Was Lane the worst hire in history?

[NashVol11]

If Fulmer was such a bad recruiter explain the sheer number of players UT put in the NFL during his tenure. Also Pearl being fired was not simply because of the lie about the barbeque there was more that contributed later on that probably wouldn't have happened had Kiffins loud mouth not given the AA a big hard on for UT. Realistically Pearl git fired because of the bump rule. that was the last straw. The school was not worried about the situation until that point. They could explain away the "lie about ribs" or get a minor slap on the wrist.

I honestly believe that the AA wouldn't have been on him all hot and heavy if they were not already sniffing around for dirt on Kiffy. Be clear now Pearl ain't innocent and I am glad he is gone. I honestly wanted him to stay another year or so because of the instability in the program. This season the wheels would have started falling out on his bandwagon and he would have been fired halfway through the 2013 season anyway. Him being let go after we had already lost 2 football coaches in 2 years is going to make a few parents say wtf is going on at that place?

None of this addresses the main topic. Lane Kiffin. has there ever been a hire that caused so much damage to an athletic department?

Fulmer got lazy, especially when Rivals was readily available. He managed to find many of the most overrated guys out there. He was better when he had Garner, etc. but look at the players I just listed. Which ones would be helping us?

Pearl was gone as soon as he lied. It wasn't so much the bump rule as it was the fact that it was a DAY AFTER his tearful, disingenuous apology. Even if that didn't happen, Pearl would have been fired as the hearing approached and we realized how much trouble we were in. Look at how Ohio State defended Tressel for a while and the end result of that.

Kiffin is a POS, but you're attributing a lot more damage to him than he actually caused. The NCAA was looking at Pearl before Kiffin even got there, and the players that left were mostly worthless. Much more worthless than the 2010 class was...

 

[pimo1]

The bump wasn't even ruled a violation if I'm not mistaken. He got a 3 year show cause for the lie, and the lie only.

Trust me if the bump didn't happen things turn out differently. Just because the show cause said it was the lie does not mean thats all what it was for. If a cop pulls me over and I mouth off at him I am gonna get a ticket for whatever he pulled me over not for mouthing off at him. There is a good chance had I been polite I don't get the ticket but it is the same ticket either way. In the military they call it pattern of misconduct.

 

[vol_in_ar]

Please hear me out before those of you few Kiffin Lovers and Fulmer haters out there get riled up. Lane Kiffin in my opinion is the worst hire in UT history and I don 't think that will change for a long time. I have always (until recently) been mostly neutral on the topics of Kiffin and CPF. But a few recent threads have made me do some thinking and I have decided not only is Kiffin the devils agent CPF didn't leave the program nearly as bad off as some might think. I know those are strong statements but here goes.

Most of you have read the article on the worst 10 recruiting classes of the last decade and noticed Kiffin had the number 1 worst class and Fulmer had number 4. What a lot of people don't really think about there is that Kiffin actually affected the ranking of CPF's class by the players he chased away or booted.

Now I will go further. I think there is honestly a reasonable doubt that Pearlgate wouldn't have went to the extent it did had Kiffin not got the AA's hackles up with his antics. He pretty much put a bullseye on the program with all his minor violations and would not shut up. At the time people tolerated it because he was our coach and thus "one of the family" but honestly almost all the publicity he got us was anywhere from totally negative or at best not totally positive. He ain't doing that stupid mess at SC.. but then again he learned his lesson at our expense.

Honestly looking back at everything as a whole instead of case by case CPF left the program in much better shape than people give him credit for. he was always a great recruiter his staff just didn't always develop guys too well around the end. Kiffin left CDD with a hot mess. I shall now end my rant and open the floor.

Seriously guys please refrain from nonobjective responses and if you wish to call me wrong at least have the decency to point out why and back it up with some sort of logic or facts. I know that is a bit much to ask but lets try?

Dave Clawson takes that trophy. Another gem by Fulmer that year.
Posted via VolNation Mobile

a perfect example off two wrongs don't make it right...

Wrong #1 hiring Dave Clawson
Wrong #2 hiring Lane Kiffen

 

[Mason72]

Fulmers downfall was his inability to hire the right OC. At a time he could have made a splash hire and knocked it out of the park he brought in Clawson.

 

[pimo1]

Fulmers downfall was his inability to hire the right OC. At a time he could have made a splash hire and knocked it out of the park he brought in Clawson.

No Fulmers problem was he tried to do too much too late. Clawsons offense was a massive divergence from what had been going on here for years. We had recruited for a Cutcliffe type offense for a decades and as you see in Florida this year bad things happen when you put a bunch of players in the wrong system and expect them to produce. If he had made the Clawson move back when he promoted Sanders the outcome would have likely been different because he still had enough leash left to get away wit ha bad season to rebuild.

If he brought in an OC at that point it should have been someone with at least a similar system to Cutcliffe until things settled down. But the barbarians were at the gate and he had to do something. Sadly, we have an extremely impatient fanbase and it only started being that way after 98. maybe in another decade or so we will calm down and become fans again instead of fanatics.

It was time for Phil to go. That being said, the way he is vilified disgusts me. We had a lot more good years than bad with him but everyone focuses only on the tail end and the mistakes instead of his accomplishments.

It was time for Pearl to go. That being said the way he is deified disgusts me. He accomplished a lot for this program but in the grand scheme of things it is not hard to accomplish a lot coaching a mens team that for decades was a total joke. Not taking away from the fact the guy was good, no great for our program. But he never won anything and his teams got progressively worse each year and outside of one year they underachieved every year.

End of day both of them were extremely important coaches for this University like it or not. Neither deserves deification or vilification. They both accomplished a lot and that should be recognized but both were at downward turns in their careers.

All bile and vitriol should be for the Kiffin. He is a bad bad person and caused untold damage to this program.

 

[vols-1]

Mike Hamilton takes the cake when it comes to worst hires. Guy didn't have a clue what was going on.

 

[shyster]

Lane Kiffen did more damage to the football program than anyone I can remember, and yes I was there when Battle was at the helm. The tone that he set and the the timing of his departure will take time to overcome. Battle was a worse coach, Kiffen was more harmful. And Hamilton? Completely gutted every major sports program at UT. His damage, unfortunately, is not limited to football.

 

[Mason72]

No Fulmers problem was he tried to do too much too late. Clawsons offense was a massive divergence from what had been going on here for years. We had recruited for a Cutcliffe type offense for a decades and as you see in Florida this year bad things happen when you put a bunch of players in the wrong system and expect them to produce. If he had made the Clawson move back when he promoted Sanders the outcome would have likely been different because he still had enough leash left to get away wit ha bad season to rebuild.

If he brought in an OC at that point it should have been someone with at least a similar system to Cutcliffe until things settled down. But the barbarians were at the gate and he had to do something. Sadly, we have an extremely impatient fanbase and it only started being that way after 98. maybe in another decade or so we will calm down and become fans again instead of fanatics.

It was time for Phil to go. That being said, the way he is vilified disgusts me. We had a lot more good years than bad with him but everyone focuses only on the tail end and the mistakes instead of his accomplishments.

It was time for Pearl to go. That being said the way he is deified disgusts me. He accomplished a lot for this program but in the grand scheme of things it is not hard to accomplish a lot coaching a mens team that for decades was a total joke. Not taking away from the fact the guy was good, no great for our program. But he never won anything and his teams got progressively worse each year and outside of one year they underachieved every year.

End of day both of them were extremely important coaches for this University like it or not. Neither deserves deification or vilification. They both accomplished a lot and that should be recognized but both were at downward turns in their careers.

All bile and vitriol should be for the Kiffin. He is a bad bad person and caused untold damage to this program.

I will always be grateful for the Fulmer years.. Truth is Cut left. He promoted Sanders who is without a doubt one of the best QB coaches in the game but is a terrible OC. He got Cut back for a short time, then left. If Fulmer had hired the right OC he/we would have been set. Our D was always Solid. The truth is that Fulmer was lost trying to get a OC. He couldnt get a solid one so he went out and got Clawson. I agree that Clawson could have been productive with some more time but that was the most painful year of UT football I can remember.

It always seemed like we had talent but in the later years they were never coached up. Cutty said it best when he came back that our Strength as a team was way down from when he left.

 

[vols-1]

I will always be grateful for the Fulmer years.. Truth is Cut left. He promoted Sanders who is without a doubt one of the best QB coaches in the game but is a terrible OC. He got Cut back for a short time, then left. If Fulmer had hired the right OC he/we would have been set. Our D was always Solid. The truth is that Fulmer was lost trying to get a OC. He couldnt get a solid one so he went out and got Clawson. I agree that Clawson could have been productive with some more time but that was the most painful year of UT football I can remember.

It always seemed like we had talent but in the later years they were never coached up. Cutty said it best when he came back that our Strength as a team was way down from when he left.

I was not so much the coach as it was the QB, Jonathan Crompton just sucked. Even Bill Belichick couldn't do anything with him.

 

[crusse10]

There may have been coaches in UT history that sucked worse than Kiffin, but there has never been a hire with a bigger mis-match of ideals and philosophies between prospective coach and University. Coaching/recruiting, Kiffin probably would have been a mediocre/moderately good coach, but his personality, character, business ethics, and attention to tradition make him one of the worst possible candidates we could have hired at the time. Perhaps the only one worse would have been Butch Davis.

His questionable morals were no different than Bruce Pearl's.

 

[KoachKletus]

Oh why did i read this entire thread. Nothing but complete :bash:. CPF is gone. He had a great run, got a bit burnt out towards the end, and as life goes, ya bring in the younger more energetic guy. Pretty simple. The next simple answer is that Hammy simply ****ed up by hiring Kiffin. He's gone. Get over it. Coach Pearl did a great job. He ****ed up. End of story. Support CQM.
On a more positive note, we have two new hires and IMO, two great coaches. The sooner we quit *****ing about yesterdays news, and focus our energies on cheering for our young student athlete's, the better we all become as Volnation.