Welcome to Friday of the longest week in UT Sports history. As you read this, Tennessee is 'trying to work a deal' with Washington State's Mike Leach according to multiple reports. I believe this is a accurate. After failing to get to the end zone with 6 other sitting head coaches, Tennessee is going for 2 with Mike Leach.

Mike Leach would be perfect way to end a bizarre week because he's crazy fun and this week has been anything but. This search will ultimately cost John Currie his job and the House of Haslam their tight stranglehold on UT athletics.

Mike Leach will be fun in Knoxville if he happens and maybe fun is enough for now. Juxtaposed with Dave Doeren and SchiaNO, a Mike Leach led Volunteer team feels like a breath of fresh air.

The problem with Tennessee Football bringing Mike Leach in here is that he won't win big in Knoxville. Guys like him have their place in college football, but Tennessee remains one of 18 schools where you can win a National Championship. Tennessee should be serious about it's program and serious about this hire. Any hire should be made with the objective of competing nationally. There, I said it.

I have nothing against Mike Leach, but this job at this time calls for a serious hire. Mike Leach is lots of fun and he plays entertaining football but he's not going to scare the marquee programs in this league. He's just not.

Tennessee should pull back and get this weary search team off the road. If we feel fried, how must John Currie and his minions feel right about now?


Hey HOH, get your guy off the road and lets regroup for a couple of days, take a deep breath and see what shakes at the top of next week. Mike Leach will be sitting right there next week if you still decide he's next. This whole thing wreaks of a shot gun marriage which, come to think about it considering where they are today, is apropos.

I hate to be a wet blanket here but Tennessee Football can do better than Mike Leach.





We've made it through another week of UT Football. That's more than John Currie can say today. Because he's not going to make it much longer on the job in Knoxville. The big question is how did we get here? How could Tennessee be in this position? What follows is an attempt to explain some of the missteps that have sabotaged our search for a new coach.


Inside The Worst Search In College Football History How Do You Execute A Search That Has Executed This Fan Base?

Hired Wrong Athletics Director: The House of Haslam are smug actors. Jimmy Haslam knows more than EVERYONE (and I mean thousands) of you that will read this today. If Tennessee would've hired either Phillip Fulmer or David Blackburn, they would not be in the position. When SuperBooster Charlie Anderson was bragging to friends that Phillip Fulmer was going to be the new AD, Jimmy Haslam unilaterally hired John Currie even though Currie knew nobody here liked him. Word from inside is that Currie told Haslam, "but nobody likes me there." To which Haslam allegedly replied, "Yeah. But I'm the only one that matters. You'll be working for me." This hire set up a chain reaction of events that folks will study a long time from now for how not to execute a coaching search.



Surrounded Currie With Kids: John Currie doesn't have a veteran staff around him in what is a monster job. He's never been through anything like this and is getting very little help or guidance from his support personnel. He's truly on his own in this deal and is out of his depth.


Waited Too Long To Fire Butch: He should've been gone a good month before he was terminated. This would've put a public "Help Wanted" sign on UT's job besides boosting the latter part of the season. 2017 will go down as an all time disgrace. Every player deserves an apology from Jimmy Haslam.



Let Jon Gruden Rumors Fester: John Currie thought it was funny that you believed the Grumors. He thought it was amusing that you were fooled by the nonsense of Gruden to UT. And the longer it went on the more you believed and got your hopes up. Why wouldn't you get out in front of that and stop all the chatter? Have the Haslams ever heard of expectation management? It's always a great idea to set your own fanbase up for the kill.


Currie Made Promises He Couldn't Keep: John Currie told parents in our recruiting class and current players that he "already had a coach hired." Why do this? What a foolish way to proceed. This makes him look like a complete liar.


Went To The Bahamas Where He Became Johnny Bahama: Johnny Bahama was in the Bahamas watching hoops with his family so obviously he had his coach. I mean he promised the recruits that he had his guy. Only he didn't have anything of the sort.


Never Interviewed Nor Called Tee Martin: The sitting AD at UT MUST have a relationship with Tee Martin. Whether he hires him or not is immaterial. When you're Johnny Bahama Currie, you get on that airplane and you fly cross country to Tee Martin and give him the respect afforded a National Championship winning QB that happens to be a top assistant coach in college football. Failure to honor Martin with an early interview has resulted in unwanted heat in the VFL community. This is a foolish way to do business. Does Currie want to make enemies of former players? Pissing in the face of a beloved VFL is foolishness.



Never Had A Fallback Plan Once #1 Candidate Dan Mullen Went To Florida: Tennessee has been all over the board since Chip Kelly took that UCLA job. Ironically enough, Florida's hiring Mullen out from under Tennessee has created instability, the likes of which makes it look like Larry Scott is calling the plays. Tennessee has no plan.

Sunday SchiaNO: Need I say more. What a disgraceful attempt at hiring a coach. It's an absolute disgrace that Tennessee was going to try and ram this down a beaten down fanbase's throat. This was an affront to everybody with hearts, minds and ears. Thank God for you stopping this. And yes, I mean YOU!!!!


Offering The Job To Dave Doeren: Not only did Tennessee randomly pick that loser as the latest to get a raise from Bahama John's World Tour, but allowing Doeren to sleep on it was pathetic. Letting Gundy sleep on a decision is one thing, but a 500 coach on the hot seat holding all the cards overnight? Are you freaking kidding me?



Orange Throat Time!!!!! Our insider is dizzied after this week.




Orange Throat....

Great stuff.....

>I'm starting to think John Adams was right....Tennessee needs to retreat and reorganize this search over the weekend and live to fight another day. Then again, the Flying J Trial is off today in Chattanooga so Jimmy Coaching Shorts will probably be out there trying to make something happen. Would it be possible to lock him in a room somewhere so we can make this hire.


Tennessee needs the weekend to cool this thing off. Don't rush.


Marcos Garza Said That? If Tennessee was trying to sabotage its own football program it couldn't have done this any more perfectly.




Tennessee has a YUUUUGE Non-conference test with Georgia Tech on Sunday in Atlanta. Mark Griffin brings his patented Griffin's Three Pointers on today at Tonybasilio.com




Stay tuned immediately following the game for your Garza Law Tennessee Basketball Overtime. We'll have a great time breaking down Tennessee/Georgia Tech. It would be great to see Tennessee win that game and perhaps sneak into the Top 20 next week.





Jack Tate...The Movie King presented by Smoothie King reviews another great flick.




Jack!!! Thanks. I could use something with some rated R language after watching UT's coaching search for the past week. What a debacle this has become.



Final Thought: We are a resilient fan base. The fact that you're reading this right now says an awful lot about your resolve. We are better than this. This House of Haslam might not be better than this, but WE are better than this. Don't let them steal the joy of being a part of Big Orange Country from you. This place is bigger than them. Whether they believe it or not, this is bigger than them.


Final Thought II: Thanks to my entire team including Sinco, Beano, Brocky, Alex Myers, Matt Dixon, T Rob, Jerry Colquitt, Briney Boy & Orange Throat along with all the loyal listeners and readers for helping me get through this unforgettable week. I love each and every one of you.


Final Thought III: Thanks to everybody that has stood up for our football program and all the hurting folks in Big Orange Country. We'll get this thing back together..

Tony

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