a vol n tears
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- Nov 8, 2012
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Why is the football program gotten in this state?
Were we ever “special” like some believe. Career 70% winners. Occasionally getting enough talent to win championships. I think LSU has done that twice with coaches not that great. Fulmer won 1 NC and it took 2 miracle finishes + playing against a back up QB in the champ game.
In the modern era of SEC, when money is everywhere, and most of the schools are hiring the best available, Fulmer struggled. Was Tenn just too slow to adjust and just got left behind.
Is there a problem / different philosophy in the adm that keeps Tenn from moving forward.
Some say throwing money at a proven coach will work, but I have continually argued you cannot hire a proven winner away from their current job. You only get them bigger raises. Has Chip Kelly worked out, Harbough, Jimbo, Leach, Gundy, Taggart. Are any worth $7-8M a year? Great coaches don’t leave the programs they have built, unless they have embarrassed them.
Fulmer left no coaching tree and no one capable of replacing him. It takes a special talent to run a big program in the best of circumstances.. Finding that person takes a lot of skill and even more luck.
My opinion is Tenn keep Fulmer too long ( and I totally understand why) and the football world changed so quickly that they were behind when the change was made. Then the adm made a bad decision in the hire (at the maturity level Kiffin had) which delayed the stabilization even longer. By that time everyone was hiring best available and Tenn could not keep up. Now getting lucky is their only hope. Money will not work.
Now for my crazy answer out of this....Fire Pruitt at end of the season. LET Fulmer be interim HC and AD with same salary. He could recruit on his personality and probably keep most of the class. Try to hire Cutcliffe for $2M he makes now. Let the program stabilize and go from there. In a year or 2 maybe Tee or somebody already on staff will be ready to take over without a complete restart.
Were we ever “special” like some believe. Career 70% winners. Occasionally getting enough talent to win championships. I think LSU has done that twice with coaches not that great. Fulmer won 1 NC and it took 2 miracle finishes + playing against a back up QB in the champ game.
In the modern era of SEC, when money is everywhere, and most of the schools are hiring the best available, Fulmer struggled. Was Tenn just too slow to adjust and just got left behind.
Is there a problem / different philosophy in the adm that keeps Tenn from moving forward.
Some say throwing money at a proven coach will work, but I have continually argued you cannot hire a proven winner away from their current job. You only get them bigger raises. Has Chip Kelly worked out, Harbough, Jimbo, Leach, Gundy, Taggart. Are any worth $7-8M a year? Great coaches don’t leave the programs they have built, unless they have embarrassed them.
Fulmer left no coaching tree and no one capable of replacing him. It takes a special talent to run a big program in the best of circumstances.. Finding that person takes a lot of skill and even more luck.
My opinion is Tenn keep Fulmer too long ( and I totally understand why) and the football world changed so quickly that they were behind when the change was made. Then the adm made a bad decision in the hire (at the maturity level Kiffin had) which delayed the stabilization even longer. By that time everyone was hiring best available and Tenn could not keep up. Now getting lucky is their only hope. Money will not work.
Now for my crazy answer out of this....Fire Pruitt at end of the season. LET Fulmer be interim HC and AD with same salary. He could recruit on his personality and probably keep most of the class. Try to hire Cutcliffe for $2M he makes now. Let the program stabilize and go from there. In a year or 2 maybe Tee or somebody already on staff will be ready to take over without a complete restart.