The CheckerBoard

So then Fulmer gets credit for Kiffin's first class...

Exactly what is it I do not get? I posted information I thought was interesting without comment. I find the behind the scenes workings to be fascinating and thought maybe some others might as well.

And Dooley gets credit for CBJ's next class, too...

In the future, please actually read what I write before shooting off with caustic comments like that. Actually, you might want to go back and look at my posting history and my prior comments on Dooley as well before making such misinformed and blatantly false allegations as well. When Kiffin was working on that 2010 class (Dooley's first), he had also been offering 2011 recruits, much as Jones and this staff started to do with the 2014 class before NSD '13. So when Dooley came into UT, he was dealing with 2 1/2 weeks to shore up Kiffin's 2010 class, and start looking at who Kiffin had targeted in 2011 and moving on from that point. I've never been a Dooley hater (GoVols2011 probably calls me the biggest Dooley homer, in fact), so your entire post is baseless and full of false allegations. I also never said that Kiffin gets credit for the 2011 class - what I said was that Kiffin had already started working on that class when he left. You can directly hold Dooley accountable for maybe 45% of the 2010 class, and probably 85% of the 2011 class (Kiffin hadn't put a ton of work into it at that point), but as Dooley's direct responsibility for each class went up, the overall ranking did go down.

@Popcorn Sutton: There is a HUGE difference between hiring a coach in December to complete a class (aka Kiffin in 2009 and Jones in 2013) and hiring a coach 2 1/2 weeks BEFORE NSD. There was no way in hell Dooley could have redone the entire class from scratch. Also, you overlook the fact that both Kiffin and Jones took over before the EEs arrived on campus, so they had time to actually decide whether they still wanted those players or not. Dooley arrived on campus with 2 1/2 weeks to complete a class largely established by Kiffin, and with 5-7 EEs already enrolled. I'm not saying that Dooley did a bad job with that 2010 class. But as his tenure went by, those 2011 and 2012 classes were not as good from a rankings perspective as that initial class which was largely inherited by Dooley.

Once again, you're inventing context from my comments. When Kiffin left, he had the 2010 class already in place and had started on 2011. Dooley did the majority of the work on 2011, but there were a couple of leads he followed from Kiffin. Not sure how you arrived at the conclusion that I'm "selectively" choosing which classes to give credit for, when I've mentioned all of them. I don't recall hearing anything about Dooley offering anyone from the 2014 class - although I know they had been looking at some of the 2014 legacy prospects (Kelly, the Berry Twins, Wharton). I also never said whether I thought Dooley was a good or bad recruiter - that's something you and WVA are claiming I said. What I did say was that as UT moved farther from the Kiffin era, the rankings of the recruiting classes declined. I pointed out a trend, but I made no assessment of Dooley's abilities based on that. What's up for debate is how much of that decline was due to coaching instability, the lack of a winning record, recruiting ability, lack of public support for Dooley following the Kentucky loss, etc. That's the part you seem to be consistently overlooking.

I went back through your entire posting history and read all of your 5300 posts. Now that I'm fully informed, your assertion that Kiffin is responsible for any of Dooley's second year is still ridiculous. Well, I guess since Kiffin offered them that automatically means they were in the bag. 45%, 85% where do you come up with these numbers? You can try all the amateur lawyering you want (false allegations, get real?!?!) but a few people called you out for your post and now you're back tracking. Every coach is responsible for his own class. Anyway, here's to hoping Dooley's 2014 class is better than his 2013 class! Then, I guess it will be time for Butch to take over.

If a hs coach says he doesn't know anyone on the it staff hasn't heard from anyone on staff that's not an ppinion that's an indictment. What I'm looking at is dooleys last class this year which reflected no effort whatsoever. Defending Dooley on any level is well, indefensible. He is the worst coach on the Hill in my lifetime but hey, I'm only 67

he continued to tell Jay and Jones he was coming as well, until he changed his mind. So did Ford, until Auburn offered..

silent commitments are about like public commitments. until LOI is signed, mean nothing..

8 of our commitments signed elsewhere. 8 of our signees, were committed elsewhere at one point.

why I decided several years back when things started earlier to not follow too closely until last 2 weeks prior to NSD..

So much changes for recruits every other week, let alone a year. Kiffin gets 0% credit for Dooleys 11' class, just like Dooley deserves 0% credit for Butches 14' class, IMO.

The OP's entire post was lifted verbatim from TOS and zero credit was given to the source.

I'm very disappointed that this thread was not nuked.

I think you should go back and read the OP again

I'm sure Dooley was kind to small animals, maybe a good father. But not a good football coach. And he was lazy as a recruiter at least on his last class. You don't want to believe HS coaches. This will be my final comment to you. This from a Middle Tennessee sports writer, just yesterday. I asked him why the Ramsey kid from B'wood Academy disdained Tennessee so. He said that it wasn't that way. That Ramsey's parents were Florida fans and if he decommitted from USC he'd likely go to Florida. So he goes to Florida State, Florida's blood rival. In other words Tennessee was never even on the map for what is regarded as the best prospect in Tennessee. A cover corner that every team covets. So when I asked this writer, who has covered sports in Middle Tennessee for over 20 years, here is his reply. "That staff had a lot of ground to make up post-Dooley. I think they decided to salvage what they could this year and really hit it hard with this junior class." A lot of ground to make up. You go on thinking Dooley was a good recruiter. I think Dooley looked at the rock star money guys were making in coaching, and decided it'd be a long time before a lawyer could get into that tax bracket. He traded off of his name, hooked onto a star in Saban, got a gig at La Tech, and took this one when no one in the country you ever heard of would take it, cut himself the biggest sweetheart deal in SEC history, tried but was found wanting and way, way over his head in the SEC. Sailed into the sunset with a $5 million golden parachute and his doctor wife. It's is amazing to me he is actually working in coaching again, but will not ever be a HC at any D1 program worth his salt. Some people refuse to acknowledge that Dooley was totally out of his depth. If that is your real portrait, then, I understand.