Will Work For Food

If you have been following the UT Vols coaching search, so far, three coaches, Butch Davis, Jon Gruden and former Vols offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe have held press conference to say they are not interested in being considered for the head coaching job. Of course, we will see how things unfold once the season is over. Coaches are known to say one thing during the season and do the opposite later on. See Nick Saban. It isn't so much a lie as much as a desire to cut down on distractions while the season is still on-going.

Nonetheless, I don't think any of these coaches will ultimately be the final choice. It is a pretty sad state of affairs when your football program is in such shambles be it real or perceived that coaches are doing this sort of thing. At least from the perspective of Vol fans, the UT job would be thought of as one of the most blue-chip coaching positions out there. Apparently not.

While I don't think age should be a factor, given that coaches mostly retire by the time they are in their 60's, we would have to turn right around in about five years and hire another one. I prefer to build for the long-term. We need a coach who will make the long-term commitment required to turn the team and organization around. The new coach will need to instill a military type of discipline that is sorely lacking. Fulmer become complacent after signing that contract extension this summer plus he got too close to his players and it cost him. I also think that the next head coach should while recruiting nationally should also devote more resources to recruiting Tennessee high school players. If you can't recruit in your own backyard, why should you expect to recruit in California when they can play at USC or Oregon, or an Alabama kid playing at Auburn and Alabama, not to mention Texas Tech, Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida and LSU have all rebuilt their programs over the past few years. I think it is a crime to just let 15-20 of your best players in the state to just walk away scotch free.

Only time will tell how things shape up. I do feel that this program will be down for at least a few years to say the least. Of course, if Mike Hamilton has no takers say by January, he is free to contact me. I'm willing and able. One thing is for sure, I do not envy the position he is in now.