Coaches are not really graded by wins or championships

[78Cyclones]

Tennessee doesn’t have the infrastructure in place right now to produce any kind of success.

The best hire Oklahoma made in the late 90’s was Joe Castiglione.

The right AD, anywhere, who can make savvy hires, with the backing of the University president and Board of Regents members, can breed success.

Tennessee’s past success has nothing to do with their future trajectory.

I’d like to see Tennessee successful again. But they are light years behind Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Georgia, and Florida.

You are 100% correct about the right A.D. making all the difference! I know that is true at Iowa State. You are also correct that past success might not automatically mean future trajectory, but where there is a will, there will be a way. Tennessee has 100,000 seats to fill, and they will figure it out sooner or later. Once again, right on about the A.D. being the key to success.

 

[Tritonboat71]

Fulmer was 1-2 vs LSU with Saban. LSU beat them at home in 2000 in OT along with splitting in 2001.

You’re absolutely correct.

I had forgotten they faced off in the SEC championship game that season.

 

[volbound2002]

Fulmer faced Saban twice, as head coach at Bama, his last two seasons 2007 & 2008. Hardly enough time to determine whether or not he could be successful against him in the future.

Fulmer was 1-1 vs. Saban at LSU.

He was fired at Tennessee because of the inept leadership in Knoxville.

Tennessee hasn’t been the same since his tenure.

They probably will never have the success they had under him.

The main reason that he was fired was the lost to a pitiful 3-9 UCLA team in the opener. It jump started a crazy season like this one for Pruitt who lost an embarrassing opener against Georgia State. Fulmer's teams never showed life so Mike Hamilton (the moron) decided to make the call. Fulmer was losing steam but you don't fire him and replace him with Lane Kiffin. You replace him with a proven winner. Hamilton ultimate embarked on this idea of getting someone that was new and a fad. The rest is history. Poor coaching and AD hires has doomed UT. I think Fulmer is a good AD despite the critics and I am hoping Pruitt can turn things around.

 

[Tritonboat71]

The main reason that he was fired was the lost to a pitiful 3-9 UCLA team in the opener. It jump started a crazy season like this one for Pruitt who lost an embarrassing opener against Georgia State. Fulmer's teams never showed life so Mike Hamilton (the moron) decided to make the call. Fulmer was losing steam but you don't fire him and replace him with Lane Kiffin. You replace him with a proven winner. Hamilton ultimate embarked on this idea of getting someone that was new and a fad. The rest is history. Poor coaching and AD hires has doomed UT. I think Fulmer is a good AD despite the critics and I am hoping Pruitt can turn things around.

For your sake, and the Vol nation, I hope you’re right!

 

[TigerBait1971]

Les Miles fired for not beaten Alabama.

Wrong

 

[Rod Freakin' Dangerfield]

Well, the story of Reverend William Christopher Swinney flies against this theory. Scumbag started 0-5 against his rival. No other Tillman coach would have been given that grace. Makes one have lots of questions. My theory is that the rampant cheating boosters that have been at Tillman for near a half a century knew he was the guy they needed that would look the other way when it came to their cheating antics to bring in top talent.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

Something that I have noticed is that fans don't put coaches on the hot seat for wins, they put coaches on the hot seat based on performance versus rival.

Some examples:

Harbaugh has a great overall record but has only beaten Penn State once and hasn't beaten Ohio State at all. Therefore he is on hot seat.

Pruitt didn't beat Alabama but UT fans have backed off hot seat talk since he was competitive against both Bama and Georgia.

Mark Richt fired for not beaten Florida enough.

Les Miles fired for not beaten Alabama.

Fulmer fired for not beating competitive against Alabama and Florida.

Um....Harbaugh has a 2-2 record vs. Penn State. At least if we're going to trash his stats, we should get them right. The PSU record isn't that bad all things considered. PSU wins at home, Mich wins at Home.

Also, I'm not sure I want Harbaugh fired yet. I understand he's over rated, isn't worth $9 million (though I'm not paying that so it somewhat doesn't matter) and hasn't beaten OSU but I also don't want to turn into what we were before him or into what many programs (like Tenn) currently are. I'm still hopeful that he can finally pull it together some day but who knows. I don't even know who'd we get if we did fire him, anyone else right now would be just as much of a risk. Look at coaches like Chip Kelly, who thought he'd be this bad a few years into UCLA?

 

[outofyourmind]

Also, I'm not sure I want Harbaugh fired yet. but I also don't want to turn into what we were before him.

It's called Purgatory

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

It's called Purgatory

yup. Not bad, but never good enough to break into the elite. I just can't name a coach out there, who isn't already at a program like Alabama, OSU or OU, who MIchigan could get to replace him and would do better. I'm also hopeful that Harbaugh is self-reflective enough to fix the offense at some point. If it doesn't continue to progress under Gattis, maybe another solution will be brought in.

 

[outofyourmind]

I'm also hopeful that Harbaugh is self-reflective enough to fix the offense at some point.

If LSU can do it, anybody can do it.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

If LSU can do it, anybody can do it.

It's a crap shoot. Who thought Ed Orgeron was a good hire at LSU when it happened? USC purposefully didn't hire him after he was the interim head coach. Dabo constantly brings up ESPN rated his hire as like an E when it happened. Meanwhile, Chip Kelly comes back to coaching and takes over UCLA and has like 5 wins total. OU hires a guy that doesn't even have a picture on his Wikipedia page, and all of a sudden has produced two Heisman QB's in a row; working on a 3rd. Texas hires Herman, and a few years in he's still battling with Kansas. Speaking of Kansas, they hire a fired coach from LSU and all of a sudden they're not quite the laughing stock they've been forever.

 

[The Crimson King]

If Malzahn drops these three games he'll be 2-5 against LSU, Georgia, and Bama each. But still, with a bowl win, averaging 9 wins a year .Will he survive?