What Should The Eagles Do About The Quarterback Position?

By winning Super Bowl 52 on Sunday, Nick Foles pulled the city of Philadelphia out of football purgatory, dumped the “Nick Fails” moniker forever, became a folk hero in the city, and… created a QB controversy in the process?

Look, it’s inarguable that Carson Wentz is better than Foles. Wentz is younger, he was the probable league MVP before his season-ending ACL injury in December, he’s better on his feet, his arm is stronger, and the team has significantly more invested in him than they do in Foles, a guy on a cheap contract that they already gave up on once before, when they dumped him after the 2014 season to the Rams. Philly also traded five draft picks to Cleveland to move up to the number two slot in the draft and take him in 2016. He was the unquestioned future of the franchise until Foles's performance on Sunday.

But if Foles could continue to play close to the level he displayed in his last ten playoff quarters, should the Eagles instead be looking to… dare I say it, move Wentz?

Admittedly, it’s a zany proposition. Wentz is the best 25-and-under QB in the league, he’s a clean cut kid, and he looks to be well on his way to a Hall of Fame career. And a month ago, if any team had called the Eagles to inquire about his availability, every Philly executive would’ve looked at each other in bewilderment, before bursting into laughter, followed by a quick hang up of the phone. But now, isn't it plausible to say that they'd at least be willing to listen to offers?

So let’s say Cleveland wants a redo. They realize they screwed up by trading down two years ago, and they call up the Eagles and offer them the following trade: the number one overall pick in this year’s draft, the number four overall pick in this year’s draft (which they acquired in a trade with Houston), and their first round pick next year, in exchange for Wentz. Philly would be adding two top four picks to an already stacked roster, plus another additional first rounder next year. That’s potentially three new starters, who would be young, but more importantly, cheap. The Eagles would at least have to have an internal meeting about this, right?

And what if Cleveland sweetened the deal even more? In addition to their two first rounders this year, the Browns have 10 other picks over the final six rounds, three of which are in the second round (No. 33, No. 35, and No. 64). What if they offered the same deal, only they also included No. 33 and No. 35 in this year’s draft? Could Philly really turn down three first rounders, and five top 35 picks, for guy that plays a position where they might have redundancy? Pushing all in totally makes sense for the Browns, by the way. They’ve screwed up the quarterback position so many times in the draft (Johnny Manziel, Brady Quinn, Tim Couch, Cody Kessler, Colt McCoy, Brandon Weeden, Charlie Frye) that they might as well try to steal someone else’s blue chipper. You put Wentz on next year’s Cleveland team, and there’s no reason it couldn’t be an 8 win squad. They’d still need a lot of help, but they’d have their franchise quarterback, something they’ve been searching for since they returned to the NFL for the ’99 season. Look how good the 49ers were the last five weeks of the season once they started playing Jimmy Garoppolo. Wentz is better than Jimmy G, and the rosters of Cleveland and San Fran are at least comparable. 

Of course, if I’m the Eagles, do I really trust Nick Foles long term? I know he was incredible in the playoffs, but is he going to be that guy again next year when the whole league has six weeks of tape on him? Is the Run-Pass Option offense going to be as unstoppable with him at the reigns once the smart defensive minds of the league spend a whole off-season scouting it and him? Never forget how great Foles was in 2013 that first Chip Kelly season when he finished with 27 passing TDs and only two interceptions. Foles had never really been a starter before, and no one in the NFL had seen Kelly’s spread offense on the professional level. But then 2014 rolled around, and Foles suddenly fell off a cliff, broke his collarbone, and threw five times as many interceptions that year as he did in 2013, despite playing half the number of games. Philadelphia quickly gave up on him that off-season. Football coaches are smart (unless they're Butch Jones), and they’re going to be sitting around watching film of Foles and Eagles all off-season, all while spending hours and hours and hours scheming and thinking up ways to beat the RPO. The same thing happened after the 2013 season, and we all saw how the next year turned out for him. Does Nick Foles have a second act? He didn’t before. Then again, he reached higher highs at the end of this season than he did at any point in 2013, and he’s also 29 now, meaning he's been around the block more than a few times at this point. Why couldn’t he be Kurt Warner all over again?

Here’s something else to consider: I think the Eagles win the title this year with any QB, as long as he’s at least slightly above average. They had arguably the best offensive line in the league (even after their Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters went down with a season-ending injury in Week 7), they had three good running backs, a couple of solid receivers, and a top 5 defense that only got torched once all year, in the Super Bowl against Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback of all time. Foles was great in that game, but I think there’s at least 20 other quarterbacks that could’ve won on Sunday with that roster.

Which leads me to this: If Carson Wentz suddenly disappeared from existence, Philly is still the NFC favorite next year with Foles, assuming his play doesn't completely torpedo. And if they were able to flip Wentz for five draft picks, four of which would be on the team next season, we’re talking about another one seed for the deepest and most talented roster in the league, with an elite offensive coaching staff led by head coach Doug Pederson.

The other side of that though is that in five years, Philly probably won’t have the most the best overall team in the league anymore. Their players will get old, or too expensive, or retire, and eventually they’ll have to rely on the quarterback position even more. At which point you’d be wishing you still had Wentz, who will only be 30 at that point. And if you just decided to bring back Wentz next year, your overall roster would still be incredible, though not as deep, and yet, you’d be better at quarterback. And I think you’d rather have Wentz coming back with a slightly older version of the roster from this year, than Foles and better, deeper roster than what you had this season. Plus you can always trade Foles for whatever you can get (maybe a first rounder?), and then continue to rally and build around Wentz, all while contending for the next decade.
At this point, what NFL team has a brighter future than the Eagles? I can't think of one.

Tennessee Basketball Continues To Prove They're Sloppy As Hell

In what is quickly becoming a troubling and common theme, the Tennessee Volunteers basketball team, for the fourth time this season, blew another big lead, this time at the hands of Auburn, a program that hadn’t won in Knoxville since January of 1998. It seems that Butch Jones's bad habit of screwing up double digits leads has infected Rick Barnes and the basketball team as well.

Tonight's 94-84 loss wasn't as bad as their other three defeats this season, because they didn't have the lead at halftime for the first time all year, despite dominating AND leading most of the first 20 minutes. They were completely undone in the first half (and frankly, all night) by back-breaking turnovers, head-scratching shot selection, and frankly, their continued overall sloppiness.

Their four losses this season (Villanova, UNC, Arkansas, and Auburn) have all been eerily similar; in the first half, the Vols jumped out to big leads by forcing a million turnovers, rebounding the hell out of the basketball, getting out in transition, making some threes, and feeding Grant Williams. But as the games tightened up in the second half, they folded their tents in a puzzling display of sloppiness and ineptitude. ‘Nova started getting to the rim at will, Carolina made every the big play down the stretch, the offense collapsed into a black hole against the Razorbacks, and tonight, they suddenly forgot how to both rebound and cover open shooters at the three point line.

After watching the first month and half of the season, I thought the Vols had the right mix of guys to make a deep tournament run. The simple, but effective "Rebounding+defense+length+Grant Williams" seemed like a winning formula that they could ride all the way to the Elite Eight. But after seeing them in conference play the last two games, I’m starting to have doubts about anything other than a NIT appearance. The offense is somewhere between really average and outright awful late in games unless Williams is catching the ball at the elbow area and either beating his man off the dribble or shooting a contested runner over him. And when he fouled out of the Arkansas game late in the second half, it literally became impossible for the Vols to create quality looks, which in turn forced them into a series of awkward Jordan Bone pull ups that never had a chance to go in from the moment the ball left his hand. They just don’t have that crafty, smart creator who can get open looks for his teammates or himself when the offense breaks down. Their only real advantage is Williams, who is a difficult matchup for most teams due to his size and quickness. But besides that, what else can they really threaten teams with? Three point shooting? They make just under 40% of their attempts, which puts them at just 29^th nationally. And let's be honest about Williams; he's a nice player, but he's probably not even one of the 7 or 8 best players in the SEC unless he's really feeling it. All of these issues put them in a bind, particularly in late game, pressure situations. Basically, if they aren’t forcing turnovers, getting out in transition, and/or getting an A+ game from Williams, they really aren’t all that difficult to guard.

And I get it, this is still a young team, one that was picked to finish 13^th in the SEC in the preseason. But they’re just so sloppy. And I know I've said that word like three times already, but it really encapsulates this team perfectly. Let’s take tonight’s game, one that saw the Vols turn the ball over 15 times and lose the rebounding battle 46-38. They also shot a paltry 41.4% from the field, and hit only 28.6% of their attempts from three point range. Hell, the only reason they scored 84 points was because they attempted 37 free throws.

Which leads me to this: are we sure Rick Barnes is a good coach? For all the talent and great teams he had at Texas, it always seemed like his Longhorn squads underachieved. They didn’t make it past the second round of the NCAA tournament his last 7 years at Texas, and during his 16 tournament runs, his teams were eliminated by a lower seeded squad 9 times. Barnes strikes me as a guy that is more than capable as a recruiter, but someone that would also make you nervous as hell if he was your head coach in a big game, because he really doesn't bring anything spectacular to the table scheme-wise. I think it's fair to say that he's a below average game coach, and I think that's been spelled out over his 30 years as a head coach. The Vols didn’t have much talent his first two seasons in Knoxville, and it was going to be a struggle for almost anyone, but did Barnes do anything groundbreaking (besides wear orange striped pants to a press conference) to raise their level of play in 2016 or 2017? I’m pretty sure Donnie Tyndall could’ve gone at least 31-35 during that two year span, which is exactly what Barnes did. Of course, Donnie also would’ve broken about 15 different NCAA rules just by waking up in the morning, but still.

The schedule won’t get any easier either. The SEC looks like a seven or eight bid league to the NCAA tournament this year, and Tennessee's next game is at home against a talented, but inconsistent, Kentucky team on Saturday night. An 0-3 start to conference play would be an absolute nightmarish way to begin what appeared to be a bounce back season for a program that went to four Sweet Sixteens in an eight year span from 2007-14. And if they do fall to UK, they’ll have a five game stretch of at Vanderbilt, home for #11 Texas A&M, at Missouri, at South Carolina, and home for Vanderbilt. All of those feel at least semi-losable, particularly considering how bad the last week has been.

And if things do go completely sour, should we start speculating about Barnes’s job security? What if they go .500 again? Would no winning seasons in three tries be good enough for Barnes, who is 63 and assuredly on the wrong side of his coaching prime at this point, to get a fourth year? Remember, Phillip Fulmer is the “acting” athletic director now, and has no loyalty or ties to Barnes. Would he be interested in pursuing someone else? In all fairness, it’s probably too early at this point to be thinking about a coaching change, but it’s definitely something to keep an eye on over the next couple of months, particualarly if the season starts to go into the toilet, which I think is an unfortunate real possibility.

The NFL's Asinine Catch Rule Strikes Again

In what was shaping up to be one of the best NFL games of the year, the refs, in what has become a common theme this season, crapped themselves at the worst possible moment. The application of the asinine catch rules at the end of the Steelers-Patriots game potentially just swayed the home field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.

In no way am I a Pittsburgh fan, but what kind of a crap ass call was that? On first and goal with 34 seconds left in the game, and with the Steelers trailing 27-24, Ben Roethlisberger made a nice throw to his tight end Jesse James, who received the ball, possessed it with two hands, and had both feet and his knee make contact with the ground. As he was falling to the ground, he stretched the ball out and broke the plane. Why the hell isn’t the play over at that point? Because of the worst, dumbest, contrary-to-everything-we’ve-ever-been-told-and-watched-growing-up rules about what a catch is. As James made contact with the ground, the ball was jarred loose slightly, causing him to lose control of the ball for a fraction of a second. After initially being called a touchdown on the field, the officials went to the replay booth and overturned the call, instead ruling it an incompletion. Why? Because apparently, for it to be a reception in the NFL, you have to possess the football, tuck it away, take 47 steps, do five barrel rolls on the ground, take the ball home, make love to it, and then let it meet your mother and father. 

Sure, Pittsburgh made their share of mistakes. They let New England score 11 straight points in a 3 minute span, and they had no answer for Rob Gronkowski all day. And Big Ben made one of the worst throws of the season on their last offensive play when he tried to force the ball into triple coverage, which led to the game-ending interception. But at the end of the game, they made the plays to win the game. Ju Ju Smith-Schuster’s 69 yard catch and run got them inside the ten, and then they followed it up by having James CATCH THE BALL AND BREAK THE PLANE WITH IT.

We’ve seen this dumb rule time and time and time and time again cost teams games late. Remember the Calvin Johnson “catch” that got waved off at the end of a regular season game a few years ago? Or the Dez Bryant “catch” that was overturned? You know, the one that cost the Cowboys a playoff game? How were neither of these catches? We have eyes, we can see what’s possession and what isn’t. Why add the extra “complete the process of the catch” language? It’s completely unnecessary.

And here’s the other thing; why was this Geronimo Allison reception from today, where he took two steps and had the ball knocked out, ruled a catch, but James’s wasn’t? In one instance, a player caused the ball to be jarred loose, while in James’s case, the ground did. So it’s ok for a person to knock the ball out after two steps, but not the ground? How does that make any sense?

And how about this; if I’m a runner, the play is over if I cross into the end zone with the ball. But if someone swiped the pigskin out half a second after I broke the plane, they wouldn’t call it a fumble. So why doesn’t the same thing apply to receivers? Why isn’t it a touchdown if I cross the plane with two feet down and possession of the football? Why do I need to survive the ground? Again, how does that make any sense?

The NFL has a lot of issues right now; anthem protests, terrible officiating, an inept commissioner, declining ratings, and a salary cap structure that incentivizes teams to dump average veteran players in favor of younger, cheaper guys, which has helped to significantly drop the level of play on the field the last decade. With all of this going on, the league really can’t also afford to be challenging our intelligence as well at the same time. 

So here’s a simple rule change: to make a catch, all you need to do is possess the football and have either both feet or one knee or an equivalent body part down in bounds. That’s it. It’s really not that difficult. 

Tennessee Ends Their Circus Of A Coaching Search By Hiring Jeremy Pruitt

After three and half weeks of wild speculation, fan base rejection, outrage, confusion, and media hyperbole, the zaniest coaching search in the history of coaching searches is finally over, as Tennessee has officially hired Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt.

On the one hand, I suppose we should judge all of these hires compared to Greg Schiano, the bag of crap the Vols originally tried to sell us. So if that's the standard, then Pruitt is unquestionably the better hire. Both he and Schiano are defensive-minded coaches, but Pruitt is 8 years younger, is perennially one of the best assistants in college football, is considered a phenomenal recruiter, and has spent the last decade in either the SEC or at Florida State.

But hiring Pruitt is also a roll of the dice, so much so that he wasn’t even on my radar when this whole thing started, and you would've been hard-pressed to find him near the top of anyone else's either. Even still, there are some positive things surrounding him that I like. Everyone that's worked with him has nothing but praise for the job he does, and the perception among coaches is that he’s ready for an opportunity like the one at Tennessee. Plus, when Nick Saban needed to hire a DC before the 2016 season, he hand-picked Pruitt. That has to mean something right?

Then again, he’s also never been a head coach before, and with that brings a whole lot of questions and uncertainty. Are we sure he’s got the skill set to be wildly successful as the top man? Sure, he could be like Georgia’s Kirby Smart, also a former Saban DC who had never been a head coach before, who got the Bulldogs to the playoff in Year 2. Or he could go up in flames like a zillion other coordinators who took over at big time jobs when they either weren’t ready or didn’t have the natural coaching ability to run a successful program. Pruitt doesn’t have the track record of other guys they were interested in that turned them down, like Mike Leach, Kevin Sumlin, Mike Gundy, or Jeff Brohm.

By the end of Year 2, I think we'll have a pretty good grasp on what kind of a hire he ends up being. Why? Because since the SEC added a championship game in 1992, every coach that captured the conference title won at least 9 games by their second season. I think a 25 year sample size is more than enough of one to make an assertion like that. 

And since I believe this, I'm going to try and not make any sweeping judgments about Pruitt until after the 2019 season. Next year very well might be another tough campaign, as the Vols have a brutal six week stretch that goes like this: Florida, at Georgia, bye week, at Auburn, Alabama, and at South Carolina. Sheesh. No breaks from the schedule makers there. There’s a possibility they, with a still shaky QB and a new offensive system, lose all five of those games.

Is Pruitt going to try and bring Alabama’s physical, pro-style attack to Knoxville? If so, that’s something I could get behind. The Tide have spent the last decade winning the line of scrimmage and bowling over everyone with their powerful running game. But the thing I don’t think Saban has gotten enough credit for over the years is his willingness to take shots down the field. Throughout the game, he’ll slowly and methodically pound the ball on the ground, as he bides his time waiting for the safeties to creep towards the line of scrimmage. And when he gets a matchup one-on-one on the outside, he’ll bomb it down the field to one of his athletes and let them make a play. 

The Tide are a machine though, and the consistency in that attack has been built up over the last decade. Plus, I’m not 100% sure the Vols have the right quarterback on their roster. I respect the hell out of Jarrett Guarantano for the beating he took this season behind an offensive line that was in tatters, but he didn’t exactly do anything that made me think, “Wow, this guy really has a chance to be special”. Is it possible he was betrayed by Tennessee’s offensive staff, a group that was potentially the worst in the Power 5? I suppose that's conceivable. But I wouldn’t be my life on Guarantano being the guy.

Everyone in the media seems to think Pruitt will be able to put together an incredible staff. I hope their right. Whoever Pruitt decides to hire as his offensive coordinator will be the most important decision of his first year on the job. There’s been some buzz surrounding former Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze, which would be a nice snag if the Vols could land him. Yes, I know he’s got the “I called hookers from my university cell phone” and "NCAA trouble" baggage, but I’m not asking him to be the leader of my program, I just need him to call awesome plays and help develop the quarterbacks. And if he doesn't have any sanctions from his time at Ole Miss following him, then I don't see why the Tennessee wouldn't want him. But if the Vols can’t get him, we know, at least according to reports, that Tee Martin won’t be coming to join Pruitt’s staff either. I love Tee, and he helped bring a national championship to Rocky Top, but if you believe the local media in Los Angeles, Martin is, while serviceable, not viewed as an elite OC.

One more thing: Pruitt is going to continue coaching Alabama until their season is over while also attempting to get everything ready for his first season in Knoxville. I’d be more concerned, except Kirby Smart did the same thing two years ago with the Tide, and it seems to have worked out at Georgia so far.

Despite all my reservations, it’s going to be nice to see someone standing on the podium in front of everyone gladly accepting this coaching position. I want Pruitt to be wildly successful. I’ll be rooting like hell for him. And I think there’s a very good chance he’ll do a great job in Knoxville. At least I hope he does, because my heart can’t go through another decade-long stretch like it just did. 

It's Time To Bring Lane Home

Tennessee’s latest coaching search has been a wild ride of incompetence and tomfoolery. Here’s a recap of the last two and half weeks:

• Tennessee Athletic Director John Currie fired Butch Jones on November 12^th. At the press conference that announced Butch’s firing, Currie revealed that he wouldn't be hiring a search firm, that the search was his top priority, and that he’d be looking to hire a candidate with integrity.

• The next two weeks play out.. interestingly. Jon Gruden, who is apparently so insecure he needs to be reminded how beautiful and great he is, intentionally trolled the fan base for two weeks. Chip Kelly turned down both Tennessee and Florida and went to UCLA. Dan Mullen rejected the Vols and went back to the Gators, his former employer. A million other names were floated.

• On Sunday, in a move that was puzzling as hell, Currie, who is unquestionably the most incompetent athletic director in the country, decided it would be a good idea to hire Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano. This of course, was a terrible hire, because Schiano had a just a 68-67 record at Rutgers, was 20 games below .500 in the Big East, and faced a team mutiny during his second year in Tampa because the locker room hated him so much. He was basically the Butch Jones of the defensive side of the ball. No other big time school was clamoring to have Schiano as they're head coach, which made it strange as to why Tennessee was doing what they were doing. Oh yeah, and his name was also dropped in court documents alleging that he knew about the Sandusky scandal at Penn State. A fan revolt ensued, so passionately that Currie ended up pulling Tennessee’s contract offer, despite the fact that both sides had originally signed a memorandum of understanding.

• On Tuesday, after 48 hours of the national media trashing Tennessee fans as unrealistic and idiot loon bags, Oklahoma’s Mike Gundy and his mullet agreed to interview with the Vols. Tennessee went all in here; they offered him $42 million over 6 years, and they even had Peyton Manning call Gundy and make the pitch. One problem: Gundy had flirted with the Vols before, back in 2012, and used that "mutual interest" as a way to get a pay raise from T. Boone Pickens and the Cowboys. S when he turned them down again that night, it became pretty obvious it was just another smooth move to get more security from Oklahoma State.

• On Wednesday, it was reported by Jimmy Hyams that Tennessee would soon be coming to an agreement with Purdue’s Jeff Brohm, a young up an comer who, by all accounts, runs a fun, inventive offense. Of course, that turned out to not be the case, because according to Clay Travis, this was what actually happened.
  
  Some at Tennessee pushed back against that though, saying that Brohm and Currie actually never even met face-to-face, and that they had only had one phone conversation. They also claimed that they’d never even made an offer to Brohm, and that N.C. State’s Dave Doeren was the focus. So either Currie made another colossal screw up, or the Vols are stupid enough to think Doeren was actually potentially a great hire. I mean, I don’t know about you guys, but when you can get a coach who has gone 33-30 at N.C. State, and 15-25 in ACC play, you gotta do it. Plus, it’d be a “huge” improvement over Butch’s 34-27 at Tennessee and 14-24 in SEC play. Butch finished ranked in the Top 25 twice in five seasons; Doeren finished ranked once. Plus, and I kid you not, Doeren actually said this one time: “We have a saying around here: ‘every man a brick and together, a wall’. We have a brick squad, and the brick squad warrior is the guy that exemplifies all the things we embody in our workouts”.  Hmmm.. that sounds really familiar…..

• Today, after he received a contract offer from Tennessee and a raise and extension from N.C. State, Doeren decided to return to the Wolfpack. Thank god.

Of course, due to his fortunate rejection, the Vols still have no idea who their next football coach is going to be. I think I've got the perfect name for them though, because I can’t think of a better way to end this circus of a coaching search than by… bringing back Lane Kiffin.

I’m 100% serious, and I don’t even think this is a controversial take. At this point, why wouldn’t you? Which realistic coaching option out there is definitely better than Kiffin? He passes the swinging balls bravado test, he’s a hell of an offensive coach, and he can recruit his ass off.

For the longest time, I hated Kiffin, and I never in a million years would’ve considered him a serious candidate two weeks ago. But with as bad as Currie has botched this coaching search, and the negative fan base reaction because of it, Kiffin seems like one of the few people who could drop in there, get a huge pop with fan base, and exist comfortably in the frenzied Knoxville environment.

Think about this; let’s just say Kiffin never coached Tennessee, but instead pulled a one-and-done at somewhere like Georgia. Wouldn’t Vol fans be all about him? Look at his history; he’s just 42, he was USC’s OC from 2005-06, he was picked by Nick Saban to run Alabama’s offense, and he had a 9-3 first year in this season at FAU, a program that went 3-9 in 2016. Plus, as mentioned before, he’s a brilliant offense mind, and an ace recruiter.

I understand he flamed out at USC when he was the head coach there from 2010-13, but they were on probation when he arrived, yet he was still able to pull off a 10 win season in 2011. Of course, he was only in his thirties, and when he started to struggle, he'd already made too many enemies. I just don’t think he was mature enough or ready to be a coach at a big time program like that. But now? He’s in his early forties, and he had to benefit of working with a drill sergeant like Nick Saban, who is perhaps the greatest college football coach of all time. He’s not some dope like Derek Dooley or Sal Sunseri, who we mistakenly thought would’ve contracted Saban’s brilliance through osmosis, because he’s already a smart guy. Working with Saban could only have been a benefit for him.

Again, I get it. He left Tennessee at the altar. He’s the stripper of college football. He’s the motorcycle boyfriend. We’d never be able to trust him, and he's been trolling Tennessee all week, with images like this one.

But Tennessee shouldn’t be hiring a coach thinking he’s going to be there for 15 years. If you hire Lane Kiffin, you might only get four years. You could get just three. But however long or short it was, it’d be a fun ride, full of smack talk, trolling every other SEC team and fan base, and most importantly, wins. Remember his first year in Knoxville, when he destroyed both Georgia and South Carolina, and was a blocked field goal on the final play away from beating Alabama at Bryant-Denny? Why not bring that back? Who of the available candidates are we sure is better than Kiffin? Les Miles is in his sixties, lost his last five games against Saban, and spent his entire tenure running a boring offense where they basically ran the ball into the line of scrimmage and fell down. I would’ve taken him five years ago. But not now. Kevin Sumlin is intriguing, but he had his best two years with Johnny Manziel, and lost five games each of his last four seasons at A&M. Also none of his teams ever played even competent defense. Tee Martin would please the fan base, because of the coming home story, but he’s never been a head coach before, and only an offensive coordinator the last two years. He probably needs more seasoning before he could realistically handle a job like Tennessee. SMU’s Chad Morris is also an alleged target, but he’s just 14-22 in three years there. Ugh.

Which is why it’s time to bring the Orange Knight home. The Lane Train is coming into the station. Let's all get on.

So... Who Exactly Is Getting The Tennessee Job?

It’s been two days since Tennessee fans and Vol Twitter killed the Greg Schiano hire, for reasons both on the field and off it. It was an absolutely incredible and confusing Sunday, and one that has led to the future of Tennessee football being thrown into chaos. I spent all day either refreshing Twitter or searching “Greg Schiano” in Google, as I watched the story devolve from “Schiano and Tennessee are working on a contract” to “Due to fan outrage, both sides are getting squeamish” to finally “Tennessee has pulled their contract offer”.

I tried to capture everything I was feeling from that day in my first ever Facebook Live video.
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The bigger question now though is where do they go from here? Since Tennessee backed out of the deal, it's been reported that their is now pressure on John Currie from the Vol administration to resign. Then there was the report that Tennessee may owe Schiano money since they both signed a memorandum of understanding. But then it came out that UT Chancellor Beverley Davenport hadn’t signed the MOU. Could Schiano still sue? Is Currie getting fired? Is Currie’s statement yesterday about this entire fiasco further evidence that he’s an out-of-touch loser?

I wondered aloud a few weeks ago, when Butch Jones was still the head coach, how it was possible that Tennessee had ended up with the Butch Jones of football coaches AND the Butch Jones of athletic directors. After the events of Sunday and the last two weeks, it's not even a clever joke anymore,  just the sad, depressing reality of the current state of the Tennessee athletic department.

Of course, they still have to hire a head coach, a task that has become significantly more difficult, due to Currie’s incompetence and the fan base outcry. Former Vol offensive coordinator and current Duke head coach David Cutcliffe, a guy I wouldn’t have wanted anyway, reportedly turned them down. Purdue’s Jeff Brohm was a name that popped up in a few places yesterday. Lane Kiffin tweeted about how he “wasn’t waiting by the phone” for them to call, and SI’s Bruce Feldman reported that there was a good chance they’d offer the job to current USC OC and former Tennessee national championship winning quarterback Tee Martin. And most recently, Jimmy Hyams reported that Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy was the focus of their search. Other names, according to Hyams, include SMU’s Chad Morris, Auburn’s defensive coordinator Kevin Steele, Alabama DC Jeremy Pruitt, Clemson DC Brent Venables, and Memphis’s Mike Norvell.

There’s a lot to unpack here. I have no idea if Gundy is actually interested, and he allegedly turned Tennessee down in 2012, but if he’s serious about leaving OK State then he’s the unquestioned best and most qualified candidate. To me, Mike Norvell and Jeff Brohm are indistinguishable from each other, and I’d have the exact same reaction to them being hired. I wouldn’t want Chad Morris, who is a paltry 14-22 in three seasons at SMU. Pruitt and Venables have never been head coaches before, though they’ve been great coordinators, while Steele, a Tennessee alum, hasn’t been a head coach since he went 9-36 at Baylor from 1999-2002.

Personally, I two guys with the most connection to the program, Kiffin and Martin, are the most interesting candidates outside of Gundy. I don’t think there’s any chance Kiffin actually gets the job, because hiring him would be like going back to your cheating ex-significant other. How could you ever trust him/her again? He’s like a stripper or a guy with a motorcycle; you like them because they’re dangerous, brash, and wild, but you wouldn’t exactly be comfortable bringing them home to mom. Of course, he does have the endorsement of Johnny Majors, for what that’s worth.

Before this search started, Tee Martin would’ve been like my 15^th choice. The guy has only been an OC for two seasons, and any success he’s had could just be a product of Sam Darnold’s brilliance. In fact, in the only three games he’s called WITHOUT Darnold, USC scored just 23 points. Of all the coaching candidates the Vols could get, Martin is by far the most inexperienced. We just don’t know.

There are certainly benefits to hiring Martin. You can’t find anyone who says a negative thing about his character, he’d understand the fish bowl nature of Knoxville, and he’s an ace recruiter. Plus, he’s a familiar name on Rocky Top, a beloved player coming back home to revitalize a once proud program. He’d be welcomed back into the program with kid gloves…. at least at the beginning. Plus, if he was able to get things turned around at Tennessee, he’d arguably become the greatest Vol of all time. As the National Championship winning quarterback, he’s already in the pantheon of Tennessee greats; but if he became a wildly successful head coach, he’d leap past all of them. Manning, Majors, Fulmer, John Ward, Reggie White, hell maybe even General Neyland. There’d be 5 million streets named after him, there’d be statues built, and he’d become a hero. Or, more tragically, due to his inexperience and potential lack of proper skillset to run a major college program, he could go up in flames. For every Dabo Swinney and Bob Stoops (young guys that had never been a head coach before, took over a big time program, and won a lot of games), there’s 5 million guys like that who fail. Things can fall apart quickly at Tennessee. Is Martin up for it? We have no way of knowing.

If I had to guess who’d get the job, I’d say… Martin. Gundy has been a tease before, I don’t see why this time would be any different. Plus, there’s momentum for him among the fan base that didn’t exist two weeks ago (and we've seen how powerful the fan base has become). And if all the other candidates are scared off by what's happened the last few days (and I think they might've been), or aren't significantly more experienced (besides Gundy and Kiffin, they aren't), then I think they'll roll the dice with Martin and hope for the best.

Tennessee Craps Their Pants, Hires Greg Schiano

Tennessee just made the worst hire in school history. After weeks of speculation about who the Vols would land, they absolutely crapped themselves and hired Ohio State’s defensive coordinator Greg Schiano, a guy who, at Rutgers from 2001-11, was 68-67 overall and 20 games below .500 in conference play. He also had a two season-stint with the Tampa Bay Bucs that ended after two years and an 11-21 record. Oh yeah, and when he was an assistant at Penn State, he allegedly knew about Jerry Sandusky and did nothing.

Everything about this search was “Butch’d”, and John Currie should be fired. Greg F-ing Schiano? Are you kidding me? I’d rather have kept Butch Jones! I’d rather promote Brady Hoke! What the hell?

Some of the names were so lofty, and probably attainable. Gruden was just a tease, Chip Kelly allegedly turned them down, and Dan Mullen is going back to Florida, but how about anyone else? Even if you had to settle for an unproven guy, they would’ve been better than this. Did you call Memphis's Mike Norvell? Purdue's Jeff Brohm?

Currie is such a hypocrite too. My god. During his “Butch is fired” presser, he talked a lot about how important it was for the next coach at Tennessee to be a man of integrity. He mentioned this several times, which makes me wonder WHY THE HELL HE’D TURN AROUND AND HIRE A GUY THAT KNEW ABOUT CHILD SEX ABUSE AND DID NOTHING?????

And how the hell do you hire Schiano, knowing that the fan base was absolutely going to hate the choice? You hire Jeff Brohm and we all roll our eyes and bitch and moan, but everyone would eventually get behind him and talk themselves into him because he’s a young up and comer who runs an exciting offense. Oh yea, AND HE ALSO DOESN’T HAVE ANY ALLEGATIONS AGAINST HIM THAT HE HELPED COVER UP CHILD SEX ABUSE.

Seriously, this is the worst hire they possibly could’ve made. And it’s just typical Tennessee. All my life they’ve screwed around and hired chumps who get their teeth kicked in every year by Alabama and Florida. They’re a big money athletic department that goes cheap at every turn and hires the worst possible candidates. Who is stupid enough to continue be a fan of this crap?

If they were so intent on hiring a coordinator, then how about Clemson’s defensive coordinator Brent Venables?  Or Alabama’s Jeremy Pruitt? Neither of them would be in my top 10 choices, but again, AT LEAST THEY DIDN’T HELP COVER UP CHILD SEX ABUSE.

Tennessee sucks and I hate myself for wasting all of this time rooting for an athletic department that’s run by idiots who crap themselves anytime they have to make an important decision. Alabama, Florida, Ohio State, Michigan, Texas, USC, etc. would never make THREE bad hires in a row like this. What the hell is Tennessee’s problem?

I don’t know how next year will go. I really don’t. I can’t even think about it because this is such a terrible hire. A .500 coach who helped cover up child sex abuse. What’s the upside? What are the positives?

Everyone was wrong. Yesterday’s beatdown by a 5-7 Vanderbilt team wasn’t rock bottom. This is. We have an incompetent, hypocritical athletic director, a .500 coach with child sex abuse coverup baggage, no bowl game, no QB of the future, an extremely tough 2018 football schedule, and fan base morale as low as it’s ever been. This is what rock bottom is.

Let’s hope the basketball team is good and can distract us. At least until spring practice starts.