Look, winning is fun, what can I say? As I recall, the year we went to the Sweet 16, we were 3 minutes away from an Elite 8 appearance (first in school history), had something like a 7 point lead on a very tough UNC team, and managed to blow it.
History as I see it:
Kevin O'Neill: had about two halfway decent players during his tenure (Brandon Wharton and Steve Hamer)... potty-mouthed Yankee who didn't exactly get along with the good ol' boy network at the athletic department. His teams, though, played hard, especially on defense.... if I remember correctly, the beginning of the end for him was the worst loss in UT hoops history, I think Kentucky laid something like a 60 point whipping on us in his last season. I personally would have loved to see what he could have done with the talent Green squandered.
Jerry Green: Statistically, a great success, and it's hard to argue with numbers. The tricky thing about Green is that, during his tenure, Tennessee had, for two seasons (his last four years), legit Final Four talent for the first and only time in school history. Marcus Haislip, when interested, was a terrific, dominant player. Same with Slay. You'd be hard-pressed to come up with a stronger starting five in UT history than Tony Harris, Jon Higgins, Vincent Yarbrough, Marcus Haislip, and Isiah Victor. I remember the Kentucky game where "injured" Harris did a 50-yard sprint down the sideline in Olympic time to get into that melee with the UK bench. (I'll say this for Tony Harris - thug though he may be, he was one of the quickest players with the ball I've EVER seen, period. Unfortunately, although there's no I in Team, there sure is an I in Tony Harris - selfish player, took far too many bad, low-percentage shots.)
Buzz Peterson: You know, the warning sign should have been going, what, 14-15 with essentially the same team that Green left, minus Harris, I believe. I met the guy; seemed very friendly, affable, apparently a solid human being. (or is he? his pithy comments after leaving UT and rumors of certain recruiting improprieties leave this one up in the air...) What bothered me most about Buzz is that he recruited some solid players, but was unable to develop them. C.J. Watson has been our starting point guard for 3 years now under Buzz, and has been pretty solid, above average certainly, but never seemed to get any better... and if you recall, he was Buzz's prize recruit; a national Top 100 prospect out of Las Vegas, certainly the bluest chip we've pulled in since Harris or Yarbrough. Brandon Crump had a ton of potential, and never lived up to it. Stanley Asumnu is one of the best overall athletes UT hoops has ever seen, and Buzz couldn't make him into a basketball player in three years. Then there's the body count on guys who left... anyone remember Derek Stribling, John Winchester and the great Boomer Herndon?
Addendum: Buzz was, I believe, 1-7 vs. Kentucky in his four seasons here, and that's just not going to get it done. What's really sad is that he could have easily been 4-4 had his teams not choked like rats. Also had two terrific chances to beat Rick Pitino's Louisville teams in '02 and '03 and blew them, too. Buzzball seemed to involve a unique ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory (a case in point: the Nebraska game at the Tommy Bowl last season, with all the missed free throws down the stretch. Stunned silence; you could have heard a pin drop at the end of that game. I was there.) Slag on ol' Jerry all you want, but he had four seasons, four NCAA bids with a Sweet 16 appearance. Buzz had four years, two NIT bids, both resulting in first-round losses.
Facts are facts.
Cheers,
Downtown Vol
I wish him the best of luck, and I for one will do my best to get to as many games this winter as possible. Hope to see a lot of you there.