butchna
Sit down and tell me all about it...way over there
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Yes it was. We very easily could have been sanctioned to the level of SMU with Kiffin thumbing his nose at recruiting rules. When he left, some morons were burning mattresses, but many other fans were saying, "Thank God." Allure? Whatever you were drinking them, swear off that. The entire time that jackass was here, I heard more arguments for getting Petersen, Patterson, Leach, or Kelly instead of how lucky we were to have Kiffin. Eventually, any of the above might be considered a bad hire with how damn poor administration supported the team. But hiring Kiffin wasn't just a bad hire, it was a 5h1t storm that ending at a better time than most are too dumb to admit.
Wouldn’t go that far but some good points. He’s taken that program to a high level after a huge lull...which proves what an achievement it was. I agree that I don’t see the assumption of similar success in the dog eat dog SEC.Gary Patterson built his reputation on beating up on bad Mountain West teams by using Texas talent. His Rose Bowl win was over Brett Bilema and we know how well he did when he joined the SEC. TCU joined the Big12 (a much easier conference than the SEC) in 2012. Over the next 7 years he has only had 3 winning seasons (including a 4 win season) without a division championship (lost the head to head to Baylor so 2014 doesn’t count). He is not a good recruiter and relies on being in one of the top 3 states for recruits.
He is Butch Jones in a weaker conference.
The climate in 2008 wasn't going to allow us to hire a gimmick coach. We (or I should say the traditionalist fanbase) wanted to run pro style offense and the allure of getting Kiffin, Monte Kiffin and Ed O were too hard to pass up.
The Kiffin hire wasn't a bad hire... the contract buyout was the problem.
No, he's not wrong, you just disagree. Kiffin probably would have had us in Atlanta once or twice. At least.Wrong. The Kiffin hire was as bad as Dooley and Botch. Kiffin had done absolutely nothing to deserve the HC job at UT. I mean nothing. At least Dooley and Butch had won a little in college before coming to TN. Hamilton should have known better.
I dont think anyone could reasonably think that keeping Kippy permanently in that situation would have been much better than hiring Dooley.
This is why I've always rejected the "UT is just not the program it used to be" arguments. There's no fundamental shift in college football that has left us behind.
If anything, winning a national championship at Tennessee is easier than it was back in 1998 or 2007. The SEC is a major pull for recruits now and the state of Tennessee has way more top recruits now than it did a few decades ago. Moreover, we routinely post some of the best revenue numbers in the country.
We're not Nebraska, a program hurt by national recruiting trends and the move to the Big 10 (which made it more difficult for them to recruit Texas). We're not Michigan, which has seen its state and regional talent pool shrink for decades. We're not Miami, a program hurt by disinterest from the fans.
No grand fundamental trend has hurt our program. The "trends" have actually made this a better job than it used to be. We just made crappy coaching hires.
We had the opportunity to hire Patterson. We've had multiple opportunities to hire Mike Leach. There have been other great coaches interested. We just didn't hire them.
Hamilton was obsessed with discovering a great "wunderkind" rather than a proven coach in 2008. And that decision has haunted us for over a decade.
I doubt it. Most of his players were short on brains and character. Alot of his class left early and/or were arrested for their crimes. I hated to see him go at the time, but it did not take very long to realize he was a sleeze ball.No, he's not wrong, you just disagree. Kiffin probably would have had us in Atlanta once or twice. At least.
Let’s see:
Coach 1 with a 73% winning percentage at a school that had nothing before he took the reins, double-digit wins in 10 out of 18 seasons, and only missed a bowl game in 2 of those seasons.
Coach 2 with a 42% winning percentage and 0 for 1 in reaching a bowl.
Yeah, I get it....
I doubt it. Most of his players were short on brains and character. Alot of his class left early and/or were arrested for their crimes. I hated to see him go at the time, but it did not take very long to realize he was a sleeze ball.
A lot of it is being happy with what you have because it is definitely all you're going to get, however it turns out.Let’s see:
Coach 1 with a 73% winning percentage at a school that had nothing before he took the reins, double-digit wins in 10 out of 18 seasons, and only missed a bowl game in 2 of those seasons.
Coach 2 with a 42% winning percentage and 0 for 1 in reaching a bowl.
Yeah, I get it....
He didn’t meet our definition of a home run hire. Mid-major coach who recruits 3 stars. Also little known is that he has percentages of ownership of oil concerns due to his relationships with TCU boosters. I think he was having more fun with Ubben than sincerity. Maybe he was hireable at that point but I doubt it was anywhere as easy as simply offering.
Not being an embarrassment still doesn’t stack up to being a home run hire in the SEC...which is the part of your original post I disagreed with. You’re not going to find anyone who asserts that Dooley or Butch are in his neighborhood.Gotta disagree with you. Not saying Patterson would have gotten an NC or even close if he came to UT but at least he knows how to coach up players and is a real coach. Adjusting to big boy ball in SEC would have been a challenge but I am saying that even if he did not fully succeed, we would have still put up consistent 8-9 win seasons and not have become an embarrassment.