TN's Decades of Failures Explained

[USAFgolferVol]

We were nationally relevant in 2003 and 2006. 2007 defense was awful but we were literally a few minutes away from winning the SEC with that team

I define nationally relevant as being in the national championship picture midway through the season. We got beat AT HOME by Georgia by 27 points in 2003, along with a loss at Auburn. Sure, we were No. 6 in the BCS rankings at season's end but then got clobbered by an unranked Clemson team in the Peach Bowl. In 2006 we lost AT HOME to Florida and LSU and on the road to Arkansas. We were 9-3 going into that 2007 SECCG...that's not nationally relevant. We did play LSU a tough game. We finished the season ranked no. 14.....

 

[MWAVolfan]

I define nationally relevant as being in the national championship picture midway through the season. We got beat AT HOME by Georgia by 27 points in 2003, along with a loss at Auburn. Sure, we were No. 6 in the BCS rankings at season's end but then got clobbered by an unranked Clemson team in the Peach Bowl. In 2006 we lost AT HOME to Florida and LSU and on the road to Arkansas. We were 9-3 going into that 2007 SECCG...that's not nationally relevant. We did play LSU a tough game. We finished the season ranked no. 14.....

And Tennessee has never been 9-3 again. Piss poor fat, tired and irrelevant Fulmer was hands down better than any of the idiots we have had since him.

 

[USAFgolferVol]

And Tennessee has never been 9-3 again. Piss poor fat, tired and irrelevant Fulmer was hands down better than any of the idiots we have had since him.

That's an entirely different issue. It was time for Fulmer to go. The problem was the subsequent hires. Two mutually exclusive events

 

[BeardenVol]

That's an entirely different issue. It was time for Fulmer to go. The problem was the subsequent hires. Two mutually exclusive events

It all falls on the AD, and we haven't had an AD since Dickey. Couldn't believe it when the chancellor let Fulmer back in the house.

 

[USAFgolferVol]

It all falls on the AD, and we haven't had an AD since Dickey. Couldn't believe it when the chancellor let Fulmer back in the house.

Dickey allowed the basketball program to fall into the ditch and didn't do a damn thing to correct it. And yes, it's quite unusual to hire a guy as AD who was fired for performance issues as a coach. Especially a guy with no real executive experience. Only at UT

 

[EZE]

1) Fulmer. Great coach, great guy but he was retained too long. The SEC and good teams clearly passed him by. (To the deniers- his record his last 6 years) Kiffin inherited an empty cupboard.
2) Kiffin. The right idea but a bad decision who napalmed the program. Terrible decision not putting in a contractual safe guard to leave after only one year.
3) Brown. Hindsight has proven keeping him for a year as interim coach would have been advantageous and probably program saving.
4) Dooley. Maybe to worst hire ever. A loser from LA Tech. Did nothing for 3 years- recruiting was a joke. He solidified our culture of losing.
5) Jones. Another awful hire who wasn't nearly big enough for the job. Could not analyze or develop talent.
6) Pruitt. Year 3- are we improving? Good coordinator. Knows the coference and game, but is he smart enough to be a CEO?

What's a commonality they all have besides losing to our rivals? It's our fundamental problem- ineffective leadership above them at the highest levels. How many visionless and unprepared ADs have we had? More importantly, how many clueless presidents and chancellors have we had? And above them is the BODs. There's our problem. Until they want stop making politically correct decisions (ie Davenport) and understand football's economic AND academic impact (ie Alabama) our football program will be on loop.

I generally agree with everything but your criticism of the President and BOD. It is not the primary responsibility of those positions to micromanage any athletic program at UT. And frankly, academics should be more important to them anyhow. That doesn’t mean the school can’t be good at both, though. They need to hire a competent AD as you mentioned and let that AD manage athletics.

And, as you mentioned, criticism is warranted for the ADs that were hired, but that would be it. Effective leaders hire good people and then let them do their jobs.

Fulmer actually does a good job at this with Pruitt. Fulmer does not seem to meddle. The only potential problem seems to be whether he hired a good HEAD coach. It’s not looking too good so far,

But, even Florida is having trouble hiring a good coach since Meyer. And Bama wasn’t good until it struck gold with Saban. And Georgia until Richt.

It isn’t as easy as it looks. But, going the UT bargain basement route has proven to be a sure path to Loserville. I don’t know who sets the salary constraints, but that person needs to loosen up the purse strings next time.

 

[05_never_again]

Dickey allowed the basketball program to fall into the ditch and didn't do a damn thing to correct it. And yes, it's quite unusual to hire a guy as AD who was fired for performance issues as a coach. Especially a guy with no real executive experience. Only at UT

Fulmer was hired because he was the only guy who would take the job at the time. I mean, who in their right mind would step into the post-Schiano Sunday mess, except for a long-time head coach intimately familiar with the school who'd been wanting to get back into the fold anyway?

 

[05_never_again]

It isn’t as easy as it looks. But, going the UT bargain basement route has proven to be a sure path to Loserville. I don’t know who sets the salary constraints, but that person needs to loosen up the purse strings next time.

I don't think it's an issue of loosening the purse strings themselves. The money is there, but it comes with other strings attached (e.g., you have 5 different boosters saying "I'll commit X amount if you hire this particular guy or do this particular thing).

Our booster class and other people in the admin (yes, including Fulmer) all want to be successful, but they want that success to come by virtue of the school having followed their idea. They don't want success to come by virtue of us having followed some other rival booster's idea, and that's so petty and pathetic.