Happy Heupelversary!

[Chad F]

Not really how it happened ever. Tennessee was never afraid to pay big money to a big name. It’s just no big name wanted to be here. They went after mullet twice, Franklin was pursued, inquiries were made about some other names as well on different searches. If you want to point out we’ve been absolutely incompetent during most coaching searches I will agree there but we weren’t exactly cheap.

I agree. I have long said that our extremely poor decisions on Athletic Directors - who then allowed dysfunction to flourish with boosters, the administration, etc. - was what really kept us down. Starting with Mike Hamilton, I am not sure we could have lined up a clown car that was more jam-packed with incompetents and lifeless bureaucrats than we’ve had in charge of our athletic department. You get the AD hire right, and things tend to get fixed. We didn’t for years and suffered mightily for it.

It’s hard to imagine Danny White seriously considering ANY of the fools that we’ve had since Fulmer left as coach. Thankfully, he brought in Coach Heupel, a hire that I don’t think any of us really thought was one to be excited about at the time. Time will tell, but White seems to know his business. He seems to be a leader for the Athletic Department rather than a simple functionary.

When I think back on the absolute clown show that has been our ADs for the last 15 years until now, it breaks my heart. Hamilton botched the end of the Fulmer era and set us on the dark path of shame. Dave Hart just seemed to be going through the motions. John Currie might have been the most grossly incompetent of them all with his d-bag “mean mug” pose for the cameras while on the sideline of Butch’s last fiasco at Missouri. And Fulmer was just an absolute disaster despite my hopes that he’d right the ship and return triumphantly to leadership within our university’s athletic program.

Very glad to have Danny White AND Coach Heupel!