JONES....
- Thread starter ejthree
- Start date
:facepalm: :sadwave: 
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:thefinger :mj10: :mj11: :nutkick :mj16: :mj15: :mj13: :mj12: :cursin: :s4: :s2: :bsflag :s1: :bs: :cuss: :chairshot :banghead: :thinking: :mj02: :mj01: :00x16 :00x4 :0026 :0038 :0045 :0047 :0049 :0050 :0060 :00x3
- Sep 7, 2006
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:facepalm: :sadwave:
Feel the same Skipper...Hope it works out for your Vols...Seems you could have done beter but time will tell"
I am going to give a detailed synopsis of what happened when I talk to my guy this afternoon. It is beyond belief.
skipper dont feel bad I live and grew up a hour and haff away from knoxville and as you are a lifetime 35 year fan and i am just devistated at this hire just cant believe it !
Below is where you go - me thinks there will be a part 3 soon!:00hour
I will also be posting a synopsis of what happened during the last week of this process. As RollTide will attest, it is unreal what took place.
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Jones
Jones
The situation he walked into at Cinci, was somewhat similar to Beliema's at Wisky. He got a job stacked with talent and rode it pretty well. Dantonio built the Bearcats from the ground up and when he left for Mich. St., Kelly inherited a ton of talent. Kelly was smart enough to know that his instant success would level off and he scooted to Notre Dame pretty quickly. Jones is doing the same thing. He managed to keep Cinci. competitive in a bad Big East and knows he will always be 8-4ish, and when you factor the money, it was a no-brainer. Now the other side: Just like Beliema, he has work to do. Nobody in the SEC is going to give him anything for free, he will earn every recruit. Granted it's a much better job than Arkansas for reasons like facilities, fan base, budget, recruiting areas. In a nutshell, Butch Jones is a decent coach, but can he compete with the big boys, this observer says the jury is out.
Jones
The situation he walked into at Cinci, was somewhat similar to Beliema's at Wisky. He got a job stacked with talent and rode it pretty well. Dantonio built the Bearcats from the ground up and when he left for Mich. St., Kelly inherited a ton of talent. Kelly was smart enough to know that his instant success would level off and he scooted to Notre Dame pretty quickly. Jones is doing the same thing. He managed to keep Cinci. competitive in a bad Big East and knows he will always be 8-4ish, and when you factor the money, it was a no-brainer. Now the other side: Just like Beliema, he has work to do. Nobody in the SEC is going to give him anything for free, he will earn every recruit. Granted it's a much better job than Arkansas for reasons like facilities, fan base, budget, recruiting areas. In a nutshell, Butch Jones is a decent coach, but can he compete with the big boys, this observer says the jury is out.
Oh my friend, just wait for the synopsis of the last week:nono:
And to your other question about how many they offered? Only two:facepalm:
Yes, forgot I didn't do that. Told the damn story 10 times already, so should have recorded and dictated
Here is the story as I have gotten this information from:
1 - Two different media members(one I know personally and talk to everyday), and one that he told me to call.
2 - A big money booster - not top 3 type, but let's just say he gives enough money to be in the know.
3 - A media member that works for ESPN/ABC that lives in Knoxville. He likes racing a great deal.
Before I begin, there was one piece of information that I received that was proven wrong and that was early in the process.
Rumors started to swirl early here in Knoxville in early October about Dooley getting the axe. I received a call from my main contact and he mentioned that Gruden and Ron Zook had been watching Tennessee film all year. He dug into this more and found our that not only was this true, but Gruden was putting together a tentative staff. Zook would be DC and recruiting coordinator, he would retain Jay Graham as RB coach, Tee Martin would come for WR coach, Rich Bisaccia as special teams coach, Juan Castillo as OL/DL coach, and there were a couple more that were TBD.
UT AD, Dave Hart, after firing Dooley, was able to get $18 million back from the academic side, that the athletic department donated, over three years. For doing this, the boosters backed off Hart because they felt that he would be able to lure a big name coach. This pissed Gruden off big time. Boosters were telling him to just hang on.
Hart NEVER wanted to hire Gruden. Hart has Napoleon syndrome, and doesn't want to give any power to anyone. He wanted to have control in every aspect of the hiring prospect, which Gruden would have told him to fawk off.
Fast forward to Jimbo Fisher not even wanting to talk to Hart. Hart felt all the while that at worst, he would get Charlie Strong. This is when the shit storm came down.
First of all, Gundy was never in play and never offered. This was done to buy time for Hart. Once it looked like Strong was going to stay, that's when the boosters finally got pissed and went on overdrive. This was evident by Hart going to Louisville and getting into a bidding war. The boosters went nuts after hearing that he was offering Strong $4 million/year.
Gruden was in the Knoxville area that Wednesday afternoon, and the boosters went on an all out assault to get him to meet with them at UT. Gruden has land and is building a house 20 minutes away, so he will continue to be in the area. On Thursday, Gruden agreed to a meeting with UT on campus. When this was pushed on Dave Hart - Dave Hart threatened to sue for "circumventing powers set forth in his contract." You can't make this shit up!
This is why Hart hired Butch Jones within 12-14 hours. Now, Dave Hart indicated that he met with Jones in Lexington, KY from 10 PM Thursday night - 5 AM Friday morning. Dave Hart was in Knoxville at a staff Christmas party until 11 PM Thursday. Also, Jones called a 7:30 AM meeting Thursday night? Come to find out, he never had a face to face interview with Butch Jones. 95% of this was done over the phone!!
This is the story as I know it and the Chattanooga article that was leaked the week before - was 100% fact based on the source was going to be on Gruden's staff!
After all this, there are two questions I cannot get past:
1 - Why would Hart not want to be a "hero" and hire Gruden? He must just be that stupid
2 - Why didn't the boosters just take control and hire him anyway? I was told they were already going to lose the women's AD lawsuit which Hart got UT into, and that Gruden told the boosters he wasn't going to work with that, fill in what ever expletive you want.
The one piece of information that I received that was wrong, is that the boosters were laying low early in the process. I was told that they were on the Gruden train from the get go.
Believe what you will, but when stories start coming together from different sources, I tend to believe this. Also, I had a $100 bet with BBC that Gruden would be the next coach. There came a point when I heard from a main guy that I would have bet $10,000 on it. Glad I didn't.
Here is the story as I have gotten this information from:
1 - Two different media members(one I know personally and talk to everyday), and one that he told me to call.
2 - A big money booster - not top 3 type, but let's just say he gives enough money to be in the know.
3 - A media member that works for ESPN/ABC that lives in Knoxville. He likes racing a great deal.
Before I begin, there was one piece of information that I received that was proven wrong and that was early in the process.
Rumors started to swirl early here in Knoxville in early October about Dooley getting the axe. I received a call from my main contact and he mentioned that Gruden and Ron Zook had been watching Tennessee film all year. He dug into this more and found our that not only was this true, but Gruden was putting together a tentative staff. Zook would be DC and recruiting coordinator, he would retain Jay Graham as RB coach, Tee Martin would come for WR coach, Rich Bisaccia as special teams coach, Juan Castillo as OL/DL coach, and there were a couple more that were TBD.
UT AD, Dave Hart, after firing Dooley, was able to get $18 million back from the academic side, that the athletic department donated, over three years. For doing this, the boosters backed off Hart because they felt that he would be able to lure a big name coach. This pissed Gruden off big time. Boosters were telling him to just hang on.
Hart NEVER wanted to hire Gruden. Hart has Napoleon syndrome, and doesn't want to give any power to anyone. He wanted to have control in every aspect of the hiring prospect, which Gruden would have told him to fawk off.
Fast forward to Jimbo Fisher not even wanting to talk to Hart. Hart felt all the while that at worst, he would get Charlie Strong. This is when the shit storm came down.
First of all, Gundy was never in play and never offered. This was done to buy time for Hart. Once it looked like Strong was going to stay, that's when the boosters finally got pissed and went on overdrive. This was evident by Hart going to Louisville and getting into a bidding war. The boosters went nuts after hearing that he was offering Strong $4 million/year.
Gruden was in the Knoxville area that Wednesday afternoon, and the boosters went on an all out assault to get him to meet with them at UT. Gruden has land and is building a house 20 minutes away, so he will continue to be in the area. On Thursday, Gruden agreed to a meeting with UT on campus. When this was pushed on Dave Hart - Dave Hart threatened to sue for "circumventing powers set forth in his contract." You can't make this shit up!
This is why Hart hired Butch Jones within 12-14 hours. Now, Dave Hart indicated that he met with Jones in Lexington, KY from 10 PM Thursday night - 5 AM Friday morning. Dave Hart was in Knoxville at a staff Christmas party until 11 PM Thursday. Also, Jones called a 7:30 AM meeting Thursday night? Come to find out, he never had a face to face interview with Butch Jones. 95% of this was done over the phone!!
This is the story as I know it and the Chattanooga article that was leaked the week before - was 100% fact based on the source was going to be on Gruden's staff!
After all this, there are two questions I cannot get past:
1 - Why would Hart not want to be a "hero" and hire Gruden? He must just be that stupid
2 - Why didn't the boosters just take control and hire him anyway? I was told they were already going to lose the women's AD lawsuit which Hart got UT into, and that Gruden told the boosters he wasn't going to work with that, fill in what ever expletive you want.
The one piece of information that I received that was wrong, is that the boosters were laying low early in the process. I was told that they were on the Gruden train from the get go.
Believe what you will, but when stories start coming together from different sources, I tend to believe this. Also, I had a $100 bet with BBC that Gruden would be the next coach. There came a point when I heard from a main guy that I would have bet $10,000 on it. Glad I didn't.
