SDS has been very out of the loop as far as the coaching search goes it seems. Following insiders and people with insider connections to UT is able to get you much more reliable info. With that said Currie has kept this exceptionally close to the vest so even the best info needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Current word is that Peterson, Mullen, Leach, and Gruden (highly unlikely) are the primary targets. Contrary to reports Kelly never turned down Tennessee because we never inquired. Two of Kelly’s agents approached UT to see if we wanted to talk. We said no because of his prior NCAA issues. With Kiffin and Pearl having trouble with NCAA and Jones and the Title IX Tennessee wants nothing to do with somebody that has had problems with the NCAA. Also the report that came out earlier today saying we backed off of Campbell is highly suspect. There has been little to no evidence that UT even contacted Campbell. Current odds among UT insiders are saying that Mullen and Peterson are the most likely.

Straight up fuzzy. I just can't believe that State turns the ball over 5 times with Fitz in the game. The backup was a true freshman and wasn't ready to have to put the team on his back the way that Fitz does. State lost by 3 after turning the ball over 5 times and losing their heart and soul of the team early. Congrats on the win, but to try and discredit State or the job the Mullen has done is ridiculous.

Cam paying for play. Zeke openly complaining to reporters about not getting carries. The most egregious being Jameis Winston playing through a rape case. I’m not saying JJ shouldn’t be reprimanded, but this isn’t near the worst thing I’ve ever seen. Such a quick dismissal. No way they heard his side of the story. At least make sure you get everybodies side of the story and make a decision from there. So he said some “bad words” big freaking deal. One of the few people who has truly given his all for Tenn and he is more than likely never gonna suit up for the Big Orange again.

Like I said. Punish him yet. Dismissal is too far. Unless he has been a problem during the season and there is something we don’t know about. Otherwise reprimand him but dismissal is extreme. Many players have done worse and been punished less.

Dude was trying everything he could to get healthy enough to play against Vandy and the coaches wouldn’t let him at least practice. He calls them out on their crap. Says what all ya fans have been saying for months. How he did it was stupid yes. Punish the kid. Suspend him even. But dismissal is ridiculous. Some players have sat all of 1 quarter for doing much worse.

Dude’s a bust. Florida needs to go after Frost hard before Nebraska gets him.

Oh believe me I'm not blaming it all on Butch. You think I forgot about Dooley and Kiffin? They're even more so to blame then Jones. Hart and Hamilton the AD's are as well. I don't hate Jones like a lot of Tennessee fans. I honestly wish he could have succeeded and I give him credit for leaving a solid foundation for this next head coach. I see what you're saying about Fulmer's second to last year, but it still wasn't a good year. They got blown out by Bama and Florida and lost to LSU in the championship. Compared to his earlier years that year was mediocre And believe me I don't expect to be competing for natty every year. No team should expect that except for Bama with Saban as the coach. However, I do think Tennessee should be a top 10 program every year.

Tennessee has a quick rebound with the right coach. I'm not saying Gus at Auburn year one level, but 9 wins in a good coaches first year isn't out of the question. Talent littered everywhere that wasn't being used thanks to Butch. I could argue Tennessee if about the same as it was 10 years ago if not better. We aren't at the level of the early 2000's thats for sure. People forget that Fulmer's last 2 seasons weren't that good. Florida is not some elite tier job right now. The media has such a hard on for Florida for whatever reason. They're still a top program, but this isn't Spurrier or Meyer's Florida. McElwain probably hurt the program more than people realize. He won the East with Muschamp's defense and because Tennessee pissed it away both years. I'm well aware State's record has been better. That's a testament to Mullen and the amazing job he has done over there. Miss State doesn't get the respect it deserves. Tennessee is not a powerhouse now. You are right about that. One thing Jones can do is recruit and there is talent all over the place waiting for someone to tap into. The right hire and Tennessee could become a top 10 program within 2 years. That's what matters now. Getting the right hire. Will they? I don't know. I for sure hope so lol. I would be thrilled if Mullen was named our head coach, but personally I think he stays at State.

Scoring touchdowns would be a good start.

I doubt it. That could have been another reason for waiting to fire Jones. 2 wins isn’t enough to garner him real consideration. Even if LSU is a pretty good team. If they’d fired him a couple weeks ago and say Hoke won out the season then he’d have to get at least some consideration, but as it stands I doubt it. He’s nothing more than a stand in for whoever they want to hire.

I mainly said this without taking the higher ups into considerstion. After the way Florida handled McElwain, if I’m a potential candidate I’m hesitant to how they would treat me. At Tennessee our fans may be extreme, but our administration is at least handling this process with class. Without considering all that I still say UT and UF are better destinations. Florida isn’t as good as it was 10 years ago contrary to what the media would have you believe, but it’s still a great job. I couldn’t agree with you more about the job security though. UT and UF won’t put up with 8-4 for long where as Miss State is much happier with a coach who can consistently get that for you. Not that y’all wouldn’t love to win a championship, but State will be much happier than the other two places. I think it comes down to whether Mullen thinks he could take one of the top 10 programs and lead them to 10+ a season or if he thinks he’s doing the best he can do now. I think he stays at State, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some teams offer him some high amounts of money to try and persuade him.

Better recruiting, better facilities, easier division, more money, much higher upside program, etc. “lateral move at best” lol. Will he leave? Eh. Probably not, but if he did UT is much much more than a lateral move for him. Florida would also be a better place for him.

Can we all agree that UT, UF, and UGA need to be top 15 and Saban needs to retire? That sounds fair to me I think. We’ve all suffered enough.

Excuse me for not wanting to be dripping in sweat for walking down the drive way to get the mail. Florida weather is awful from April-October. I’ll take the much more comfortable East Tennessee everyday. Why anybody wants to live in 90%+ humidity all the time is beyond me, but if that’s what floats your boat go ahead. Florida has the edge in recruiting being in Florida(obviously), but has to compete directly with FSU and Miami being in the same state along with every SEC team to boot. So it’s not some end game advantage. Tennessee has the advantage in facilities. Every other comparable is arguable at best on both sides. Money is relatively equal, maybe a slight advantage in overall revenue to Florida, but in the ability to pay a top tier coach is equal. Fan base equal. Both can be great, but can also be quite ravenous. Don’t kid yourself Florida fans. Y’all have been average since Urban left. You aren’t a current top tier team. Same boat as us. Definitely have a high upside, but currently not looking so hot. These are two of the most important hires for both programs and I’m hoping both administrations knock these hires out of the park. Returning the rivalry to how it was in the 90’s and early 2000’s would be incredible. Some of the best games I can remember were those early season showdowns.

Thats the easiest question ever. Tennessee no doubt. Not too hot not too cold beautiful weather there and the always great Appalachian area. Where as Florida has what? Swamps and unbearable heat and humidity 8 months out of the year? I'd hope that isn't UF AD's selling point. Easy breezy East Tennessee>>> muggy Florida any day. If I'm UF I'm going all out on the fact that Florida is a great recruiting base because at the current situation that's the only real advantage UF has over Tenn.

Don’t see how you can say Guarantano wasn’t ready. Completed 62% of his passes and has only turned the ball over once while getting sacked 20 times in 4 starts. Played behind an O-line starting a tight end at tackle the other day. Alabama terrorized him all day and kept knocking him down and he kept getting back up. He’s got a 115 rating behind the worst O-line in college football all while throwing to receivers with bricks for hands. I also seem to recall a nice pass that hit the receiver right in his hands, but was dropped, that if completed would have meant that S.C. would have lost to this garbage Tennessee team. Could you imagane that? This QB, that according to you isn’t any good, did everything he needed to do to beat y’all, but was let down by the rest of the team. Say what you want about the rest of the team. They’ve sucked for the whole season, but G has been put into one of the worst situations possible and actually been a bright spot for this otherwise abysmal team. If Tennessee finally grows some balls and gets a real coach he’s gonna have a good career, but with our luck Jones will be retained for another season.

The problem is us Vol fans expect to be elite. Nobody in the country wants to consider Tennessee a top program and that makes all us fans mad. Tennessee is a top 10 college program and a true blue blood of college football. We've been their since the beginning and very few programs can claim better histories. We've been terrible for over a decade. The fans deserve better than this. Is it really that bad that fans of an elite school are angry that we can't get a coach that can win at a high level? Look at Alabama pre-Saban. Nobody considered them any good at all. They make the perfect hire and look at them now. That's what Tennessee is. A sleeping giant and if this good for nothing administration could do just one good thing and find the right coach Tennessee has the potential to be a top 10 program again. The idea that we can't get somebody to do better is ludicrous.

I’m almost as pumped as when Tebow gave his speech last weekend. I could run through Jones’ brick wall lol

Shinigami705 Everyone I can find it's really blurry and hard to tell. One video it seems like he is pointing at Bo because he is putting his hand in the other guy's face and in another video it looks like the bird. From all the videos I can say it seems like he had in mind to do that already before going up there. If he meant for it to be to the guy in the third row then he never would have put it into the first guy's face. I don't hate Bo or hold anything against him for it. I just get tired of people trashing players because they can get frustrated and get caught up in the moment. All these people act all high and mighty when a player from another team does something they shouldn't and like to pretend that their players have never done anything dumb. One moment by one player doesn't convict a whole fan base, team, or even that player himself. Like these people have never done something they shouldn't have. Like I said, Gaulden shouldn't have done it. Just like Bo shouldn't have. No reason for the kid to get so much hate. Especially after he publicly apologized.

@poisonzo Hardly the same? Both taunting fans of the opposing teams. Plain and simple. The players shouldn't engage opposing fans in the stadium it can only lead to negative actions. The fan threw something at him? I can't find any evidence of that anywhere.

@IH8BAMA How was it any different? Both were taunting fans of the opposing team. That's like saying one cuss word is worse than another even if they're both cuss words. Pointless. Both unnecessary and both should have gotten the players in trouble. I don't seem to recall Scarborough apologizing for it.

Don’t seem to remember the outrage when Scarborough put his hand into the Tennessee fans face after he scored last year. So I guess that makes Alabama classless too? All teams have players that do stupid stuff.

I'm with Orangeswarm on this one. During the third quarter when we had the ball on the half yard line and didn't score I was beyond pissed. When we didn't score I said "We deserve to lose this one after that crap". When Florida scored on that last play I wasn't even mad. I was upset, but I just sort of shrugged and turned off the T.V. Tennessee should have had at least another 10-17 points on that scoreboard and if it weren't for coaching stupidity then Florida would have been too far behind and would have been desperately trying for a comeback. I'm thoroughly convinced Tennessee outplayed Florida the whole game. A middle school coached could have called better plays and probably won the game for us. I'm proud of the players doing everything they could when the coaches kept putting them in position to lose. No reason to be angry about the last play. The rest of the game sure, but not the last play. The game shouldn't even have been close.

@Bulldawgrock How would he be reducing his chances? His chances would be much higher at UT. Comparable if not better talent, better brand name, better facilites, much easier division, and the list goes on. He takes the job. Year one is a learning year with current roster and recruiting for Mullen has a massive uptake because UT>State in recruiting. Year 2 he is comfortable with the staff and some of his own players that he recruited and based off of his ability as a head coach easily exceeds expectations in year two. I get what you're saying about what he's got going on where he's at, but the potential at UT to title contenders every year is much much higher than at State. Do I think he'll leave? Not really.

It really depends on how much money you want to spend to get someone. If you want to shell out the big bucks. Tennessee has a really good roster and with some better coaching would be a 10 win team. 3 options. You could go with an up and comer killing it at a lower level than power 5. Could try laterally and get a big name from another power 5 school. Just lure them away from their current programs. Try for an NFL coach. One name I've actually seen roaming around is Dan Mullen. Look at what he's able to do at Miss State. Dak and now Fitz. One of the hottest teams in the country right now and he's been pretty consistent considering where he is at. With all of Tennessee's resources he'd have a better shot at maintaining 10+ wins compared to at Miss State. Plus moving to the East would make getting to the SEC championship game easier for him. I could argue that Tenn has better talent than State. State definitely has us beat in the coaching department though.

I'm gonna have to agree with the SC fans on this one. ND should not have been anywhere near the top 25. They got put in there so that the media could sell this game as something more than it was. Georgia has the potential to be a really really good team, but I'm not sold on how good they are after this win. I'm waiting for them to play teams that were good last year too before making any predictions.

I could see arguments to call Georgia Tech a blue blood. They've got a lot better program history than many other schools. Blue Blood really when it comes down to it are the more historic programs that have been there and helped found college football. There are some arguments for GT and they would definitely be in the top 20 programs list, at least I think so anyways. I wouldn't say that calling programs Blue Bloods is a way to stir the pot. I mean some programs have been here longer and have more meaning to the history of college football than others. That's just how it is. You are completely correct that it is indeed debatable though.

You directed me to the list by ESPN so I went and checked it out. I remembered it from when they released it and upon reading through it again I remembered how frustrating it was then too. If you check out the comments fans from all teams are discussing their dislike and disagreements with the list. The first and most liked comment is actually a Georgia Tech fan saying that he doesn't understand why Tennessee wasn't in the top of the list. I don't put much stock into that list and apparently most others don't either. The easiest way to determine a blue blood in my opinion are teams that have been there and helped shape the sport of football. In which case Tennessee most definitely would be one. Sorry for the long post there about the ESPN article I meant to say something in the first post, but oh well. Anyways, I don't see why Crist has a problem with us discussing this. None of us have resorted to useless name calling or anything petty like that. I'd imagine the more comments and discussions on his articles the better.

Tied for 4th in bowl game appearances, tied for 5th in bowl game victories, 9th in all time wins, second in SEC championships, 6 national titles. With a history like that I fail to see how someone would say Tennessee isn't a blue blood. I get that I'm biased as a fan of the program, but that is an incredible resume. Perception also can change things. Tennessee has had a bad decade, but that doesn't change the other 100 years.

What would you consider a blue blood then? Last championship isn't necessarily the best way to determine blue blood. I mean personally I wouldn't consider Florida a blue blood. They've been an elite program since spurrier in the 90's, but before that their history isn't all that. As far as blue bloods in the SEC goes Alabama number 1 and Tennessee number 2. They're the most historic programs in the SEC. LSU and Florida have definitely raised the bar in the last 30 years. I think if they keep dominating for a little longer then they'll definilty become blue blood. Georgia may not have the championships that Alabama or Tennessee has, but they've had some amazing teams for 40+ years. They're definitely blue bloods. I guess it depends on how strict you are. I think Michigan is a blue blood even though they haven't won an undisputed title in forever.