Foremost has been besieged with inquiries…what’s going on with the University of Tennessee coaching search?

He is reminded of the words of the poet:

…Things fall apart

The center cannot hold

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed and

Everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned…

(then, if memory serves, something about a slouching beast- Fulmer?)

Anyway, while these words adequately describe the mood in Knoxville, they offer no explanation as to the root cause of the problem. For these insights, F turned to the ROG. His analysis led him first to the definition of a “Committee”, a definition which has escaped the leadership at UT, and then to an obscure Note to Rule 8, which authorizes the Committee to allow each team in a team competition to authorize “one person who may give advice”. F would suggest that UT might have avoided the turmoil in their search had they simply paid more attention to the ROG.

Here is how F sees it:

UT hires Currie who is on the job 8 months. He is a well-respected, young AD, highly thought of nationally. Currie incurs the wrath of Vol nation by not firing Butch Jones immediately, after the first Vol loss portends they will not win the National Championship.

Currie is hired with the understanding he will be the guy to replace Butch Jones. He starts his search for a new coach the day he arrives in Knoxville, even though he publically says he stands behind Butch Jones. Vol nation says he is an idiot for not starting a search on his first day and for standing behind Butch Jones.

Currie probably has a talk or two with Gruden who has no interest at the $ amount Currie is authorized to offer. Vol nation, says Currie is an idiot for not getting Gruden.

Currie does his homework and settles on Shiano as the best football coach and candidate for UT. Certainly Peyton and the Haslams were in the process, or advised along the way. According to Vol nation, Currie is an idiot for listening to the Haslams and Peyton when everyone knows he should have listened to Clay Travis and just gone and hired Gruden, or Leach, or Kiffen.

All hell breaks loose when the Shiano deal leaks. Clay Travis posts a hatchet job newspaper article, all fine, but he fails to tell the whole story because of Vol nation bromance with Gruden and handful of other so- called hot name coaches out there. Basically, Currie hired the real Jack Reacher and Vol nation wanted Tom Cruise. The Committee doesn’t stand behind Currie or authorize him to be the “one person to give advice.” The Committee hides.

F has to fault the Haslams. By all accounts they run the UT program, but then deny they run the program…”A governor doesn’t need to hire a football coach”… true, unless it isn’t true. UT seems to suffer greatly from lack of structured and public leadership. The Haslams deny they run the program. No one knows the name of the Chancellor of UT (okay, its Davenport… saw the press conference). As a result, Currie is left hanging. No one comes to his defense or support. Davenport has to wait for someone to tell her what to do. Clay Travis and Phillip Fulmer fill the vacuum. The next coach needs to find out who really is in charge over there and make that person stand by him at the press conference… otherwise, he reports to an interim AD, who reports to a Chancellor who is clearly taking her marching orders from someone, but not the Governor… clearly, the Committee.

The ROG define the “Committee” as “the Committee in charge of the competition…” And, although the definition doesn’t state who shall sit on the Committee, it lets the competitor know that somewhere, someplace …someone is “in charge.” This structure is apparently not in place at the University of Tennessee as the fact of the existence of a Committee is not apparent, nor is there any indication that a Committee, if it does exist, is “in charge.” Anyone really think Ms. Davenport is hiring and firing athletic directors and football coaches at UT?

The bottom line in this analysis, of course, is that Vanderbilt has now beaten the Vols 4 out of the last 6 years, and the Vols well-conceived plan to divert attention from this record with a chaotic coaching search will not fool F!

As usual, all comments are welcome!

Respectfully submitted,

F