No, it's not having too much pride, but rather knowing what was happening on the inside. Obviously, very, very few if any on the site knows what was happening behind closed doors and the media was just guessing like most VOL fans. Phil had a chance to keep his job--all he had to do was beat USCe and did not. Yet again he got his tail handed to him by the ol ball coach. If Phil would have won, Mike would have had something positive to present to the boosters that probably would have gotten Phil one more year, but he had nothing positive about the present........NO coach can continue to lose to their conference rivals and keep their job, period.
Now, to take this one step farther, Kiffin was available and publicly stated that he would be interested in coaching at the college level. This now become the perfect storm for Phil. Losing consistantly to rivals hurt Phil more than anything especially to the ol ball coach. Then once Lane agreed to discuss the potential to coach at UT and the coaches he would bring, Phil's fate was sealed. Was it time for Phil to go, yes. Was his firing handled correctly, absolutely not. Phil deserved being treated with the utmost respect and professionalism but did not receive it---I believe this is the primary reason most fans are still upset......not because of his dismissal but the manner in which it was handled.
As for all this talk about Lane breaking all these violations, he had the green light to break as many secondary violations as needed to get UT back in the national conversation.
As for everyone badmouthing Derek, he was the only coach to even consider taking the position. He certainly was not the first choice, but after being turned down in double digits, Derek became the only choice. He was the only coach that had enough backbone and balz to step up to the plate. Personally, I admired the man for taking the job considering the roster, fan separation, booster moral, and general condition of program. Derek did stabilize the program and was a DC away from success and contract extention. I cannot fault a person for taking a position no one else would even consider including Jon Gruden.
As VOL fans we all know how rough the past few years have been but instead of living in those troubled years we should be focused on the present and near future. We have one of the better head coach and staff in college football, and as fans all we need to do is take a deep breath, relax, and give these coaches time as changing coaches repeatedly is not the answer. I am thankful UT has Butch and have full confidence he can win championships.
