Pretty good read. A lot of the stuff is common knowledge with any fan that keeps in the loop but here are some of the highlights.
1. Dysfunction for years from the lack of continuity in leadership. President after President, AD after AD, coach after coach.
2. When Dickey left was the beginning of the down fall. He was a very strong AD and kept all the "other" powers in their place. Hamilton was weak and a puppet. Hart was doing some good things but had a mess to clean up. Currie was the same as Hamilton but even worse.
3. The requirement of having a PhD to be president but not understanding how to run a billion dollar business caused problems.
4. The reasoning for a lot of Fulmers issues with coaches toward the end of his tenure was because Hamilton would not give him the money we needed to retain and hire top coaches. We were paying close to half of what our comp was paying. He also had trouble getting some kids enrolled because of a weak AD. Other SEC schools were getting them in but we couldn't.
5. All athletic hires were dictated by Jimmy Haslam (the son, big Jim seemed like he was not as involved). He denies it in the book but several other large donors say that it was always a vote of 1-0 and he was the only vote that mattered.
6. A lot of large donors were alienated by the university because there was so much movement in leadership. They did not have a relationship anymore with anyone there.
7. The infrastructure of having a AD report to a Chancellor that was an academic and had no knowledge of sports made no sense. During Dickey's time the AD reported straight to the President of the University.
8. Davenport even though she made the wrong decision hiring Currie (Haslem hire) may have saved us by being to only one to have enough balls to make her own decision and hire PF. It ultimately got her fired.
9. Butch Jones was a POS. Lots of things about him ignoring players injuries and how he treated players.
10. Currie was a terrible hire. Very arrogant and thought he was smarter than everyone else and didn't need any help. The book seemed to point to he did little to no interviews and had already decided to hire Schiano after a conversion with Jimmy H. Books says Leach tried to contact Currie weeks before BJ was fired to inform him he would be interested in the job but Currie did not contact him back or attempt to interview him until the publicized time when Currie went missing after the crap hit the fan.
11. Most feel that we are now starting move in the right direction. They feel with fewer board members decisions are made much more easily. Fulmer is making sure that Tennessee football is getting all the resources it needs to compete in football and other sports. There are fewer Yes Men in position of power to the Haslem's than there has been in a long time.
12. What this program needs more than anything is competent stability. We have been a revolving door of leadership for over a decade and shows. We need stability in the President, Chancellor, AD, and HC to get back to being relevant. We need leadership to unite the fan base and the donors to move in the same direction and quit fighting between themselves.
There is a lot more stuff. Definitely worth the read. Most of it is done in interview form so it is word for word. May have missed some stuff feel free to add anything I missed.
1. Dysfunction for years from the lack of continuity in leadership. President after President, AD after AD, coach after coach.
2. When Dickey left was the beginning of the down fall. He was a very strong AD and kept all the "other" powers in their place. Hamilton was weak and a puppet. Hart was doing some good things but had a mess to clean up. Currie was the same as Hamilton but even worse.
3. The requirement of having a PhD to be president but not understanding how to run a billion dollar business caused problems.
4. The reasoning for a lot of Fulmers issues with coaches toward the end of his tenure was because Hamilton would not give him the money we needed to retain and hire top coaches. We were paying close to half of what our comp was paying. He also had trouble getting some kids enrolled because of a weak AD. Other SEC schools were getting them in but we couldn't.
5. All athletic hires were dictated by Jimmy Haslam (the son, big Jim seemed like he was not as involved). He denies it in the book but several other large donors say that it was always a vote of 1-0 and he was the only vote that mattered.
6. A lot of large donors were alienated by the university because there was so much movement in leadership. They did not have a relationship anymore with anyone there.
7. The infrastructure of having a AD report to a Chancellor that was an academic and had no knowledge of sports made no sense. During Dickey's time the AD reported straight to the President of the University.
8. Davenport even though she made the wrong decision hiring Currie (Haslem hire) may have saved us by being to only one to have enough balls to make her own decision and hire PF. It ultimately got her fired.
9. Butch Jones was a POS. Lots of things about him ignoring players injuries and how he treated players.
10. Currie was a terrible hire. Very arrogant and thought he was smarter than everyone else and didn't need any help. The book seemed to point to he did little to no interviews and had already decided to hire Schiano after a conversion with Jimmy H. Books says Leach tried to contact Currie weeks before BJ was fired to inform him he would be interested in the job but Currie did not contact him back or attempt to interview him until the publicized time when Currie went missing after the crap hit the fan.
11. Most feel that we are now starting move in the right direction. They feel with fewer board members decisions are made much more easily. Fulmer is making sure that Tennessee football is getting all the resources it needs to compete in football and other sports. There are fewer Yes Men in position of power to the Haslem's than there has been in a long time.
12. What this program needs more than anything is competent stability. We have been a revolving door of leadership for over a decade and shows. We need stability in the President, Chancellor, AD, and HC to get back to being relevant. We need leadership to unite the fan base and the donors to move in the same direction and quit fighting between themselves.
There is a lot more stuff. Definitely worth the read. Most of it is done in interview form so it is word for word. May have missed some stuff feel free to add anything I missed.
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