http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4829107

Interesting choice. Feel free to merge w/ the other thread, just felt a new title was necessary.

The only thing I can think of is:

"Dooley smokin' up the holler, Dooley tryin' to make a dollar, Dooley give me a swaller and I'll pay ya back someday"

I don't know about this guy. 4-8 in the WAC? Seems like they settled for less than what they are.

Less than inspiring hire for Vols fans IMO. People could have said that about Tressel too I guess but Tress came with some titles.

Very strange hire.

I actually think if Dooley is hired, there is more upside there than what they would get with Cutcliffe. That family has huge ties to recruiting in the south and he will fit in perfectly in the SEC. As I said with Cutcliffe, the Vols would be settling for the safe bet and most likely, average results. This is more of a boom or bust hire...just have to hope for the boom.

They should have hired Bill Cowher

son of UGA legend Vince Dooley.
Recommended by Muschamp when Musch turned them down.
Derek Dooley brought Muschamp and Smart to Saban when at LSU.
Hamilton is on his way out this year

I think this is a decent hire, but definitely not great and it won't be a crowd-pleaser in Knoxville either I wouldn't think.

I'll bet he won't come out accusing and blastin' other SEC coaches--that's for sure!!!

I think it's a step down for Tennessee but they got screwed this late in the college football year to hire really anyone decent. I wonder if they program will take a step back because of the Kiffin crap.

I guess Phil Fulmer can go back to sleeping under a bridge.

Derek Dooley huh? I don't know much about him, so I can't really predict how he'll do or how good of a hire it is. Somebody else had a good point though, just because you havent heard of somebody, doesn't mean they won't work out.

i think the biggest factor in this decison was muschamp recommening him. fwiw.

Very interesting choice indeed... not really great at Louisiana Tech( I believe he was 3 games under .500 overall)... kind of tells me that either A) nobody wanted this job or B) that Tennessee didn't want certain people to have this job

if you know a Vols fan you may want to go check on them to make sure they aren't harming or planning to harm themselves or others.

Press conference on ESPN News right now. He definitely has met the southern drawl requirements for the job.

He did sound like he has his stuff together though.

Sounds like he wasn't 1st, 2nd, or 3rd choice.

Most interesting thing in that article is the Utah coached turned the job down. Sounds like he'd rather get into a BCS bowl by playing nobody, instead of competing in the SEC for a BCS Bowl. Probably the same with the Boise State coach.

Dooley won't impress the average fan at all, but he is very highly regarded in the coaching community. There are a lot of guys out there who have the right name and connections but can't coach worth a damn and flame out spectacularly or become your run of the mill position coach. Dooley isn't in that category.

I think it will turn out to be a good hire. Time will tell.

I see at least 5 losses and I'm only talking about the first 7 games.

2010 SCHEDULE
Sept. 4 UT-Martin
Sept. 11 Oregon
Sept. 18 Florida
Sept. 25 UAB
Oct. 2 at LSU
Oct. 9 at Georgia
Oct. 23 Alabama
Oct. 30 at South Carolina
Nov. 6 at Memphis
Nov. 13 Mississippi
Nov. 20 at Vanderbilt
Nov. 27 Kentucky
Dec. 4 SEC Championship (Atl.)--YEAH RIGHT

That's a tough way to start in Vol land with that schedule. How much talent do the Vols bring back next year because I know Kiffin had a good class last year that can probably play a little football and play it well.

Wow Oregon and Florida back to back in Wk 2 and 3? what was their AD thinking? I mean, I know he has no control over the SEC schedule but come on....

osu99 wrote: That's a tough way to start in Vol land with that schedule. How much talent do the Vols bring back next year because I know Kiffin had a good class last year that can probably play a little football and play it well.

Not much; it was looking like 2010 would be worse than 2009 well before any of this transpired.

darbypitcher22 wrote: Wow Oregon and Florida back to back in Wk 2 and 3? what was their AD thinking? I mean, I know he has no control over the SEC schedule but come on....

Huh, and all I keep hearing is "SEC schools never play anyone out of conference!" Here's UT's OOC games the last 12 years.

1997 - Texas Tech, Southern Mississippi, UCLA
1998 - Syracuse, Houston, UAB
1999 - Wyoming, Memphis, Notre Dame
2000 - Southern Miss, ULM, Memphis
2001 - Syracuse, Notre Dame, Memphis
2002 - Wyoming, MTSU, Rutgers, Miami
2003 - Fresno State, Marshall, Duke, Miami
2004 - UNLV, Louisiana Tech, Notre Dame
2005 - UAB, Notre Dame, Memphis
2006 - Cal, Air Force, Marshall, Memphis
2007 - Cal, Southern Miss, Arkansas State, ULL
2008 - UCLA, UAB, Northern Illinois, Wyoming
2009 - Western Kentucky, UCLA, Ohio, Memphis

And throw in the future commitments...
2011 - Cincinnati, North Carolina, North Texas, MTSU
2012 - North Carolina, NC State, Troy
2013 - Oregon, South Alabama
2014 - Oklahoma
2015 - UAB, Oklahoma, Connecticut
2016 - Connecticut, Nebraska
2017 - Southern Miss, Nebraska
2018 - Ohio State
2019 - Ohio State
2021 - USC
2022 - USC