Why was Jerry Green fired?

#1
PoochPunt3rdDown

PoochPunt3rdDown

Boom. +14. Moby Dick.
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#1
I've heard all kinds of crap. I used to hang out with one of the ex-players from Green's tenure at UT. His opinion differed from that of other guys on the team at that time.

I've never seen it discussed on here that I remember and was curious to hear opinions, facts, rumors, all the good stuff....
 
#3
#3
He was, quite simply, a complete and utter jackass that was nearly impossible to work with.

At least that's what has been told.
 
#4
#4
zjcvols said:
He was, quite simply, a complete and utter jackass that was nearly impossible to work with.

At least that's what has been told.
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^ this and a PR nightmare. I remember when I lived there, he called a local radio show and challenged the fans if they thought they could coach better, that they would setup a booth at Wal Mart and take applications
 
#5
#5
Because his elbows were double jointed and when he got mad at the refs,his two arm you gotta be kidding me flippy thing was annoying.

He also supposedly was never able to change a pillow case.
 
#7
#7
He told the administration "If they didn't like the way he ran his program they could fire him" You never challange the powers that be on the Hill. Just the fact Jack.
 
#8
#8
Also, Doug Dickey was a jackass and stubborn as hell. As was Green.

Bad combo.
 
#9
#9
Los-Osis said:
He told the administration "If they didn't like the way he ran his program they could fire him" You never challange the powers that be on the Hill. Just the fact Jack.
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This and the Wal-Mart incident packaged with a underachieving 4 years. So much talent left from Oneill the sweet 16 year we choked away best chance at final 4 in school history. attendance was up and down for all 4 years while he made the Dance all 4 he was never embraced by us that have followed basketball from wayback. To the casual fan for basketball all they saw was his 80 something wins and they showed up to watch Vols vs KY and Florida and such.
 
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#11
#11
PoochPunt3rdDown said:
I've heard all kinds of crap. I used to hang out with one of the ex-players from Green's tenure at UT. His opinion differed from that of other guys on the team at that time.

I've never seen it discussed on here that I remember and was curious to hear opinions, facts, rumors, all the good stuff....
Click to expand...

Continual underachievement in the post-season, a monumental midseason collapse and subsequent 1st rd NCAA tourney loss his final season, incredibly bad attitude towards his superiors, and unendearing spirit with the fanbase, to name a few reasons.
 
#12
#12
PoochPunt3rdDown said:
I've heard all kinds of crap. I used to hang out with one of the ex-players from Green's tenure at UT. His opinion differed from that of other guys on the team at that time.

I've never seen it discussed on here that I remember and was curious to hear opinions, facts, rumors, all the good stuff....
Click to expand...

He didn't know how to BBQ anything but fans.
 
#13
#13
zjcvols said:
Also, Doug Dickey was a jackass and stubborn as hell. As was Green.

Bad combo.
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You mean a stubborn dumbass when it came to basketball hires. He thought the fans wouldn't except Bill Self because he coached at Oral Roberts. You are spot on about Green.
 
#14
#14
Seem to remember he was caught screwing around with another woman and that might have been the final straw????
 
#15
#15
I thought he referenced K-Mart. After a certain game he was asked by reporters about the fans discontent and he said that if people weren't happy they could just go to K-Mart instead of watching the Vols play.

He was a monumental jackass. How he could ever land not one, but two, high level Div I-A jobs is the real head scratcher. I'm sure Uncle Roy had a lot to do with it, but Green's personality just rubbed people the wrong way. I know Brandon Wharton thought he was a complete idiot and pretty much said so in an interview after his playing days were over.

The best line I can remember him using was the day he was hired. He said, "I wasn't the first choice, but I was THE choice." Good Lord.
 
#16
#16
Green was a good recruiter and had some good basketball teams. The fact of the matter was he had zero ability to ad discipline or lead them in the right direction.
 
#17
#17
He inherited a good nucleus of players and never got any further then the first round of the NCAA tournament I believe. His last team lacked any leadership on the field and off. That's what I remember.
 
#18
#18
WA_Vol said:
He inherited a good nucleus of players and never got any further then the first round of the NCAA tournament I believe. His last team lacked any leadership on the field and off. That's what I remember.
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Tennessee made the Sweet Sixteen in 2000 and blew a great opportunity to make their first Elite Eight by blowing a 7 point lead to North Carolina with 7 minutes remaining. In 1999, they made the second round.
 
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#19
#19
cncchris33 said:
Tennessee made the Sweet Sixteen in 2000 and blew a great opportunity to make their first Elite Eight by blowing a 7 point lead to North Carolina with 7 minutes remaining. In 1999, they made the second round.
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I was thinking of his last season.
Getting beat in the first round of the NCAA tournament with a team of mostly seniors was not going to be acceptable.
He had not recruited well and did not leave Peterson many players to work with.
Not that Buzz would have developed them, but still.
 
#20
#20
cncchris33 said:
Tennessee made the Sweet Sixteen in 2000 and blew a great opportunity to make their first Elite Eight by blowing a 7 point lead to North Carolina with 7 minutes remaining. In 1999, they made the second round.
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They also had a 9 point lead with under 10 to play. Then they started jacking 3's for no good reason. The 1, 2, and 3 seeds had all lost in the first 2 rounds. UT was a 4 seed and had about as clear of a path to the Final 4 as they ever could have. And then Green intervened.
 
#21
#21
We had to move quick to get Buzz or he would've snatched up a big time job (sarcasm)
 
#22
#22
Oneil had really established UT as a strong recruiter. He had a huge fallout with Dickey over personal issues and the red-shirting of Isaiah Victor, and left. He later hinted that he made a mistake.

Green was the result of a bungled search. UT wiffed on some names that are huge now, such as Bill Self, who I believe was at Tulsa at the time. There was also the Stallings screw-up. And I think UT made a joke of an offer $$ for Barnes who was at Clemson at the time. They thought Stallings was hired, and apparently the AD made a last second play for Tim Floyd, which Stallings found out about and told UT where to shove it. UT was then left scrambling and had to hire Green, whose record was, well,... average. He was a decent coach, but had never done much to wow anyone, and on top of that was already up in years.

He did have a decent staff and a pretty good offensive philosophy. But the main thing is he inherited CJ Black, Hathaway, Victor, and Tony Harris among others. Green recruited decently and got Slay and Yarbrough. People were elated with 20 wins, but Green underacheived considering the talent. Green had never sniffed that kind of success in his previous coaching career. The comments he made about the fans has already been covered.
 
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