sojourner
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vandy to the b1g? the big ten offers nothing that vandy doesn't already have, and in leaving, vandy would be walking away from the privilege of playing in the best athletic conference in the country. they could look at a future of being a perennial homecoming team or playing who cares games with the likes of illinois and minnesota. it should be even less likely now that they've found a pulse in their football program.
i was a student at u.t. when battle was hired in 70 and was there through the 72 season (his glory years; seems like they went 10-1, 9-2, and 9-2). i followed them religiously even though i lived in swc country by then. i always thought that battle got less than a fair chance, but there were two things he couldn't contend with, first, his recruiting was terrible, and second, the fact that a vol legend (johnny majors) had just won a national championship at pittsburgh. it wasn't so much that the vol faithful hated battle (such as what kiffen is building for himself in l.a.) as it was that visions of more national championships were dancing in their eyes. well, they got johnny back and suffered through seventeen years of a higher level of mediocrity. i've always wondered what battle could have done had he got the recruiting turned around. (hard to believe: the boy wonder is 71 years old!)
in re: dodds
go easy on him. its got to be a shock, having to admit that you're not as special or as desirable as you thought you were.
back in the day (when arkansas and s.c. joined the sec), i was hoping that texas and a & m would tag along. i thought it would make for a super conference. it had never dawned on me, the superiority complex which infects the powers that be at texas. they weren't about to dirty their hands with the auburns and georgias of the sec when they considered themselves more at home with the likes of cal-berkely and stanford. now, i'm relieved it never came to pass. the worst i could hope for texas is that they get their wet dream of being allowed into the pac-whatever. besides the logistical problems it will be pure delight, watching them being dismissed as rubes by the west coast snobs.
we're apparently on different wave lengths. the players are suspended. i agree with that. i suppose the university will conduct its own investigation and once convinced that they are guilty, the players will be expelled. i have no problem with that. what i do have a problem with is somebody bawling for a hang rope on the basis of confessions they've never read or seen.
from the way the university is handling the situation, its pretty obvious they're closer to my position than yours.
look at my first post. i'm not suggesting that these players escape just punishment. all i suggested was that the university retain its dignity by affording them something called due process. that might be a quaint notion in some places as is the idea that one is considered innocent until proven guilty.
"and a confession means you're guilty."
well, glory hallelluah! lets just bring back the rack and the iron maiden and break out the water boards. fire all the judiciary and lay off the investigators. rope is so much cheaper and quicker. thanks for enlightening me.
considering the magnitude of the charges, these men have a lot more to be concerned about than the loss of a scholarship. but before breaking out the lynch rope, everyone needs to settle down and let the process run its course. that is not the same as letting these men escape justice. if they are guilty, justice will be done. that might not be as satisfying as a good, quick lynching, but it will protect the university's reputation.
i hope you're right. i'd love to see the sec come into its own as an inter-COLLEGIATE conference. unfortunately, if you took a poll, i'd be willing to bet that, by a considerable margin, those sweat shirt wearing, rv driving 'fans' consider academics as an unnecessary impediment to recruiting.
there are those of us who have actually graduated from an sec school who take pride in the name 'university'.
both of clausen's older brothers played q.b. for the vols. maybe he visited gatlinburg while he was in to watch them play and picked up the idea for the t-shirt.
I don't condemn Petrino or Saban for bailing on their NFL gigs. Nobody seems to get their guts in an uproar when an owner cans a coach. If an owner has the absolute right to terminate the relationship, so does the coach. Slavery went out with the civil war. But, I'd lay off the self-righteous angle. Petrino did no different than did Saban. That he did it for Bama confers no absolution.
just a thought: if strong doesn't work, it may be petrino by default. its a win-win situation. he can be had for peanuts, he wouldn't dare screw it up, and best of all, he's the best damned pure coach in football.
i have no clue as to who the next hog head coach will be, but wally hall is the last person i would expect to have better information. anyone regularly exposed to his 'work' can attest that it is nothing better than a hodge-podge of his fact free opinions, pique for perceived slights, admiration for some jeebus loving jock, and whatever outhouse rumors he can swipe off the net, all of it in such pathetic form it wouldn't be tolerated in a middling high scool rag.
i enjoy being a football fan as much as anyone, but this is one tennessee grad who is not running around with his hair on fire over Gruden saying no thanks. I wish he had spoke up sooner and saved us this charade and unnecessary embarrassment. As one poster observed, "Sometimes the best hire is the one you don't make." Amen. I just hope Hart has the good sense to seek out someone who really wants the job, who isn't convinced he'd be doing us a favor, and who wouldn't want a king's ransom for the privilege of his company.
i think jeff long has put his job as arkansas a.d. in jeopardy. its becoming obvious that in spite of having an eight month head start, he has done little more than sit on his fanny and collect his salary. i don't believe for a minute that he was seriously considering miles in, say july or august. this ploy has the stench of desperation about it, the same stench we vol fans came to expect from mike hamilton whenever he was called on to make a hire. i hope to goodness for arkansas that the results are not similar. long better pray that lightning strikes twice and that another bobby petrino falls into his lap. otherwise, he's toast.
its nice to hear from patterson "that you always listen" to a serious offer. three years ago our a.d. (mike hamilton) couldn't get the time of day from any coach on everyone's short list. hence the boy with the orange pants and famous daddy.
how much experience running a program did muschamp or franklin have? i think its a good hire.