Football Coaching Carousel 2017

[arnie]

What a stinking mess over there in TN. Still pining away for Cut. I don't claim any intelligence when it comes to football, but do they operate their whole athletic department with ham fists?

Will be great news when UT hires their next coach not named Cutcliffe. I don’t believe he’ll take another job anyway, but sure will feel better when the Tennessee job opening is filled.

[wilson]

According to ESPN radio, Chris Low reported that Tennessee reached out to Cut about their opening and he informed them he was not interested and wanted to remain at Duke!

Here's the ESPN.com link: http://www.espn.com/college-football...aching-vacancy

The audio comments from Low in that link are particularly pride-inducing. He went further than just reporting that Cutcliffe has (again) rebuffed UT, to say that Coach Cut "is really, really happy at Duke," and that "[his current players] are the kids he wants to coach."
We are so fortunate to have such commitment and loyalty from our head guy.

[vfefrenzy]

What a stinking mess over there in TN. Still pining away for Cut. I don't claim any intelligence when it comes to football, but do they operate their whole athletic department with ham fists?

Yes. Our ADs have been pretty uniformly terrible for a while now. Currie seems to have botched every step of this process. He kept Jones too long after every recruit in the country could see he was a dead man walking. He apparently didn’t spend that time getting a new coach lined up. Then he tried to hire Schiano which shows that he either doesn’t understand Tennessee fans or doesn’t give a crap about us. I can’t blame Cut for not wanting to be UT’s 5th or 6th choice. I can only hope that we get lucky and find a young stud coach because I have no faith in this administration’s ability to make a wise decision.

[OldPhiKap]

Yes. Our ADs have been pretty uniformly terrible for a while now. Currie seems to have botched every step of this process. He kept Jones too long after every recruit in the country could see he was a dead man walking. He apparently didn’t spend that time getting a new coach lined up. Then he tried to hire Schiano which shows that he either doesn’t understand Tennessee fans or doesn’t give a crap about us. I can’t blame Cut for not wanting to be UT’s 5th or 6th choice. I can only hope that we get lucky and find a young stud coach because I have no faith in this administration’s ability to make a wise decision.

Good to see a UT fan here, always enjoy the perspective of other fans who come to discuss sports without trolling.

Good luck on the search, may Rocky Top ring loudly once again.

[75Crazie]

...Then he tried to hire Schiano which shows that he either doesn’t understand Tennessee fans or doesn’t give a crap about us...

Spouse of a UT Vol grad here. Can you elaborate on why you feel that the Schiano hire was not palatable to UT fans? Do those fans believe the innuendo about him raised by what appears to be a chance remark in the Penn St investigation? Because that is all that I am aware of. It might be reasonable to argue that Currie did not do an adequate job of vetting Schiano and finding the existence of that innuendo ... but the reaction of the fans in tarring Schiano and ruining his reputation, in the absence of any substantive facts, is incredible to me. Aside from that, the only negative I can find in Schiano is that he bounced around a lot; the positive is that he temporarily made Rutgers a force in football, and that was probably a more difficult job than Cutcliffe had with Duke. I'm not getting the level of vitriol here, but I'm not that close to UT to be able to see it.

[YmoBeThere]

may Rocky Top ring loudly once again.

As a Vandy alum, I’m fine with it not echoing in the hollows...

[TruBlu]

Good to see a UT fan here, always enjoy the perspective of other fans who come to discuss sports without trolling.

Good luck on the search, may Rocky Top ring loudly once again.

Seconded.

I was fortunate enough, with a small group of other Duke football fans, to see Duke upset the Vols in Knoxville in 1981. As we were leaving the stadium, we thought we might run into some hostile Vol fans. Instead, all we ran into was very nice and gracious Vol fans who offered congratulations.

I have been somewhat of a Vol fan ever since. Especially when they play Georgia (whose fans are almost as obnoxious as unc fans).

[sagegrouse]

Spouse of a UT Vol grad here. Can you elaborate on why you feel that the Schiano hire was not palatable to UT fans? Do those fans believe the innuendo about him raised by what appears to be a chance remark in the Penn St investigation? Because that is all that I am aware of. It might be reasonable to argue that Currie did not do an adequate job of vetting Schiano and finding the existence of that innuendo ... but the reaction of the fans in tarring Schiano and ruining his reputation, in the absence of any substantive facts, is incredible to me. Aside from that, the only negative I can find in Schiano is that he bounced around a lot; the positive is that he temporarily made Rutgers a force in football, and that was probably a more difficult job than Cutcliffe had with Duke. I'm not getting the level of vitriol here, but I'm not that close to UT to be able to see it.

Here are the relevant paragraphs in the Washington Post story:

The main objection to Schiano, a former head coach at Rutgers and for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was his association with the child-sex scandal at Penn State, in which former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was sentenced to 30 years in prison. In a 2015 deposition that was unsealed last year, former Nittany Lions assistant coach Mike McQueary testified that another Penn State coach had told him that Schiano had talked of seeing Sandusky abusing a boy in the early 1990s.

“Greg had come into his office white as a ghost and said he just saw Jerry doing something to a boy in the shower,” McQueary said he heard of Schiano, who worked under Sandusky at Penn State from 1990 to 1995, according to the court document. Schiano, however, denied saying such a thing, telling ESPN’s Adam Schefter last year, “I never saw any abuse, nor had reason to suspect any abuse, during my time at Penn State.”

[75Crazie]

Still looks like innuendo to me, Sage. I mean, it's not as if McQueary didn't have any significant motivation to try to deflect blame or anything. Since it evidently has not been followed up on, I think benefit of the doubt has to be given to Schiano here.

[OldPhiKap]

Would be hearsay in a court of law.

Enough to convict in the court of public opinion, apparently.

UT should have at least vetted how this would be received, right or wrong.

[wilson]

Would be hearsay in a court of law.

Enough to convict in the court of public opinion, apparently.

UT should have at least vetted how this would be received, right or wrong.

I for one don't for a second believe that Vol fans were truly outraged about the Penn State maybe-situation. Rather, I think it was a convenient pretext to register their displeasure at the impending hire of a New Jersey native with generally middling career results (even though "middling" results at Rutgers should probably be regarded as an accomplishment).

[75Crazie]

I for one don't for a second believe that Vol fans were truly outraged about the Penn State maybe-situation. Rather, I think it was a convenient pretext to register their displeasure at the impending hire of a New Jersey native with generally middling career results (even though "middling" results at Rutgers should probably be regarded as an accomplishment).

That is my suspicion as well, Wilson, which is why I asked the question of vfefrenzy. And I tend to discount NFL coaching results when assessing college coaching qualifications; I feel his success at Rutgers speaks volumes and far exceeds his lack of success with Tampa Bay. So, setting aside the possible but hearsay connection with the Sandusky situation, he seems to be a good candidate for a power conference coaching job. I do not want to come across as a shill for Schiano ... I just feel the level of vitriol in UT fans was excessive, possibly mis-guided, and potentially actionable. Kind of reminds me of a situation with a particular Duke coach and program about 10 years ago.

[RPS]

Would be hearsay in a court of law.

It *is* hearsay, but would almost surely be admissible in court as a present sense impression, an excited utterance, an admission of a party opponent, and/or an admission against interest (depending upon how the statement comes up during trial).

[Olympic Fan]

FWIW, Tennessee fans are tracking flights and Vol officials are currently on their way to Stillwater, Okla., apparently to talk to Mike Gundy.

Hope the Vol fans like mullets!

[wilson]

FWIW, Tennessee fans are tracking flights and Vol officials are currently on their way to Stillwater, Okla., apparently to talk to Mike Gundy.

Hope the Vol fans like mullets!

Interesting.
Is Tennessee > Oklahoma State really a given? Since Tennessee's last double-digit win season (2007), Oklahoma State has won double digit games 5 times. Oklahoma State's path to major bowls is easier out of the Big 12 than is Tennessee's out of the SEC. Mike Gundy is an Oklahoma native and widely loved by OK State fans. And T. Boone Pickens presumably has more money than any Tennessee alum ever.
If Gundy leaves for Knoxville, I'd see it as a head-scratcher.

[Olympic Fan]

Interesting.
Is Tennessee > Oklahoma State really a given? Since Tennessee's last double-digit win season (2007), Oklahoma State has won double digit games 5 times. Oklahoma State's path to major bowls is easier out of the Big 12 than is Tennessee's out of the SEC. Mike Gundy is an Oklahoma native and widely loved by OK State fans. And T. Boone Pickens presumably has more money than any Tennessee alum ever.
If Gundy leaves for Knoxville, I'd see it as a head-scratcher.

The only thing I could suggest is that for all his success and advantages at Oklahoma State, Grundy will always be No. 2 in that state.

Succeed or fail at UT and he's still the No. 1 team in that state.

[OldPhiKap]

Dear Mississippi State:

Please do not take Larry Fedora from us.

Sincerely, every ACC team outside of Chapel Hill

[BD80]

Interesting.
Is Tennessee > Oklahoma State really a given? ...

Is Tennessee > Rutgers?

[sagegrouse]

FWIW, Tennessee fans are tracking flights and Vol officials are currently on their way to Stillwater, Okla., apparently to talk to Mike Gundy.

Hope the Vol fans like mullets!

Hey, Oly, are the Vols fans likely to shoot down the plane?

[camion]

Another coaching change.

Davidson College announced that their current football coach was not having his contract renewed and they were mounting a national search for a replacement.

And to help you understand Davidson's priorities it is useful to note that the Library towers over the football stadium.