Why was Bill Battle fired?

#26
#26
SMVTT said:
Maybe you should ask Ray Trail that question if you truly want the answer. In case you don't know anything about Ray, he was Coach Battle's Offensive Line coach and recruiting coorinator; he was considered the top offensive line coach in the SEC while he was at Tennessee. Ray probably still has some bitter feelings toward some supposedly UT boosters/fans from West Tennessee because it is commonly known that a large number of these people destroyed Tennessee's recruiting in the Memphis and surrounding areas in West Tennessee. This was done by their constant yapping about Coach Battle and got to where they not only weren't contributing to the University but were actually telling recruits not to go there. Coach Battle turned out to be the real winner in all that mess because he has become mega rich from his business interests and that's something he couldn't have done at Tennessee. BTW, despite all the crap Bill received from the supposedly UT fans, I've never heard of him bad mouthing UT over what happened; he is a real class act.
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Yep, but doesn't excuse the fact that he was a sorry recruiter and even worse a coach. I was a student at UT then and as far as I know not a single school offered him a job after he was fired.:ermm:
 
#27
#27
Battle was too young and too inexperienced on the field and in recruiting. His talent evaluations were not in the top 10 in the SEC.
Another 10 years as an assistant he may have made a good HC.
Also the staff Dickey had was a very good one and the hiring of Battle left a bad taste for some of them.
Dickey leaving was not only bad for Tennessee, it was bad for Dickey and UF plus it opened the door for the Bear to run rampant in the SEC.
 
#28
#28
It still blows my mind to think that somebody thought it was a good idea to hand a top 10 program to a 28 year old.
 
#33
#33
Bobby Dodd said:
What other coaches would have been better at the time?
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I won't pretend to debate the merits of something that happened before I was even born. It may have made perfect sense at the time, but it's still hard to believe that the best option was to hand the keys to a 28 year old with no coaching experience above position coach. At the time there would have been Johnny Majors and maybe even a few Neyland disciples still running around.
 
#35
#35
Tough to really fault the AD for not hiring those guys. Paterno was already a Penn State lifer and nobody really knew who the other guys were yet . . . but you're right, they were all available.
 
#36
#36
Here's one that will blow your mind to think about how it might have changed some things . . . If we had hired Johnny Majors back when Doug Dickey left, there's a good chance he would have brought along a guy he had on his staff at Iowa State . . . Jimmy Johnson.
 
#37
#37
GAVol said:
Here's one that will blow your mind to think about how it might have changed some things . . . If we had hired Johnny Majors back when Doug Dickey left, there's a good chance he would have brought along a guy he had on his staff at Iowa State . . . Jimmy Johnson.
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if's and but's were candy and nuts.........:eek:lol:
 
#38
#38
jakez4ut said:
if's and but's were candy and nuts.........:eek:lol:
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Intensity! Intensity! Intensity!

Man I miss those awkward moments on the Johnny Majors Show when John Ward would pause and look at Majors as if to say "What planet are you from?" :eek:lol:
 
#41
#41
GAVol said:
Here's one that will blow your mind to think about how it might have changed some things . . . If we had hired Johnny Majors back when Doug Dickey left, there's a good chance he would have brought along a guy he had on his staff at Iowa State . . . Jimmy Johnson.
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One thing you can't take away from Majors, he always had an eye for hiring good coordinators/position coaches (most of the time).
 
#43
#43
The painful fact is Woodruff hired Battle for 1 reason and 1 reason only. his age....he wanted the youngest HC in D-1
 
#45
#45
When Battle was hired there was alot of talk about Majors. The excuse given was he hadn't done enough as a Head Coach..... Duh and Battle had? Woodruff did alot of good for UT but his ego got the better of him when Dickey left
 
#47
#47
GAVol said:
Intensity! Intensity! Intensity!

Man I miss those awkward moments on the Johnny Majors Show when John Ward would pause and look at Majors as if to say "What planet are you from?" :eek:lol:
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attack, attack attack! the johnny majors show was a diamond in the rough.

it's really too bad i wasn't old enough at the time to pick up on all the subtleties between he and ward....
 
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