Few things for those willing to read:
Apparently, Johnny Majors got a little word in at the QB club in Knoxville the other night. His message was essentially that he didn't approve of the way the fans and certain others (boosters/politicians) responded to the news of Schiano being the guy. He indicated that the people making the hiring decision know intimately more about what takes place when making the hire than the general public; therefore, the magnitude of their response was not justified.
IMO, I get what he is saying; however, he is missing the point that Schiano should have never been a candidate in the first place given the baggage that comes with him. Do I personally think he is a better coach than Butch Jones? Yes. Do I think he is the guy that can get us to where we belong? No. But, at the end of the day, the Penn State stuff should have had him immediately disqualified from the running let alone his coaching resume, which is not exactly pretty.
Here is the tough part about this whole situation. I think the majority of the UT fan base knows what it is like to be a successful football program. In other words, I'm willing to say that the majority of the UT fans lived through the Majors and/or Fulmer eras. That is a long time of being an extremely successful football program. You didn't even get to sniff the championship game unless you went undefeated, and we came close several times during that era.
Given such, I think UT fans have every right to demand more from the program, especially in light of the fact that it is public knowledge that the UTAD has generated huge amounts of money over the past few years. At what point will they reinvest that money in winning football games instead of stadium renovations and buildings? The fans are buying the tickets and donating money. That has to be respected.
At the same time, I think a lot of the fan base also needs a dose of reality. UT football is not where it used to be. The historical success of the program is largely irrelevant to the coaches mulling over whether they should take the job. What do they see? What do they think about? They probably see baggage, too. They now see a fan base that is very difficult to please and willing to and having the ability to overthrow a potential hire. They now see a very outspoken fan base on social media. They now see a potential boss whose own job may be in jeopardy. They also see a program that has struggled to succeed over the past 10 years. It is a difficult pill to swallow, but isn't it all true?
All of this to say the following: I'm not a huge fan of the fact that we had to protest a potential hire and got it to fall through. To the outside world, whether they understand the whole situation or not, it's not a very good look. However, the fact that it was Schiano does somewhat legitimize the actions. He should have never been a candidate, and thus brings into question the judgment of the UT AD as well as those advising/helping him. The UT AD needs to realize that winning ball games will help EVERYONE. The UT AD has the money, and money talks. IMO, I cannot believe that all top available coaches available would turn down anywhere from $5M to $8M per year despite the extra challenges they would have to deal with at UT. The UT AD needs to reinvest the cash available in winning some damn ball games.
