Adams: Getting it right is all that counts

If you remember nothing else about Tennessee's hiring process, remember this: The process only matters if you get the wrong guy for a football coach.

For example, take your football neighbors to the south.

Alabama's pursuit of coach Nick Saban was distinguished by skid marks and roadblocks. The search seemingly lasted longer than coach Mike Shula's last season.

Saban, then the coach of the Miami Dolphins, said he wasn't going to Alabama. And some boosters didn't care. They had their own candidate in West Virginia's Rich Rodriguez. All he did was turn them down at the 11th hour.

A program that had been traumatized by Dennis Franchione's exit and Mike Price's entrance was looking more laughable than ever. But who's laughing now?

The Tide are 10-0 and in the running for the SEC and national titles. The hiring process was a colossal mess; the hire was a rousing success.

The process has just started for Tennessee and athletic director Mike Hamilton. It began with the forced resignation of outgoing coach Phillip Fulmer last Monday.

You can debate whether Hamilton should have waited until the end of the season to announce his decision. But you shouldn't concern yourself with whether his decision might have adversely affected UT's performance in Saturday's loss to Wyoming.

The team had lost six games, and it almost surely would have lost to Northern Illinois if NIU's starting quarterback hadn't been injured early in the game. It's an underachieving team with a fragile psyche. A gentle breeze could blow it off course.

What this team did Saturday or does later against Vanderbilt and Kentucky doesn't matter nearly as much as what Hamilton does. His goal isn't to get this team to Shreveport for the holidays. It's to hire a coach who can return the program to national prominence.

Last week was one of the most difficult Hamilton will face as an athletic director. He had to dismiss a longtime UT coach who led the program to the top of college football 10 years ago, and he did it as deftly as anyone could have. But even if he had stumbled through the entire process, his clumsiness would be forgotten if he were to make a great hire.

This process often doesn't go smoothly at either end. You might get misled and rejected. You might get embarrassed.

Alabama was misled, rejected and embarrassed in its coaching search. Rodriguez almost said "yes" before he said "no." Saban said "no" publicly and emphatically before he said "yes."

What was said then doesn't matter now. Two years after the hiring of Saban, Alabama will be playing for an SEC championship and maybe a national title.

And the firing and hiring process is a footnote.

Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knoxnews.com.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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