Tennessee's issues hiring Heupel

Posted on: February 2, 2021 at 11:52:31 CT

If you've read my posts at SDS, then you already know what I'm going to say. Tennessee had an opportunity to fix it's athletic dept. Danny White appeared to be a good hire on the surface. However, he fixed UCF's athletics by being a fund raiser, which allowed him to pursue a better caliber of coach for their athletics. He also outsources his hiring process to a search firm. Did UT need a fund raiser (last I checked raising funds was not an issue at UT). And wouldn't it have been cheaper to just hire a search firm directly? So, I wonder if Danny White's hiring may not have perpetuated the AD issues UT has had for the last 15 years or so. And then let's address the Heupel hiring. UT had the opportunity, given the oncoming sanction, to spend some time in searching for a coach. Steele should have been retained as an HC til a new coach was found and hired. Yes it would have hurt recruiting for next season but really who gives a **** since next years expectations are 0. No, Jon Gruden would not have been your coach but instead, UT makes another quick desperation hire. Heupel would have been available 3 months from now. Now, there is the possibility that this is Heupel's moment where he steps and develops further. My expectations if I were a Vol fan would be very low and you as a Vol fan knows the problem with that. You need Breske because Heupel has no reputation for recruiting, he doesn't have a reputation of being loved by his players (not saying they hate him but find me the glowing commentary on him by any of his players), so you need a recruiter.

So UT basically rinsed, washed, and repeated. This will be talked as a missed opportunity on UT's part.