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Duke coach David Cutcliffe on Friday withdrew his name from consideration for the Tennessee head coaching job.

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http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4828327

I'll laugh once we have a DC

Agree with Bob. A vacancy at UT makes me nervous until our DC is announced.

When that is done I'll laff at the Vols.

So how good is the Tennessee job?

Rejection list:

- Duke Head Coach
- Air Force Head Coach
- tsip coordinator

If the La Tech coach denies them I will drive to Knoxville to make fun of them personally.

They are saying that Cutcliffe declined because they were going to make him keep some of Kiffin's staff on board. Cutcliffe wanted to bring in his own coaching staff.

Well that's their own fault then.

Tenn also unceremoniously threw out Fulmer, who Cutcliffe worked for, for like 10+ years.

I would say that it was a question of loyalty (both to his own assistants and to Fulmer) and he showed them that he values it.

[This message has been edited by Randy03 (edited 1/15/2010 9:36a).]

That is sad....

If those cats have declined, then I would expect that Leach is called, if he hasn't already been. Good school, but tough division and tough conference. I heard that was one reason why muschamp with drew his name.

I've not yet withdrawn my name... Still expecting that phone call.

I think this just shows the pressure put on SEC coaches..... some coaches don't want that pressure cooker and I don't blame them.......

They offered me, but I decided to go ahead and pursue a career in rock cello.

I bought my first cello today, and a DVD on how to start playing it.

Vandy fans are laughing....

Rick Barnes has been contacted.

maybe they bring the great pumpkin back pulling a page from K State.

I am withdrawing my name from consideration. Going down with one sinking ship was enough maties.

Now even Pat Summitt has turned them down...
http://www.wbir.com/sports/story.aspx?storyid=110524&catid=5

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I am withdrawing my name from consideration. Going down with one sinking ship was enough maties.

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Hey! You survived, you jerk! The casket was my plan.

Any rumor proclaiming that they're being turned down based on them asking for Kiffin's staff to stay in place is far from the truth.

He loaded up all but one guy when he left town. And he's looking to bail out too. There are no "Kiffin staff members" left in the greater Knoxville area.

oh, and back to the point of the thread, getting turned down by a guy from the MWC is pretty damn sad if you ask me.

[This message has been edited by welborn (edited 1/15/2010 10:56a).]

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If the La Tech coach denies them I will drive to Knoxville to make fun of them personally.

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And they will respond to you, "Cotton Bowl."

I'm sure seeing Vols fan block the roads, burn mattresses, and post Kiffin's wife's cell phone number online for everyone to call has to be in the back of the mind for the new potential coach too.

Leach to Tennessee, now that's a good rumor to start!

It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog!

I love that Cut declined the job. It's good to every now and then see a coach decline a better job because he likes where he is. Duke is not a power house, but him and his family are happy there. Very admirable.

This sounds a lot like Bama a few years back before Saban landed in their lap. Hopefully this doesn't work out so well for Tenn.

Saban didn't just land in their lap. They got tired of this garbage and decided to money-whip him. Tenn either doesn't seem to have the resources for that approach or they need more seasons of failure to get desperate enough.

Although I would love to see Leach at Tennessee, there is no way a university will touch Leach with a 38 1/2 foot long pole as long as the lawsuit against Tech is still out there. There are too many unknowns with that situation. If bad stuff (condemning information) about Leach leaks out, Tennessee would be going through the same stuff they are going through right now in about 4 months or so.

Once the lawsuit is finished, I don't think he will have any problem finding a job because I think it will exonerate (sp?) him.

Vol fans of a certain age always looked at Johnny Majors, two-time SEC MVP and runner up for the 1956 Heisman Trophy, as a god and the key to making Tennessee a power in the SEC. Majors did very well at Pitt while Bill Battle went .723 at Tennessee between 1970 and 1976.

Unfortunately, Battle didn't beat Alabama enough. The fact that he was also a Bama letterman didn't help, and the big money Vols of the era threw Battle overboard and brought Majors in after he won the MNC at Pitt.

Majors took a bit to get up to speed but was winning within a couple of years. Three SEC championships in the 1980s and a near-miss at the MNC. Phil Fulmer was Majors' OL coach and then OC, and he was very well connected those upcoming big $$ guys who were too young to remember Majors' glory days. Incidentally, Fulmer and Phil Garner were roommates during their time at UT.

Comes 1992. Majors complains publically about his contract during spring banquets around the state, causing much consternation with high $$ boosters. He has a near heart attack and has bypass surgery just as the season begins, leaving Fulmer to lead the team in his absence.

(It's still hard for longtime Knoxvillians like my family to figure out how Johnny could have had blocked arteries since his blood was 10% Jack Daniels most of the time. He was well known for showing up at the Sigma Chi house after games. The joys of life before cell phone cameras.}

Fulmer goes 5-0. Johnny comes back and goes 0-3, a stretch during which the student section chanted "BLOCK THAT ARTERY!" A power struggle ensues with Fulmer engaging in all sorts of intrigue with the AD, Doug Dickey - who also coached Fulmer. Politically, Majors never had a chance - and many long-time Vols were disgusted with the open backstabbing in which Phil indulged.

In a scenario that will strike most Aggies as very familiar, Fulmer won early with Majors' recruits, eventually winning two SEC championships and the 1998 MNC. But he never beat Florida with any consistency. The seniors on the 1998 MNC team lost only five games, three of which were to Florida and one to Memphis (!). This is the time when Spurrier - a native Tennessean - makes the pronouncement that "You can’t spell 'Citrus Bowl' without UT." He’d rack up wins in front of 105,000 against lesser teams, then get pounded by Florida or Alabama, even occasionally blowing up against Memphis, Vanderbilt, Mississsippi State or even Wyoming. He’s got a reputation for being a bit slimy on the recruiting trail. Every year, a Fulmer recruit was arrested, and not for piddling stuff.

Comes 2003, Coach Dickey retires and costs Fulmer his biggest political backer. His replacement changes ticket policy and requires donations for good seats for the first time, resulting in a lot of outrage. The dissatisfaction grows for so many just as Fulmer starts to slip on the field. He has a whopping 4 career wins against Meyer, Richt and Saban, and it's apparent that Meyer’s game is far, far past anything Fulmer could ever develop. So, in 2008, he's forced to resign mid-season – and walks away with $15 million, thanks to the new contract he had signed just the year before. Old Vols hate him and new Vols hate him while middle-age Vols are ambivalent at best.

I'm no Fulmer fan by any stretch, but I did think they should have given him another year. Cutcliffe's potential return makes the current Vols fan feel an order of magnitude more depressed than Aggies were at the prospect of Bennett coming in as DC.

Here's an indication of how bad support is now: they had backing to offer $21 million over 7 years to Muschamp and close to that for Calhoun. That money evaporated when Cutcliffe came into play. Thanks to Fulmer's buyout the perennially sold-out Vols can’t swing a $3 million buyout of the assistant coaches that Kiffin insisted upon.

I wouldn't want to be Mike Hamilton.


[This message has been edited by Czervik 86 (edited 1/15/2010 1:46p).]

That sounds like the intro to a post-apocalyptic video game.

Czervik 86, nice summary there.