All this talk about how limited and how disposable Tennessee's current roster is, and how easy it would be to kick them to the curb after years of loyalty, as part of hiring a new coach. Such inspiring rhetoric. If there were changes to be made, I'd be far more interested in seeing just what a new coach could do with the players on Tennessee's roster, than I would seeing how quickly they could get rid of them and replace them with players who would be there and gone in the blink of an eye. It would be so much more rewarding to see their years of service and work pay off, to see these players succeed after so much struggle, than it would to see that work discarded.
I recall Bruce Pearl's first year in Knoxville, how he took that broken roster and forged them into a team capable of success. How fond people are of that year, 2005, with its improbable wins and heady results. He didn't reject his roster; he grabbed them head on and said "I will make you better." That year was, and still is, a special season for Tennessee. A result that seems so much more attractive than the Mulkey "I'm going to run 8 players off, replace them with one year rentals, and THEN run even more off so I can make room for more transfers." Certainly more impressive. An old fashioned perspective, perhaps, but I'd like to think I am not alone in it.