Donors threaten to pull donations if Pearl was fired...

#51
#51
How can you seriously doubt that UT will have a football or basketball program??? That is about the most insane thing I have read on here in a long, long time... LOL!!!
 
#55
#55
GAVol said:
That's just flat out not true. Hamilton immediately asked if there was anything he could do financially or otherwise and Kiffin said no.
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So at that point he knew good and well that if USC offered him the job, there was no chance at keeping Kiffin, yet still, several days passed and Hamilton did nothing towards finding a solution if Kiffin were to leave. Not only did he do that, but did an enormous amount of damage to the perception of the UT football job by allowing a host of mediocre and unproven coaches to publicly say no thanks to a job that would have given them a huge pay increase. The whole thing was just handled very poorly IMO and UT came off looking like a laughingstock. However, I struggle to find any sort of public relations issue that Hamilton has handled well in his time here.
 
#56
#56
jerryvol44 said:
Yes and I so look forward to wining at least 4 games this seasons,,,,,,,,maybe. LOLROFLMAO
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So after all the turmoil of the past 3 years, even you admit that the absolute worst case scenario is to win only one less game than Fulmer did in his final year with a full roster of players he recruited and his system and much of his staff in place for almost 2 decades?

That says volumes about the end of the Fulmer era if you ask me. A guy who's never seen any success as a HC can win just one less game with a depleted roster comprised almost entirely of freshmen and sophomores than a coach with a roster full of his own recruits, a national championship to his name, and almost 20 years of tenure on the job.

Also, you've shown you have no credibility when you say you're not even sure UT will field a football and basketball team in the future. How on earth do you come to that conclusion? UT should be able to win 6 games this fall, not 4 like you claim. Winning games against quality SEC teams probably won't happen this fall, but they'll win the OOC games and should beat UK and Vandy. Who knows, they might even pull off a shocker and beat someone else and get 7 wins this year.
 
#57
#57
CountVolcula said:
Maybe in the past, but not as much as they like to think now. Too much T.V. money out there
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$100,000 here and $200,000 there and pretty soon, we are talking about real money. It does not take many significant donors cutting their giving to UT to have a big impact.
 
#58
#58
bleedorange0037 said:
No, what's inexcusable is how he handled Kiffin's departure. Kiffin made Hamilton aware a few days before everything went down that if USC offered him the job, he was going to take it. Yet inexpicably Hamilton stood by and waited until Kiffin left to actually do anything. It was as if he was still caught completely off guard. He then allowed us to be rejected publicly numerous times by the top coaches on his list, and was then forced to settle for Dooley, who has never accomplished anything as a HC. As if that wasn't bad enough, he then tries to play the hire off like he got the guy he really wanted even though everyone knows that's a load of BS because we sat here and watched as coach after coach said they had no interest in the job.
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And what had Kiffin accomplished as a HC?

Kiffin was down the list for the USC job. Lots of things had to fall in place. What was MH supposed to do? Fire Kiffin before he was even offered the USC job.
 
#59
#59
bleedorange0037 said:
So at that point he knew good and well that if USC offered him the job, there was no chance at keeping Kiffin, yet still, several days passed and Hamilton did nothing towards finding a solution if Kiffin were to leave.
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What does that even mean? What were you expecting him to do?
 
#60
#60
bleedorange0037 said:
So at that point he knew good and well that if USC offered him the job, there was no chance at keeping Kiffin, yet still, several days passed and Hamilton did nothing towards finding a solution if Kiffin were to leave. Not only did he do that, but did an enormous amount of damage to the perception of the UT football job by allowing a host of mediocre and unproven coaches to publicly say no thanks to a job that would have given them a huge pay increase. The whole thing was just handled very poorly IMO and UT came off looking like a laughingstock. However, I struggle to find any sort of public relations issue that Hamilton has handled well in his time here.
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What would you have done differently upon finding out CLK would be leaving for USC, if offered the job?
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#61
#61
DaDuRkEr said:
I'm sorry, but the whole "blame it on the AD" bit is tired. IMO, if you wanna be mad at Hamilton for something, look at the baseball team and the Raliegh hire, not having to fire Bruce. Bruce MADE him do it. I would bring up the Kiffy thing, but lets be honest with ourselves. Most of us (even those who were skeptical of the hiring in the first place) were on board the Lane Train midway through his only season here. Hence why the fanbase was so ticked when he left.

I fail to see the A to B connection with all our issue being Hammy's fault. He made the hires, he was forced to fire Bruce due to Bruce's blatant disregard for the rules and honesty.

Out of 117 Div 1 football team's athletic departments, less than 15% turned a profit and we were one of those teams that made money. Bottom line, Hammy is a successful AD at fulfilling his job responsibilities. He isn't the best at PR, but he does his job fairly well given the situations that we have gone through.
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yea, he's real successful just look at the face we're on 3 football coaches in 3 years, lost 20 games the last 3 seasons and have the NCAA about to release sanctions in June

He's a real gem
 
#62
#62
cpavol said:
$100,000 here and $200,000 there and pretty soon, we are talking about real money. It does not take many significant donors cutting their giving to UT to have a big impact.
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add that to dropped attendance, and it really adds up
 
#63
#63
VolAce said:
Regardless of Hamiltons perceived ability to raise money... I believe it is fair to say our fanbase would still donate the money regardless of the AD. I think it is time for MH to be shown the door based on his actions that have been detrimental to our athletics as well as our fanbase as a whole. I cannot recall a time that the volnation has been this divided. If a new AD can bring the fanbase back together and make a few good coaching hires I'm all for it. MH seems inept to do either IMO. I think we can all agree the past few years have been the most difficult times to wear our orange with pride. Seems as though everything has slowly declined since MH took the reigns except for the amount of money that is taken in. If that starts to decline as well then what do we have left? I don't want to see us hit rock bottom before we force changes, do you?
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This is incorrect factually. Hamilton is the only reason Dickey had fundraising success (it was Hamilton raising the money).

You can knock him for different reasons, but he is the most successful fundraiser in TN history. He is also more accomplished in that area than his contemporaries in the SEC.
 
#64
#64
bleedorange0037 said:
So at that point he knew good and well that if USC offered him the job, there was no chance at keeping Kiffin, yet still, several days passed and Hamilton did nothing towards finding a solution if Kiffin were to leave. Not only did he do that, but did an enormous amount of damage to the perception of the UT football job by allowing a host of mediocre and unproven coaches to publicly say no thanks to a job that would have given them a huge pay increase. The whole thing was just handled very poorly IMO and UT came off looking like a laughingstock. However, I struggle to find any sort of public relations issue that Hamilton has handled well in his time here.
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How do you know Hamilton wasn't already making phone calls when Kiffin told him he might be leaving? How do you know representatives of UT weren't already sending feelers out?

Exactly which coaches turned down the job publicly?

Rumors on a message board don't count. Especially during a coaching search. Lovie Smith isn't walking through that door any time soon.
 
#65
#65
Hamilton's failure is his inability to sell UT to to prospective coaches. I like CDD, but there is no way I believe he was on Hammy's "list" when Kiffin left. He cannot sell the program to more recognized coaches, so he settles for unknowns that we pray work out. He is an outstanding fundraiser, but a poor manager and a horrible spin doctor. His inept handling of hirings and firings has left us sporting black eye after black eye in the media, and we're facing NCAA sanctions, which ultimately rests on his shoulders. Yes, it was Kiffin's and Pearl's actions, but the responsibility still lies with Hamilton.
 
#66
#66
Vercingetorix said:
How do you know Hamilton wasn't already making phone calls when Kiffin told him he might be leaving? How do you know representatives of UT weren't already sending feelers out?

Exactly which coaches turned down the job publicly?

Rumors on a message board don't count. Especially during a coaching search. Lovie Smith isn't walking through that door any time soon.
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Muschamp definitely said no. Troy Calhoun was getting a lot of talk about having been offered the job, even to the point that the radio was reporting Air Force was having a team meeting to discuss his future with the team. As it turned out he had no interest and the meeting was apparently just to inform the team of that, but the local media seemed to think he had all but accepted the job. Being rejected by Air Force's coach in front of the nation is the very definition of embarrassing.
 
#67
#67
Weezer said:
Hamilton's failure is his inability to sell UT to to prospective coaches. I like CDD, but there is no way I believe he was on Hammy's "list" when Kiffin left. He cannot sell the program to more recognized coaches, so he settles for unknowns that we pray work out. He is an outstanding fundraiser, but a poor manager and a horrible spin doctor. His inept handling of hirings and firings has left us sporting black eye after black eye in the media, and we're facing NCAA sanctions, which ultimately rests on his shoulders. Yes, it was Kiffin's and Pearl's actions, but the responsibility still lies with Hamilton.
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In January 2010, Hamilton was trying to sell a football program in total disarray with a probation-level roster already and which the NCAA had reportedly been sniffing around. Oh, and with only a couple of weeks until signing day and a hemorrhaging recruiting class. In the toughest conference in football. I'm not sure how it's possible to sell a turd like that. If you're Gary Patterson, why in the world would you stake your career on a rebuilding project like that?

I'm no Hamilton fan, but failure to "sell Tennessee" to a better coach than Dooley isn't something you can reasonably hold against him. He was in an impossible position when Kiffin left.
 
#68
#68
VolAce said:
Regardless of Hamiltons perceived ability to raise money... I believe it is fair to say our fanbase would still donate the money regardless of the AD. I think it is time for MH to be shown the door based on his actions that have been detrimental to our athletics as well as our fanbase as a whole. I cannot recall a time that the volnation has been this divided. If a new AD can bring the fanbase back together and make a few good coaching hires I'm all for it. MH seems inept to do either IMO. I think we can all agree the past few years have been the most difficult times to wear our orange with pride. Seems as though everything has slowly declined since MH took the reigns except for the amount of money that is taken in. If that starts to decline as well then what do we have left? I don't want to see us hit rock bottom before we force changes, do you?
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That has little to do with Mike Hamilton and everything to do with this fanbase. UT was putting 80k+ plus in the seats when Johnny Majors was going 6-5 every year in the 1970's. The AD makes money because UT has one of the largest fanbases in the country. How hard is it to make money when you can put 100k in the stadium most games if you manage to go 7-5? UT has had one of the largest stadiums in NCAA for decades and thats because it has one of the largest fanbases. Enough about Hamilton's business acumen. You could find thousands of MBA's who could turn a profit with this AD given its large fanbase and donors.
 
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#69
#69
bleedorange0037 said:
Muschamp definitely said no. Troy Calhoun was getting a lot of talk about having been offered the job, even to the point that the radio was reporting Air Force was having a team meeting to discuss his future with the team. As it turned out he had no interest and the meeting was apparently just to inform the team of that, but the local media seemed to think he had all but accepted the job. Being rejected by Air Force's coach in front of the nation is the very definition of embarrassing.
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In front of the nation? Blowhards on Knoxville radio speculating frantically to drive ratings = being rejected "in front of the nation"?

You said we were turned "publicly" down by a "host of mediocre coaches." You've named two, and in both cases calling their rejection of us "public" requires stretching the definition of that word very thin. Frantic internet speculation turning out to be wrong is not public rejection.

We already know from Travis's book that Hamilton goes to serious lengths to disguise his movements and intentions during a coaching search. But I'm not sure how he's supposed to stop internet and twitter speculation, too.
 
#70
#70
oklavol said:
That has little to do with Mike Hamilton and everything to do with this fanbase. UT was putting 80k+ plus in the seats when Johnny Majors was going 6-5 every year in the 1970's. The AD makes money because UT has one of the largest fanbases in the country. How hard is it to make money when you can put 100k in the stadium most games if you manage to go 7-5? UT has had one of the largest stadiums in NCAA for decades. Thats because it has one of the largest fanbases. Enough about Hamilton's business acumen. You could find thousands of MBA's who could turn a profit with this AD given its large fanbase and donors.
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Over the past few years we've slowly started to see the tipping point for that. The stadium rarely sells out anymore. I know there are other economic factors involved, but it seems that the astronomical increase in ticket prices over the past 5 years have finally pushed some people to just stay home rather than pay those prices to watch a crap product that has bottomed out while ticket prices skyrocket.
 
#71
#71
bleedorange0037 said:
Over the past few years we've slowly started to see the tipping point for that. The stadium rarely sells out anymore. I know there are other economic factors involved, but it seems that the astronomical increase in ticket prices over the past 5 years have finally pushed some people to just stay home rather than pay those prices to watch a crap product that has bottomed out while ticket prices skyrocket.
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People aren't staying at home because of ticket prices; if you're willing to drive across the state and spend $40 a ticket, you're willing to drive across the state and spend $50. People are staying home because now everybody has a giant 50 inch TV in their house and all the games are available in HD. It's an issue across the board in all sports -- when the at-home experience is so good, it gets harder to justify the effort and expense of going in person. And when you have an extra 15,000 seats in your stadium like we do, you're going to notice that problem a lot faster.

Demand will pick back up when the team improves, obviously, but this isn't a problem that's going to go away. 100,000 is a crapton of seats to sell when everybody can stay home and drink beer and see the game better for free.
 
#72
#72
Vercingetorix said:
People aren't staying at home because of ticket prices; if you're willing to drive across the state and spend $40 a ticket, you're willing to drive across the state and spend $50. People are staying home because now everybody has a giant 50 inch TV in their house and all the games are available in HD. It's an issue across the board in all sports -- when the at-home experience is so good, it gets harder to justify the effort and expense of going in person. And when you have an extra 15,000 seats in your stadium like we do, you're going to notice that problem a lot faster.

Demand will pick back up when the team improves, obviously, but this isn't a problem that's going to go away. 100,000 is a crapton of seats to sell when everybody can stay home and drink beer and see the game better for free.
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This is true. The die hard fans are still going to be there every week, regardless of ticket prices. The honest truth is that a lot of people are just staying at home because the team sucks. I can understand why people wouldn't want to spend a huge wad of cash to see UT get blown out like they did several times last year. The good teams in the SEC have no trouble selling out their stadiums. The only time UT sold out last season was UF and Bama, and that can largely be attributed to so many visiting fans filling the place, especially Bama.
 
#73
#73
I think the tv revenue from broadcasting games makes up for the difference in lost revenue from not having a full stadium.
 
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