I’m only posting this for discussion, not for any real substantial value. Lemme get that straight before we get started.
BUT the rumor mill on Fulmer’s future has been churning for a long while (One of your two biggest rivals dropping 59 points on ya will do that), and a fairly reputable insidetennessee.com message board poster has brought up some unsubstantiated banter that you’d find any ol’ day on a Bama board. The only reason I’m posting this link about the Vols allegedly “talking” to South Florida’s Jim Leavitt is it’s rare that UT fans post anything like this.
Whatever. The Ghost would never say he had inside UT information because he’s not one to toot his own foghorn (unless he eats Mexican food) … but from what I know, this would be very, very, very Auburn-esque to contact a coach under a veil of secrecy, especially during the season and especially when said coach’s team is in the top 10 and undefeated. All this makes me think this is laughable.
Also, and perhaps most importantly, doing something like this seems very un-Mike Hamilton-like. Hamilton very quietly but very firmly got rid of Buzz Peterson, and even conducted the Rod Delmonico ousting tidily, especially considering Delmonico was a worthless coach and a prick. To go against the standards of the system when Hamilton is a child of the system and not of the old regime of coach-turned-ADs would be astounding to me.
Finally, you don’t do anything like this four games into the season when your team still has “a chance” to get to the SEC Championship Game. This just doesn’t normally happen. Sorry, Vols fans.
Now, those things said, conducting a coaching search — if that is indeed what this may become — is fairly unprecedented in Knoxville. We haven’t had one since we went out and got ol’ Johnny after the 1976 season, and that was nobody’s surprise. So, Hamilton would be in uncharted waters if he is doing this.
For what it’s worth, I think this rumor is a bunch of Big Orange Feces. I don’t believe it for one second, and I believe that the poster (who is very reliable) has simply gotten hold of one of those “insiders” that thinks he knows more than he really does. Alabama sportswriters are very familiar with those “sources.”
Now, some heart-stopping news: Message boarders sometimes create sources to try to feel important. I know you all just gasped. Hard to believe, I know.
Trust me: My sources are concrete. And I’ll milk them for all they’re worth. They don’t believe this for a second, either. That said, if UT is going after someone now, Jim Leavitt would certainly be among the top two or three choices in my book. If you’re going to do a cloak-and-dagger deal at this juncture, a search would be fine to begin and end with Leavitt.
College football’s ugliest face would look beautiful in orange.
That’s the Ghost’s two cents, and they’re worth a heck of a lot more than that, baby.
Again, let me stress: THIS POST IS FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY. IT’S RUMOR AND CONJECTURE. Also, FWIW, Tennstud (Tennessee’s inside-info, message-board, oddball extraordinaire), posted this.
Ghost of Neyland
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