Damn, where’d I put that popcorn bag?
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UPDATE: Wolken writes that it’ll be a clean sweep.
University of Tennessee officials are discussing a sweeping change in football program leadership that would include head coach Jeremy Pruitt and athletics director Philip Fulmer, two people with knowledge of the situation told USA TODAY Sports.
Those people spoke on the condition of anonymity because the of the sensitivity of the issue.
The decision to part ways with both of them could be made as early as Monday, which would represent Tennessee’s coach and athletics director being fired almost simultaneously for the second time in a little over three years.
***********************************************************************
UPDATE #2: More deets here.
Jeremy Pruitt is out as Tennessee’s football coach, ending one of the worst tenures in program history.
Pruitt has been fired for cause, according to University of Tennessee sources with knowledge of the situation, meaning the university will not pay his buyout.
Pruitt lasted just three seasons and leaves behind a program that is under investigation for alleged NCAA rules violations.
Additionally, athletics director Phillip Fulmer will retire, sources said, after UT hires an AD to replace him, because he wants his successor to choose the next football coach. Fulmer made the decision to step down, and his departure is not tied to the investigation.
A sad day for Tennessee football, which makes it a great day in our neck of the woods.
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UPDATE #3:
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UPDATE #4: Turns out this didn’t age well.
At all.
***********************************************************************
UPDATE #5:
***********************************************************************
UPDATE #6: PAWWWLLL!!!
Get The Picture 
Somewhere, Jon Gruden feels an ill wind blowing.
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Worse thing that ever happened to Tennessee was Chris Weinke breaking his neck.
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Agent Muschamp, you’re up.
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Ain’t happening, but I like your style!
Fuck tennessee and all their hillbilly one tooth wonder fans!
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After consulting with my Magic 8 Ball and reading the tea leaves I think Fulmer made his move and lost the power struggle.
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So someone was waiting with a knife to slip into his back? Karma’s a bitch!
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Oh man, this blows! I was thoroughly enjoying watching them run the Vawls into the ground and looked forward to at least one more year of that!
Other than that, my reaction is pretty much…
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So does Kevin Steele get his 2 year buyout after being on the job 1 week?
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More than likely, he’s the interim, as Fat Phil was setting him up to be, and the new AD hires his own coach for 2022.
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Not sure how they will get a staff together — much less recruit. (I would expect any decent coach left on the staff will be gone) Either you are stuck with a coach that isn’t elite or you hold on to Steele as the interim, get the 80th ranked recruiting class, and hope your next coach can pull rabbits out of their hat before they are fired for under performing. (Read, “recruiting” violations)
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It will simply be a matter of money for the remaining guys. Chaney will be hard pressed to find someone willing to pay him more than the crazy deal Tenn gave him in the first place, so he probably stays and collects his pension with zero expectations for success.
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Oy. Those recruiting mishaps must be something more serious than we know. I’d say the death penalty is coming, but by the looks of it, it happened in Knoxville long ago.
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Yeah man… don’t get ahead of your skis.
No death penalty. Probably not even probation.
Fat Phil is probably getting fired for his role in creating this embarrassment though to try to weasel out of paying Pruitt.
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I stand corrected.
It definitely sounds like Tennessee is about to get probation.
But the death penalty, which has only been handed out once and should’ve been given to PSU for covering up child rape for 30 years, will not be coming to Hillbillyville.
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Wow talk about circular firing squads.
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Dang the luck.
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Isn’t it wrong to find pleasure in the misfortune of others?
BWAAAHAAAHAAAHAAA!!! (I’m ashamed of myself, but just a little).
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I feel exactly the same, and I’m not ashamed even a tiny bit.
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The word you seek is schadenfreude.
Learn it and you will learn to love it.
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There’s nothing I hate more than a Big Orange. The Hillbilly’s will still see this as a turn around for the program. Transfer portal will be humming. By the way has anybody heard anything about the NCAA’s soon to be screwing at the hands of Congress and the DOJ. 2021 is going to a lot of football fun.
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You meant, “Nothing sucks like a Big Orange”?
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Wasn’t he flying out today to CA to convince a player that there would be coaching stability in Knox? Lol
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Looks more like, “get the kids out of town so the grown ups can talk”
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I’d prefer this at Auburn or Florida, but I’ll take it.
I guess we just get to wonder whether the rules issue is serious or just enough to save a few bucks while making a change they wanted to make anyway.
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Is Cade Mays kicking his own ass right about now?
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Or his nine fingered dad’s?
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Talk about taking the transfer portal to 7th hell
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“The grass is always greener…”
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Over the septic tank
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One fired and the other retired…..well, I guess that saved their asses with the buyouts.
They have had buyouts going back to the early 2000’s, coaches and AD’s. Can remember them operating in the red 10 or 15 years ago……guess they dodged a bullet, financially speaking.
Oh well, looks like they will never recover. Dawgs will catch them in all-time wins very soon.
Hopes the entire program falls in a sink hole.
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It already has, for a “blueblood’ they have had the worst decade and a half that I can think of. The worst era of Georgia football was the 50s into when Dooley arrived but it was never this bad. I don’t hate to see it.
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Think they’re going to try to hire James Franklin away from PSU?
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The Hillbillies want Sleeze.
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I don’t know how you get from canning Pruitt with cause over NCAA recruiting violations and turn around and offer the job to Freeze.
But that’s just me, not the people running UT’s athletic department.
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Thinks they go with the “Dollar Store” budget……they can’t afford anybody.
That is why they hired Pruitt, a nobody.
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If pruitt was 4/5th on the coaching hire list, what gives you belief a mid level/ middle of the road/middle of no where name wants to go there now…”Dollar Store” gives Lulu and Junior hope though….
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Agree with MGW (below)..thinks they may swing for the fences and go for Freeze. Also, could probably stay within their “Dollar Store” budget or just above.
Could be worth the risk, but they don’t pay me to make those kind of decisions.
It will also be interesting to see who their new AD will be. Haven’t looked back, but what is this…..their 3rd or 4th AD since the early 2000’s??
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Well, hopefully that’s not some kind of sign of pathetitude, because if it is we’re right there with them re: number of ADs in the 2000s.
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Freeze can wait a year more for a more stable situation and not take on this impossible lift. Career suicide for anyone whom takes the helm of this sh—show.
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Sure, it was for cause: “Cause you’re a loser and we’re broke.”
Curious what that buyout will settle for.
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I’m talking about the denizens of Tooth Nation. I doubt he gets the job if Pruitt is really being fired for cause related to recruiting violations. I would think $ankey would step in and say no way.
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I think Sankey would be a hell no on that one. He wouldn’t let Freeze go to Bama as an assistant under Saban. Is he really gonna let him get the keys at a program under investigation for major violations?
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With 3 2nd year and 4 new coaches in the sec, sankey has got to be thanking the bammers and UGA administration/HC’s for “process” of stability, lsu maybe( ongoing investigation)….
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Makes sense to me…
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Don’t know, at this point anybody is a risk for UT.
Freeze hasn’t got Liberty in trouble just yet. He could be worth the risk, seems to have learned from his mistakes.
Never thought Kiffin would resurface as fast as he has. Different set of circumstances for the two….but he seems to have learned.
So far, that is.
I certainly don’t want to see a rehabilitated Freeze at UT.
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He’d be a steal for UT. For all his faults, the guy can coach his ass off. Just needs a chaperone for recruiting trips.
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Rocky Top Talk was lobbying for Malzahn a few weeks ago. They are desperate for a win over the Sabot.
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They’re just desperate for a win over any decent team at this point.
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I wonder if Malzahn’s money from Auburn goes down if he finds another HC job? He’d be really tempted to keep the $20 million from Auburn and get a $20 million contract from Tennessee.
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LOL — wasn’t Malzahn pushed out by some to make room for Steele?
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It would be a funny coincidence if they went from a guy who didn’t know what asparagus is, then replaced him with a spare Gus.
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Well played
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LOL… why the hell would Franklin leave PSU, which is among the more stable programs in the country, for Tennessee?
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I’ve heard rumors that Franklin has about worn out his welcome in happy valley. The team has been disappointing the past 2 years and wouldn’t be surprised to see them part ways next year unless they have a breakout season.
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They might think that. Everyone else in the country knows that place is a roaring dumpster fire. They’d be wise to offer a very long term contract to a top level G5 HC with experience turning bad programs around. Do it fast, do your search quietly, and announce that sumbitch to the public like you’ve caught lightning in a bottle. Show purpose, show strength. Show the dumpster fire is out. (not gonna happen, by the way)
No matter who you hire, you’d best get your boosters under control. They need to understand there isn’t going to be any “year two championship contender” kind of thing going on. That’s for real programs. You’re not one of those anymore. The “perfect 10’s” of coaching are for real programs. You start going for those just to see what happens, you’re going to piss off the 7’s and 8’s you might have had a real shot with. Again.
Those coaches know two things: 1. no matter what, UT’s a tough job and recruiting there is hard enough. Things have to break just right for you to have a chance at anything significant. 2. if you’re the fall back plan after they swung and missed with some other coaches, the recruits are going to know it, and you’ll start out in an even deeper recruiting hole than UT is already in by default.
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Who would you suggest?
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Luke Fickell (Cincinnati); Jeremy Chadwell (Coastal carolina); Hugh Freeze (Liberty), or Billy Napier (Louisiana). Those four are really your “white whales of the G5” types, but Freeze might actually be possible for UT. Fickell is waiting on a top tier job, justifiably. Chadwell just signed a big extension UT would be crazy to try to buy out. Not sure why Napier is still at Louisiana; maybe he’d come but I doubt it.
Back to Freeze: by skill/talent, he’s eligible for any top tier job in the country. But that baggage means the true elites would never hire him. Which kind of makes him and UT perfect for each other. Freeze is maybe the only coach they could realistically get that would worry me.
Lance Leipold at Buffalo is also in that “fixed a bad program and is also realistic” category for UT. Really, they should be going for coaches on his level where they’re not household names, but they’ve got a solid track record of building a winning program rather than just manning the helm of a traditional winner. Not some unproven hot name, just a solid coach with a history of getting all 11 players to do what they’re supposed to be doing on most every play, and winning games.
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Not a bad list….was thinking more of Freeze (see above) for some of the reasons you also said.
Probably worth the gamble imo, but WTFDIK.
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Freeze seems kind of likely unless he’s got it in his head that he’ll be ready for a full on comeback at a higher level after another year at liberty. Either way the point is that he’s the absolute ceiling of realistic options and does seem to fit, but whoever they get they need to have it totally done before a single word about the hire even being a target starts to leak. Longer they wait, the harder that gets. If they didn’t have it locked up before canning Pruitt, they’ve may have already failed; they’re under the microscope now.
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Has anyone given any thought to Hermann as a candidate? He was a great coach at Houston and if he could have held off the big boosters at Texas he could have turned them around…wasn’t bad as it was. The coach at Middle TennesseeState has a good record and is at least in-state??? Tennessee has a poor “home state” record for recruiting so any coach coming there has to know the problem up front. Maybe Brown from WVA would like to come back down South…he knows the territory for recruiting.
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What about Venables?
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As long as his children are on the Clemson roster, he ain’t going anywhere.
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That’s how they got Sgt. Carter.
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They would do well to get that coach at Ol’ Miss – Oh, wait 🤭
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Mark Richt
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Man, I’m laughing to keep myself from crying. No wait, I’m just laughing.
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Anyone putting a clock on Paul Finebaum finally apologizing to Aaron Murray for absolutely raking Murray over the coals for his correct assessment that Pruitt doesn’t have the temperament to be a head coach?
Or nah?
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Speaking of mea culpas….
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Goodssee Vocky Teps Oo
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Senator your blind spot for Clay Travis is quite entertaining.
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When it comes to Travis, I have the opposite of a blind spot.
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LOL.
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Just because Pruitt was the wrong choice doesn’t mean Travis was wrong about Schiano.
He was 100% right about Schiano.
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If he was right about Schiano — and I’m not saying I agree with you about that — it’s the kind of right that a stopped clock has twice a day.
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What exactly was he right about re: Schiano? That he’s a controlling Yankee douchebag who wins football games, even at shitholes like Rutgers? Or that Schiano should have been untouchable because of his role in the Sandusky scandal?
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(–I never really believed the Hillbillies would care so much about the latter.)
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Some of y’all just don’t possess the ability to think logically. You’re 100% pure emotion. You irrationally think that because Schiano could do one thing at Rutgers, he could do that same thing at Tennessee, but it doesn’t work that way.
Schiano could not handle the media questioning his decisions in a fairly easy-going sports town like Tampa Bay. This is 100% a fact. So given that, what makes you think he could handle the 24/7 Vawls Football Fishbowl that is Knoxville? It would chew him up and spit him out worse than what happened to the Shark Humper in Gainesville. Schiano would’ve snapped. At Rutgers he is literally the 15th most important coach in his region, behind the following coaches:
1) Yankees manager
2) Mets manager
3) Giants coach
4) Eagles coach
5) Knicks coach
6) Phillies manager
7) Rangers coach
8) Jets coach
9) Nets coach
10) Devils coach
11) 76ers coach
12) Islanders coach
13) Notre Dame coach
14) Syracuse coach
Schiano simply does not have the temperament to deal with the media in Knoxville, which is a huge part of the job.
Also, he does not have the recruiting chops to handle a flagship university that expects to compete for conference and national titles but who lives in a state outside the top-10 for homegrown talent. The man worked at Penn State and Ohio State, two big time schools in relatively talent-rich states compared to Tennessee. And he worked a Rutgers where they don’t care.
Again, and this is logic so please follow closely:
Just because Jeremy Pruitt was the wrong hire does not mean Schiano was the right hire. Schiano would’ve failed, too.
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Oh crap, I forgot Flyers coach.
So Schiano is the 16th most important coach in his region.
The media don’t care about him. The fans don’t care. He can do his thing and no one questions him or his decisions.
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Just when I start to think you’re not all that bad, here you go with some stupid bullshit about emotions and logic again. And insulting, I might add, too, thank for the unnecessary barb. Look here, Captain Logic: your listing of the highlights of Schiano’s resume (turned around one of the worst programs in D1, coached successfully at two top programs—all of those things include recruiting, btw) just illustrates why he was qualified to be considered in the first place.
Maybe you’re right about the media & Tampa Bay, I don’t know. But you’ve provided almost no answer to my question, which wasn’t whether Schiano would have done a better job, but why the Tennessee people were so upset about a qualified, proven HC with an excellent resume versus someone with no HC experience like Pruitt.
Please don’t bother answering. I already get that you don’t actually know.
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If you think I didn’t give you an answer, you’re dumber than I think you are.
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Let me add that I have a really hard time believing that the reason UT people were concerned about Schiano was because he couldn’t handle the media in TB. You really have your head up your ass if you think VolFan cares about that.
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LOL. Wow, you’re particularly obtuse. I never said that’s why Vawls wouldn’t want him. I said that is why he wouldn’t have succeeded.
You still erroneously seem to think since he turned around Rutgers in a region that didn’t and doesn’t care about CFB that he’d be able to do the same thing in a fishbowl environment. This is the height of stupid transitive thinking.
It’s like when a 3 year old sees two glasses that are the same height and thinks the one on the left can hold the same amount of water than the one on the right even though it’s half the width.
Seriously, that’s the breadth of your logical thinking here. If you find that insulting, then may I suggest you actually use that lump of crap three feet above your ass that sits between your ears and think?
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Dude, you’re the one who tried to answer MY question. I never once said that I thought Schiano would do a good job. Never once even thought that. Only said that he was more qualified that Pruitt. Qualifications do not equate to success, I know: he was terrible in Tampa, a disaster. Yes. But again…you’re assuming I believe Schiano would have done better there. I don’t believe that at all.
My only question, for about the fourth time, is why your average VolFan got so upset about him. And no, I do not believe it was about media in Tampa for average VolFan, no. But my question was to anyone/everyone, not just you, eh? You’ve already made it abundantly clear you don’t even recognize my question at all.
Have a great week, man.
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All due respect (and I know this is your forum and I’m merely a guest) but perhaps we just agree to disagree or maybe just declare semantics.
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I have no problem if you’re a Travis fan, but to pretend I’m blinded to what an ass the guy is… well, all I can tell you is to check the archives here. I’ve had contempt for his bullshit for over a decade.
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I’m not sure if I’m a “fan” of Clay Travis, I definitely respect the hustle and readily to admit to being a consumer. However, I am always entertained by how one individual with a large platform tends to cause those who disagree with or oppose that person to be more vocal about their opposition or disagreement. So as a long time consumer of your blog and twitter feed, I’m well aware of your continued opposition to his opinions. I read both of your stuff just like I try to read all kinds of varieties of opinions on sports and political topics. I just think it’s entertaining. Much like I find it entertaining how often you call Stewart Mandel for his takes. Perhaps “blind spot” is a colloquialism of mine that doesn’t translate to the written word. I believe we have way more in common as people than differences but there isn’t much room for that on the Internet and certainly not on cable tv. Be well.
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Cool… I sincerely appreciate you being a long time reader of the blog.
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Tennessee got that national championship but it cost them everything and Fulmer was there for much of it. From taking over for Johnny Majors to today. Also, the boosters who kept him around.
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Yes, please tell us how Schiano would’ve been a great fit for the 24/7 fishbowl in Knoxville when he couldn’t handle the media in Tampa.
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We’ll never know bc a D level radio personality with a white grievance following torpedoed it.
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LOL.
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Clay Travis is an absolute clown.
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whither big kat bryant?
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Grumors! Get your Grumers here!
Piping hot, fresh Grumors! Grumors for your entire family!
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Thankfully for Jeremy (and maybe Jim Chaney), the Nick Saban Center for Coaching Rehabilitation is still open.
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Throw another tire in the dumpster…hell, toss two! 🔥
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I walk away for two hours to do yard work, and BOOM…a story with SIX updates happens. Shit!
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That’ll teach you to go do yard work!!
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I guess for Opportunity is [officially] Nowhere for Jeremy now….
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The lost get even more lost!
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YES! This is giving me life!
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Somewhere Mark Richt silently lights a cigar and smiles.
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Y’all, if Tennessee just fired Pruitt and other coaches for many major Level 1 NCAA violations, there is no way in hell Greg Sankey will allow them to hire Hugh Freeze.
So stop even worrying about it.
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Given that they’re clearing out Fulmer and Pruitt, this has the scent of upper administration (president/chancellor) wanting to wash out the good ol’ boy dipshittery they’ve put up with between Phil and Coach Fistfight. I can’t imagine upper administration wants to follow up the tenure of those two, inclusive of an NCAA scandal, with a coach that was punted from the SEC because of an NCAA scandal. And hookers.
But it’s pretty evident that the Twitter fans are all in on Freeze. Personally, I think Billy Napier would be a very good hire, but to my recollection, one of the reasons he didn’t take the Auburn job was because they wanted to insist on him keeping Steele as DC. Now that Steele’s on staff at UT, not sure that’s something that’s going to make the job all that appealing for Napier.
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And that’s the other thing… even if Sankey would allow them to hire Freeze, why would Freeze want to join a program about to be on NCAA Probation? Multiple Level 1 violations.
I was wrong above. It definitely sounds like they’re gonna get spanked.
So in that case, why would Napier want to join this dumpster fire, either?
They are so fucked. They should just go forward with Steele as the interim for the year, figure out how long they’ll be on probation, then give Steele a contract for those years with the knowledge that he’ll be gone as soon as it’s done but paid handsomely to get them through it, and then hire their coach in a few years.
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They can’t sell him as a redeemed Christian school football coach?
If he’s good enough for Falwell U., then surely he’s good enough for the sec!!
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I hear Charlie Wies is almost out of buy contracts and is available.
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When I said months ago UT was a raging dumpster fire, what I meant was it was it is like an oil storage tank in Iraq that had a 500lb JDAM dropped on it.
I reckon Pruitt is the most radioactive coach in the world.
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Tom Herman already has all the UT gear in a slightly faded color.
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I know this is basketball but was Sankey commish when Auburn hired Bruce Pearl who was still under a show cause order?
If the UT administration decides that Freeze is the guy, which is a bad look, then they will find a way to convince the conference office and the NCAA.
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The difference is Auburn wasn’t itself facing multiple Level 1 violations and years of probation in its future. Tennessee is.
All it takes is a little common sense to see the situations are nothing alike.
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Usually if a school wants something .. they get what they want. Of course the situations are not alike but Sankey isn’t the administration in Knoxville. He is a commissioner who works for the President of the institutions of the SEC. If the Haslam’s decide they want Freeze and Freeze wants to come to Knoxville they will find a way to get him.
Also FU
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Except none of what you say is true. Sankey DOES have the power to prevent a school from hiring a coach like Freeze.
Sankey prevented the most powerful coach in all of CFB from hiring Freeze as his OC.
If Sankey has the stones to do that to Saban, do you think he wouldn’t against Tennessee which about to get hammered by the NCAA?
Again, logic. Think LOGICALLY.
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What if sankey said: you can have freeze or the refs but you cant have both?
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How long does a program have to be what they are until that’s the reality? UT is well under .500 in league games over a 20-year stretch. That’s a pretty long time.
UT is Kentucky with worse colors and higher expectations.
They’re in danger of joining Tech in the “former national power who probably won’t ever be again” category. You hate to see it.
Rocky Flop.
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