So UT seems adverse to hiring alumni to key positions like Chancellor or President. The implications are that no insiders are qualified. Well this guy is the type of qualified candidate UT needs. I am sure there are hundreds of others. But here is what makes him and other natives the best candidate(s) all things being equal: "Holmes retains a strong affection for UT and East Tennessee. In a 2012 interview, he mentioned that he’d held nearly every job at Neyland Stadium: selling soft drinks and programs, playing with the band, playing junior varsity football, serving as a varsity walk-on player, and later performing a flyby in an F-15 fighter during pregame ceremonies. Holmes’s ties to campus and Knoxville run deep. His family moved to Knoxville from Springfield, Tennessee, in 1962 so his father, Clyde, could run the UT Dairy Experiment Station on Alcoa Highway—now Cherokee Farms—while his mother worked at a florist on Cumberland Avenue. He attended kindergarten at a school located on what is now UT’s campus before attending Fort Sanders Elementary and Tyson Junior High School, then graduating from West High School." Air Force Promotes Grad to Four-Star General Of course the 4 star General would need to retire and want such a position. But if a native TN who loves UTK and is otherwise qualified wants such jobs they should have priority over outsiders. Its a culture thing. DiPietro and Davenport will NEVER have that type of cultural fit or love.
I don't disagree with your assessment that Tennessee needs a complete house-cleaning - starting with President DiPietro (who, somehow always manages to escape blame, or even serious scrutiny), but also encompassing its BOT, and on down the line, if substantive improvement is to occur. I do disagree, and quite strongly, with any assumption that a candidate's un/suitability is best viewed through the prism of their status as a "Tennessee person". No doubt it's an all-important consideration for many fans and those who truly desire to see Tennessee excel, and I "get" the sentiment behind it. But, it's not only a largely meaningless distraction for fans. Worse, I think it's a false flag by the money guys who actually make the hire, as it provides an easily convenient - albeit false - sense of substance, so as to explain why they just hired their latest and most favorite ass kisser / "Yes" man. You'll usually see this sort of winking lie when it's accompanied by words and phrases such as a candidate being: "good fit", "cultural fit", "knows the inner workings", "understands Tennessee", etc., in much the same way that "high motor", "gym rat" and "student of the game" have come to be the go-to description for white guys who are performing at a surprisingly high level, given what are typically their rather obvious physical and athletic challenges, imperfections, etc. Personally, I don't give one whit as to whether we hire someone with Tennessee ties, or not, for any gig, outside of the very narrow confines of what is required in the fair and unflinching evaluation of their competency to do the job, alone. I also don't care if they are white, black, male, female, gay, liberal, conservative, put ketchup on hot dogs, are into BDSM, Latino, like to trout fish, hate to trout fish, Baptist, atheist, fat, short, tall, skinny, rural, urban, etc. ad nauseum. I care about hiring the best possible person, first, foremost and no matter what ties they do or do not have to Tennessee. Now, I like storybook endings as much as the next guy, and would love that the best candidate also be a "Tennessee guy" - but it's when those criteria are reversed, and used to search for and evaluate the candidates, that we're heading for trouble. Finally, two key evidences to support my belief: 1. Tennessee's current President was a "Tennessee guy" when we hired him (he was UTK Ag. Chancellor for 10+ years, IIRC). He went on to hire Cheek, sign a buyout for Hamilton, hired Hart (who hired Tyndall, Butch, etc.) and has been a general calamity of incompetence and poor / absent leadership. We aren't appreciably better from an academic standpoint, if even at all, and our athletic department has been abysmal throughout his tenure. The guy is a disaster. But a "Tennessee guy" nonetheless. 2. General Neyland had no ties to Tennessee prior to his arrival in 1925. He built Tennessee sports with his own two hands. We still recite his maxims before each game which we play in a stadium, and on the largest street in town that runs just beside it, and each which bear his name - so as to erase any doubt as to his preeminent place of honor in Tennessee history. Word has it that some dipshits would later start a Tennessee message board, and its very name would be an intentional pointing to the man who built it all, even despite his not initially being a "Tennessee guy" at all. Excellent post - not digging at you at all - just my $.02
To me, DiPietro seems like an empty suit. I think that's why he escapes some vitriol. He isn't actively screwing us over like Hart, Susan Martin, and Cheek were. He was/is just a passive guy that did little to influence or stop them. I think that's also why he isn't going away any time soon. He isn't likely to do something outrageously egregious like the last three presidents. He'll just essentially do nothing. As such, much like Butch compares to Dooley, people will act like he's doing a swell job.
The Tennessee guy stuff seems to stem from a continuing fear of being Kiffined. People fail to realize that Lane leaving when he did was about a 1 in 1000 chance scenario. We were just remarkably unlucky there.
It was also incompetence on the AD's part for hiring a guy that was a known wanted commodity and letting his buyout be 7 dollars and a pair of shoulder pads.
UT has to be #1 on some list of world's worst negotiators. We're the guy from some corny movie where the seller is a moron and starts negotiating the price down instead of up.
That, and Hart and Cheek coming from Alabama and Florida. You don't have to hire a UT guy, necessarily, but you damn sure don't give the keys to your two biggest rivals and let them drive athletics off a cliff.
!.) DiPietro wasn't born here or raised here. What kind of culture was he trying to promote, create or continue with the hires you mentioned? Its not that you cant hire outsiders but if you do you must have them assimilate into the current culture if that culture is successful. And it was. In order to "right the ship" we are going to need people that can revive that culture. It will take people with a love for UT and not just your average bean counting executive who will see revenue only and not care about a lack of trophies in the case. 2.) Neyland and even Dickey were exceptions to the rule and not the rule itself. Neyland created the culture from almost whole cloth while Dickey built upon it. But they were focused on culture and bulding a winning one. Today its about preserving what works and maybe adding to it. Do you think DiPietro or Davenport realy care about traditions and culture? In business culture is what differentiates between the ok, the good and the great companies. Great companies hire people of good character who are cultural fits and train them on how to do the "stuff" their jobs require. Average companies or worse hire skill sets and could care less that the person is a jerk and may destroy the business over time by creating a toxic workplace. See Nucor, Southwest Airlines, Chiik-Fil-A and Walmart before Mr Sam died.
I think there's something to wanting a "Tennessee person" in office. They're more likely to take pride in what they do and want to see Tennessee excel. It's not a guarantee they're going to be good, though.
He's a helluva snazzy dresser and dancer. Oh, and his hats. He can rock a lid, let me tell you. [youtube]XAzI8cT29HU[/youtube]
Coming to NBC this fall....from the creators of The Office and Parks and Recreation....a new comedy...The Administration.
The first couple shows would be great and then after that they would just keep repeating the same ole lame story line making the same ole mistakes over and over.
We are Champions yet again. You can't make this stuff up. https://twitter.com/ChancellorDav/status/845689703567425536
So we got South Carolina has Trumpet Blower Miss friendly Warlick Fake Serrano Nursing home Barnes South Carolina has Muschamp Staley Holbrook Martin Makes sense