During an interview with The Tennessean this week, Hamilton discussed the current state of the football program, the importance of Saturday's game for the coaching staff, and the administration's goals for football championships.
On reports that this game is crucial for the coaching staff's future:
"I think that's putting too much pressure on a game. I think that blows it out of proportion a little bit. I think it would be natural for the fans to maybe think that, but I think that's over-dramatizing it somewhat. It's a big game, but every game, every week in the SEC is a big game. This is a particularly big game because we're playing the University of Georgia, which is a divisional opponent, and it could have a lot to do with how we finish in the SEC East and in the league overall. It's an important game because of that."
On the championship goals he sets for the football coaches:
"We're going to compete for championships. And while we haven't won an SEC championship since 1998, we're going win another one and we're going to win another one soon. That's our commitment as a staff. Whether that's this year or next year or the following year, that's what we're going to work everyday to do. Those are the set of expectations we've given our coaches."
On the current state of the football program:
"We're not exactly where we want to be yet, or back to where we want to be yet, but certainly we were on a roll in the late 90s. We won a lot of ballgames and had a high percentage of winning. We've got to continue to make progress and win ballgames and win key ballgames. I think we need to regain our home-field advantage. We've lost that a little bit. I can't put my finger on it. Certainly some of that lies with us as an administration, some of it lies with the coaches and the players, and some of it lies with the fans."
On his reaction to fans' criticisms:
"You have to realize that most of those comments are made out of emotion. But you don't discount that, either. I look at it and say, 'Are these people our season-ticket holders and are they donors?' I talk to season-ticket holders and donors. I speak to community organizations. I interact with the guy at the gas station or at the dry cleaner. Then you have to realize you're in the middle of it, and in some ways you know more about certain situations and injuries and circumstances. And that's an advantage, but you also have to make sure that you're willing to take an objective step back and look at your program at the same time."
On handling donors' complaints:
"I listen. But also, I remember that this is a 12-game season. We've played four games. I think we are in a very difficult conference. I'm not making excuses, I just believe we're in a difficult conference and there's a lot of football left to be played. This is a team that can still win the SEC Championship."
On the lingering effects from the 5-6 season in 2005:
"I think that you don't get to that 5-6 season overnight, and you probably don't get completely out of it overnight. I think that I've seen great strides by our coaching staff as how it relates to issues off the field since the '05 season, and a determination to have their legacy not be that 5-6 season
That's one of things I look at very seriously. If you have a 5-6 season like we did and there's denial, then that's a problem. But I didn't see that."
On emotions factoring into decisions about staff changes:
"I think that anyone who knows me well knows that I'm not an overly emotional person or an overly emotional decision maker. People can view that how they may. Some may think that's not how you should be or whatever. I like to think I'm analytical and a strategic thinker. That's how I view our athletic program in total and also in parts."
On the possibility of expectations being too high:
"I had an AD not too long ago who won a national championship in the last few years say, 'How long does it take for your fans to come down off the expectations you're going to do that every year?' My comment back to him was, 'I don't know.' Because coming out of '98, we created that expectation. Charging $50 a ticket, and the donor levels that it takes to get tickets, and our own set of expectations that we created by our success, and the fact that we want to go out and compete for a national championship every year, all those things go hand in hand. After you win a national championship, the last thing I want is for us to go through a significant downturn."
