Jon Gruden

You have smart friends.

 

Why the hell would Jim Haslam say no?

 

And Haslam didn't want Gruden because...Gruden wanted too much control ?

 

He supposedly does not want UT to be known as a "mercenary football school" like Bama, but as an "academic school" like UVA.

 

Because, you know, both cannot be true.

 

ok.. i guess i just repressed too many memories of the gruden thing and jones' hiring. apologies to those who remember the inside stuff better than i.

.. but there's still time...

gruden...
pale horse...
...death following in his wake...

we lose to uf, ark, uga, bama and kentucky, the team could be so depressed that we drop sakerlina, too.

you gotta figure that armageddon just can't be stopped at that point... buyout or no buyout.

 

Lol

 

Wait... TURN gay?

 

That shit went out the window when they hired a young smartass Kiffin.

 

Has anyone told Big Jim that Alabama is consistently ranked higher than UT academically? And has better football?

 

And Florida.

 

And Georgia.

 

That seems to fall on deaf ears.

There is no better recruiting tool for students than to have your football or basketball program splashed all over the place.

 

And when was the last time we were ranked in the best party school list?

 

My freshman class at Auburn was the biggest they'd ever had and had unusually high numbers from random states across the country. All because of the exposure a Natty brings.

 

Reminded me of http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0901/092.html

But the economics of hiring Saban go well beyond athletics. The decidedly pro-football University of Alabama’s president, Robert Witt, points to the school’s recent $500 million capital campaign as an example. “We have had 100,000 donors in that campaign, and a major reason they support us is football,” he says. It’s no different at any other college with a football team. Why do Ivy League schools even bother to field teams that are never going to win a bowl game? It keeps the alumni money flowing. That’s how you pay for the English department.

Witt says Saban’s presence helps the school’s academics by attracting strong applicants. In the 2007–08 year 57% of the students enrolled were in the top quarter of their high school class, up from 54% the year before. “Having a coach of his caliber makes it easier to recruit better students and raise more money,” says Witt.

All of which may overcome resentment from professors (average salary at Alabama: $116,000) of Saban’s contract. Witt can also argue that not a penny of Saban’s salary comes from either students or taxpayers. It comes from athletic department revenue, which consists of broadcasting fees, ad sponsorships, donations from “boosters” (alums who give to football, not the university’s general fund), ticket sales and shoe and apparel endorsements.

 

Georgia Tech. Stanford. Notre Dame. Northwestern. Duke. Cal. Michigan (!!!). Wisconsin. Southern Cal. UWash. BYU. TAMU. Ohio State. Michigan State. Clemson. LSU. Utah. Arizona. TCU. Mizzou. Oregon.

I could go on. Some of those are private, but there are a lot of state schools on that list. You can have a great football program and top level academics.

 

Maybe big jim has learned his lesson.

 

Is Big Jim still involved in any meaningful way? Anyone know?

 

At age 84 there may not be enough intact synapses left to realize that.