Jon Gruden wasn't afraid of the mess left by Dooley. Because he's Jon Gruden. That's why. The current guy has worked to have 10x the talent of Dooley - kudos where it's due - and still has the exact same record.
Gruden here was a done deal with a staff already in the works in place. Check gives money to Hart to go around the Boosters that were pushing it and got their own guy bringing in Butch right before Gruden could be finalized over petty control bullshit.
I tend to believe that Gruden was almost a done deal but Hart vetoed it last minute by hiring Jones. If true, this tells me that there were two factions in the coaching search with one group of the boosters that matter going after Gruden (with possible reluctance from the second group because they did not think Gruden was possible) and a second group led by Hart and Haslam that were chasing Strong. Once Strong declined and Gruden became a real possibility, the second group rushed out to hire Butch Jones before the Gruden mania blew up in their face. Why the second group did not want Gruden, I have no idea. From piecing together things I have heard second hand and with varying degrees of insider knowledge, this is the only logical scenario that makes sense to me. It also explains why the Gruden rumors were so divisive. If your information funneled down from the first group, you believed Gruden was in play. If it funneled from the second group, you thought no way no how because they were not even talking to Gruden. Thoughts?
Basically the two groups where the ones that had Gruden a done deal, and the ones that just sit it out and let the AD and University do whatever the hell they wanted. That's why the University had to fund their guy and not the power players.
I don't think Hart will be able to, or should I say allowed to get in the way this time. He has to be on the hot seat too.
Why would the Chattanooga newspaper run a front page story stating that Gruden was a done deal if there wasn't damn good information to suggest it was true?
I'm not Tenny, but I'll try. When Tenny started posted he started at THE VERY BEGINNING of the Gruden courtship. That's why it seemed so crazy and so long. And you are right. Some were (are) very pro-Gruden, but not all. And money talks. And when the biggest $ folks either a) have issues over parts of it, or b) think we should let the AD do his job, well, then it gets tricky. And people can change their minds throughout a process.
Didn't mean to imply that the deal with Gruden was not already in the works. But I do think the deal with Gruden was all of sudden napkin numbers finalized (probably to the surprise of Hart) about the same time Strong declined, which led to the rush Jones hiring to prevent the mania around Gruden from getting bigger.
If I am a) an academic who hates the idea of college sports and wishes all college life other than academics be slowed down, if not stopped in its entirity, or b) an AD who doesn't want to cede that much control to a football coach because I'm a egotistical stubborn SOB then there is no way I want someone like Jon Gruden on my campus. And if it means forming an unholy alliance with someone I generally loathe to make it happen, then for a couple of weeks I'll do it to protect my own self interests. All JMO, of course.