Can anyone name a more inept athletic department considering the resources.

#1
TennaciousD957

TennaciousD957

I'm Kind of a Big Deal
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#1
It boggles the mind. Let's recap

Dickey Years

1. Essentially fire Majors in the middle of the season following heart surgery allowing a coup from Fulmer splintering the fan base. Worked out great with a Natty, but not handled well at all.
2. Hired Wade Houston, Kevin Oneill, and Jerry Green

Dickey Retires
1. An alleged "National" search for the most qualified AD replacement to lead a top 5 athletic department as far as revenue and on the field success turns. Except there was no national search. Mike ****ing Hamilton hired

Hamilton Years
1. Fires Delmonico - Most successful baseball coach in Tennessee History - 3 (2?) college world series
2. Hires Todd Raleigh - unmitigated disaster
3. Fires Fulmer - Still a good decision in my mind, but could not have been botched any worse. Either 2 years earlier or 1 year later
4. Hires Kiffin - no words necessary
5. Hires Dooley - again no words
6. Hires Bruce - even the sun shines on a dog's ass every now and then
7. Fires Bruce - Most successful basketball coach in recent history, possible ever in a short amount of time. Allows internal AD and Chancellor to hang Bruce out to dry
8. Hires Cuonzo - completely unqualified for the position
9. Hires Serrano - appears to a good hire
10. Allowed the academic side to overtake the AD making it more difficult to win in all sports

Hart Years
1. Fires Dooley - no question the right move
2. Hires Butch - botched the entire process, but results matter. However this is a hold b/c Butch has not won a thing yet. I think we are all optimistic.
3. Allowed Bruce to got to an SEC school. This is an indictment of our AD. You could not allow this. This will undercut our program for years to come. Cuonzo now HAS to be the answer, b/c all success will be measured against Bruce.

And of course let's not forgot all the arrests, scandals, NCAA probation, punishments, lawsuits (from the joining of men's and women's programs), the firing of Pat Summitt, etc.
 
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#7
#7
I want to know what exactly justifies this complete and total meltdown about our AD. There's no question things were handled badly before Hart got here, but I think there are reasons for optimism that things are turning around.

He hired Butch Jones, which most people seem relatively pleased with to this point. And he didn't fire Cuonzo Martin, a coach whose record has gotten better every year he's been here and who made the NCAA tournament. We Vol fans seem to invent these fantastical scenarios of Jon Gruden coming to coach our football team and Bruce Pearl returning to coach our basketball team, things which have extraordinarily slim chances of happening, and then we get mad at the athletic department for not going along with our completely unrealistic dream scenarios.

Dave Hart was not going to fire Cuonzo Martin after the regular season ended as it did -- it simply wasn't going to happen. And as for Bruce, I love the guy just as much as anyone and would LOVE to have him back, but people have got to see the kind of pickle the AD was in.

This is just getting ridiculous.
 
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#9
#9
GoBigOrange86 said:
I want to know what exactly justifies this complete and total meltdown about our AD. There's no question things were handled badly before Hart got here, but I think there are reasons for optimism that things are turning around.

He hired Butch Jones, which most people seem relatively pleased with to this point. And he didn't fire Cuonzo Martin, a coach whose record has gotten better every year he's been here and who made the NCAA tournament. We Vol fans seem to invent these fantastical scenarios of Jon Gruden coming to coach our football team and Bruce Pearl returning to coach our basketball team, things which have extraordinarily slim chances of happening, and then we get mad at the athletic department for not going along with our completely unrealistic dream scenarios.

Dave Hart was not going to fire Cuonzo Martin after the regular season ended as it did -- it simply wasn't going to happen. And as for Bruce, I love the guy just as much as anyone and would LOVE to have him back, but people have got to see the kind of pickle the AD was in.

This is just getting ridiculous.
Click to expand...

I would say most are upset because all this proves their speculation all along was 100% wrong. Pearl was never an option, and the petition had zero effect. All the talk about insiders claiming it was a done deal, or some big movement was all wrong.

It's almost Gruden all over again.
 
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#10
#10
Let it go bro - we're in the tourney tomorrow, Baseball is a top 15 program now, football is without a doubt on the rebound

Lots of positive things to focus on
 
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#12
#12
VolsSportsFan said:
I would say most are upset because all this proves their speculation all along was 100% wrong. Pearl was never an option, and the petition had zero effect. All the talk about insiders claiming it was a done deal, or some big movement was all wrong.

It's almost Gruden all over again.
Click to expand...

Man, I don't know about you, but I learned all I needed to about "insiders" from the Gruden fiasco.
 
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#14
#14
How can you blame Hart for Auburn hiring Pearl? Martin is still our coach and isn't even done with the season yet. Do we just fire Martin after receiving a NCAA tournament bid? I don't think any AD does that.
 
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#15
#15
Yeah, I've been saying it for years. It's amazing to me that Dave Hart is essentially given a pass here for presiding over the worst years in our athletics history. At what point does he no longer get to blame Mike Hamilton for everything?

But maybe the AD is just a reflection of the fans? What other major program would hire an AD who was fired from his previous AD position and comes from (and maintains deep, significant ties with) your most bitter rival? What other major program has 4 straight years of losing football seasons and still gets 80-90,000 into their stadium game after game? Where else would a program coming off 6 straight NCAA tournaments as nothing lower than a 9 seed, be happy getting to 1 play-in game in 3 years?

Until the fans refuse to accept failure and mediocrity, there's bound to be more of it.
 
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#16
#16
Bruce Pearl might have been the worst thing to ever happen to the basketball program because of a few sweet 16's and 1 elite eight......it made the fan base think UT has an "Elite" program up there with he Duke's and Kansas's.
 
#17
#17
No offense to some on here but your being unrealistic on Martin's timing. 3 years is plenty enough time to go dancing and we are dancing. We underachieved, I agree and Martin is not the answer, I also agree but you can't fire a guy during year 3 who just made the tournament. Do you even realize how bad that makes UT look? Coaches compete against each other but I would bet every single coach at any level would frown on this and it would be very difficult to get a decent coach. If you fire Martin after making the tournament in his 3rd year, your best option is likely another up and comer because no one with any credibility would take this job IMO.
 
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#19
#19
SouthKnoxVOL said:
Bruce Pearl might have been the worst thing to ever happen to the basketball program because of a few sweet 16's and 1 elite eight......it made the fan base think UT has an "Elite" program up there with he Duke's and Kansas's.
Click to expand...


Post says you are pleased with mediocrity, I am not, never have been, never will be.
 
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#20
#20
Shaun1985 said:
How can you blame Hart for Auburn hiring Pearl? Martin is still our coach and isn't even done with the season yet. Do we just fire Martin after receiving a NCAA tournament bid? I don't think any AD does that.
Click to expand...

Don DeVoe says hi. Lost tourney game, got fired. OK, resigned under pressure.
 
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#22
#22
Add that Hart got the Nike deal, Bristol deal, and the 2015 opening game in Nashville.

Like many said, Pearl was never coming back. Sorry. CCM gets the 4th year do to the buyout.
 
#24
#24
This kind of post makes me just giddy inside, because it proves to me that our AD is way too smart to let the opinions of know-nothing fools get in the way of making decisions that are in the long term best interest of our programs. Anything our AD does that riles up the #BBB crowd and the Gruden Cult simply proves we have true professionals in there that will lead us eventually to championships.
 
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