This isn't just about Dooley supporters who make excuses or assure us that we're headed in the right direction. It's also about some of the fans who claim Dooley needs to go, but stick up for him as much as possible while they say it. It's always "he's a good guy," or "he's doing things the right way." We always hear about how he's recruiting well and stabilizing the program. I understand some comparisons to Shula, but I also hear people make that seem like a compliment (as if Alabama is good now because they hired Shula). I also hear this from the media. We generally hear things like "he's a decent coach, but he may be in over his head." There are also a lot of comments along the lines of "he inherited a bad situation, but in today's game, fans want results now." It gives off the impression that Tennessee fans are impatient, which couldn't be further from the truth. The truth is that Kiffin's departure stung the fan base so badly that people would have accepted pretty much anything from Dooley, at least early in his tenure. People aren't against Dooley because we expected to win the SEC right away. People are against Dooley because he's an awful football coach. He lost at Louisiana Tech. He has lost at Tennessee. He brought Tennessee back to back losing seasons for the first time in a century. Tennessee started 0-5 in SEC play once before Dooley got here, and he's on the verge of doing it three times in a row. He lost to ****ing Kentucky for the first time in my lifetime, and that was an embarrassing Kentucky team. Tennessee fans haven't had unrealistic expectations. The bar was set low for Dooley, and he continues to find ways to limbo under it. Why can't people just call it like they see it?
I'm guessing it's some combination of thinking his press conferences are funny (which I do) and feeling sorry for him for taking a job in such a bad situation (which I don't, for several million reasons). And there are some people who really do believe that all coaches need four years so they can try to win with their own recruits.
I think some of our fanbase genuinely believe that circumstances have just been too much for a coach to overcome and that is record isn't indicative of the fabulous things happening behind the scenes. It bewilders me, but people argue fervently that those looking at the outcomes just don't see all the great things going down. The most astonishing thing is that they don't look at the general attitude of the fanbase when we're playing someone like AL. There is essentially nobody giving us a shot and that's as telling about what's going on as anything could possibly be. I don't understand how that is anything but damning.
The one that burns me up is when people point to a top 20 recruiting ranking as if that's a sign things are getting better when 8 of those teams ahead of them are also in the SEC. It really doesn't mean much to out recruit a Louisville or Wisconsin when half your conference is recruiting better every year.
True. Take me, for example. I perceive him as an under-qualified, petulant, self-absorbed, coddled [Penis].