11/8 - Never forget

#52
#52
That was the first game I ever went to. Unfortunately I'll never forget it even though I'd like to.
 
#53
#53
Even if you were not up to speed on the UT administration follies, you had to sense something was very wrong up top when Joan Cronan declined to become joint AD after Hamilton's dismissal, and instead, agreed to be a part of the search/hire process.
 
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#54
#54
Boston Vol said:
Had Hamilton chosen to go that route, Kippy Brown would’ve been the interim coach. In hindsight that should’ve been what took place, but Hamilton was too obsessed with “saving” the 2010 recruiting class. Also didn’t help matters that he tried to dictate to cutcliffe what assistants that he would have to keep if he accepted the job.
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Hamilton did not want any connection to UT's past. He knew that the fanbase wanted Cut and sabatoged it by telling him he couldn't bring any of his assistants. He did not interview Kippy Brown (after telling him he was in the running for the job) until Saturday after they had hired Dooley. If he had hired Kippy, Tennessee would have been in great hands. Remeber he had hired Pearl at the time and thought he had the golden touch in hiring coaches and would leave his great legacy at Tennessee. He did leave a legacy in the process.
 
#56
#56
rocketskates said:
I honestly didn't mind the Kiffin hire. But the contract was absolute garbage. Hamilton could've pushed for a much higher buyout at that point as our brand was still strong. We officially lost all credibility when he hired Dooley. In my opinion, had he just let Lance Thompson be the interim coach with a clause of "possible head coach in waiting" if he were successful and spent the extra time to hire a quality candidate, we wouldn't be in this mess.
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Should have let Kippy Brown be the interim for the 2010 season and took our time hiring a HC.
 
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#57
#57
Boston Vol said:
Had Hamilton chosen to go that route, Kippy Brown would’ve been the interim coach. In hindsight that should’ve been what took place, but Hamilton was too obsessed with “saving” the 2010 recruiting class. Also didn’t help matters that he tried to dictate to cutcliffe what assistants that he would have to keep if he accepted the job.
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You're correct. Thanks for that, my memory was a little skewed. But yeah, by trying to "save" a recruiting class (if I recall many left any way) he ended up ruining many future classes. I remember that I was actually upset that we had hired a mid major coach. I couldn't recall a time in my life at that time that we had hired someone from the little leagues. I knew that Tennessee's program and brand had taken a major hit at that point.
 
#58
#58
hog88 said:
Fulmer was a huge advocate for Hamilton getting that job.
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Do you deduce that Phil thought he could control Hamilton? "You raise money and elevate the profile of Tennessee's other athletic programs and leave football to me."
 
#59
#59
hog88 said:
Should have let Kippy Brown be the interim for the 2010 season and took our time hiring a HC.
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You're correct, I had him and Thompson mixed up. But I 100% agree. It would've been worth "sacrificing" the recruiting class to not set us back over a decade. Also, even though the program was heading in the wrong direction, the argument could've been made to let Fulmer coach one more season and force his hand to fire Clawson.
 
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#60
#60
Tin Man said:
Do you deduce that Phil thought he could control Hamilton? "You raise money and elevate the profile of Tennessee's other athletic programs and leave football to me."
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I think it had a lot to do with it plus Fulmer thought he could control Hamiliton.
 
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#63
#63
TartanTurff said:
In my opinion, Fulmer and Hamilton should have been gone before the 2008 season even began, just a wholesale absence of leadership at that critical point in time and regrettably, it didn't improve very much over the next 10 years, the university and the athletic department embarked on a piss poor hiring spree, signing long term very expensive contracts to those individuals least suited to carrying out those functions, aight
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2008 felt like rock bottom, little did we know at the time....
 
#64
#64
hog88 said:
Should have let Kippy Brown be the interim for the 2010 season and took our time hiring a HC.
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Yep, if we'd just taken a deep breath and accepted there wasn't a quick fix we might have ended up with a respectable coach for 2011 rather than starting the dominios with 4-8 Dooley.
 
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#65
#65
gnm53108 said:
To me it was 96 memphis. How in the heck do you let a bad memphis team stop you from getting a chance at a nc?
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That's the most surprising loss in our history. The 2019 Georgia State, 2008 Wyoming, and 2011 Kentucky losses were all bad UT teams. The Vols of the mid to late 90's were always a top 10 team.
 
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#66
#66
Orange Navy said:
Brilliant idea to fire the coach with three games left in the season, and let him keep coaching the team. I guess we needed all that time to find Lane Kiffin who was unemployed after being fired by the Raiders.
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Imagine firing your HOF coach on homecoming.
 
#68
#68
GAVol said:
It was - bar none - the most pathetic offense I've ever seen in my life. Fulmer had abandoned Dave Clawson's offense (which has worked everywhere else) and we were running something that looked like a bad high school Winged T.

I had to go back and look just to see if our QBs were as bad as I remembered:

14/36 passing for 118 yards
1 TD/2 INTs
-25 yards rushing.
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If this board was active, the game day thread which would have existed for that game would have been an epic sh!t storm burning with the heat of 10,000 suns. I kinda wish it existed.
 
#70
#70
McDad said:
If this board was active, the game day thread which would have existed for that game would have been an epic sh!t storm burning with the heat of 10,000 suns. I kinda wish it existed.
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It was active.
 
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#71
#71
General Jack said:
2008 felt like rock bottom, little did we know at the time....
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I know. I didn't think that it could get any worse, but boy was I wrong. I was 2 years old the last time prior to 2008 that Tennessee had suffered a losing season so I had never "really" witnessed that in my lifetime. The beginning of a feeling that became all too familiar.
 
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