Gregg Doyel Tweet re: Gruden

#53
#53
Ronny Swanson said:
When Hart "reached out" is when it went all to hell.
Click to expand...

This x1000.

Behind the scenes the red carpet was being unfurled for Gruden and he was following the orange brick road. Unfortunately, the orange brick road still had to lead past Dave Hart before arriving at Neyland Stadium.

I said it at the time that Hart, even though he had nothing to do with the build-up, Hart still had the power to scupper the deal.

Which he promptly did.

Look, BuJo won me over in the off-season, and I was a sceptic. Florida, Vanderbilt, and now Lambert, have started to raise questions again. But even if BuJo becomes the next General Neyland, how freakin' awesome would it have been to see Chuckie leading the team down the Vol Walk this season? Absolutely electric.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#55
#55
God I can't wait to remember again how it feels to make it to a bowl game... think about that for a second! I still can't believe how big of a failure these last 10 years have been.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#56
#56
Ronny Swanson said:
Of course it wasn't far fetched. He entertained the idea but ultimately wasn't given what he wanted. Both sides will never tell the entire story because it will make our people in charge look even worse than they have over the past decade.
Click to expand...

Hammy has bottomed out in the "looking worse" department.
 
#57
#57
DeerPark12 said:
Yeah, like the candidates were all coaching their current teams. Contact had been made with agents for several coaches.

The decision to move on from the last coach was made after the Mississippi State game.

A booster that had been in contact with Gruden during the post-Kiffin search reached out to him at that time. Said he wasn't interested in coaching in college, no matter the price. Makes around $7 million between ESPN and endorsements with Dick's, Coors and Hooters.

Hart reached out a few weeks later to verify what the booster had told him. Gruden thanked him for the call. His agent released a statement that Gruden was happy at ESPN. That was as far as it got.

Things went a lot farther than that with him in the post-Kiffin search.
Click to expand...

Wow. If this is correct, forget post-Dooley, I'm more interested in what happened post-Kiffin.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#59
#59
Ronny Swanson said:
Of course it wasn't far fetched. He entertained the idea but ultimately wasn't given what he wanted. Both sides will never tell the entire story because it will make our people in charge look even worse than they have over the past decade.
Click to expand...

What I was told (personally) from on of the top 5 boosters (that make these sorts of decisions) is that the boosters weren't willing to give him what he wanted. It was just as the article in the Chattanooga Times Free Press stated. He kept pushing and the boosters punted. Unless someone else was willing to come in and pay the kind of money that these guys pay, we had to move on. Additionally, some of the line items weren't really options (having to do with academics, etc.).

You can believe what you want, but the person who told me this is truly one of the guys "sitting at the table." And, before you ask, no...I will not tell you who. That wouldn't be prudent.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#62
#62
Um did I wake up and it all of the sudden is 2012? NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#63
#63
Soon...

Jon-Gruden-Tennessee.png
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3 people
#65
#65
VFLnSFD said:
What I was told (personally) from on of the top 5 boosters (that make these sorts of decisions) is that the boosters weren't willing to give him what he wanted. It was just as the article in the Chattanooga Times Free Press stated. He kept pushing and the boosters punted. Unless someone else was willing to come in and pay the kind of money that these guys pay, we had to move on. Additionally, some of the line items weren't really options (having to do with academics, etc.).

You can believe what you want, but the person who told me this is truly one of the guys "sitting at the table." And, before you ask, no...I will not tell you who. That wouldn't be prudent.
Click to expand...

Without any insider contacts and just by trying to read through the smoke... It seemed to me that UT either approached or met his demands on one or more occasions only to have him come back and ask for more. I think ultimately he was just looking for the price UT would not pay so he could say no to all that hard work.
 
#66
#66
Eddie Vol Halen said:
This x1000.

Behind the scenes the red carpet was being unfurled for Gruden and he was following the orange brick road. Unfortunately, the orange brick road still had to lead past Dave Hart before arriving at Neyland Stadium.

I said it at the time that Hart, even though he had nothing to do with the build-up, Hart still had the power to scupper the deal.

Which he promptly did.

Look, BuJo won me over in the off-season, and I was a sceptic. Florida, Vanderbilt, and now Lambert, have started to raise questions again. But even if BuJo becomes the next General Neyland, how freakin' awesome would it have been to see Chuckie leading the team down the Vol Walk this season? Absolutely electric.
Click to expand...

Again: if this is the case, then why did Hart get to ruin the deal while flying around in Jim Haslam's own plane? Why was Jim Haslam so chummy with Hart at the Butch Jones reception, mere hours after Hart supposedly f***ed over the boosters? Why hasn't there been any whiff of Hart's job being at risk after what would amount to open insubordination?

You're arguing that a guy from the outside who'd only been on the job a year backstabbed the boosters in the biggest hire in Tennessee history, and that they A) let him do it, B) let him use their plane to do it, C) did nothing about it afterwards, and D) went out of their way to publicly support Hart afterwards and pretend that nothing happened. You're arguing that they got the Cincinnati coach instead of the Super Bowl winner they supposedly had all lined up, and they responded to that outrage by ignoring it. You think Jim Haslam got to be a billionaire by being a p***y?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4 people
#67
#67
Only thing I'll say above is that multiple planes are used. Not just Haslam. AD officials flew around in the Verizon plane as well. Coaches do too. They have 2 planes now, actually, and its on Verizon's dime, not the AD.
 
#68
#68
One of the actual real-world reporters (I forget which one) said last year that Pilot's plane was one of the ones involved in the back-and-forthing to Louisville.

I'm assuming that's something Big Jim could have put a stop to if Hart had been in the process of screwing him.
 
#69
#69
Spartacavolus said:
Only thing I'll say above is that multiple planes are used. Not just Haslam. AD officials flew around in the Verizon plane as well. Coaches do too. They have 2 planes now, actually, and its on Verizon's dime, not the AD.
Click to expand...

No one at UT has access to a plane from Verizon. They are a sponsor with no personal connection to UT.

Yes, UT officials and coaches have access to several booster planes in addition to the one owned by UT. No, none of them are connected to our cell phone sponsor. Pilot has more than one and coaches frequently use them.

If you want to believe that UT or Hart somehow blew it on Gruden, that's your right. But you would be misinformed. By a lot.

I think there are definitely boosters out there that think it was some kind of money or control issue. But the real issue is he simply did not want to get back into coaching. Still doesn't.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4 people
#70
#70
Vercingetorix said:
One of the actual real-world reporters (I forget which one) said last year that Pilot's plane was one of the ones involved in the back-and-forthing to Louisville.

I'm assuming that's something Big Jim could have put a stop to if Hart had been in the process of screwing him.
Click to expand...

When you have as many chiefs as you do Indians, like in the UT structure, a lot of stuff that will make you scratch your head will occur. At no point, were big boosters and and our AD on the same page. It was a cluster from the start and both sides have their own share of the blame. However, the lot of it falls directly in Dave Hart's lap.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#71
#71
DeerPark12 said:
No one at UT has access to a plane from Verizon. They are a sponsor with no personal connection to UT.

Yes, UT officials and coaches have access to several booster planes in addition to the one owned by UT. No, none of them are connected to our cell phone sponsor. Pilot has more than one and coaches frequently use them.

If you want to believe that UT or Hart somehow blew it on Gruden, that's your right. But you would be misinformed. By a lot.

I think there are definitely boosters out there that think it was some kind of money or control issue. But the real issue is he simply did not want to get back into coaching. Still doesn't.
Click to expand...

And it's obvious which side of the equation you are on. Those close to Gruden laugh their asses off with your last two sentences.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#72
#72
Ronny Swanson said:
When you have as many chiefs as you do Indians, like in the UT structure, a lot of stuff that will make you scratch your head will occur. At no point, were big boosters and and our AD on the same page. It was a cluster from the start and both sides have their own share of the blame. However, the lot of it falls directly in Dave Hart's lap.
Click to expand...

False. 100% false.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#74
#74
Ronny Swanson said:
And it's obvious which side of the equation you are on. Those close to Gruden laugh their asses off with your last two sentences.
Click to expand...

Then why has he not returned to coach anywhere?

The side of the equation I am on is fact, rather than overblown internet rumors and half-truths.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4 people
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top