Mr. Crist, for any sports writer to criticize the recent problems with UT's program is all well and good, but it is not too difficult to tell when they go beyond that like you have done. It seems to me that there should be a certain amount of decorum that goes with the responsibility of the job.

Mr. Crist, don't rely on just one opinion like mine as to the perception of your dislike for a certain team. Read all of them and you might notice a pattern developing.

Mr. Crist, it is one thing to state the obvious about the Vols recent poor performance both on the field and off, but quite another to continue to go out of your way to tell sports fans what they are already aware of. This is not just one article I am referring to. You seem to have a detectable bias against one team in particular. I don't think I am the only commenter who has noticed this.

Mr. Crist seems to enjoy writing these thinly-veiled columns on UT with sometimes subtle, sometimes not, digs at the program. Then he feels the need to get on here and reply to those he labels fools with orange-tinted glasses. No preconceived bias there, Mr. Crist? Nah, I guess he believes he is just telling it like it is.

You were fairly accurate on the predictions, but next time quit being so humble and boast a little more. I guess that is just your style. Most people also figured out quite awhile back that the Vols were not too good this year, but thanks again for replying to your own column and reminding us.

Did you say you are a kid? That makes more sense than your attempt as a comedian.

In my opinion, it is not as big of a factor as getting beat by 31 points to a team that was 7-5. I think the decision is obvious.

The separation factor when comparing Alabama and Ohio State is the Iowa game. In comparing the best four, if a team has two losses then one of them should not be by such a wide margin. Georgia's loss to Auburn was by a big margin, but they won the rest of them.

Mr. Crist, no need to keep writing after your first paragraph and complicate the simple. You said you thought that Alabama was one of the best four teams in the country. The goal of the selection committee is to put the best four teams in.

Hey Bryan, good job of making stuff up when factual information gets in the way. Its not Fulmer's fault they violated rules. Even better job with the juvenile insults, which tend to show up when one gets a little defensive. He went 152-52, 2 SEC championships, one national championship and is in the College Football Hall of Fame

Agreed, I hope those guys could get over it after a quarter century.

I can understand why you might not like Fulmer. He beat the Tide 7 years in a row. Be thankful you got Saban.

I guess we need to add your comment to the list of the uninformed. Ask those in the community what he has done lately and ask his former players about their hall of fame coach.

To UGARMYRet, because there is a credible person now hiring them. Fulmer has the respect of the coaching community because he has a long track record of winning.

I guess you don't realize or care that those who have followed SEC football for years know how ridiculous you sound.

There have been poor decisions made over the years, but Mike Hamilton and Dave Hart are not there now and Phil had been out of the athletic department for almost ten years. You don't sound very informed, but I guess you enjoy the troll thing.

Better yet, ask his players who love the man. Jocko, stop insulting the intelligence of those who know better. The man is in the top 10 in SEC wins. You can't do a troll spin on that.

Because you get more respect when you have a track record of winning. He will get interviews that Currie did not.

Another clueless comment from the gutter. The short list just got longer with better names. Fulmer's record was 152-52. Can you count that high?

Wow, what a dumbed-down comment. The same guy that held a national championship trophy and is in the top 10 of SEC coaches with the most wins.

The columnist is correct in stating that the program finally hit bottom earlier today, but with the hiring of Fulmer we begin the journey upward while there is light remaining in the day.

Your program has shown improvement. Even though his record was unacceptable, Jones still won 80 percent of his games against your team.

Garbage? This article seems to have attracted trolls galore. Double standards and uninformed comments abound.

Hey Matt, here's the irony in your less-than-creative, copy-cat article critical of the Vols program. The maturity level shown in your name-calling goes beyond that of the mob mentality and rivals that of a middle-school brat instead of a knowledgeable sports columnist. I suppose there is no way to know for sure what Schiano knew or did not know about the child abuse. Put into context and perspective, UT just recently settled a $2.48 million dollar lawsuit on the same subject of sexual impropriety. Sexual harassment allegations are currently the national headlines and on everyone's mind. Perception is almost reality. The climate would not allow UT to go through with that hire.

Congratulations, you just posted the least informed comment of the day. Or maybe month or year. If UT "lucked" in to the winning the whole thing, then so did most every other national champion that has ever been. Almost every championship team has one or two games a year when they are not playing their best, but find a way to win. Sometimes it is luck, but it is an insult to say they did not deserve to win it that year. They played better than any other team. Fulmer was slipping his last few years, but most coaches also reach that point eventually. For the several years he was in his prime, UT was regularly in the top 10, sometimes top 5.

I would not have taken the time to respond if I agreed with you. So no, I am not making your point. UT has not hired a new coach yet. Maybe in your next column you can boast you told us so on how they got it wrong again before he has coached his first game.

You have no idea what you are talking about. They have the facilities, budget, fan-base, tradition, and recruiting area to compete with anybody. The game-day experience around the stadium when they are winning is about the best around. The problem has been poor decisions by administrators and poor coaching after that.

Correction, my last sentence should have said ... "can be"...

How many times have you been to Neyland when it had reason to be rocking? It took a backseat to nobody. If you had been there for some of the big games under Fulmer and Majors, you might rethink criticizing a UT fan who was there as having unrealistic expectations. To repeat, most any big-name team that is down is the right coach away from being good again. What was Alabama before Saban? What has happened to Nebraska since Osborne retired? Do you spend such an inordinate amount of time time criticizing them as you do UT? It is not an unrealistic expectation for any UT fan to think we cannot be what we were a few years ago.

While it is obviously apparent that the last decade has not been a good one for the Vols, it is also not difficult to discern that this writer is going out of his way to bash the program for some reason. This is not the first article I have read in which he has done so. Moreover, it is not very common to come upon a columnist who feels the need to get on here and respond to those who take issue with his words. Seems to be a little over-sensitive. Any program that is down is only one coach away, the right coach, from returning to prominence. I have been a UT fan long enough to have seen the extremes from great to lousy to mediocre to good. Almost every college program goes through these up and down cycles. The ones with more of a winning tradition and a huge, loyal fan base like the Vols will eventually get back to where they want to be. For the writer to say that it is not currently the job and program it once was is true, but to a significant number of those fans he criticizes for their belief, they have the advantage of having witnessed and remember all the champions and ranked teams under Fulmer, Majors, and Dickey. Some of them also understand the tradition established by Neyland, who is one of the most underrated great coaches in the history of the sport.