Gruden is extremely overrated. Does he even have any recruiting experience? I was thinking he has always been an NFL guy.
"Rounding 3rd and heading for home, good night everybody"
You and I are not going to agree on Sanders. Kentucky fans love him and want him to stay there. He was instrumental in Andre Woodson having a breakout season and most fans expect the same from Morgan Newton. OTOH, when you expect to have a Heath Shuler or Peyton Manning under center, Sanders never really delivered that.
Out of curiosity, why exactly was he forced to resign at Tennessee? I'm guessing he was the scapegoat because the expectations for Casey Clausen and Erik Ainge were borderline insane.
College coaches shouldn't even bother signing contracts. They are turning into mercenaries.
Somewhere, Al Davis is doing his "I Told You So" Dance.
Because he was horrible as an offensive coordinator. Will he be in that role under Joker next year? I would hope not.
Erik Ainge is a great example. Glad you brought him up. After showing promise as a freshman he digressed seriously under Randy Sanders in his soph year. Not good.
Then UT brought back David Cutcliffe and Ainge leads the team to a 7-1 record before getting hurt. The Vols lose the next two while he's out. After he returns the Vols win their next two, including your Wildcats.
In his senior year he completes over 62% of his passes, throws for 3500+ yards and has a TD/INT ratio of 31/10.
See a difference?
What do you mean about insane expectations for Erik Ainge? Nobody I know of expected better numbers out of Erik Ainge. I feel Cutcliffe got a lot out of him; much more than Randy Sanders did or could have...
Those are numbers UT fans expect. UK fans can only dream of a QB putting up numbers like that.
Funny. I think those were the exact numbers Woodson put up his senior year at UK. But maybe UK fans were dreaming to think they might have a QB putting up numbers to rival a QB at such an elite school as UT.
Really, I don't care about UT and hate UK but I find your comments laughable. UT is irrelevant in football and has been for some time.
Andre Woodson
Jr year=65% of his passes. 3,515 yards, 31 TD/7 INT
Sr year=63%, 3,709 yards, 40 TD/11 INT
While we are at it=
Tim Couch
So year= 66.4% 3,884 yards, 37 TD, 19 INT
Jr year= 71.5% 4,611 yards, 38 TD, 17 INT
Oh, and Woodson does hold the record of 325 completions without an interception. Yet we can only dream of having a QB like Erik Ainge.
When I said insane expectations I was referring to those heaped on Ainge, Clausen, and even Jon Crompton expecting them to follow the legacy of Heath Shuler, Peyton Manning, and to a lesser extent, Tee Martin.
Tell us how you really feel, Gene.
Kiffin cares only about himself
By Gene Wojciechowski
ESPN.com
If there were a stock car race between all the frauds, egomaniacs and two-faced weasels I've ever covered, Lane Kiffin would have the pole position all to himself.
Kiffin is a spin doctor without a medical degree. He thinks truth comes in different shades of gray. He demands loyalty, but gives none himself.
Kiffin is a used car salesman with a whistle. Wait, that's not fair to used car salesmen. He ditched Tennessee for USC after just 13 games. The remaining five years on his contract, the players he left behind, the nine high school recruits who planned to enroll early, they all meant nothing to Kiffin.
According to someone who was in the room, the Tuesday night farewell meeting between Kiffin and the Tennessee players was "very, very, very hostile." Kiffin told them that coaches come and go, that USC was his dream job. The players, orphaned after less than 14 months, responded angrily.
If not for interim coach Kippy Brown, who calmed the players down after Kiffin's appearance, the tension and anger could have redlined. Put it this way: Kiffin is lucky no one took a swing at him. That was the level of betrayal felt by the players in that meeting room.
Kiffin doesn't care. That's because Kiffin is about Kiffin. He sold Fords on Monday, Chevys on Tuesday. Just change the business card and the mailing address. His scorched-earth coaching policy isn't concerned with collateral damage.
All that bluster about beating Florida, and singing "Rocky Top" all night long? Nothing more than a Hefty bag full of Kiffin verbal garbage. All those recruiting pitches he made? Empty promises. (By the way, full disclosure: I'm a Tennessee grad.)
Heads should roll, beginning with the one belonging to Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton. Hamilton is the guy who hired Mr. One-and-Done. He's the guy who made like a Kevlar vest and protected Kiffin when the coach falsely accused Florida's Urban Meyer of cheating, or kept committing secondary rules violations, attracting NCAA inquires, or got fined by the SEC for popping off.
Oh, I'm sorry, Kiffin said it was all part of a calculated scheme to keep Tennessee in the news. First of all, Kiffin isn't that smart. Second, it wasn't true. Kiffin wanted everyone to believe it was part of a master plan, but he knows better.
Hamilton paid Kiffin and his staff eye-popping money to come to Knoxville. A lot of good it did. Kiffin is taking his old man and defensive coordinator, Monte Kiffin, as well as recruiting coordinator Ed Orgeron and several other assistants with him to USC.
It has been a gruesome past 12 months at Tennessee. Firings. Guns. Robberies. Drugs. Player arrests in football and basketball. Player suspensions and dismissals. NCAA rules violations. And now Kiffin ditches the place.
All of this happened on Hamilton's watch. Why anyone would trust him to run an athletic program and make the next football coaching hire is beyond comprehension. He made a panic hire with Kiffin and got exactly what he deserved.
Any chance UT women's basketball coach Pat Summitt would like to become the school's athletic director? Her B.S. detector would have sounded the alarm on Kiffin's nonsense during the first interview.
And if not Summitt, how about hiring someone else who actually cares about Tennessee -- someone who played there, coached there and won a national championship there? I'm talking about Phillip Fulmer, who was forced out by Hamilton and disgruntled heavy-hitter boosters to make room for Kiffin.
According to a source with direct knowledge of the situation, several members of the UT Board of Trustees have contacted Fulmer about the possibility of returning to Tennessee as its athletic director or even as its football coach (but not both positions). Those same sources say Fulmer was receptive to those inquiries, though ESPN.com's Chris Low reports that Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp is Tennessee's first choice to succeed Kiffin.
Given the circumstances, the AD job would make the most sense for Fulmer and Tennessee. He would provide instant stability and credibility. But adding to the intrigue and confusion is this: The school is without a permanent president, which means it might take a power play from trustees to force a change.
Whatever happens, it will take years for Kiffin to patch and caulk the gaping holes in his credibility. If you were a recruit, why would you believe a word he said?
On the December 2008 day he was introduced as Tennessee's head coach, Kiffin told reporters: "I want the Tennessee family to know this: This is what I'm going to give you. I'm rolling my sleeves up and going to work. I'm not promising you how many wins, how many championships. I can't do that ... but I can tell you this right now: No one is going to outwork us. No one is going to outwork me as a head coach and no one is going to outwork our staff that we put together. That's the promise I'm giving you, the wins will come after that."
All seven of them.
Some promise, eh?
I don't see Muschamp going to UT. He's already the coach in waiting at Texas, and Mack Brown ain't going to be around much longer. Texas is in a much better position to succeed than Tennessee right now. Plus, Will is still close with Nick Saban, I'm not sure how he'd feel about playing against his mentor frequently.
I don't really understand why this makes Kiffen worse than any other coach.
On the December 2008 day he was introduced as Tennessee's head coach, Kiffin told reporters: "I want the Tennessee family to know this: This is what I'm going to give you. I'm rolling my sleeves up and going to work. I'm not promising you how many wins, how many championships. I can't do that ... but I can tell you this right now: No one is going to outwork us. No one is going to outwork me as a head coach and no one is going to outwork our staff that we put together. That's the promise I'm giving you, the wins will come after that
All indications are this is correct. He worked his tail off for UT for the one year. It's not like he took a giant signing bonus and then the next day said "well my work is done. I think I'll go play some golf."
How long should a coach stay at a university to prove himself loyal.
Something I was just thinking about.
I've heard a proposal mentioned that if a coach leaves a school, the players at that school can transfer without sitting out the one year. This seems to me to be a double whammy for the school. First you lose your coach, second you lose any prospects.
What I'd like to see is, if a school hires a coach under contract, all players at the hiring school can transfer without penalty. This may make the hiring school think twice about hiring someone who is currently under contract as it could delay the rebuilding process if half the players leave.
Thoughts?
It's not a bad idea. The musical chairs that is going on with coaches these days is getting to be ridicilous.
I think signing day should be moved back as well, and there should be an NCAA rule that coaches cannot interview for other positions until their current teams season is complete, regular season + bowl game. If you violate the rule, the coach is suspended for 1 year, and the program that interviews them loses schollys. Coaches campainging for new jobs during the regular season needs to stop.
Board Moderators may, at their discretion and judgment, delete and/or edit any messages that violate any of the following guidelines: 1. Explicit references to alleged illegal or unlawful acts. 2. Graphic sexual descriptions. 3. Racial or ethnic slurs. 4. Use of edgy language (including masked profanity). 5. Direct personal attacks, flames, fights, trolling, baiting, name-calling, general nuisance, excessive player criticism or anything along those lines. 6. Posting spam. 7. Each person may have only one user account. It is fine to be critical here - that's what this board is for. But let's not beat a subject or a player to death, please. |