I hate to rehash it but....

#1
BenGrimm

BenGrimm

Formally known as burntorangeVOLffle
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#1
Back when CBJ was hired and all the Grudenites were butt hurt, some were still clinging to the belief that Gruden was still in play had Hart not gone rogue and hired CBJ behind the boosters back. There was a couple of people on here who vehemently claimed that the infamous call Manning made to CBJ trying to recruit him to CO was to keep Hart from hiring him before the boosters could finish a deal with Gruden.

At the time I suggested that the simplest answer is probably the most likely one. That Manning lives in CO now and was asked by someone if he could put in a good word. Nothing more to it than that as TN hadn't even contacted CBJ when he made the call.

But noooooo, those few on here (and it was just a few) stood behind their illuminati conspiracy theory.

Well I'm here to gloat. I'm not even sure if those few posters are still around. Any way, here it is, the simplest explanation....

Peyton Manning on Butch Jones: 'He has it all mapped out' » govolsxtra.com Mobile

Peyton Manning placed a call to Butch Jones a few days before accepted the Tennessee job, but the conversation had nothing to do with Rocky Top.

At the time, Jones had interviewed for jobs at Purdue and Colorado, but not Tennessee. Manning said Broncos president John Elways was asked to help pitch the Colorado job on behalf of a friend. He turned to Manning.

“At this point, (Jones) hadn’t been contacted by Tennessee, and I didn’t know much about him,” Manning said. “When the boss asks you to make a phone call, you make a phone call.”

Manning wasn’t sure to tell him.

“I said, ‘I don’t know anything about Colorado,’” Manning said. “He said, ‘Tell him it’s a good place to play football and it’s a nice place to live.’”

Manning shrugged: “I could do that.”

Manning said he was happy to be asked about the Colorado pitch.

“It caused some confusion that I was recruiting a guy to Colorado,” he said. “I recruit to one school and one school only, the University of Tennessee.”
Click to expand...

So if you were one of those conspiracy theorist please step forward and call Peyton Manning a liar.
 
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#4
#4
Ah the good old days of the Grudenites. I got bashed so freaking hard when I tried to tell people to temper their expectations. I also loved the twitter reaction Jones got when hired, did some people tell him to "Die". Stay classy vol fans.
 
#9
#9
So you've been here since 2008, and you have 2,303 posts....

And you mean to tell me that you've never gotten sucked in to at least the smallest internet rumor?

I mean, I was a big Grudenite. Big. I wanted it to happen. I thought there was a major conspiracy going on. It was fun. And when you're looking for something to happen, and you want it, you will twist anything to believe what seems like the best scenario for the team you love. And it doesn't help when false information is coming in from people who seem credible or have been in the past. And it doesn't help when people who are truly credible are being fed things that are false and reporting them.

You believe. You believe because you think that it's the best option. And when your team is as desperate for hope as Tennessee was, then you swing for the fences and hang on to any hope you have. It's called being human.

Did I want Jon Gruden? Yeah, I did. Did I think it would happen? Yeah, I did, because I listened to all of these people on here, and just hoped one of them knew what they were talking about.

But you know what? It didn't happen. I was wrong. But a lot of other people were too. And we all will admit it. But we won't apologize for saying that we thought that Tennessee was a good enough place that a Super Bowl winning coach would want to come here. And we won't apologize for wanting a great coach for our team. But yeah, we were wrong, and a lot of people were mislead.

BUT, at the end of the day, I am truly glad that Butch Jones is our coach, and I don't think there's a single "Grudenite" that would say otherwise. Has Butch won a Super Bowl? No. Has he coached in the NFL as a Head Coach? No.

But the reason so many of us wanted Gruden was because 1. He had a good track record. 2. He would be a good recruiter, or at least have a recognizable name. 3. He would respect and emphasize Tennessee tradition. 4. He would work his butt off to get us to the top.

And you know what? Every single "Grudenite" would admit that Butch Jones has an incredible track record, probably better than any other option we had, he has brought in an amazing recruiting class already, and is getting elite talent to Knoxville, he has emphasized and respected and even added to our Tennessee traditions ("he gets it"). And he has worked his butt off day and night, repairing bridges burned by the previous staff, and getting our team where it needs to be.

So yeah, we bought in, whoop de-do. That was 4 months ago. Yeah, we questioned Butch's hire. That was 4 months ago. Yeah, we wanted Gruden. That was 4 months ago.

But 4 months later, we still got what we wanted. We got a coach who loves UT, who works his tail off, who recruits well, and who knows how to win.

So take your gloating somewhere else. At the end of the day, Fulmerites, Butch Boys, Grudenites, Dooley Fans (all 2 of them), and even the Kiff Sniffers, we all have one thing in common:

We want to see our Vols win. And though we might disagree on how it should be done, it just reminds me that we still have the most passionate fanbase in college football.

And no matter who our coach is, or what our record is, I'm PROUD to be a part of it.

/thread
 
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#10
#10
Great thread....

for-me-to-poop-on.jpg
 
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#12
#12
TNHopeful505 said:
So you've been here since 2008, and you have 2,303 posts....

And you mean to tell me that you've never gotten sucked in to at least the smallest internet rumor?

I mean, I was a big Grudenite. Big. I wanted it to happen. I thought there was a major conspiracy going on. It was fun. And when you're looking for something to happen, and you want it, you will twist anything to believe what seems like the best scenario for the team you love. And it doesn't help when false information is coming in from people who seem credible or have been in the past. And it doesn't help when people who are truly credible are being fed things that are false and reporting them.

You believe. You believe because you think that it's the best option. And when your team is as desperate for hope as Tennessee was, then you swing for the fences and hang on to any hope you have. It's called being human.

Did I want Jon Gruden? Yeah, I did. Did I think it would happen? Yeah, I did, because I listened to all of these people on here, and just hoped one of them knew what they were talking about.

But you know what? It didn't happen. I was wrong. But a lot of other people were too. And we all will admit it. But we won't apologize for saying that we thought that Tennessee was a good enough place that a Super Bowl winning coach would want to come here. And we won't apologize for wanting a great coach for our team. But yeah, we were wrong, and a lot of people were mislead.

BUT, at the end of the day, I am truly glad that Butch Jones is our coach, and I don't think there's a single "Grudenite" that would say otherwise. Has Butch won a Super Bowl? No. Has he coached in the NFL as a Head Coach? No.

But the reason so many of us wanted Gruden was because 1. He had a good track record. 2. He would be a good recruiter, or at least have a recognizable name. 3. He would respect and emphasize Tennessee tradition. 4. He would work his butt off to get us to the top.

And you know what? Every single "Grudenite" would admit that Butch Jones has an incredible track record, probably better than any other option we had, he has brought in an amazing recruiting class already, and is getting elite talent to Knoxville, he has emphasized and respected and even added to our Tennessee traditions ("he gets it"). And he has worked his butt off day and night, repairing bridges burned by the previous staff, and getting our team where it needs to be.

So yeah, we bought in, whoop de-do. That was 4 months ago. Yeah, we questioned Butch's hire. That was 4 months ago. Yeah, we wanted Gruden. That was 4 months ago.

But 4 months later, we still got what we wanted. We got a coach who loves UT, who works his tail off, who recruits well, and who knows how to win.

So take your gloating somewhere else. At the end of the day, Fulmerites, Butch Boys, Grudenites, Dooley Fans (all 2 of them), and even the Kiff Sniffers, we all have one thing in common:

We want to see our Vols win. And though we might disagree on how it should be done, it just reminds me that we still have the most passionate fanbase in college football.

And no matter who our coach is, or what our record is, I'm PROUD to be a part of it.

/thread
Click to expand...

All that is true but things got out of control. It wasn't right to bash people that questioned the rumors and you know it. The response right after Jones was hired was pretty sad and awful.
 
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#13
#13
mreed90 said:
All that is true but things got out of control. It wasn't right to bash people that questioned the rumors and you know it. The response right after Jones was hired was pretty sad and awful.
Click to expand...

Hart did an awful job in his search (Media wise). Jones paid the price for being runner up in people's opinions. Not saying it was right. He has to date, done everything right. Hope he stays on that path.
 
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#14
#14
hohenfelsvol said:
Hart did an awful job in his search (Media wise). Jones paid the price for being runner up in people's opinions. Not saying it was right. He has to date, done everything right. Hope he stays on that path.
Click to expand...

I don't think it would have mattered too much even if he came out and said "Gruden is not coming" people would have been like "SMOKESCREEN".
 
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#15
#15
mreed90 said:
All that is true but things got out of control. It wasn't right to bash people that questioned the rumors and you know it. The response right after Jones was hired was pretty sad and awful.
Click to expand...

No, and I'm not saying that it was right on anyone's part to do that. Some did, and some didn't. But people bashed people just as hard for believing it. Don't think that it didn't go both ways. For every person that bashed a non-Grudenite, there was probably 2 that bashed a Gruden believer. Truth be told, nobody had the actual truth, so nobody had a right to bash anyone.

And yes, it was sad. I was disappointed at first, because I was for one hoping for Gruden, but I just didn't know about Butch Jones.

Typically, you assume that if you are down to option 3 that it won't be the best option.

And if you were one of those people who publicly bashed Jones, shame on you. My opinion was, he is UT's coach, and I'm going to give him a chance, because I'm going to love the Orange no matter what I think about him, and he's going to be the coach no matter what I think about him.

But he's turned out so far to be the perfect choice, and I have nothing but respect and admiration for him and the job he's done so far. Glad we hired him.
 
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#17
#17
mreed90 said:
I don't think it would have mattered too much even if he came out and said "Gruden is not coming" people would have been like "SMOKESCREEN".
Click to expand...

There was at one point a report of an interview that I thought Hart or the University commented on.
 
#19
#19
TNHopeful505 said:
No, and I'm not saying that it was right on anyone's part to do that. Some did, and some didn't. But people bashed people just as hard for believing it. Don't think that it didn't go both ways. For every person that bashed a non-Grudenite, there was probably 2 that bashed a Gruden believer. Truth be told, nobody had the actual truth, so nobody had a right to bash anyone.

And yes, it was sad. I was disappointed at first, because I was for one hoping for Gruden, but I just didn't know about Butch Jones.

Typically, you assume that if you are down to option 3 that it won't be the best option.

And if you were one of those people who publicly bashed Jones, shame on you. My opinion was, he is UT's coach, and I'm going to give him a chance, because I'm going to love the Orange no matter what I think about him, and he's going to be the coach no matter what I think about him.

But he's turned out so far to be the perfect choice, and I have nothing but respect and admiration for him and the job he's done so far. Glad we hired him.
Click to expand...

Some of the idiot fringe made us look terrible. Didn't ESPN actually talk about it because it was so bad.
 
#23
#23
mreed90 said:
Some of the idiot fringe made us look terrible. Didn't ESPN actually talk about it because it was so bad.
Click to expand...

Probably so. Yeah, it was bad. And the Gruden rumors didn't help it. But honestly, like someone said above, Hart botched it up. When you get publicly turned down by several coaches, nobody is going to be happy with what you get, because they believe that everyone should want to be the coach at Tennessee.

If Butch Jones was target number one, the backlash would have been less. If Butch Jones was the coach at a major conference and not at Cincy, the backlash would have been less. If people didn't think he was going to bring his whole Cincy staff, the backlash would have been less. But it was what it was.

But, if any of us could have looked forward in time to what we've seen, and if anybody would have thought "this guy is going to get us more four star recruits by the O&W Game than we had all last season" or that he would land us Marquez North or Jalen Hurd, or that he would have brought on Terry Fair as GA, or any of the other incredible things he's done, then I don't think any of us would have complained.

This type of thing will happen every time that you make a coaching change IF the number one target is not attained. And normally, people have a differing opinion or lead about who should be number one. This time, people jumped on Gruden train, and there was enough rumors to gain some smoke, and then before you knew it, we were in full disappointment mode.

But point is.....it's over. When 100,000 show up for the O&W game, that will make a bigger statement about how we feel about the program in Butch's hands then the tweets after he was hired ever did.
 
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#25
#25
TNHopeful505 said:
So you've been here since 2008, and you have 2,303 posts....

And you mean to tell me that you've never gotten sucked in to at least the smallest internet rumor?

I mean, I was a big Grudenite. Big. I wanted it to happen. I thought there was a major conspiracy going on. It was fun. And when you're looking for something to happen, and you want it, you will twist anything to believe what seems like the best scenario for the team you love. And it doesn't help when false information is coming in from people who seem credible or have been in the past. And it doesn't help when people who are truly credible are being fed things that are false and reporting them.

You believe. You believe because you think that it's the best option. And when your team is as desperate for hope as Tennessee was, then you swing for the fences and hang on to any hope you have. It's called being human.

Did I want Jon Gruden? Yeah, I did. Did I think it would happen? Yeah, I did, because I listened to all of these people on here, and just hoped one of them knew what they were talking about.

But you know what? It didn't happen. I was wrong. But a lot of other people were too. And we all will admit it. But we won't apologize for saying that we thought that Tennessee was a good enough place that a Super Bowl winning coach would want to come here. And we won't apologize for wanting a great coach for our team. But yeah, we were wrong, and a lot of people were mislead.

BUT, at the end of the day, I am truly glad that Butch Jones is our coach, and I don't think there's a single "Grudenite" that would say otherwise. Has Butch won a Super Bowl? No. Has he coached in the NFL as a Head Coach? No.

But the reason so many of us wanted Gruden was because 1. He had a good track record. 2. He would be a good recruiter, or at least have a recognizable name. 3. He would respect and emphasize Tennessee tradition. 4. He would work his butt off to get us to the top.

And you know what? Every single "Grudenite" would admit that Butch Jones has an incredible track record, probably better than any other option we had, he has brought in an amazing recruiting class already, and is getting elite talent to Knoxville, he has emphasized and respected and even added to our Tennessee traditions ("he gets it"). And he has worked his butt off day and night, repairing bridges burned by the previous staff, and getting our team where it needs to be.

So yeah, we bought in, whoop de-do. That was 4 months ago. Yeah, we questioned Butch's hire. That was 4 months ago. Yeah, we wanted Gruden. That was 4 months ago.

But 4 months later, we still got what we wanted. We got a coach who loves UT, who works his tail off, who recruits well, and who knows how to win.

So take your gloating somewhere else. At the end of the day, Fulmerites, Butch Boys, Grudenites, Dooley Fans (all 2 of them), and even the Kiff Sniffers, we all have one thing in common:

We want to see our Vols win. And though we might disagree on how it should be done, it just reminds me that we still have the most passionate fanbase in college football.

And no matter who our coach is, or what our record is, I'm PROUD to be a part of it.

/thread
Click to expand...

Don't ever get to say this on this site, but very classy response!
 
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