Long Time UT Football fan
My Grandparents live just outside of Knoxville, and I have been a UT football fan for years.
With that said, I kind of want UT to tank this year. I do not like Fulmer, who has just been coasting since winning the NC 10 years ago. So I would like UT to make a move and get relevant again.
But I don't think it will be Cut for a couple of reasons. One, the age/health issue. For Duke, his upside outweighed his risk, given how desolate our program was. For UT, they need a coach who will be there for a LONG time, and Cut probably isn't it. He might be, but he might not be.
The Triangle team that needs to worry about UT is UNC Chapel Hill. When UT tanks, I think they will make a run at Butch Davis, and I think he will listen, hard. UT has far more talent on hand than UNC will have for the forseeable future, and UNC is now, and ever shall be, a Basketball School. UT is a football school in the best football conference in history. It is a glamor position with national games on a weekly basis. UT has enough talent on hand for a genius like Davis to compete on a national level from Day one on campus. UNC might still be 4-5 years away from being a national power.
But, for the above poster who said that Cut is the kind of guy to honor a multi-year deal, wake up. Cut got fired at Ole Miss after his first bad year, and knows that Duke could fire him at a moments notice. If a better paying, higher profile position were to come up, at a school where recruiting is much easier, he would be a complete fool not to seriously consider such a job. If he left, I would not blame him at all. Now, he might decide that Duke's lack of pressure and expectations are more attractive than UT's win or else mindset, but he might not.
But that contract is not worth the paper its written on if either side wants out, and everyone needs to be cognizant of that fact.
Besides, if UT were to snatch Cut, he has proven that Duke is a viable position, and Duke has shown that we are committed to winning. I think another good option could easily be had.