at UT... Ya'll were just spoiled by Fulmer's success so after his one slip-up, you wanted him canned.

 

[Jack Burton]

So it's been 60 hours since I posed the question below about "the Haslams" and not a single person has produced any motive of why the University's greatest benefactors would want to sink the football program, much less any proof. Conclusion: just a bunch of bloviating, mindlessly repeating nonsense read on message boards.

1. But what EVIDENCE is there that they began to micromanage or even interfere -- or is it just speculation?
2. If "Big Jim" said he wants UT to be known as "an academic school that also plays football, like Virginia," I'm very glad to hear that. That's the way this alum wants it.

Let me finish reading Tom Mattingly and Celina Summers new book about last years search.


She summarized it on the radio though. They interviewed both Big Jim and Jimmy. It was clear Big Jim had no involvement in the last search.

HOWEVER, Jimmy showed up to the interview with a canned statement from his lawyers explaining he had no involvement. Jimmy then proceeded to rattle off 6 or 7 things that showed his direct involvement of attempting to get Schiano. He basically buries himself with his own words.

Now I’m paraphrasing from memory here:

The telling point is when he calls Currie to congratulate him on hiring Schiano.

Currie replies “It’s not finished yet.” And Jimmy gets mad and asks why not.

Currie replies “The fans are burning dumpsters around the stadium.”

Jimmy says, “You can’t kowtow to the masses/simpletons” or something to that effect.

He thinks he knows more than everyone. It’s why we’re here and why the Browns have had 6 coaches in 6 years.