The CheckerBoard

How bout we just let them put it in neutral and start at the bookstore and see how far down the hill they can get

Sure, Strong is not a home run guaranteed success, but in reality, no one is. But with Strong, you've got:

1) winning record in a BCS conference (Dooley was a losing coach in a non-BCS conference), and
2) had huge success as a coordinator in the SEC (Dooley was a special teams and position coach)

Neither of those mean he is a national championship winning coach, but when you line the two up against each other, it's hard to make the argument that Dooley is better. As you say, it's hard to compare the two perfectly, but what advantage do you give to Dooley other than "he's already here and we want stability"?

Another point: stability is overrated at this stage. It was important in Dooley's first couple of years because the roster needed time to build back up, but it is less so now. New coaches CAN be successful right away, and a "stable" program can still be a losing program.

Funny Funny Funny +1

You can't compare the two coaches because they haven't coached in the same atmospheres. I couldn't disagree more that stability is overrated. Agree to disagree.

Petrino would be interesting. He is obviously a scumbag, but I don't think he has ever been in any sort of trouble with the NCAA. I personally would be against hiring him, but I'm not sure how I would feel if he came in and led us to a 10-2 season with wins over Florida or Alabama. I'm not sayting that would happen, but if it did I think alot of us would probably change our minds pretty quick.

I definetely have doubts that Strong would be 0-5 in the SEC with our schedule. Georgia, Miss. St, and South Carolina were all winnable games. Florida and Bama would have beat us no matter who the coach, but the other three losses a great coach could have made a difference. Once again, take Tennessee out of it. Compare Dooley's resume (minus UT) to Strong's. It's not close. Dooley has NEVER beat a ranked team, and NEVER won a big game. What makes you think he's going to start now after 6 years as a head coach?

Strong can get players that don't have the grades for schools in conferences like the SEC. I don't doubt he's a good coach but the Louisville fans were ready to can him after his first couple of seasons, just like some here are with Dooley.

What's brown and sounds like a bell? Dung!

Feces. Scatology. Excrement. Filth. Poo-poo. Solid Human Waste. In giant, landfill-sized mountains.

Such was our program when Dooley took it over.

I agree w/both of the above posters about Petrino. No way; no how; no more $$$ for the Univ. from me; and the win total d/n matter.

As for Strong, he sure didn't look too swooft when he cussed out the ref and drew a flag arguing a rule he didn't even know on the muff/touchback. I was sorely disappointed, because I thought he was smarter than that. Since they apparently love him up there, too, he might not be too eager to jump out of a place where they're prepared to pay him a lot more to stay, and jump into the SEC fire.

Only thing in his support I can admit is that I've wondered myself if this bunch of Vols couldn't maybe do better with a yeller and screamer who's less intelligent than Dooley. Sometimes I think there's a disconnect there between him and the, ahem, non-Rhodes-Scholar-types on the team, leading him to expect too much, and them to be totally lost.

I'm fully aware of the mess Dooley stepped in. My question is do you really think he is moving us in the right direction? And are you serious I can't compare Charlie Strong to him simply because he hasn't coached in the same league and didn't inherit a mess? I guess I can't compare Chip Kelly, Bob Stoops, or any of the other coaches across the country that don't coach in the SEC to him either then.

Strong had success as a coordinator and Dooley has never been one : )

I disagree that you can't compare them just because they haven't coached in the same "atmospheres". What qualifies as the same atmosphere that would make them comparable? Saban didn't inherit the same mess that Dooley did, so does that mean we can't objectively say that Saban would do a much better job than Dooley is doing? We can still objectively look at each coach's accomplishments (or in Dooley's case, lack thereof) and make some kind of judgment, right? Is it a perfect comparison? No. But can we draw some kind of conclusions from it? Absolutely.

And I don't think you realize that the situation Strong took over at Louisville was pretty rough. He's winning this year with a team full of sophomores. And last year he did it with freshmen. The roster he inherited was miserable, and he's building it back up. And he's not using the "youth and inexperience" argument that Dooley has leaned on his first two years. No one expected Dooley to win the SEC these first three years, but with the resources he has, and the talent he's recruited, it's not unreasonable to expect more wins out of this team. I'm done making excuses for him.

Again, I'm not saying that Strong would definitely do better than Dooley has done at UT or that he's definitely the guy we should go after, but based on what we've seen out of both, I'm struggling to find ANY evidence that on paper he's not a better coach.

I can't tell you Dooley is a better coach than Strong. You can't prove to me Strong is a better coach than Dooley or that he would have had more success than Dooley has had in this mess that he's inherited. Given that, and that IMO we need stability and not more coaching turnover, and given the financial ramifications of firing a coach due a large buyout while the AD is already losing $$, unless we hire a coach that is a proven winner at the SEC level or above then we are asking for more setbacks. We don't need more crapshoots. We need as close to a sure thing or we need to give Dooley another year.