Guitar Shots to the Head: The BS stops here

No need to top off my drink and I don’t need dessert. I’ve had my fill. For the last ten years I’ve gotten a steady diet of the media and some fans telling me that coaching a men’s sport at the University of Tennessee is simply too challenging to be attractive. Let me give you the translation for that argument: “If the coach is likeable and can get 8 wins in football or take you to the NCAA tournament you should keep him. Ignore the lies to the NCAA, and the embarrassing losses to the big football programs because your school is in Knoxville and you can’t do any better.”

I know that Bruce wears body paint well. I have enjoyed the tournament runs as much as anyone. The University of Tennessee is much bigger than Bruce Pearl.

I know Lane Kiffin was/is a recruiting machine. He also left UT high and dry. The University of Tennessee is much bigger than Lane Kiffin…even if you include his ego.

I know that Phil Fulmer single handedly turned a full page newspaper ad full of football players into responsible men. The University of Tennessee is much bigger than Phil Fulmer…even if you include his appetite.

I know Derek Dooley took a snake by the tail last January. Nobody forced him to pick it up. The University of Tennessee is much bigger than Derek Dooley.

If you want to sit around on the message boards and make excuses I’m o.k. with that. It isn’t going to happen in my house.

I don’t want to hear about internet posters chasing recruits away. I don’t want to hear complaints about how far coaches have to travel to see recruits. I don’t care if high school football in Tennessee is more comparable to Alaska’s than it is to Florida’s.

Go take a look at all time college football records. You will be hard pressed to find a historical top ten win list without Tennessee on it. The University of Tennessee has played a major role throughout the history of college football.

Consider the college football shrine on the banks of the Tennessee River that has been recently beautified. Did Neyland Stadium simply appear out of thin air in 1992? Consider the oversized Thompson-Boling arena. Did it rise from “nothingness” when Bruce Pearl was hired? These two facilities are Tennessee’s statement to the rest of the country. Anything you can build, Tennessee can build better.

There isn’t a single University of Tennessee men’s coach in the last 40 years that has been asked to build a championship program from the bottom floor. If you don’t know what I mean, just ask Bill Curry or Howard Schnellenberger. They both had to start football programs from scratch. The head coach at a Tennessee men’s has everything they need to be successful. Facilities (check), recruiting budgets, including cell phones (check), a fan base that will follow you to the ends of the earth (check).

UT pays coaches real American money. These coaches are paid to win and to protect the integrity of the University. The fans should not expect anything less. Sometimes that means calling a spade a spade if the NCAA has been lied to. Sometimes that means expecting 11 men on the football field. Every once in a while it means that the University of Tennessee should field a football team or a basketball team that is better than every team competing that particular year.

The current coaches don’t need to concern themselves with anything but winning and representing the University of Tennessee. All else is wasted time and energy.