The CheckerBoard

Honestly, if Tennessee lets Dooley go, I'd doubt Tennessee brings in anyone with just a coordinator background. I doubt they would want a lower level head coach because of what has happened the past few seasons.

I hope Dooley stays. I am in that camp. If he leaves I would be happy with an out of the box thinker like Gus Malzahn.

How about someone like Mike Leach? Obviously the Wazzu experiment isn't going as expected, but that program is as shallow on talent as any DI school. He's shown he knows how to win.. Just a thought.

I'm not sure that is the case. I've heard the separation from Nutt and Arkansas left some bitter.

He'd be a great hire there as well.

Thanks for stopping by..It's always fun to have a good conversation with fans of other teams.

If UT decides to replace Dooley, I think you have to have a homerun hire...the fan base will not settle for anything less. In addition to having a great win loss record,the new coach will be expected to put butts in the seats to fill up Neyland Stadium. I don't think that an up and coming coach will do that, especially after the struggles UT has been through the last 3 season. Also, after having to "settle" for an up and coming coach last hire, I don't think the VOLS need to or can stand to take another PR hit by hiring anything other than a homerun hire.

If you don't make the homerun hire, stay the course. I think Dooley recruits as well or better than any other mid-major or up and coming coach, so in order to keep our current class or improve it, a homerun hire will be needed.

Bottom line to me is: either hire a homerun coach, and do it no later than the Monday after the last game or leave Dooley in place and move forward for next year.

Again, thanks for stopping by and feel to drop in anytime..our home here is really a great place to visit!!

I appreciate the hospitality. It's always good to talk to other fans.

I agree with you that UT needs a home run, but I'm wondering who you would consider to be in that category (other than Gruden, of course). Also, despite what some lack in HC experience, others have proven to be exceptional recruiters. Where does the balance swing? Do you take a less-proven coach who is a home-run recruiter?

Haha. Thank you. I always wondered why Jermaine Copeland never (at least to my recollection) got a shot. He was the ying to Peerless' yang. Also, that defense with Ellis, Darwin Walker, Ratliff, Wilson (still one of my all-time favorites), Thompson, Stevenson, Grant, Goodrich, and Lott deserved a lot more credit then they got. They were dominate.

I can see your thoughts. I guess it just depends on where you sit with Dooley. If you feel his ceiling is 9-4, are you better off replacing him and starting over in the hopes of going 5-7, 8-5, 10-3, and finally 14-0 with a new coach or just settling for 9-4 every year with him? I'm just curious as to what you think.

I support CDD because I think he is building a team that will compete with UGA, UF, and Scar every year. To me, the difference between a 11-1 and 9-3 is a lot of luck, and teams tend to be luckier when there is some continuity.

I don't mean this as a negative towards ND, you guys are real good, but Purdue, Michigan, Stanford, and BYU are all games that could have gone the other way for ND this year. I mean look at ND last year, 4 close losses; and I don't believe Brian Kelly all of a sudden learned how to coach.

Pretty impressive when a fan of another team remembers that many players from our team from 14 years ago.

I agree to a point. I think CBK finally got his team to believe they could win and they started playing to win rather than not to lose. That's a tough switch to flip. Also, our defense has taken on a new mentality and mindset this year under CBD and they not only only take pride in holding people out of the endzone, but they have the mindset that points at all are unacceptable. That itself has won us games this year that last year we didn't.

-Purdue was closer than it should've been, but Rees came in and led a great drive and Brindza nailed the winner.
-BYU was much of the same. Rees making plays.
-Michigan was about causing turnovers from a sporatic at best QB who was uncomfortable in the pocket.
-Stanford was a great goalline stand.

We could've lost them, but the preparation of our defense and our 'closer' Rees led to wins. I don't know if you can necessarily say it was lucky. ANYWAYS.. we could debate that all year long. I understand what you're saying, but disagree to an extent. Fair enough?

Enjoyed reading the post. I think Dooley will turn the corner soon but I'm not convinced he will get us back into title contention. If he wins out I think he has earned another year. If not he's gone. The bowl game will not be a factor because it is played so late and I don't see us going into a coaching search that late. All the sure hires will have been taken. This thing has to turn next season for Dooley, if not he's in trouble and we have another brutal schedule starting with the Ducks. He has all the tools to be successful. State of the art facilities, support staff etc... not much more you can ask for as a coach
but it will be time to reward the fans, boosters, alumni with some success. Good luck to the Irish this year, y'all have a sound football team in all phases. Kelley has done a great job.

Mullen just doesn't excite me, perhaps it should, he HAS done a very good job over at MS State, But I just don't care for him.

I honestly think we're best served waiting til after Oct next year to make a change if things are still playing out the same as this year. Our Defense was going to struggle with the new Defense anyhow. The loss of several starters and players on the 2 deep has hurt the defense further. Just have to think we'd be sitting with only 1 or 2 losses at this point had the Defense played better in any of those 5 losses. As if that wasn't enough adversity the Offense just completely blows my mind at times.

Of course if a "Gruden" type could be had this year I could live with Firing Dooley tomorrow. Just dont think it's what's best right now... 4 wins buys another year for Dooley to figure it out. We will know if he has by the end of October 2013.

I'm firmly in the camp that believes Dooley has done all he can. I think alot of times I come off like I'm bashing him which is not the case. I think he is a very good person, and a descent football coach, just in over his head in the SEC. Obviously supporters will argue that we've had some close loses that could have gone the other way, but IMO too many men on the field, clock managment, and play calling are coaching issues and a better coach could have turned those close losses into wins.
I'm a big supporter of Mullen and Strong. I think both have tremedous coaching ability and would be an upgrade over what we have currently. Strong could potentially come at a little cheaper price, and I think he is just as good if not better then Mullen. Most on here do not consider Strong a homerun hire, it'll be interesting to see if anybody changes their minds if Louisville goes 12-0 and heads to a BCS bowl ranked about 6th in the country. (not saying that'll happen.)