IT’S NEW AND IT SCARES ME

Mike Leach turned him into a newt! He’s weird and it scares us!
Suddenly, we remember why we hate the state of our birth:
Griffith also has this to say about Mike Leach: ” Mike Leach still has his name thrown around, but I don’t see it. No one is going to come into the SEC and win with Xs and Os – it takes talent, not gadgets.
And, I just don’t see Leach (47) being able to handle the level of scrutiny that comes with the UT head football coach job. It’s a regal position – hardly a post for someone with erratic and eccentric personality traits.”
Regal? What kind of simpering bootlicking shitkickers think of a football coach as necessarily regal? What’s more regal than the Texas Tech offense, the one that keeps quarterbacks clean, moves the ball, and scores more points than Tennessee’s ever scored in their most fevered, ham-scented dreams? Total gadgetry, just like the Urban Meyer offense.
Want to know what we hate about the state? That fucking attitude. Not even Alabama’s that stodgy. They paid 4 million bucks a year for a rageaholic mercenary dwarf not because he was “regal,” but because the man coaches his ass off, recruits like a Ponzi scheming con man, and constructs football teams capable of knocking the marrow out of opposing teams. Even they went pragmatic when competition eliminated the tribal approach to choosing coaches, and that’s from a school situated in a state where vibrators are illegal and their old constitution is based.
Please, don’t hire Leach. He’d be successful and fun. He would be “eccentric,” not crazy, because “eccentric” is “crazy” plus “success and money.” He would give conference opponents fits. He and Bruce Pearl’s cloud of awesome would be visible on Google Earth maps. It would suck like a thousand leeches for other fans in the conference. Go with someone else…you know, someone who looks all kingly and GRRR MANLY BEARDS. Results are secondary to concerns of etiquette, a Hapsburg chin, and some hokey 1950ish concept of what an authority figure is.
(P.S. You’ll notice Joel, a Tennessee fan, is essentially in agreement on the “new scares me” argument, but without calling an entire state a collection of skyfall-fearing troglodytes. THIS IS WHY HE’S A BETTER PERSON THAN WE ARE.)









51
NRBQ says:
@33, Devin.
How apropos. Your link contained the word (sic) “Voluntariness.”
November 19th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
52
Three Days of Orange says:
Look, as Tennesseans we own most of the stuff y’all throw our way. And you know this – mannnnn.
Honestly, the suggestion that Tennessee can’t handle “eccentric” is just plain lazy reporting. Griffith actually just buys into most of the schlock an average EDSBS commenter would write on the news that “Leach takes Vols head coaching vacancy.” The fan base/boosters won’t accept him – yeah right. The jorts love HCUM – didn’t take them long to accept a change.
Orson, don’t you believe the hype. You know TN has plenty of the weird-ass freaky $hit you love (and I’m not talking banjo-canoe music – I’m looking at you Georgia). I promise you ML is under consideration, and will take the job if offered the $4M. End of story.
Also – if y’all don’t like it – don’t drink it. Real men drink George Dickel as always – just ask an Okie from Muskogee, Merle Haggard or anyone of his Strangers, as Boomer-sooner as they come an still sippin on that TN sheet.
November 19th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
53
www.southbendblarney.com says:
So there are some Vol fans that would have an allergic reaction to scoring 50+ a game? And a guy that can win at Texas Tech? I will lock myself in a room and pray to the gods of SEC eliteist football fans that Mike Leach coaches in the SEC. 1), So I don’t hear so much about “SEC defenses”, and 2.), Cuz I want to root for a coach against Meyer and Saban.
November 20th, 2008 at 12:17 am
54
stinkypickle says:
Maybe UT will be lucky enough to get a coach that is absolutely in lust with his extremely gifted surgeon…….oops quarterback
November 20th, 2008 at 8:29 am
55
OhioDawg says:
Now is NOT the time for Brian Kelly or Mike Leach to go to Tennessee. It’s a better job than either they currently occupy from a prestige point of view.
However, it’s not at all difficult to put together reasons why they wouldn’t make the switch. In no order:
1. Leach is in a conference that’s as good as the SEC
2. Kelly isn’t, but it is a BCS conference, and he has arguably an easier row to get to a BCS bowl game from the B.E.
3. They’re both getting plenty of money now.
4. The SEC is stocked with great coaches at the moment – a new coach could perform at the top of his game and still not put up great numbers.
5. Any fears of stepping into a Notre Dame/Michigan scenario, where you get there and find the program is running on fumes?
6. Kelly is the top of the sports heap in Cincinnati [lets the laughter subside], including the two pro sports teams.
7. I don’t buy that Tennessee can’t handle eccentricity, but both of these guys can do pretty much anything they want and not get called to the carpet – so much are they loved for what they’ve done
8. Kelly’s dream job would probably be Michigan. If RRod flames out entirely, Kelly can build his value even further @ UC and then go to UM in 2 or 3 years.
9. UC is in Cincinnati, not Knoxville.
Just kidding on that last one – Knoxvillle seems like a great town. Anyway, I don’t think it’s as much of a slam dunk as Dantonio going to Michigan State 2 years ago.
November 20th, 2008 at 8:31 am
56
OhioDawg says:
One more thing from Kelly’s point of view: If he wins on Saturday, the odds of winning the conference are excellent.
If Cincinnati does get an Orange Bowl bid, it would be pretty difficult/unseemly for Kelly to go into that with divided loyalties.
November 20th, 2008 at 8:35 am
57
DevilGrad says:
It would be no less “seemly” than the way Kelly left his last job. I’m not sure how well he would recruit, but BK already has SEC ethics down pat.
November 20th, 2008 at 9:18 am
58
Lyle Lanley says:
So in an article about Tenn’s coaching search we get a bitter rant about Alabama’s football coach from Florida’s biggest homer blogger? Someone getting a little worried about Tebow and Harvin getting knocked in the mouth and seeing a repeat of ‘99? Alabama’s two worst coaches of the modern era combined for a winning record agains the best in Florida’s history. Alabama with a good coach?
Alabama won’t spot you 21 points or fall apart in the 4th quarter so enjoying all the media deep throating while you can. It will end for Florida the same way it ended for all the other overhyped teams Alabama has beaten this year.
November 20th, 2008 at 11:48 am
59
NativeSon says:
@58
You demonstrate precisely why Bama fans are viewed the way they are by so many. And why those same people can’t wait for UF to close the book on Bama’s big dream season. Nobody spotted the Gators points – they took them. And if you care to compare common opponents, perhaps you’d realize UA just might be another one of UF’s overhyped opponents. And the one doing the deepthroating – will be you.
Your reading comprehension is obviously substandard, otherwise you would realize O’s description of Saban was a compliment.
November 20th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
60
tnflyboy says:
Ok lets get down to the real issue with a high scoring TN offence. I stand before you certified hillbilly enuff to criticize. I am from east TN and was born bleeding orange and singing “Rocky Top” at the top of my underdeveloped lungs. However even I might kill myself if I had to sit through a game where we scored 50 points ……. i mean dang it bad enuff when we lose to hear how offten we play that god forsaken tune. Please, I beg of you give us a boring SEC team where 4 td’s is enuff to win. I dont want my head to explode and God knows all the other teams in the SEC will have to drink the Koolaid jim jones style to keep from hanging themselves,
November 20th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
61
UFmegood says:
@60
I think I found the perfect candidate for you – Jon Gruden.
As a Bucs fan, i’d like to get him out of Tampa ASAfuckingP, and think Neyland might be a decent place for him. I can guarantee you that he’ll guide you to play a very Tennessee style of football – rarely scoring more than 28 points in a game and winning with defense.
It also plays into my hands as a Gator alum, since he can’t outcoach superior competition.
November 20th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
62
Falcon1 says:
@#17
Surely you have overlooked the Cold Beer/Fireworks/GAS STATION East Tennessee par-tay stop on I-24.
November 20th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
63
Lyle Lanley says:
Nativeson, I can only imagine what you have to deal with every day if being called a “rageaholic mercenary dwarf” and being compared to a “Ponzi scheming con man” is a compliment to you.
We’ll see what happens on the 6th, but if you want to bring up common opponents I can only respond with two words: Ole Miss.
See you in Atlanta.
November 20th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
64
SDF Fan says:
There is something to the “regal” knock, though. In states without major sports teams (essentially all SEC states but Florida and Georgia) the flagship university’s football coach (or basketball, for UK) carries the imprimatur of head of state (governor being a mere head of government). He is expected to represent all that is good and traditional and masculine in the state. While winning still trumps everything, bringing dishonor on the University/state is totally unacceptable. It also helps if you sell HVAC repair or Ford trucks well.
See: Nick Saban; compare to: Bob Riley.
See: Billy Gillespie: compare to: Steve Beshear.
See: Mike Price: compare to: VP candidate Admiral James Stockdale.
Leach may be a brilliant coach, but he is not ready to be the ambassador that UT wants or needs. This would be the case for virtually any other SEC state/school (Florida excepted; it’s the Yankee transplant of the family and generally eschews dignity). Leach looks like an extra from a Seth Rogan movie, for God’s sakes. I make fun of Tennesseans as much as anyone, but you’ve got to be culturally tone-deaf to look past this point.
November 20th, 2008 at 9:26 pm