Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton is about to find out what Joe Dean, Vince Dooley, Jeremy Foley and Mal Moore discovered in previous years: It’s tough to hire the right football coach at an elite program.
           
At LSU, Dean hired Curley Hallman and Gerry DiNardo before landing Nick Saban. Hallman had five straight losing seasons. DiNardo had two – the last two during a five-year run.
           
At Georgia, Dooley hired Ray Goff and Jim Donnan before settling on Mark Richt. In seven years, Goff had two teams that won more than six games. Donnan did much better, winning 35 games in his last four years, including all four bowl games. Yet, he was fired, in part, because he couldn’t beat Tennessee or Florida.
           
At Florida, Foley hired Ron Zook, who had three straight five-loss seasons, not including a knockout blowout delivered by a fraternity house. Urban Meyer came along to clean up the mess.
           
At Alabama, Moore brought in Mike DuBose, Dennis Franchione and Mike Shula. DuBose had two losing seasons. Franchione bolted after Year Two for Texas A&M. Shula had one winning season in four years. Saban was hired to resurrect a second SEC program.
           
If Hamilton could hire Saban, Tennessee wouldn’t have to worry about continuing a downward slide. But Hamilton can’t hire Saban. He can’t hire Meyer. And he won’t get a Jon Gruden or a Pete Carroll.
           
There aren’t many sure-fire hires in college football.
           
And I don’t see a young Saban or a young Meyer among the available candidates.
           
Whichever direction Hamilton goes, he better not make a mistake.
           
The outpouring of support after Phillip Fulmer’s forced resignation has been stunning. Members of the athletic department have contacted several former players to gauge their reaction. The response: What the hell have you done?
           
Some have said they won’t support the athletic department again until the athletic director is gone.
           
More than one former player is withdrawing his financial support. Others have said they will scrutinize Hamilton more carefully than ever.
           
The UT compliance office has fielded several calls from players or parents of players inquiring about transferring. One came from former Vol offensive lineman David Douglas, whose son, tight end Aaron Douglas, was the state of Tennessee ’s top-rated prospect in 2008.
           
Former Vol All-American kicker Fuad Reveiz teed off on Hamilton.
           
“There are a lot of things I’m infuriated about,” Reveiz said.
           
He cited the way the ouster was handled.
           
“It disgusts me that it was done with three games left,” Reveiz said. “I heard the athletic director say it was done with three games left so we could feel good about him (Fulmer). That’s a bunch of crap. To let the guy hang in the wind for three games is disgusting. … It’s nuts.”
           
Reveiz feels a special bond to Fulmer, who was an assistant at UT when Reveiz was the kicker. Reveiz also has two sons who walked on at Tennessee, one of whom has since been given a scholarship.
           
“You don’t judge a coach on two out of 17 years,” said Reveiz, referring to 2005 and this season. “Last year was the best coaching job he’s ever done and he lost to the eventual national champion by two plays in the SEC Championship game. If we’d had any offense (this year) we’d have won three more games.”
           
And at 6-3 – rather than 3-6 – Hamilton would not have forced out Fulmer.
           
Reveiz said if you hire someone with Fulmer’s credentials, you’d have to pay him $3.5 million. Fulmer’s average salary over his seven-year deal is $3 million.
           
Will Hamilton pay more than $3 million for the next coach? Perhaps, depending on who the new guy is.
           
One of the prime candidates is North Carolina coach Butch Davis. He has said he’s not interested. But what do you expect him to say while he’s coaching the Tar Heels: “Sure, I’d love the Tennessee job. Beats the heck out of being in Chapel Hill.”
           
Davis made $1.7 million his first year. He is making $2.5 million this year and it escalates to over $3 million with incentives over the five-year duration.
           
Would Davis leave North Carolina if Tennessee is willing to pay more than $3 million? Maybe.
           
Another hot name is Texas Tech coach Mike Leach. Leach makes $1.75 million and has a $500,000 buyout. He’s quirky and unorthodox but he has a great offensive mind and he’s obviously done something right to get the Red Raiders to #2 in the latest BCS poll. But based on Leach’s personality, he’s a longshot for the job.
           
Minnesota coach Tim Brewster has a connection to UT associate athletic director John Currie. Brewster won one game his first year at Minnesota but he’s 7-2 this season. He coached under Mack Brown at North Carolina and at Texas. He’s considered a great recruiter.
           
Lane Kiffin, former coach of the Oakland Raiders, is another name. I don’t see this happening. What has Kiffin proven? That he’ll stand up to a crazy man like Al Davis? Kiffin showed his smarts as an assistant at Southern Cal, but at 33, is he ready to take over a program like Tennessee?
           
Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly and Tulsa coach Todd Graham were endorsed by former Ohio State coach John Cooper.
           
Mike Gundy of Oklahoma State, Mike Dantonio of Michigan State, Randy Edsall of Connecticut, Chris Peterson of Boise State, Bronco Mendenhall of BYU and Kyle Whittingham of Utah are other head coaches who might be of interest.
           
If Tennessee goes the coordinator route, watch for Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp.
           
Tennessee hopes to have a coach in place in early December.
           
The Vols have lost one commitment since the Fulmer ouster and two uncommitted players have ruled out Tennessee.
           
It’s been a tough season for Tennessee football.
           
It’ll get tougher if Hamilton doesn’t make the right call.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 6th, 2008 at 12:33 pm and is filed under Homepage, The Ace Reporter . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.