The Coaching Search.

WHY I FEEL THE WAY I DO

I recall being obsessed with Tennessee football as a 5 year old in 1997(Peyton's senior year)when Tennessee was competing for the national title. Not yet in kindergarden I would talk to my amused sunday school teachers about Tennessee players like Peyton Manning and Al Wilson. I recall crying as Nebraska picked us apart in Tom Osborne's final game. My tears that night gave birth to a fiery passion for Tennessee football that has not subsided to this day. I attended my first game in 1998 when the Vols outlasted UAB 37-13 in Neyland Stadium. It was the night we became the #1 team in the land and I was utterly mystified by the sea of orange inside the stadium and the passionate "it's great to be a Tennessee Vol chant" sung by our students. What captivated me most was the fact that it was all real. My uncle carried me through the lines of people to get a front row spot for the vol walk where i would shake hands with Phillip Fulmer(the guy who seemed like a mythical figure who only ever appeared on tv) I also high fived members of the national championship team like Cedrick Wilson, Dwayne Goodrich, and Jeff Hall. This season and it's improbable nail-biting victories over Syracuse, Florida, Arkansas, Mississippi State and Florida State set the tone for what i expected from Tennessee. Coach Fulmer's pre-game speech before the fiesta bowl sums it up the best. "Take alot of pride in those orange jerseys, guys....it's not every day you get to play for a national championship....you do not have to play perfect, BUT PLAY YOUR BUTTS OFF" Since that season i have not expected perfection but i have expected Tennessee to suceed with the odds against them,( The Arkansas win, Jamal Lewis's injury, Cutcliffe leaving for Ole Miss, rallying to beat Mississippi State)and i have expected Tennessee players to play their butts off because they had pride in the Tennessee jersey and the tradition it represents.

The tradition, pride and passion at Tennessee should be enough to sustain the program. The head coach is just the one who directs it all. To associate Tennessee football with Lane Kiffin, Ed Orgeron, and Monte Kiffin is straight up ridiculous. Lane worked very hard and I believe he was on pace to win the 2011 SEC championship. However, he was more concerned about doing things the Lane way and building his own name. He despised Tennessee tradition and attempted and partially succeeded in uprooting Tennessee tradition. Not once did he recite the game maxims with the team. He had the vol walk shortened and he turned the coaches tv show into a boring impersonal time filler. I understand why casual Tennessee fans, and Mike Hamilton wanted him. He is young, exciting, and he has a sexy wife(i have her digits by the way) but this program has no need to deposit it's future into the hands of a liberal westerner with personal ambition. Tennessee is the game maxims, Tennessee is the vol navy, Tennessee is the largest crowds in the south, Tennessee is CHARACTER, FOLLOWING THE RULES, HAVING MORAL STANDARDS, Tennessee is a coach or player taking time to genuinely smile and sign an autograph for a kid, Tennessee is "wearing that orange jersey with pride....and play(ing) your butts off" Tennessee isn't breaking the rules to get ahead, Tennessee isn't about starting verbal wars with rival coaches, Tennessee isn't USC or the nfl....Tennessee is well Tennessee. There us no need to conform to rest of the country's ways of doing things. Some of our fans are like toddlers who see a new toy that they just have got to have. People seem to forget that under Fulmer we won the east at least once every 3 years and with Georgia going down the tubes and Florida unsure about Urban Meyer we have a chance to improve on that even with Cutcliffe..The program CAN and WILL suceed as long as the next coach(probably Cutcliffe) just does things the Tennessee way. I don't want the next coach to sing rocky top until it is out of genuine love for the university...i want someone who respects this program, this school, and this state more than he respects himself. I realize the next few seasons are probably going to be 5-7, 7-5...after that as long as Cutcliffe does things the Tennessee way and recruits players who will do the same i predict that within 5 years when the rest of the SEC is searching for their next bigshot selfish coach we will be winning 9-11+ games a year and contending for SEC championships. It was always about Lane Kiffin and never about Tennessee... with David Cutcliffe lets be patient and allow it to be about Tennessee, integrity, character, pride, and tradition, out of these things true success will flow.