Neyland Law Vol
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HFCUTK - Butch Jones of Cincinnati.
My thoughts: Not sexy, definitely not my first second or third choice, but hes 50-27 as a HC, won back to back Big East Coach of the year awards, and finished 1st in his division 4 years twice two times and last once. Also he is 2-1 vs. Charlie Strong for what thats worth.
Bottom line Hes a winner. Hes been a HC for over 6 years. He has won at two different schools as HC. He coached under a proven championship level coach Brian Kelly. He has won multiple conference championships (i.e. done very well when playing against similar talent level teams). He has won at a BCS level school and won a BCS level conference. He is known as a players coach the team will come to love him.
He is clearly much better than the Dooley hire. He is clearly much better than ANY coordinator hire (including the OC guy at the 49rs under Harbaugh everyone wanted yesterday). And he is better than hiring a HC from a non BCS level school with a similar record.
He MUST hire a great staff loaded with proven recruiters in the SEC. I 100% support him because he is the HC at the University of TN, and because he had the balls to take the job. Hell he wanted the job bad he apparently wore an Orange tie to his interview. He ran away from a deal with Colorado once he heard TN was available. So I already like him for wanting this job and the huge challenge.
All that said I am really pissed at Dave Hart, Jimmy Cheek and the rest of the Admin because they failed the known goals of this search. The first goal is always to hire someone that can coach players to play winning football. They may have done that. But there are dozens of available HC that could have met that simple criteria.
Hart/Cheek failed to succeed at the other key requirements in this hire. A huge one at TN (as opposed to say LSU, UGA, etc.) is hiring someone that is a proven recruiter. TN really needed someone with a national name so TN could start going back to national recruiting. They didnt get that done. Plus he has little ties to southern recruiting (apparently some to florida).
Hart/ Cheek were also tasked with making a hire that would at least begin to unite a divided and bitter fan base. Most importantly, they were charged with hiring someone that would ignite the flames of HOPE back in the fan base. They needed to buy time for the next man to come in and build a winning team. They failed at this. It is unfair to Jones but the truth is if he doesnt pull in a top 15 recruiting class in February, and then looses to Oregon, UF, and UGA, the fan base will abandon him by mid October. That was what you couldnt have happen with this hire. You needed someone that could bring hope to get through 2013 without a bunch of empty seats midway through the season if things dont go well. Now Jones must pull off a miracle and win one of those games, and/or recruit like a mad man in order to get that hope that is needed.
So I am 100% behind Jones, but I am pissed as hell at Cheek and Hart and the TN administration as a whole.
My thoughts: Not sexy, definitely not my first second or third choice, but hes 50-27 as a HC, won back to back Big East Coach of the year awards, and finished 1st in his division 4 years twice two times and last once. Also he is 2-1 vs. Charlie Strong for what thats worth.
Bottom line Hes a winner. Hes been a HC for over 6 years. He has won at two different schools as HC. He coached under a proven championship level coach Brian Kelly. He has won multiple conference championships (i.e. done very well when playing against similar talent level teams). He has won at a BCS level school and won a BCS level conference. He is known as a players coach the team will come to love him.
He is clearly much better than the Dooley hire. He is clearly much better than ANY coordinator hire (including the OC guy at the 49rs under Harbaugh everyone wanted yesterday). And he is better than hiring a HC from a non BCS level school with a similar record.
He MUST hire a great staff loaded with proven recruiters in the SEC. I 100% support him because he is the HC at the University of TN, and because he had the balls to take the job. Hell he wanted the job bad he apparently wore an Orange tie to his interview. He ran away from a deal with Colorado once he heard TN was available. So I already like him for wanting this job and the huge challenge.
All that said I am really pissed at Dave Hart, Jimmy Cheek and the rest of the Admin because they failed the known goals of this search. The first goal is always to hire someone that can coach players to play winning football. They may have done that. But there are dozens of available HC that could have met that simple criteria.
Hart/Cheek failed to succeed at the other key requirements in this hire. A huge one at TN (as opposed to say LSU, UGA, etc.) is hiring someone that is a proven recruiter. TN really needed someone with a national name so TN could start going back to national recruiting. They didnt get that done. Plus he has little ties to southern recruiting (apparently some to florida).
Hart/ Cheek were also tasked with making a hire that would at least begin to unite a divided and bitter fan base. Most importantly, they were charged with hiring someone that would ignite the flames of HOPE back in the fan base. They needed to buy time for the next man to come in and build a winning team. They failed at this. It is unfair to Jones but the truth is if he doesnt pull in a top 15 recruiting class in February, and then looses to Oregon, UF, and UGA, the fan base will abandon him by mid October. That was what you couldnt have happen with this hire. You needed someone that could bring hope to get through 2013 without a bunch of empty seats midway through the season if things dont go well. Now Jones must pull off a miracle and win one of those games, and/or recruit like a mad man in order to get that hope that is needed.
So I am 100% behind Jones, but I am pissed as hell at Cheek and Hart and the TN administration as a whole.
