That is really the question, who would we bring in? Outside of Gruden, who hasn't expressed any interest publickly that I am aware of, who would Tennessee go after? I am not aware of any Spurriers or Sabans or Carrolls coming out of the pro ranks to throw a gazillion dollars at to bring here. There really is no "hot" young coach prepping at a lesser school to be snapped up by our program, so "Who Would We Hire?"
I agree with the bulk of the posters on here that Dooley has one leg over the edge and the other one on a banana peel but, in his defense, crap he can't do anything about what keeps happening on the field. If Bray doesn't fumble against Georgia, who knows? If Devrin doesn't fumble on the 30, who knows? I'm sure Dooley didn't go to each of them and say, "Let's fumble the ball and see what happens!" Maybe we are a million miles away from where we want to be, but maybe we're closer than we think.
I'm tired of losing. I'm tired of trying to find excuses for why we lost this one or that one. I want to beat Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and ALABAMA and I want to beat them savagely.
My perspective might be slightly different from a lot of posters on here. I started following Tennessee during the Bill Battle years. The first Tennessee game that I ever watched was the game against Penn State on ABC when Bobby Majors almost single handedly dismantled Penn State. I had to suffer through the last Battle year when we couldn't beat the Blind School. It took Johnny Majors five years before Tennessee started really competing in the SEC again. I remember what it is like to lose to Alabama for twelve years in a row.
So what am I saying? Take the long approach not the short one. If Dooley is not the coach then he is not the coach but he is rebuilding a badly depleted program. I hate losing. I hate watching my beloved Vols come up short time and time again. I hate losing to Florida and I am going to hate losing to Alabama next week but, you know what, we could beat them. We could beat South Carolina. I truly believe that Tennessee is very close to winning again. I believe that we are close to competing on the SEC and National stage. Will Dooley be the coach? I don't know. I do know that no good thing lasts forever and know bad thing lasts forever. Tennessee is due for good things happening to them and, I believe, Coach Dooley is just as capable of getting them there as anyone.