DEREK DOOLEY AIN’T COME DOWN FROM ROCKY TOP
Somehow, this is all just a vast plot to twist Georgia fans in knots they didn’t imagine were humanly possible: today’s phantom candidate is Derek Dooley, aka “Mike Shula with a law degree.”
If they wanted an old-school hire, going with the well-organized preppy 17-20 head coach of a genteel SEC great is about as old school as you can get. He uses the right fork! His RSVP note was immaculate! Oh, my, did you see the part in his hair! AND HE COMES FROM SUCH GOOD STOCK. Mike Hamilton is horrible at what he is paid to do.
UPDATE: After Whittingham turned down UT this morning, they got Dooley. It’s official.
1
crane says:
I’ll lose the son of a Georgia Legend before Boom Mother F’er any day
January 15th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
2
PSUgirl says:
what’s the over/under for days before we sing…
“Hang down your head Coach Dooley. Hang down your head and cry…”
January 15th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
3
Techie says:
Oh, this is just too delicious.
January 15th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
4
Silver Britches says:
I could not be more underwhelmed by this hire.
Hamilton might as well polish his resume now.
January 15th, 2010 at 1:35 pm
5
bitterhorn says:
Hilarious.
January 15th, 2010 at 1:36 pm
6
MrRedDevil says:
Orson,
They offered me the gig around 11am, but I told them I was busy clipping my toenails.
Go Gators
January 15th, 2010 at 1:41 pm
7
MrRedDevil says:
Wow.
Turned down by the head coaches at Air Force, Duke, and Utah.
Jesus.
January 15th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
8
TigerHighMyAss says:
They’re already singing his praises:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFwgzOxs0yM
January 15th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
9
Techie says:
The AD had better submit his resignation this weekend.
January 15th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
10
jimatua says:
People underestimate the difficulty of this job. Playing both Alabama and Florida every year will automatically put you SOS through the roof. However, UT gets a big “huh, you hired who?” from me.
January 15th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
11
MrRedDevil says:
So, do they start rioting again?
January 15th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
12
skinnyphatman says:
With the run of college football news over the past month or so… this must happen!
Seriously, real life in the NCAA football world has truly been beyond great fiction, good time to be a blogger, no? EDSBS salad days, indeed.
January 15th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
13
Mr Dizzle says:
Say what you will about Hamilton, Jay Jacobs still makes him look like Einstein.
January 15th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
14
Kevin@LSU says:
I guess UT decided to focus on basketball from now on.
January 15th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
15
hobeg8r says:
This is being posted on UT blogs.
Originally Posted by Tenacious D
Glad to see Dooley’s going to wipe of the grime from the program. If we’re going to hire a coach that slaps kids around, why not just go after Leavitt?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjvODj6O3dM
January 15th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
16
Jack Fact says:
17-20 lifetime, but 4-8 last year.
So, tell me again, is it Dooley or Kiffin who leads the “coach’s kid who has been given so much while accomplishing so little” competition?
January 15th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
17
damn strong football team says:
Seriously, has anyone gone to check on Holly?
January 15th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
18
Brian says:
So what you’re telling me is they hired a guy who went 8-5 one time and won the Independence Bowl with the other coach’s players? This actually happens quite often, where the guy they hired won with the previous dude’s players and then peaces out. Why do they do this, because then you cant tell if the guy can recruit.
January 15th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
19
MrRedDevil says:
Maybe we’re being Punk’d?
January 15th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
20
bamatty says:
So you get Lane Kiffin’s resume, mix with Mike Shula’s personality and you get this guy? Most underwhelming hire ever. At least Chizik was tabbed a fail, this is just boring.
January 15th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
21
tzubear says:
“Mike Hamilton is horrible at what he is paid to do.”
Can somebody from the SEC (I can understand if Vol fans dont want to talk right now) explain what the hell is going on at UT? This is an elit program from an elite conference, easily a top 15 program. The program is gold, fan base is supportive, financial compensation good (I assume), so what gives? Not even Cutcliff wanted to come back-FROM DUKE.
Even incompetency does not explain the level of fail here. Is it somehow well known among coaches Hamilton and/or the school president is an asshole? I remember a comment Kiffin made about other reasons he left UT that he cant talk about during his USC press conference.
Does anybody have a clue what’s up? I am really confused by this.
January 15th, 2010 at 2:18 pm
22
DougoUConnPlaysFootball? says:
As dumb as the Dooley decision is, don’t go and call for Hamilton’s head just yet (Holy alliteration batman!). Keep in mind that Hamilton is the guy who brought in Bruce Pearl. And so far that has gone just swimmingly.
January 15th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
23
F Lane Kiffin says:
Remaining Kiffin Staff is an Issue…Cutcliffe was told he had to keep remaining Kiffin Coaches, said no.
Kiffin continues to screw TN with his staff hires….
January 15th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
24
Herb says:
If only there was some coach who grew up near UT and has recruiting ties both in the South and nationwide who just led a program that can’t possibly match UT’s pockets to a conference championship and BCS bowl.
January 15th, 2010 at 2:23 pm
25
spoco says:
What is funny is that Dooley was also Louisiana Tech’s athletic director. Louisiana Tech is now looking for an athletic director and coach. Hamilton might have hired his way into his next job.
January 15th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
26
OJ's Last Fan says:
Since I’ve seen this shit-storm of fail at my own alma mater, I feel the Vols’ pain. But that doesn’t mean I’m not laughing my ass off.
January 15th, 2010 at 2:26 pm
27
devidee says:
“Contacted by the AJC earlier in the day, Vince Dooley, who was at meeting on St. Simons Island, sounded surprised at reports that his son was now the leading candidate at Tennessee.”
No shit Vince.
January 15th, 2010 at 2:27 pm
28
etsuVol says:
ugh
I’m gonna just become a gator like Holly
January 15th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
29
hailstate says:
Mike Shula with a law degree…hmmm…isn’t that position already held by Terry Bowden?
January 15th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
30
Gen. Stoopnagle says:
Well, he does have the pre-requisite professional relationship with Nick Saban which seems to be required these days to get a job in the SEC.
January 15th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
31
hailstate says:
Hey Volunteer fans, your new coach’s marquee win is over Sylvester Croom’s 4-8 Bulldog team.
January 15th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
32
jd4au says:
@29
No love lost for the Tot, but at least he did coach Auburn to 20 straight wins to start his career. Did Shula get to 20 wins in his career?
January 15th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
33
bitterhorn says:
I don’t get the former Saban-staff hirings. Aren’t their souls already in hock for eternity?
January 15th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
34
Jack Fact says:
Clearly the SEC has been re-cast as some kind of third-world banana republic* where the sheltered offspring of dictators ascend to the thrones of power based on nothing more than genetics and entitlement. I suppose what I’m saying is that we have become NASCAR.
*does not include Baton Rouge which, as has been pointed out before, is the Mogadishu of the South.
January 15th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
35
Not You says:
@21 tzubear:
A bunch of things.
First, they can’t afford any sort of controversy in the hire thanks to Hello Kiffin’s spectacular exit, so that rules out Leach, Mangino, Levitt, and a couple others.
Second, they’re desperately trying to salvage this year’s recruiting class, a point which I say is completely pointless seeing as how no matter how good a recruiter they hire, they’ve lost this one so take the time to do it right. But, as a result of them trying anyway, they are speed interviewing a short list, and so a greater number of coaches are turning them down than normal out of sheer lack of time to prune the candidates.
Third, timing… they went after coaches, and as a result they have their own recruiting classes to think about, and if they leave, they’ll be just another Kiffin writ small… they had to find a coach who didn’t care.
And lastly… No matter what the coach does, he will be forever linked with Kiffin. I mean really, would YOU want to be ‘that guy they got as an emergency replacement for Kiffin’?
January 15th, 2010 at 2:42 pm
36
Bobby Decatur says:
‘…twist Georgia fans into knots’? Even I, who stared at the back of Vince Dooley’s head six Saturdays a year throughout my entire childhood, am pretty pleased. I’m all about an underwhelming hire up in Knoxville, bloodlines be damned.
January 15th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
37
Joshua says:
@34 Yeah, if it’s a Mogadishu with better food than any other city in the conference (and with a big brother called New Orleans close by). So yeah, call us what you life. You have to call us fat and happy too.
@35
Not really on the recruiting. Dooley was known as quite the recruiter whilst on Saban’s staff in Baton Rouge.
January 15th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
38
Jack Fact says:
@37: I should have been more specific; I meant “Tiger Stadium on a Saturday Night.” The anarchy, the possibility of sporadic gunfire, the smell of cooking meat; it’s all very Mogadishu-esque, but without (I think) the AK-47s.
January 15th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
39
bitterhorn says:
Yeah, it’s more of a shotgun town.
January 15th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
40
sb says:
While I am enjoying the ongoing fiasco burping up out of Knoxville, I am saddened by the thought that in a few weeks this whole matter will become old news…no more daily idiocy eruptions, no more Idiot-Boy pressers that defy logic, no more burning mattresses, no more hanging Kiffster in effigy, no more flaming, capital-lettered signs evidencing epic AD failure…its gonna get so quiet around here…just a relatively unknown coach whose daddy was a famous coach…hey, wait a minute…this might not be so bad after all…
January 15th, 2010 at 3:04 pm
41
hobeg8r says:
If you were looking for sons of famous coaches - with some quantifiable wins - why wasn’t Brian Schottenheimer’s name ever mentioned? Or was he too busy with coaching the Jets this weekend?
January 15th, 2010 at 3:10 pm
42
BrooklynGator says:
[NAME REDACTED] is daring Dooley to try and take the belt for “Most Underwhelming Hire at a Major Program”.
Meet him in the parking lot in front of Mediocrity at 2PM for fisticuffs.
I don’t like this hire for the sheer fact that it made me relive that awful day when [NAME REDACTED] was announced as coach and all of Gator Nation cried out in unison “Who the fuck is [NAME REDACTED]?!”
January 15th, 2010 at 3:18 pm
43
hobeg8r says:
Brooklyn - I heard that there was a debate at WWL as to whether or not Tennessee qualifies as a major program anymore. Sad, very sad.
And Kiffin - in a final jab at UT, claimed that recruits were not coming to TN because they wanted to wear YELLOW (his words) - they were coming because of the coaches.
January 15th, 2010 at 3:25 pm
44
The Holy Grail says:
This just in from the rest of the SEC — “Num, num num”
January 15th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
45
Kecalf Bailey says:
Anyone wanna start a college football coach hiring consultancy with me?
The Neinas Group could use some competition.
Who this offseason has made what anyone would consider a great hire? Or even a good one?
Notre Dame and USF both did well, but USC and UT both had to take a step down in order to find someone, and each of them had losing records. I think with all the attention recruiting gets these days, WINNING, of all things, is being a little overlooked.
January 15th, 2010 at 3:31 pm
46
JP says:
Will somebody please explain to me why they didn’t offer this job to Bud Foster?
January 15th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
47
ColoBama says:
@ #8 Is that Jonathan Crompton playing the guitar and singing?
Are the star recruits flocking back in droves?
And haven’t there already been a few examples that you shouldn’t bet your program that successful coaching is a hereditary trait (Shula, M. 2006, Bowden, T. 2008)?
As a Bama fan, I have to say I’m looking forward to what the next few years of Vol football will have to offer.
January 15th, 2010 at 3:39 pm
48
yoyofutbawl says:
At 17 wins, he’s still ahead of Hello Kiffin’s combined total at Oakland & UThug.
January 15th, 2010 at 3:45 pm
49
hobeg8r says:
…..and his son is named Peyton. No word on what his wife looks like.
January 15th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
50
MrRedDevil says:
@ Brooklyn Gator: I hated the [NAME REDACTED] hire because it made me say: “Wait a minute, isn’t that the guy that Spurrier demoted and then later shit canned? He’s our HEAD COACH???”
January 15th, 2010 at 4:01 pm
51
kevin says:
@43
They seem to be hiring their way out of prominence, don’t they
January 15th, 2010 at 4:01 pm
52
Counter Trap says:
Not to be cruel, but who do you think was the next option on the flow chart?
The Chanster?
Mike Shula himself?
Jim Zorn?
Bill Battle?
January 15th, 2010 at 4:24 pm
53
Biggus Rickus says:
For Tennessee, on the bright side he isn’t fucking crazy. On the downside, he is probably only a coach of middling ability.
January 15th, 2010 at 4:25 pm
54
John Coctostan says:
@43
I think you still have to count Tennessee as a major program (although, as a Vols fan, I clearly see how the program is trending). Just off the top of my head I made a list of the top programs in terms of traditional relevancy and recent success. In no particular order - Alabama, Florida, USC, Texas, Notre Dame, Michigan, Florida State, Ohio State, Penn State, LSU, Oklahoma, Miami, Nebraska, Tennessee, Georgia, Oregon, Auburn, Virginia Tech, Iowa, and Wisconsin. I didn’t know what to do with TCU, Utah, Boise State, and Texas A&M; but they could be considered, too. Anyway, that’s my Malcolm Gladwell Blink list of the top programs, and I still think Tennessee belongs on it. We’ll see if that’s still the case in 4 or 5 years.
January 15th, 2010 at 4:46 pm
55
CapstoneAlum says:
It looks like the hire isn’t the only thing rotten in Knoxville. Everyone remember Janzen “The Next Eric Berry” Jackson? Well, charges were dropped against him for his role in the pellet gun robbery. The video tape from the gas station where the incident occured has come to light. What the DA set forth as the events of that night are not corroborated by tape.
http://www.govolsxtra.com/videos/detail/01142010ut-football-securitycam/
I hope a grand jury is struck and the DA for Knox County gets hoisted by his own petard.
January 15th, 2010 at 6:34 pm
56
Three Days of Orange says:
The Vol nation is pissed. They’re hung over from drinking their way through this BS “search” and the bright light of reality hurts our eyes dammit.
KiffEn’s* bloated assistant salaries with guaranteed monies are said to have been a major
sticking point with Muschamp, Cutcliffe, and Calhoun. Doesn’t make DD any easier to choke down. Damn. We’re all praying for a Bruce Pearl is the rough outcome…
* All Tennessee fans have started misspelling Kiffin’s name again. That felcher is only
related to his father like a sticky-spot in a glory-hole is related to Marv Albert.
January 15th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
57
IM A MAN IM FORTY says:
I’ll be the first to coin the nickname coach double-dee
My vote is for Sparky Woods. Took a 15yr break from coaching, now at VMI. SEC experience…
Seriously, the UT AD must have a wonderful sense of humor to fuck with everyone like this.
January 15th, 2010 at 6:55 pm
58
allaha says:
Seriously, why not offer the job to the Orgeron?
January 15th, 2010 at 8:00 pm
59
F Lane Kiffin says:
Here comes 3 years of mediocre football…Dooley Fired in 2013….Hire a Great Coach…2014 will be a comeback year…and 2015 Tennessee wins the BCS ala the Shula Plan ….. All part of the plan…yea thats it
January 15th, 2010 at 8:37 pm
60
ColoBama says:
@59
I think its inevitable - Pete Carrol comes back from the NFL in 2014 saying “I really want to help mold young men” and here’s his dream job on Rocky Top just waiting for him.
Who wouldn’t want to trade a fanbase that drives Porsches for one that drives F-150s? Who wouldn’t want to trade skiing at Mammoth Mt. in the offseason for Gatlinburg? I’m sure he’ll be tired of the shallow narcissim of Hollywood actors and is ready to get to know real people like Junior and Lulu. http://www.luluandjunior.com/
It worked for Mal Moore, why wouldn’t it work for Hamilton?
January 15th, 2010 at 9:33 pm
61
Jimmy Sexton says:
Did you see that awkward 1L moot court tryout of a press conference I just sold UT? Clay Travis, this could have been you.
January 15th, 2010 at 11:28 pm
62
MBD says:
It is all a diabolical plot to yank the chain of all things Tennessee. Here is what happens…. Dooley turns out to be a decent coach, manages to back his way into the SEC Championship game one year, defeating Mark Richt along the way. He loses the game but costs Richt his job. Gets hired as the head coach at Georgia, assuming the mantle of his father Vince. Leaves Tennessee high and dry again three years later.
January 16th, 2010 at 2:59 am
63
BoKno says:
Gene Chizik thinks this was a great hire and is very envious of D. Dooley’s win-loss record
and Jay Jacobs is beginning to think of himself as a trendsetter
January 16th, 2010 at 7:49 am
64
BoKno says:
the hiring process at anything other than top 10 college football schools appears to be this:
- try to get winning coach from similar or slightly lower rank school
- try to get uber hot assistant coach from top level school
- try to find proven head coach unemployed because of slump in winning at last school
- try to find anyone with strong past ties to the school who smells of winning (did anyone give Peyton a call and ask if he wanted the job?)
and when these steps have been taken:
- find candidate who looks good on camera
- has some whiff of success from the past,
- is young enough not to grab his heart at the end of the season and say “….hep me!!!….”
then hold your nose and gloss over his past fails while dreaming of potential winning future.
The most important part of this whole process…. DREAMING
I say this as a person who believes if Chizik wins big at Auburn, it will be nothing short of a miracle
January 16th, 2010 at 8:04 am
65
Group29 says:
#63 *Shows picture of Coach Rick Neuheisel, pointing out that the football monopoly is LA is over*
January 16th, 2010 at 10:12 am
66
Golden Hand says:
UT fans are hoping that the DD initials will revive the winning ways of Doug Dickey. Thin gruel, but better than Kiffin flakes.
January 17th, 2010 at 6:09 am
67
NatiJacket says:
Never Leave you like Kiffin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSX6CdwEjAA
January 17th, 2010 at 10:02 pm
68
'SotaVol says:
Where’s the Derek Dooley-is-Gerald Jones-is-Count von Count joke? It’s gotta be around here somewhere?
January 17th, 2010 at 10:46 pm
69
'SotaVol says:
‘Scuse the punctuation. I meant “…here somewhere.” All the raised eyebrows were getting to me.
January 17th, 2010 at 10:47 pm
70
Nu'keese says:
Vols, bitch.
January 17th, 2010 at 11:36 pm