I have a feeling we’ll be mining the Tennessee coaching change news for weeks. Now comes a report that Alabama’s assistant AD for strategic planning, at the request of Alabama AD Greg Byrne, sent this letter to John Currie:
Hello John,
My name is Kyle Vasey and I am an assistant AD for strategic planning at Alabama. Greg Byrne asked me to send you some analysis we performed on head coaches recently. You’ll find an excel spreadsheet which ranks head coaches based on a metric we created called: coaching efficiency. This metric is a weighted score which incorporates various factors such as national championships, final AP ranking, overall win percentage, etc. You’ll also find a pdf file which analyzes coaches based on their previous coaching experience: Power 5 Head Coach, Power 5 Assistant Coach, former NFL head coach, etc
I am happy to answer any questions you might have on the data.
Thanks,
Kyle Vasey
So, yeah, Alabama’s athletic department offered assistance with Tennessee’s search for a new football coach. Why, I have no idea.
And that kind gesture was rewarded by taking Saban’s defensive coordinator. So much for gratitude.
Get The Picture 
This might be the most bizarre thing to come out of the UT coaching search yet (and that’s saying something). Why in the world would Alabama offer in good faith their own research on coaches to help out one of their arch rivals?
LikeLike
Guide then away from Pruitt perhaps? Just spitballing
LikeLike
I’m not sure that this is so unusual. I know that Georgia’s athletic administration found Tubby Smith on the recommendation of Kentucky’s athletic director.
LikeLike
Did we hire Kirby on the recommendation of the University of Florida? That would be a more relevant comparison.
LikeLiked by 1 person
If, by “University of Florida” you mean “Crown Distributing”, then yes we did.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I wonder where Pruitt was ranked on that spreadsheet. The whole thing is weird. Saban being the diabolical control freak that he is, I can’t help but wonder if he was getting rid of Pruitt. If the whole thing wasn’t Saban’s idea, somebody is in big trouble.
LikeLike
Past rivals….interest & $$, maybe. UT has not had much to brag about since 2000 or so. Maybe Bama wants the rivalry again.
LikeLike
Yeah Bama could really use something to generate a little interest and revenue in their football program. I think Saban would be ok with losing a couple to UT if it meant heating up the rivalry.
LikeLike
Who said anything about losses to Bama?? I believe I said more “interest” and dollars…and even said “maybe”….but you knew that, right??? It use to be a helluva a rivalry, but no longer as I pointed out. Their games are not even competitive now.
If you have a rational explanation or guess as to why they did what they did, let’s hear it rather than attacking……or if you just want to argue, just say so….or not. Just continue to come across as miserable.
LikeLike
Easy dude. You made a brilliant hypothesis and I was just agreeing with you. I even went further with the theory by saying that Saban would probably be on board with risking a few losses in the series to make it more competitive. That’s a given with his laid-back persona and sense of fair play. I actually wouldn’t be surprised if Nick spent spring practice in Knoxville helping Pruitt get the hang of things.
LikeLike
LAWD!!…justa SMH. DUDE, just put it behind you & shake it off. Nope, you are just lurking and waiting to pounce (disagree) as usual. Are you a chic or something??….cause you sure seem to easily get your feelings hurt & stay angry for a long time. Maybe it is just an innate thing with you and you can’t shake it…but DANG, your song and dance has not changed & gets old. Honestly, I really can’t remember what I said to hurt your feelings (past) and make it stick so long. But my sincere apologies for whatever it was.
Nonetheless, if you really believe what you just posted…keep saying it over and over & it may eventually become true (to you). It may make you feel better and get you thru the night/day. Much better (in your mind) than coming off as “miserable” and looking like an ass (argue/attack)…hey??
God bless you!
LikeLike
Dude! Why the hostility? I’m your buddy here. I’m not lurking, just thought I was chatting with you, man. Where did I argue, show anger, attack you,or act like my feelings were hurt? All I’ve done in this thread is agree with and expand on your theory. I’m not miserable or angry at all, especially over anything sports-related. God has blessed me immensely, and I hope the same for you!
LikeLike
^^^ ” Hell hath no fury”…^^^ . On second thought, go on….you can be my personal stalker. The entertainment is good, you’re pathetic…..but a laugh is needed every now and then. It may liven up this place. But you need to work on that “innate” thing…if you can. Pretty sure you ain’t smart enough to play stupid.
LikeLike
Much love, brother!
LikeLike
It seems like a curious thing to do, to me. Could it be that TN requested other schools to help them? That would be one partial explanation. Maybe Saban wants Georgia to have some stronger competition in the East…(he wants to slow the Kirby train down). Maybe it is a common, professional courtesy. Maybe Bill Battle and Phil being hunting and fishing buddies paid off.
Somebody out there in GTP land must have some real insight on this.
.
LikeLike
All plausible….who knows, but good guess.
LikeLike
Jeebus, what’s next?! Bama mining facebook data to get easily swayed refs for the championship game? Oh, wait…
LikeLike
Why couldn’t UT/Currie do this on their own?, is my question. What, they don’t have anyone who can put together an Excel file?
LikeLike