Which coach/figure is most responsible for our downfall?

So, I think we can all agree this program has gone to shit in the last decade and we are at as low a point as we have been in many decades, perhaps ever. So, out of morbid curiosity, who is the person most responsible for this debacle? I decided to include some options besides coaches since I think plausible arguments could be made for some of the overseers, too. Any criteria can be used and please elaborate on the choice you made.

 

Lane Kiffin leaving, then Hamilton botching his replacement.

 

Haslam, Jimmy

 

I've said for years the downfall of Tennessee football began the second Doug Dickey announced his retirement. There was no one that was going to demand that football be top notch as much as he did. Hamilton might have been the absolute worst person to replace him, albeit he was about 27th on the list.

Current concerns about Dr. Danny White, PHD, MD, JD, CPA, MBA aside, I don't think he will allow anything other than excellence in any sport. Whether he can pull that off is another story.

 

Mike Hamilton for not making it impossible for Kiffin to leave.

 

Seems like to me the rift that we have to work around on a daily basis for the last 15+ years is the direct result of Fulmer and his games. So if I had to pin the blame on a singular person, it would be him.

 

Imo, we have passed our low point, even with ncaa looming. We finally have a Non overly arrogant coach, some qbs and quality coaches. Negative recruiting killing us right now. Ncaa punishing these kids and staff will be typical ncaa bs, as other coaches go make money and players who were paid go play for titles. I wish they would consider what we have to deal with in recruiting now and the current staff and kids, but they wont.
As far as who is responsible, everybody on the list had a hand in it.

 

Has to be Dooley or earlier since everything has been off the rails (to varying degrees) since. IIRC Fulmer had influence over Hamilton getting the AD job, and if so he's the prime mover, although perhaps Hamilton had more direct negative influence.

Pruitt and AD Fulmer might be the death blow though.

 

Hamilton, hands down. He wasn't strong enough to counter Fulmer till Fulmer had run the train off the tracks, then made Kiffin's buyout a box of donuts and bag of footballs, and then rushed into the DDIAPOS hire.

 

I vacillated between Hamilton and Jones, but ultimately went with Hamilton. He made more bad calls over a number of years. But, Jones, to me, resided in a particular stretch where we could've easily turned this ship around quickly with the legacies and in-state talent at the time. He even got a bunch of them. He even had a number of guys like Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne, Tee Higgins, Amari Rodgers (notice a theme here) who grew up solid to rabid Tennessee fans. We were right back in it with those players and not too far away from the glory days to step back into relevance.

Instead, we get the moron of morons to blow the golden goose. You know what, [uck fay] it. I'm changing my vote back to Jones. That asshole.

 

Poll does not allow me to select all of them. Must be a glitch.

 

It is an incredible Shit Train of bad people.

 

Keep in mind I'm also only allowed 10 slots.

 

We could make another poll, with another 10 sucktastic people that could be blamed, then have a suck-off between the two winners.

 

The boosters and admin. All of them that came during that time period.

 

Probably Hamilton but I feel like we were still able to survive after Kiffin/Dooley. So going with Dave Hart for not getting Gruden. Plus not seeing how much of a fraud Butch was in his all night interview.

 

He set us back big time. He left at the worst possible time.

 

It was an amazing cluster [uck fay] of incompetence. Fulmer pretty much retired after 98, Dickey retired and Hamilton was a puppet put in place by Fulmer and his crew.

Kiffin got a better job offer, it bit him on the ass, though.

Dooley was terrible, but he knew it and left with his money as quick as he could.

Hart hired Tyndall and Butch. That's terrible.

Butch pissed away some incredible talent while losing every important game in his tenure.

Pruitt is too stupid to be a head coach. Fulmer hired him.

 

I think Tyndall was a decent coach who would’ve done reasonably well if he wasn’t the absolute worst cheater ever, but it was malpractice to hire that guy when Hart did it. To say there was smoke around him is like saying Tenacious D is a little wordy

 

Tyndall would’ve been elite if he were a good cheater. He had the shittiest roster to work with that one year and it was still fun to watch. Cuonzo would won sub 10 games with that same roster.