Tommy Thigpen Rumor

Kiffin had to pay Tennessee to leave. We did have to pay Dooley about 5M and Sunseri over 1M though. Monte did make 1.2 million for the year he was here which was crazy money at the time but that isn't much above average for SEC coordinators now.

The thing that sucked big time about Monte is he stayed just long enough to get a longevity bonus (don't remember the amount but it was big) and left a couple days later. Sh$tty thing to do. Yeah, yeah, I know it's business. But is was a middle finger walking out the door.
 
Would love to keep him. I don't care about the cost. He's done well with the linebackers and is probably our best recruiter.

No question Thigpen has done a great job, but make no mistake, BUTCH is out best recruiter...
 
This isn't a coincidence. We've raided the Carolinas in the last 3 years, and I mean raided: North, Scott, Tuttle. But correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Thig focus on the Nashville area with clean up duty for the elite guys?

This is a recruiting assassination attempt. Fedora is trying to kill our momentum and take our strongest guy. Well played Fedora. Well played. Let's see how Butch responds. Thigpen to Butch is Garner to Fulmer. We can't afford to lose Thigpen for a lateral move, even if it's his alma mater.

We plug Fair into that spot and don't miss a beat.
 
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I think he was replying to me.

Yeah.

500k would be more than their past OC made there. No idea what the guy they hired a year ago makes but I doubt it's more than 500k. Thigpen likely makes as much if not more than their current coordinators. I think two years ago UNC's assistant salary pool was at 2 million total for all the assistant coaches making it the lowest in the ACC. For them to go up to 500k for an assistant would shock me but they may think Thig is worth it. The guy consistently landed UNC top 10 to top 20 classes during the Bunting era when UNC was winning like 3 or 4 games a year.
 
Kiffin's buyout was less than a million I think. Much less than Dooley or Butch I believe.

Since Kiffin left on his own he had to pay UT 800k which interesting enough was apparently paid by USC alum Jerry Buss.

By most accounts USC has to pay Kiffin around $8M for firing him. Losing your job is great business in the NCAA.
 
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We plug Fair into that spot and don't miss a beat.

Looks almost like a succession plan with him becoming a GA that late.

Pretty good plan to get him out of the media too... I heard him eat the last staff up on the radio a few years back.

Do you know if he has the personality to recruit on par with Thigpen?
 
It doesn't help to lose an energetic and popular recruiter... but UT's recruiting success is primarily about one guy. Butch Jones. Kids are wise enough to know that asst's come and go. Unless they are being misled or poorly advised they won't commit because of a coordinator much less an asst coach.

IMHO, the impact of asst's on recruiting is exaggerated. The HC is the guy they have to believe in.

Fortunately, Jones is an extraordinary salesman. If he weren't a coach... he'd make millions selling something.
 
Looks almost like a succession plan with him becoming a GA that late.

Pretty good plan to get him out of the media too... I heard him eat the last staff up on the radio a few years back.

Do you know if he has the personality to recruit on par with Thigpen?

I don't KNOW of course...but I've heard he's pretty salty as an on campus recruiter not being able to take trips...he's a student of the game with NFL experience as a first round pick. As an earlier poster stated, Butch is the best recruiter on this staff so Terry would be able to fine tune his recruiting game. In my opinion his actual COACHING won't be a falloff either...man knows his stuff.
 
Cant afford to let Thigpen get way - I would say that Fulmer definitely regretted letting Garner get away. Great recruiters are more important, in my opinion, than coordinators ---- inasmuch as recruits are the "life-blood" of a program, the recruiters are the pipeline and without those heralded recruits then the coordinators would not have much to work with.
 
I don't KNOW of course...but I've heard he's pretty salty as an on campus recruiter not being able to take trips...he's a student of the game with NFL experience as a first round pick. As an earlier poster stated, Butch is the best recruiter on this staff so Terry would be able to fine tune his recruiting game. In my opinion his actual COACHING won't be a falloff either...man knows his stuff.

Well... I should have been more precise and asked your opinion. :good!: I was just curious about your impression if you had one.

On radio, he was pretty smooth and sometimes sharp tongued.


Yeah. After watching this for awhile now, I think the HC is by far the biggest factor as from a staff perspective. Fulmer for the first half of his career or a little better was supposedly a coffee table legend. He could make the sale. Kiffin seemed to be pretty convincing. Dooley seemed to get himself locked out fairly often.

Jones seems to inspire confidence in parents and recruits... I'm not sure that isn't more important than being likable (though that is probably helpful to him too).
 
Thigpen was named one of the nation's top 25 recruiters in 2007 and 2009 by Rivals.com[6][7] and in 2011 by 247Sports.com,[8] ESPN[9] and Rivals.com.[10] He was awarded the 2011 Scout.com/FOXSports.com SEC Conference Recruiter of the Year.[11] In 2014, he was named Rivals.com National Recruiter of the Year for his work on the University of Tennessee class of 2014.[12]
~ Wikipedia

While I definitely agree that CBJ is the primary factor when it comes to recruiting, you cant discount Thigpen's influence on it either. Is it worth the extra cash? can they replace his recruiting/position coaching abilities that easily with someone better? Its not a question for which I have the inside info nor am I paid to answer - but I am guessing CBJ and team will make something happen if they absolutely want him to stay and he has other offers...kinda like CBJ and recruits ;)
 
Not so sure by looking at the UNC boards. Apparently Thig was a S/CB coach under Chizik and ofcourse he was one hell of a linebacker at UNC. It has legs, I just hope Butch takes care of buisness and keeps him here!

So, he coached under Chizik? I have no doubt they would want him but it is still based on nothing.
 
It doesn't help to lose an energetic and popular recruiter... but UT's recruiting success is primarily about one guy. Butch Jones. Kids are wise enough to know that asst's come and go. Unless they are being misled or poorly advised they won't commit because of a coordinator much less an asst coach.

IMHO, the impact of asst's on recruiting is exaggerated. The HC is the guy they have to believe in.

Fortunately, Jones is an extraordinary salesman. If he weren't a coach... he'd make millions selling something.

Last night we were on the verge of getting our 2nd commitment of the weekend because an assistant coach had switched schools.
 
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Forgive me if I missed this somewhere, but is there a good chance that Thigpen will leave us to reunite with Chizik in North Carolina? Noticed where the Tar Heel LB coach wasn't retained. Boy, I hope not.
 

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