The CheckerBoard

Since you asked the question here's what I would have done keeping firmly in mind. Rule number one: You negotiate from a point of strength not from a point of weakness. Fisher, Gundy and Strong were all operating from a point of strength relative to Hart's position. So I would have offered someone else the job. I would have made the offer to Gus Malzahn, to Butch Davis, to Larry Fedora, to someone who viewed the UT job as a great opportunity, and I would have offered it right after Gruden supposedly privately said no thanks before this turned into a massive goat rope of biblical proportions so that it didn't look like the candidate was number 15 on a list of coaches of which the first 14 said "Hell no, I won't go!" How on the other hand would an idiot have handled the coaching search? Pretty much the way Hart has.

Actually I have a very good idea what I'm talking about. I predicted five days ago that Fisher and Gundy would use us to get a raise. I was all for jumping to Strong right after the Gruden "no thanks" , since I still say Louisville looks like a promotion over Tennessee. And had that gone south we're now at Fedora or Davis without the stigma of at least four refusals. That's where we are now and pundits on nationwide TV shows like Around the Horn and Pardon the Interruption are doing "Why Can't Tennessee Hire a Coach...........again?" stories. It would be a different situation if we weren't replaying this scene from four years ago when we had as many as 7 rejections before hiring Kiffin and then a rerun of that scene in hiring Dooley but largely because we were in January and the pickings were slim.......about as slim as they are now. My point was given the history of the last two hires, we could ill afford to get in the same shape as we are now. My fallback position was Butch Davis after Strong rejected us, who wants to get back into coaching, has some baggage admittedly but is a quality coach, recruiter and would jump at the chance to get back. He's 61 and a little long in the tooth, but he's got a little gas in the tank and he took Miami from a pile of sanctions under Dennis Erickson with reduced scholarships and turned over a team to Larry Coker who you will recall drilled us in Neyland on the way to a national championship. You can shoot holes all in my plan, but doubt it could have been worse than the way Hart has played it.

huey - First and foremast, maybe Hart was more astute about Gruden's real level; of interest and saw thru it where the pie-eye Booster just thought they could buy anyone. Also, wasn't Strong the first guy interviewed after Gruden said no? I thought he was interviewed on Sunday? Maybe then he gave Hart enough of an uneasy feeling Hart continued on down his list to Gundy and Gundy was more open about his interest. Maybe then Strong came back after seeing the strength of who Hart continued with and felt he better show more interest or get passed over. So now Hart has two interested and he goes for Gundy first, gets the word that Gundy is staying home. Then moves focus back to Strong while continuing will feelers out to others (Fedora), give Strong his offer and UL comes back so large he cannot says no. I believe that is what the UL AD said he was going to do.
If it is plausible that this is how Hart has been handling the situation then it is also plausible that he hasn't screwed up anything but has had a plan and is working thru it. Now, I would agree the plan probably did not have the expectation that both Gundy & Strong would stay at home nor did it expect Fedora to have such morals (since many feel most coaches are somewhat whores) which is why we all feel - OH SHIT. But to close my point, maybe, just maybe Hart had this plan and has been going down this path all along. I am no genius but I do hire people and this is somewhat how I would have operated given the assumptions I have made, which are as factual as any others I have read on the board.

His results as less than what we want but in performing the task?