After Tennessee, a top 25 pre-season pick, lost its third game of the season and posted a record of 1-3 the long time Tennessee Head Coach Phillip Fulmer's job security came in question. To me this was hard to hear because the guy is a loyal coach who loved Tennessee football spending nearly his entire career there.
Fulmer was the face of the program for so many years that to see his losses stack up was sad. I do not think this was an obvious fire, as I do not think Fulmer is solely to blame for the lack of success in this years team. However, the Vols were looking to make a change for the future of their program and that is understandable.
So with that being said most Tennessee fans were anxiously waiting on who the University would name as its next Head Coach to replace the highly successful 152-52 Phillip Fulmer. The anxiety and excitement quickly faded as the University of Tennessee announced that Lane Kiffin was their next Head Coach.
If firing Fulmer, who had a 75% winning percentage in the most competitive leagues in college football, was not questionable enough they go an hire a Head Coach who was fired from one of the worst teams in the NFL. Granted the Oakland Raiders have many more problems than the Head Coach, Lane is not a proven coach in any respect.
The man was an offensive coordinator at USC when they had top flight talent that any college coordinator would drule over and then he heads to Oakland and was a bitter disappointment. At the end of the day the Vols got rid of a hall of fame coach for a young, inexperienced, unproven coach who has a lot to learn.
To me the move is illogical at best, and in time will prove to be a great mistake.
The Vols should have kept Fulmer for one more year and spent the entire year taking interviews behind closed doors to find a new Head Coach. That way recruiting would not be effected as much and the University could be patient and find a high level coach like the one they just got rid of. Bringing in Kiffin clearly shows that Tennessee took what they could get and that is not good news if you are a Vols fan.
Other teams and fans that see what has happened here should take a deep look at their program and if they are frusterated with their coach then they must ask the question who is better for the job? Because this example demonstrates that the replacement can be even worse than the original! Beware what you wish for.
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