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Tennessee fires Jeremy Pruitt for cause, Fulmer to step down as AD, Josh Heupel hired

Machinator

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Randolph Duke

Randolph Duke 4034

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Posted

I'm waiting to hear Clay Travis' take on the mess at Tennessee. He inserted himself into the situation back in 2017 by scuppering the Schiano hire. He should stand up and be accountable for his role in the hiring of Pruitt.

"Flush with revolutionary fervor, Tennessee fans were very busy congratulating themselves on Dec. 1, 2017.

On that day, former hero football coach Phillip Fulmer had been installed as athletic director after backstabbing John Currie out of the job. In the days leading up to that event, Volunteers fans incited by a barking media personality with a fanboy interest in the program had gone full vigilante to undercut Currie’s attempted hire of former (and future) Rutgers coach Greg Schiano. What ensued was a clown show that left Tennessee as the laughingstock of college athletics, but UT backers believed they had triumphed by putting administrative know-nothing Fulmer in charge of a search that eventually settled on the unproven Jeremy Pruitt."

https://www.si.com/college/2021/01/18/tennessee-jeremy-pruitt-fired-fulmer

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Bevo

Bevo 13817

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, Randolph Duke said:

I'm waiting to hear Clay Travis' take on the mess at Tennessee. He inserted himself into the situation back in 2017 by scuppering the Schiano hire. He should stand up and be accountable for his role in the hiring of Pruitt.

"Flush with revolutionary fervor, Tennessee fans were very busy congratulating themselves on Dec. 1, 2017.

On that day, former hero football coach Phillip Fulmer had been installed as athletic director after backstabbing John Currie out of the job. In the days leading up to that event, Volunteers fans incited by a barking media personality with a fanboy interest in the program had gone full vigilante to undercut Currie’s attempted hire of former (and future) Rutgers coach Greg Schiano. What ensued was a clown show that left Tennessee as the laughingstock of college athletics, but UT backers believed they had triumphed by putting administrative know-nothing Fulmer in charge of a search that eventually settled on the unproven Jeremy Pruitt."

https://www.si.com/college/2021/01/18/tennessee-jeremy-pruitt-fired-fulmer

What I don't get is that Tennessee hired a known cheater, their donors helped support the cheating, and then Tennessee fired him for cheating. Was it because the NCAA started an investigation or did Tennessee invite the NCAA to investigate because their record sucked and they wanted a new coach?

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Randolph Duke

Randolph Duke 4034

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25 minutes ago, Bevo said:

What I don't get is that Tennessee hired a known cheater, their donors helped support the cheating, and then Tennessee fired him for cheating. Was it because the NCAA started an investigation or did Tennessee invite the NCAA to investigate because their record sucked and they wanted a new coach?

Tennessee boosters are going to realize the hard way they should have paid Pruitt on the way out the door.

As things are, Pruitt will litigate, and if it goes to discovery, the documents discussing vetting process on Pruitt will give some insight into whether he was a known cheater.

The personal and professional risk to boosters by getting outed for assisting Pruitt in any cheating will quickly lead to a settlement.

Tennessee wouldn't have risked calling in the NCAA just to get rid of their coach without paying a buyout. No school president would self-create a NCAA investigation into their athletics program. Too much risk of what could be found.

Most likely, the NCAA found out what Pruitt was doing, the school thought they needed to try to blame everything on "one bad apple" (Pruitt), Pruitt will fight back to make sure all the stink doesn't attach to him.

The abuses surrounding the upcoming NIL payments openly being paid to recruits and players will make whatever Tennessee did seem like child's play. I saw somewhere that Tennessee has had nine head football coaches (including interims) since 2008. That is a serious indicator of a lack of program leadership at the top (school president).

Even if they made all the right moves, it will take a number of years for Tennessee to get its athletics department cleaned up and moving in the right direction. Most likely they will fuck it up from the start and hire someone with strong ties to the school's recent past, thus ensuring boosters who caused this situation will continue to have a big role in how things operate moving forward.

Wash, rinse, repeat. It's how things are done in "that part of the world."

Edited by Randolph Duke
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Randolph Duke

Randolph Duke 4034

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Posted (edited)
8 minutes ago, WBT said:

Tennessee should hire another bama assistant imo

Their problem isn't finding a head coach. Their problem is bad leadership from the top. They need to find a new AD to clean up the mess and to lead the program into the NIL era. An AD tied to the current boosters will only allow the boosters willing to cheat to do so on a much bigger scale since NIL money will initially fuel a financial arms race in college recruiting.

The first thing the new AD needs to do is to make sure Clay Travis is called onto the carpet for his role in scuppering Schiano. Otherwise, Travis is going to use his pulpit at FOX to second guess every move the AD tries to make.

Tennessee's two most visible alumni are arguably Paul Finebaum and Clay Travis. Finebaum has carved out his career niche, Travis is still trying to do the same. Travis "outkicked his coverage" when he inserted himself into Tennessee athletics to the degree he was directly (and extremely publicly) affecting major internal hiring decisions.

Edited by Randolph Duke
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Al_4_ISU

Al_4_ISU 12612

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12 hours ago, maninblack said:

I fucking love y'all

If you watch the video in the link, the shot of the guy standing in the vacant Floyd Casey parking lot is my buddy Joe from our trip there in '08.  That was about 2 hours before kick off and there was literally no one there tailgating besides ISU fans.

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Tex Pete

Tex Pete 21392

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Randolph Duke said:

Tennessee boosters are going to realize the hard way they should have paid Pruitt on the way out the door.

As things are, Pruitt will litigate, and if it goes to discovery, the documents discussing vetting process on Pruitt will give some insight into whether he was a known cheater.

The personal and professional risk to boosters by getting outed for assisting Pruitt in any cheating will quickly lead to a settlement.

Tennessee wouldn't have risked calling in the NCAA just to get rid of their coach without paying a buyout. No school president would self-create a NCAA investigation into their athletics program. Too much risk of what could be found.

Most likely, the NCAA found out what Pruitt was doing, the school thought they needed to try to blame everything on "one bad apple" (Pruitt), Pruitt will fight back to make sure all the stink doesn't attach to him.

The abuses surrounding the upcoming NIL payments openly being paid to recruits and players will make whatever Tennessee did seem like child's play. I saw somewhere that Tennessee has had nine head football coaches (including interims) since 2008. That is a serious indicator of a lack of program leadership at the top (school president).

Even if they made all the right moves, it will take a number of years for Tennessee to get its athletics department cleaned up and moving in the right direction. Most likely they will fuck it up from the start and hire someone with strong ties to the school's recent past, thus ensuring boosters who caused this situation will continue to have a big role in how things operate moving forward.

Wash, rinse, repeat. It's how things are done in "that part of the world."

I’m not sure I agree completely.
 

Phillip Fulmer ratted out Alabama because he got outbid for Albert Means. That’s exactly the kind of fat moron who would start an investigation into his own school to abound paying a buyout.
 

He looks like a dumbass because the Pruitt hire didn’t pan out. He’s a shitbag. 

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Bevo

Bevo 13817

Posted
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5 minutes ago, Tex Pete said:

I’m not sure I agree completely.
 

Phillip Fulmer ratted out Alabama because he got outbid for Albert Means. That’s exactly the kind of fat moron who would start an investigation into his own school to abound paying a buyout.
 

He looks like a dumbass because the Pruitt hire didn’t pan out. He’s a shitbag. 

I'm getting a why not both vibe. The NCAA was sniffing around. Tennessee wanted to fire its coach. So, Fulmer thought it was a great idea to bring in the NCAA and avoid sanctions and save a bunch of money on the buyout. Bad move....

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Randolph Duke

Randolph Duke 4034

Posted
Posted (edited)
16 minutes ago, Tex Pete said:

I’m not sure I agree completely.
 

Phillip Fulmer ratted out Alabama because he got outbid for Albert Means. That’s exactly the kind of fat moron who would start an investigation into his own school to abound paying a buyout.
 

He looks like a dumbass because the Pruitt hire didn’t pan out. He’s a shitbag. 

If Pruitt has to litigate to get his money we will find out a lot more of the facts. Which is why I say there is no way this doesn't get settled.

When the group doing the hiring has missed on as many hires as Tennessee has, solving the problem starts with replacing the people who have been approving the bad hires.

And I understand finally letting go of Fulmer, but replacing Fulmer with another Fulmer instead of someone who knows what he is doing isn't going to get them out of their predicament.

Hiring alumni as AD is fraught with problems.

Edited by Randolph Duke
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ouflak

ouflak 60

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Posted (edited)
11 minutes ago, Bevo said:

I'm getting a why not both vibe. The NCAA was sniffing around. Tennessee wanted to fire its coach. So, Fulmer thought it was a great idea to bring in the NCAA and avoid sanctions and save a bunch of money on the buyout. Bad move....

Was it? I mean they'll probably self-punish. Ban themselves from a couple of post-seasons they weren't going to be involved in anyway - that sort of thing. If they (can) manage to closely enough follow the North Carolina model, nothing much more will really come of it when all is said and done. In a few years NIL will finally make it possible for booster-supported pay to possibly make a difference in a school's fortunes in the recruiting arena, and their boosters have deep pockets.

Edited by ouflak
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Bevo

Bevo 13817

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53 minutes ago, ouflak said:

Was it? I mean they'll probably self-punish. Ban themselves from a couple of post-seasons they weren't going to be involved in anyway - that sort of thing. If they (can) manage to closely enough follow the North Carolina model, nothing much more will really come of it when all is said and done. In a few years NIL will finally make it possible for booster-supported pay to possibly make a difference in a school's fortunes in the recruiting arena, and their boosters have deep pockets.

I think it will make hiring a new coach a clusterfuck and players won't want to play there. This is exacerbated by the fact that their neighbors and rivals are are paying top dollar.

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LonghornSean

LonghornSean 4072

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6 hours ago, Randolph Duke said:

I'm waiting to hear Clay Travis' take on the mess at Tennessee. He inserted himself into the situation back in 2017 by scuppering the Schiano hire. He should stand up and be accountable for his role in the hiring of Pruitt.

"Flush with revolutionary fervor, Tennessee fans were very busy congratulating themselves on Dec. 1, 2017.

On that day, former hero football coach Phillip Fulmer had been installed as athletic director after backstabbing John Currie out of the job. In the days leading up to that event, Volunteers fans incited by a barking media personality with a fanboy interest in the program had gone full vigilante to undercut Currie’s attempted hire of former (and future) Rutgers coach Greg Schiano. What ensued was a clown show that left Tennessee as the laughingstock of college athletics, but UT backers believed they had triumphed by putting administrative know-nothing Fulmer in charge of a search that eventually settled on the unproven Jeremy Pruitt."

https://www.si.com/college/2021/01/18/tennessee-jeremy-pruitt-fired-fulmer

He's one of his takes. Not douchey at all

 

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Randolph Duke

Randolph Duke 4034

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3 minutes ago, LonghornSean said:

He's one of his takes. Not douchey at all

 

I'm 100% it doesn't work the way he asserts it could. no one single person at any major program is give the sole authority to hire and/or fire the head football coach.

And Travis having "100%" confidence means nothing. Obviously, not enough others have any confidence he would do an incredible job. Which is why Clay Travis isn't involved in the discussions to find a new coach.

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PittsburghTiger

PittsburghTiger 6318

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On 1/19/2021 at 2:00 AM, Scooter Monzingo said:

Those my age feel he fucked Johnny Majors. For that alone he should have never been allowed to stay. Majors deserved better.

I have mentioned here before that I got to know Coach Majors reasonably well his second stint at Pitt. He was quite open with what he felt about Fulmer. It was no secret.

Fulmer was/is/will be - a piece of shit.

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Duane Moore

Duane Moore 5636

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8 hours ago, PittsburghTiger said:

I have mentioned here before that I got to know Coach Majors reasonably well his second stint at Pitt. He was quite open with what he felt about Fulmer. It was no secret.

Fulmer was/is/will be - a piece of shit.

“Judas Brutus” is how Johnny referred to Fulmer in public. I’d hate to hear what he said in private. 

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Dewey

Dewey 3325

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2 hours ago, Butch Had Not said:

Hearing some smoke that Fleck is going to be hired. 

This is the football version of PJ divorcing his normal looking hot wife and remarrying a woman that looks like a stripper if it happened.

He does more with less, he'll have to do that at Tennessee.

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