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If one more person remarks that Jones wasn't the right guy because he couldn't get better than 3-star athletes at Cincy, I will scream. Recruiting is a sell job for the school and the football program. A guy in Cincinnati can't sell that program like that same guy could at Tennessee, period. He outrecruited Strong so far this year before he left (and beat him two out of three as well) and has hired several strong recruiters with SEC ties. Martinez was fired as DC, but he's not our DC, so.... Thigpen was, according to my Auburn friends, their best coach and recruiter but Malzahn was told to clean house. He did and we get great staffer. Graham, 'nuff said. Azzanni I know nothing about except that Urban Meyer, good friends with Butch, hired him twice to coach receivers and we will run a similar power-run spread so.... The men from Cincy that came with Butch were mostly the same men that won all those games with him. Folks who win at lower levels tend to win when they move up, that's HOW and WHY they move up after all. If this recruiting class can be saved during a coaching change, congrats to Butch and staff. If not, it happens, not his fault. One bad class won't hurt any program and we'll see what he can do with an entire year to work these kids/HS coaches. But to say that he will fail as a recruiter because he couldn't get 4- and 5-star kids to Cincinnati is silly. No wonder our coaches are under so much stress - all the "experts" in our peanut gallery won't even give them a chance. Go Vols!!!

Completely agree with the recruiting angle. If fact, my only concern about his staff was related to recruiting. Les Miles, and to some degree Ol' Phil, proved that if you put better players on the field you don't have to coach them that well to be wildly successful. I live in Auburn country and was told by all my Tiger friends that both Thigpen and Martinez were marvelous recruiters and Lord knows we need to continue to upgrade the talent. IF Jones' coaches (many of whom coached in the SEC before) can re-establish our former recruiting prowess, the coaching part will be fine. All of his "new" guys - Azzanni, Graham, Thigpen, and Martinez - are reputed to be relentless on the recruiting trail. I'm cautiously optimistic....before, with Dooley and Kiffin, I was just cautious! Go Vols!!!

Hard to say but the UT job was/is certainly daunting. The program is in way better shape off the field than when DD took over but the on the field issues, the ones we fans are most concerned with, remain. WKU will win 10 games within a couple of years and Petrino will be out of there like his hair is on fire soon after. Cincinnati I'm not as sure about. Tuberville didn't exactly light up Texas Tech following Mike Leach and now he's sliding into Cincy after two very successful coaches. He had a reputation as a somewhat lazy recruiter while at Auburn but was considered a very good teacher of athletes with fewer Rivals or Scout "stars" so probably a good fit. Jones' task at UT isn't quite as easy. Expectations, as always, are sky-high. He's most likely losing Bray, Patterson, and Hunter so the offense will need to rebuild. We're changing back to a base 4-3, better of course for our personnel but a change nonetheless - how quickly can they make it work? Recruiting class is in flux daily, where do we end up there? I think down the road we will be very glad we got Jones instead of Tubs or Petrino. Will he be better than Charlie Strong? Louisville made him an offer no reasonable person could have refused so we'll never know. Go Vols!!!

Pretty funny but actually down here in the "Heart of Dixie", most of the trailer parks are decked out in crimson and white, not orange and blue....I live in north Alabama near Huntsville thus the high Auburn titer - all those engineers and rocket scientists...And believe me when I say, there is nothing worse than a whiny Auburn fan when they lose and NOTHING worse than an arrogant Bama fan (redundant, I know) when they win. It's pretty miserable during football season down here.....Go Vols!!!

Either of these two men were unprepared, as was Muschamp, Saban, Miles, Spurrier, etc.... Nobody can know what recruiting and playing in the SEC is all about until the big headset is on his head, period. Strong would have hit the recruiting faster but Jones was out-recruiting him in the Big East before we hired him. Jones has a longer history of winning as a HC, and in two different conferences no less, and has beaten Strong 2-1 in head-to-head meetings. And it's significant that no less than three other BCS-conference schools offered him their HC job so Hart wasn't the only one who thought this guy was a future star.....Assuming Strong was the better candidate on the surface is probably correct as Hart tried to get him first. But make no mistake, Jones was on the short list and the drop-off in coaching or recruiting versus Strong, if there really is one, is minimal. They were both good choices and either would have won here, at least more than Dooley or Kiffin. How far the rise above that, well, that will only be known in hindsight. Go Vols!!!

"Everywhere he's been" is one year at Arkansas State playing with Hugh Frieze's players. Coordinators don't "win" anything, HCs do. Don't get me wrong, I thought Chizik was a worse hire than Dooley and without his being handed Cam Newton by his questionable board members/boosters, he would have never won anything. Gus is an upgrade, for sure, but I would have been very disappointed if we'd hired him instead. One year as a D-1 HC? They essentially elevated a coordinator. He is completely unproven and has less D-1 expereince than any coach they have hired since Terry Bowden. I live in Auburn country, I can tell you they are not real sure about him either. To a man they all wished they had gotten Jones (he was definitely on their list). Whether Jones or Malzahn turn out, Jones was by far the less risky hire with the proven track record. Go Vols!!!

Either way, nobody ever questioned Sal's ability to coach LB's and in a 4-3 base you don't need two separate LB coaches. Yeah, Jones has chutzpah all right but it's just the right amount. Not the "aw shucks" Dooley approach and not the "middle finger in your face" Kiffin approach either. His "best staff" comment was just press conference stuff, expected of all new hires. For Gosh sakes, Stoops told the folks at Kentucky there was no reason they couldn't win SEC titles in Lexington. O-K.... One thing for sure, not since Johnny Majors have we hired a guy with a solid external resume (not counting Fulmer in this example) so I'm certainly less skeptical when he promises something than the last two coaches we had. Go Vols!!!

Florida and Auburn won NCs with the "spread" and Bama didn't look like they were "easily" defending A & M to me. The spread Jones uses, per his presser, will be based on a "pro-set", meaning not a lot of running by the QB, and a "physical running game". You are correct, no team has won the NC with a pass-happy spread but that's not what he likes to run. As far as the hire, apparently too many folks are equating Jones, a coach from a lower-tier conference, with Dooley. Big difference? Jones won there, at two levels, Dooley never did. If the man can recruit and coach we will win, despite any of our hesitancy about the hire. If you are right and he fails, then he will be fired and we will move on. Let's keep our perspective fellow Vols: this is college football, not cancer, it's gonna be OK. Go Vols!!!

True to a degree. Everyone understands that the TEAMS in the Big East are inferior to those in the SEC, sure. However, just like HCs, assistants have to start somewhere and work their way up. I think the big misunderstanding is that because lower-tier conferences don't compete well against the big boys, that necessarily means they have equally inferior coaching. Not true....The largest portion of the inequity has to do with raw talent, not coaching. Give any coaching staff better players and the results will get better as well. Now I'm not saying I would understand his bringing the entire staff (that's the 'true to a degree' part above) but surely we understand that a few of those guys can probably really coach. They are beating their peer group, which means similar talent levels, right? I'll bet he brings no more than 3 or 4 and hires the rest either from the current staff or elsewhere. Time will tell. Go Vols!!!

I live in big Auburn country (yuk!), they had already sent him back out on the road recruiting before Malzahn was hired. Remember, Auburn's NCAA compliance director worked in the enforcement division of the NCAA prior to heading to the plains. It's unlikely he got it wrong. However, the fan base felt pretty much like we did - decent coach, great recruiter but a bit obnoxious and specialized in recruiting thugs, several of whom at both institutions didn't pan out for one reason or another. I doubt Jones will hire him back.

I do think retaining Graham should be a priority and I would look hard at Pittman as well. Hinshaw has proven to be probably the best recruiter on Dooley's staff so I'd at least think about him too. Most new hire bring at least a few familiar guys from the old place, Jones will as well. IF he brings as many as four of his staff with him that leaves only five more on-field coaches, right? If you say he keeps Graham, that's four more hires, Martin, if he comes, leaves three openings. Several of his Cincy staff played in the SEC but he probably still needs one more really good Southern recruiter. Kevin Steele would be my choice - great position coach, phenomenal recruiter, UT alum (not that that really matters but fans love it). Of course, I've been waiting by my phone with lots of advice but I'm beginning to think Coach Jones isn't going to call..... Go Vols!!

I hate being belligerent with a fellow Vols fan but those three guys with BETTER resumes with no buyout and who were also cheaper were....? And we didn't double Jones' salary. The Cincy AD said there were "significant increases" offered by them in an effort to keep him. A 25% increase would be $2.3M, we are paying him less than $3 M after the signing bonus, so.... by my math that's not double. Further, it should be instructive that when a school opens their bank account to keep a coach (Strong and Jones for instance), that's a very good sign that Hart found some guys worth hiring. Don't recall La Tech mortgaging their campus to keep Dooley, do you? Further still, Hart finally got the buyout part of a contract right - he's owes us a lot more than we owe him if it doesn't work out, just as it should be. Your screen name suggests you would recall the ridiculous buyout clauses Hamilton gave Kiffin and Dooley, part of the reason Hart and the UTAD were under such duress. Those contracts screamed "we are desperate, PLEASE take this job!". On the other hand, Hart NOT putting those things in the current contract flies in the face of a "panic hire" as you call it - he offered the contract he offered and they could take it or not. I have no idea if Jones will win at UT or not but EVERY national media outlet had him as a guy UT should consider pretty early and no less than 4 other BCS conference schools (KY, BC, Purdue, and Colorado) were after him hard. How many BCS schools wanted Dooley? Fulmer was a much riskier hire than this guy and that turned out pretty darn well I think. C'mon bro', give him a chance - he's won everywhere else, he can win here. Go Vols!!!

Voice your opinion all you want, keep your money if you want, but your opinion about the new coach won't keep him from winning, which he has always done, nor will any other fans' exuberance keep him from losing. Cheer up, give him a chance and then judge. Go Vols!!!

First, you are assuming Hart only interviewed Gundy and Strong, which of course, is ridiculously unlikely. Second, there are men out there, proven winners, but with baggage. That list includes Petrino, Butch Davis, etc.... Those fellas don't currently have a job and would jump at the chance. However, if you can go safer, you do. Third, there are a slew of NFL coordinators who would also consider the job and their salaries are doable for a college team. They are pro coaches, sure, but they definitely can coach, just don't know about all the ancillaries associated with college football like recruiting, academics, etc... Again, riskier, so you go safe if you can. If Strong says no, and he may well do just that, Hart may be willing to get outside the box knowing he tried the sure, safe bets and didn't win. The absolute panic at this stage of the search among our fans is laughable. I'm not gonna lose one second of sleep over this until I see whom he hired. Even then, I don't make my living coaching football or running an athletic department so my opinion about whether a man can or can't win at UT really doesn't matter. Thankfully I have so many trolls on this site who can tell me with absolute certainty what "everyone" else thinks and what they "know" about our football future. Lucky me. Go Vols!!!

Dave Hart has absolutely nothing to do with the mess at UT. He didn't hire Dooley or any of his coaches. He did not make the 2013 schedule. He did not hire Kiffin and his goons for which we now have an extended probation. He did not sit on his hands in his office fretting over the academic folks bleeding the athletic department dry. He didn't go after a lesser guy (like Dooley) just to get the search done. You have no idea if Malzahn is as good as Strong or Gundy or anyone else as he has NEVER been a HC in a BCS league and his Ark St bowl team this year belongs to Frieze who, I might add, is doing wonders at Ole Miss (he's a real coach). Auburn has NO sanctions at this point, we are under a 4 year probation. Dude, don't know how you think Hart is responsible for the current mess. Going forward I'll buy it but this is still Haz-Mat cleanup duty from Hamilton and Co. Go Vols!!!

I don't. He has gone after successful guys in BCS conferences and there are others (Golden, Fedora, Jones) he has contacted who also fit that bill. If Hart wanted a quick yes, he could have called a Mark Stoops or Gus Mahlzahn and we would have our coach. I'm glad he's trying for better. I'm sick of the assumptions by so many fans on this site that if a coach tells us "no" it had to be Hart's fault in some way. It is possible that maybe, just maybe, taking UT back to the mountaintop is just too daunting for some guys to risk it? Or maybe they, or their families, are happy where they are? I mean, at some point, an extra $500,000 doesn't really matter to a guy with $10 million, right? It's OK folks, this is not a Kiffin-Dooley situation, Hart will find our guy. Go Vols!!!

Like you, that's exactly what I hope he's thinking. Go Vols!!!

You never know how these things will turn out and it's much harder to persuade someone to leave a place they are comfortable so Louisville still has the advantage. If their AD is sincere and they can match money with UT, then the only advantage we have is that we are in the SEC and they never will be. I'm hoping that he's still unhappy about being passed over for several SEC jobs while at Florida and Louisville and will take this job, tough as it will be, to prove everybody wrong. It's possible the extreme difficulty of the task may actually be what he finds so attractive and what others find so scary. Anyway, if he stays at Louisville it's his loss and we will move on. However, short of his saying he just flat out doesn't want to leave Louisville, I can't imagine that as much as we need an established, winning guy with BCS level HC experience, that Hart will let money or anything else stand in the way of getting him to Knoxville. I guess we'll know soon enough. Go Vols!!!

Uh, Muschamp was the coach-in-waiting at the richest (and arguably the most influential) school in D-1 football which means he wasn't your run-of-the-mill coordinator. Nor was he their first choice - we know they contacted Stoops if not others but were (gasp!) turned down. The coach in waiting concept was actually started at Florida State with Jimbo Fisher and..... Dave Hart. Almost all those men, Muschamp, Franklin, Fisher, etc... have been very good when given the opportunity to step up. Strong was not in that boat and I'm sure Mr. Foley, their AD, decided (as I would have) that Texas' coach-in-waiting trumped a 6-6 HC stint at a Big East school. Point is, just because Florida went a different direction doesn't mean the man can't coach. After what he's done at Louisville, I'll bet they'd consider him now if the need arose. Go Vols!!!

Duke, we are rebuilding in the toughest conference in the land, and have been since the Hamilton/Fulmer debacle. We play Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and Alabama every year. We generally schedule one nasty non-conference team as well, next year it's at Oregon. Fulmer let recruiting go, Kiffin signed thugs that Dooley had to let go, and Dooley never really signed anybody out of high school. We are on NCAA probation through 2015. Our fans have high expectations due to our storied history of championships. I'm not being negative, just stating facts. In spite of all that, the consensus among pundits is that this is the best job out there right now. It's a very tough job and will require a very tough man to work through it. If folks aren't "lining up", who can blame them? Kiffin was looking for work and Dooley jumped at the opportunity to coach in the SEC while never having won in C-USA. Strong is neither unemployed nor desperate. He can bide his time if he likes, other big jobs will come along. If he takes this job, I'll tip my hat, get behind him 100%, and see what he can do. I know you'll do the same. Go Vols!!!

Switching back to a 4-3 is relatively simple since 90% of kids played this defense in HS. If he runs a 3-4 at Louisville, he'd better watch some film of last year's UT team and then figure out how to run a 4-3. Go Vols!!!

Good call. Maybe all that rivalry karma will cancel out and we'll get a winner - finally.... Go Vols!!!

Why didn't Florida didn't hire him to replace Meyer? Well, first, how do you know they didn't ask him through back channels about his interest? You don't. He had only been at Louisville one year at that point. If you hire a coach who, under no duress, will leave somewhere else after one year you probably aren't getting a guy who will be loyal to you either. Second, with only one year's HC experience they probably weren't sure he could handle a program of Florida's scope. I doubt they would think that now. Third, Louisville's performance against Florida in the Sugar Bowl will have absolutely no bearing on his ability to coach Tennessee or any prognostic value as to how we would fare against Florida (or any other SEC opponent) down the road. At Louisville he does not have SEC caliber players. At Tennessee he will, if not now in the future. That's like saying Saban can't coach because Bama couldn't beat the Bears. So what? Beating your peer group at one level translates almost every time to continuing that trend at higher levels. I can't wait to see what he can do recruiting and coaching. Bring him on. Go Vols!!!

He's a far cry splashier hire than Malzahn at Auburn and a much better fit than Bielema at Arkansas. He's a fierce recruiter who's had success in Florida for years, and that's pretty fast talking to get a kid from the Sunshine State to live in Louisville for 4 years. He's a well-respected defensive coach and more importantly, as such, might leave the offensive side of the ball relatively intact, ie., Chaney, Pittman, and Graham. He's also great with the boosters, HS coaches, etc... All the things he does well - recruit, coach a mean defense, and schmooze boosters - we have been in short supply of recently. I say quit goofing around and sign him up, we need to move forward. Go Vols!!!

Fedora may well be the man although he's known to completely ignore the defensive side of the ball. Uh, we've seen that movie and know how it ends in the SEC. However, were he to hire a good DC that would be OK. The other issue is that he runs a spread offense, similar to Oregon. Great you say? Remember the "Clawfense" from a few years ago? We don't have the players to run that offense and we'd be in for a couple more years of "can we make a bowl?" before things turned around, if at all at that point. I still like Charlie Strong and I still say that's who Hart is going to ultimately hire. Go Vols!!!

Butch Davis has openly indicated he would like to get back into coaching and he has won everywhere he's been. He has coached in the NFL and recruited from North Carolina to Florida VERY successfully. He claims the NCAA exonerated him in the UNC academic scandal. If true, he's a steal on the order of Bobby Petrino, without the girlfriend, the drama, or the propensity to leave current employers holding the bag. Tressel, another great coach, has a show-cause order through the 2016 season. Teams who have just had their probation increased by two years do NOT need to hire a man the NCAA calls a cheater. Strong apparently waiting to hear if he's offered the job and he probably will be as soon as Gundy gets his raise from OSU. This is the week boys and girls, buckle your seatbelts. Go Vols!!!