IT FEELS LIKE DEFCON-1 IN KNOXVILLE

Another Original & Exclusive Column From The Mind of DINO COSTA

September 23, 2019

-Cheyenne, Wyoming

Rocky Top…or rock bottom?

In Knoxville right now, the Volunteer Nation wants blood, repulsed by the results of their football team over the first 4-weeks of this 2019 season,

coach Jeremy Pruitt’s second in command.

They also want a team that can finally become relevant again in the SEC because right now it seems like it’s been an eternity since Tennessee

football was a major player in a conference where fans treat each game like its life or death.

Is it too soon to make any definitive judgments at this point?

Philip Fulmer to the rescue?

Give that one a break, okay?

A sign of progress for the Tennessee football program – if not the entire athletic department – would be if Philip Fulmer announced today that he’s

permanently retiring and heading off to a new home he’s purchased somewhere in the vicinity of Norris Lake where he’ll live out the rest of his days by

doing nothing else but relaxing and fishing every few days.

As I watched the latest Tenessee-Florida game this past Saturday I was reminded yet again of just how much sizzle this once great rivalry has lost – in addition to once again realizing that Tennessee, once one of the most feared SEC schools around, has fallen so far, and the climb back to the top

– if it can happen – seems a long-long way away.

Including Fulmer’s last year on the sidelines back in 2008, the Volunteers have been through 7 different coaches over the last 12 seasons (including

Brady Hoke’s 2-game interim stint and the 1-game stint of Jim Chaney) and have a collective record over those years of 68-wins and 71-losses – while

finishing outside the Top-25 in 10 of those 12 years – and never rising higher than #22 overall in the final polls – finishing 22nd in back-to-back

years in 2015-16 under the guidance of former coach Butch Jones.

This path to mediocrity actually started during Fulmer’s last season when Tennessee went 5-7.

Then the chaos started – and it hasn’t ever really stopped since.

Lane Kiffin succeeded Fulmer and things looked to be somewhat promising.

The Vols went 7-6 and beat ranked SEC rivals – South Carolina and Georgia that season – and Kiffin had seemingly put together a Top-5 recruiting

class he was bringing in.

Then all hell broke loose in Knoxville.

I was on the air that night across America on SiriusXM and when the news came across the wire during my show – and while most people were stunned – those in Big Orange Country were reacting with impassioned outrage and they

called my show the rest of the evening expressing their anger.

On January 12, 2010, Kiffin called a team meeting at 9P on the campus of the university and announced to his players that he was resigning

immediately and accepting the head job at USC. Kiffin told his players that he needed to take this position at USC because in his words it was; “my

dream job.”

Making the locals even more furious was the fact that coach Ed Orgeron – who was on Kiffin’s staff at UT and who was to accompany Kiffin to USC –

started calling new recruits and telling them not to go to class the following morning which would allow them to potentially transfer to USC

more easily.

This was followed by Kiffin insisting that the university athletic department call a press conference later in the night so that Kiffin could explain his decision by telling everyone that the USC job was the only job

he would have left Knoxville for.

This was, how do we say it, a little unusual?

When coaches bolt from one school to the next they simply make a decision and then they leave without explaining their reasoning in the setting of a

press conference at the school they’re departing.

But Kiffin had other ideas. He decided that clarity was what was needed, and I guess he felt that by explaining his decision before he actually left

that it would soothe whatever negative feelings some people might have?

This turned out to be a gross miscalculation on Kiffin’s part.

The press conference was hastily arranged – out of the blue and without even a hint of warning that such major news was about to go down –

especially given the time that this news was to be released, late at night.

Then there was an argument about the rules of procedure during this presser.

The university allowed the television stations attending to roll with tape but ordered the writers and radio people attending to leave their recording

equipment outside the room.

At first, Kiffin said that while he was comfortable with TV cameras taping the presser he wouldn’t allow TV stations to go live with the event. Then

he changed his mind – before then sticking with his demand that no live TV be permitted.

If those attending the presser thought they would be allowed to ask questions – they were mistaken. Kiffin made a brief statement about why he was leaving and then he walked off the podium taking not a single question

from anyone.

Things were really only getting started at that point.

As the news of Kiffin’s resignation was making its way around the UT campus many students began to make their way over to the UT football complex. The

entire spectacle was a circus – and a bad one – and I actually took a phone call from a student that night who was on the scene and providing me with a

first-hand account of the story as it was going down in Knoxville.

Things took an even more bizarre turn when the students who had stormed the football complex decided to completely block off Johnny Majors Drive in an

effort to stop Kiffin from leaving the university grounds.

It got so bad that some students were burning mattresses and furniture outside the complex while demanding that Kiffin come out of the building to

meet with them. Talk about surreal?

Twitter was just then gaining in popularity at that time – and Renaldo Woolridge – who was a sophomore on the UT basketball team at the time, was

tweeting from the dorms while students were rioting in the streets.

Woolridge was live-Tweeting and sent this message out to the world:: “THEY JUST TEAR GASSED EVERY1!!!”

Later, Kiffin further explained his decision to bolt from Knoxville by saying; “I had a decision to make, and it wasn’t easy. It was very

difficult. But this was the best decision for my family. This wasn’t about money. It was just a decision, it was probably the one place — being in

California for 10 or 11 years, all three kids being born there. How much my wife enjoyed it there. The memories that we have there. It’s probably the

best job in America. And I left a great job. I left probably one of the top-five jobs in America to go to the best job in America. But we have left

the Tennessee football program in a much better place than it was 14 months ago. Much more national attention. Much more recruiting attention. And a

much better roster.”

This was the beginning of what can be considered the New Normal that was about to, unfortunately, come to define UT football in the coming years right up to this past Saturday with their blowout 34-3 loss to the Gators

in Gainseville.

Consider the present state of affairs for the Volunteers:

-They’ve won but 2 SEC games since 2016.

-They’ve not had a 10-win season or won the SEC East since 2007.

-They’ve not won an SEC championship game or National Championship since 1998.

-In the last 10-years, they have a single win (2018 versus Auburn) over SEC West teams.

-In the last 13-years, they have appeared in 7 bowl games – none of them majors – and the last time they went to a bowl game of any real

significance was all the way back in 2004 when they went to the Cotton Bowl and beat Texas A&M.

Derek Dooley?

Derek Dooley was a controversial choice to replace Kiffin after he left – and as Dooley walked into the UT football complex one wonders if he knew

just what he was up against?.

Dooley inherited a program that was in total disarray with morale low and scholarship players fleeing the ship after the Kiffin fiasco.

But I give Dooley some credit, his inaugural 2010 team was very young and bereft experience across the board, but they somehow managed to win 6 games

and actually qualified for a bowl game that season (ridiculous) where they lost to North Carolina in the Music City Bowl.

But that turned out to be the high-water mark for Dooley in Knoxville. His teams never finished above .500 in any of the almost 3-full seasons he was the coach – and the Volunteers under Dooley accounted for a 15-21 record

which also included an 0-15 mark against Top-25 teams.

Dooley’s squads were also 4-19 in SEC play and lost 14 of their last 15 league games before Dooley was let go before Tennessee’s last game of the

2012 season – replaced by interim coach Jim Chaney.

Then it was Butch Jones’ turn to try and get UT back on track.

With the cupboard still bare, Jones went 5-7 in his first year in Knoxville in 2013, although they did get a huge lift with a win at Neyland Stadium

that season against then number-11 ranked South Carolina.

In 2014 Davis managed to get the Vols to finish over .500 for the first time in 5-years (Kiffin’s lone season) and they went on to play in the

Taxslayer Bowl in Jacksonville where they beat Iowa.

Heading into the 2015 season it looked as though Tennessee was turning a corner again. Jones had a decent quarterback in Joshua Dobbs who had taken

over as the full-time starter, a terrific running back in Alvin Kamera, to go along with a respectable defense.

Tennessee beat number 19-ranked Georgia in Knoxville, they hung very tough in a road loss to number 8-ranked Alabama, lost a one-point nailbiter to

Florida in Gainesville, and beat Mizzou on the road.

The 15′ Volunteers came away with 9-wins, the highest number of victories for the program since 2007 when they won 10-games, and they finished the season by routing Northwestern in the Outback Bowl while re-entering the

Top-25 finishing 22nd in the final polls.

2016 looked even more promising for Vols fans – even if many in the Tennessee fan base had never really warmed up to Davis over the previous

few seasons.

The Vols began the 3rd year of the Butch Jones-era by sprinting out to 5-consecutive wins to start the year, including victories over SEC

opponents Florida (ranked #19 at the time) and Georgia (ranked #25 at the time), and they were ranked 9th in the country heading into a matchup

with #8 ranked Texas A&M in early October.

They lost by a touchdown to A&M before returning home and getting crushed by Saban and Alabama.

That was followed by an unforgivable loss at South Carolina – before the Vols rebounded to win 4 of their last 5 games including a win over Nebraska

in the Music City Bowl. In 2016, for the second year in a row, the Vols were ranked 22nd in the country…they’ve never returned to such lofty

heights since.

2017 might have turned out a little bit different for Tennessee if they had a defense…not to mention a capable quarterback.

They beat Georgia Tech to open the season – then blew out FCS opponent Indiana State. Then they went to Gainesville and lost by six to

Florida…and the wheels were about to come off for good.

The signs should have been seen with their 4th game of the 2017 season.

Tennessee struggled big time to put away another FCS opponent – beating Massachusetts by only 4 points…in Knoxville.

Ready for the pain and the end of the Butch Jones tenure in Knoxville?

Here goes, following the slim victory over UMass the Vols:

Lost to Georgia at home 41-0, and this was the straw that broke the camels back for Davis even though he’d hang around for several more weeks.

They then lost to South Carolina at home.

Got destroyed by Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

Lost to Kentucky at home.

They stopped the bleeding for a week when they were able to beat Southern Mississippi, but then finished the season with 3-straight losses, none of

the games close in defeats to Mizzou, LSU, and Vanderbilt.

Jones was fired after the loss to Mizzou and replaced for the final 2-games by Brady Hoke.

By his final season in Knoxville Jones was universally despised around the state of Tennessee.

During that final season, Jones came under criticism for allowing an offensive lineman to stay in a game against Kentucky when that player had a

concussion, which of course, in this uber-sensitive society is a big no-no. Jones later denied the allegation.

Other players accused Jones of being physical with them.

Then there was a rape allegation with two of his players and Jones’ reaction to the alleged incident was roundly criticized as well.

After Jones left the scene it was back to square one for Tennesse, but this time, with new leadership in place, as on February 28, 2018, Tennessee

named former Kansas State AD John Currie to head up UT’s athletic department.

Oh, everyone was clearly excited about this, a new man, fresh blood with outside the box ideas…surely Currie will find the right fit for Tennessee

now that Butch Jones’ name has been expunged from the Big Orange Nation.

Recently named UT chancellor Betsy Davenport said this about the hiring of Currie; “We are extremely pleased to announce John as our new

vice-chancellor and director of athletics. “This is truly an exciting day for the University of Tennessee and our athletics department. As I said

when we began this process, we were looking for the best candidate, and we feel strongly that we have him in John Currie. John exemplifies all the qualities we were seeking in an athletics director. He is a man of high

integrity, strong values, a progressive thinker, he fully understands the importance of being compliant in everything we do, and he is a leader who

will put the well-being of our student-athletes above everything.”

The excitement of Currie’s arrival into Knoxville ended up lasting a mere 8-months.

Currie was given full authority to conduct a search for UT’s next ball coach, and he originally set his eyes on former Rutgers and Tampa Bay

Buccaneers head coach, Greg Schiano.

At the time, Schiano was the defensive coordinator at Ohio State, but there was something else about Schiano that the good people of Tennessee, or,

should I say, a few Tennessee football boosters, along with a select few in-state politicians, as well as those in the general fan base were

bothered by concerning Schiano?

Schiano was also an assistant coach on Joe Paterno’s staff at Penn State – and you know about a little something that happened at Penn State a few

years ago, right?

In 2016, a Philadelphia court released documents in relation to the Penn State child sex abuse scandal revealing testimony from Mike McQueary stating that Schiano was aware of the abuse by fellow assistant coach Jerry Sandusky,

a claim that Schiano has denied.

Didn’t matter, this was a Lane Kiffin situation in Knoxville all over again and the moral outrage from so many killed whatever idea John Currie may

have had about making Schiano Tennessee’s 26th football coach.

Long story short, the fairly new chancellor at UT, the aforementioned Betsy Davenport, caved to the public pressure coming in from all sides concerning her new AD and more than questioning his ability to know what was best for

the Volunteers football program, his wisdom, his character, questioning everything about Currie including his choice of shaving cream by that point.

So what did Davenport do?

She suspended Currie even though Currie had pivoted in another direction and had Washington State head coach Mike Leach ready to take the job. (Look

for Leach to succeed Willie Taggert at FSU following this season)

So with Currie now publicly humiliated, Davenport then turned to an old hand to ride to the rescue to allay the fears of the pitchfork-wielding

mob…she brought back Phillip Fulmer to take over the reins of the athletic department.

Now, everything had come full circle.

With the reputation of the university and the football program sinking fast, with more empty seats at Neyland Stadium being exposed

year-after-year, with a roster of players among the youngest and least-talented of most SEC schools, Fulmer would now have a free hand in

selecting the next head coach at UT following the Currie…debacle?

Which leads us to Fulmer’s odd choice of…current head coach, Jeremy Pruitt.

Odd?

Well, I’ll say this for Pruitt, he’s been in the business a long time and he’s coached under some of the biggest names in the sport, Nick Saban, Jimbo Fisher, and Mark Richt, but his ceiling just might be as a second in

command, a coordinator, this is what Pruitt may be best cut out for in the end.

If you go back and watch his press conference introducing Pruitt as Tennesee’s next coach, you’ll see a man who fidgets at the podium and is

having trouble outlining his plan for UT in a coherent fashion. Pruitt repeated himself a few times – and generally looked like the stage was too

big for him, and he hadn’t even coached a game at that point.

Pruitt is a coaches son and genuinely seems like a nice man, but at this juncture, and at the time of his appointment, the UT fan base couldn’t have

cared less if Pruitt walked as many old ladies across the street as possible – or if he spent his non-working hours volunteering down at the

animal shelter.

The UT fan base wants wins and they want their program back to where they feel it belongs, a steady contender in the SEC and one of the top football

schools in the country on a regular and consistent basis.

Despite the reservoir of love that Fulmer has accrued over the years, and despite UT fans acknowledging that Fulmer was the coach the last time that

UT was a perennial football power, the choice of Pruitt as UT’s football coach was met with a collective groan from UT supporters.

Those groans have gotten louder since then.

Pruitt went 5-7 last year, his first on the Knoxville sidelines, with their only win of note coming against Auburn, which to this day I’m convinced

that Gus Malzahn is still having trouble believing.

Pruitt’s last recruiting class was mid-level among all SEC teams, but the more Pruitt speaks the further he seems to distance himself from the UT

faithful and more angst among UT followers seems to be building, and building…and building.

Pruitt may have sealed his fate with this year’s opening game which is almost unfathomable to consider.

UT opened up at home against Georgia State – a program which is only in its 7th season of play

Final: Georgia State 38 Tennessee 30.

Perhaps this game had disaster written all over it before it even kicked off?

Before the game, a 42-foot boat in the Vol Navy burned and sank in the Tennessee River.

No, seriously.

It was the first time Tennessee had lost a home game to a school from the Group of Five conferences since losing to Wyoming 13-7 during the 2008 season.

Georgia State not only won the game – but they also received a check for $950,000 from Tennessee for coming to Knoxville to play the game.

Ouch.

As humiliating as the loss to Georgia State was, what came next brought UT fans to levels of apoplectic anger and frustration that many were probably

looking for boats to burn themselves on the Tennessee River.

BYU came to Knoxville for game 2 of the season.

UT kicked a field goal to go up 16-10 with a little more than 11-minutes left in the 4th quarter.

BYU then kicked a field goal to cut the lead to 16-13 with just over 7-minutes left in the game.

With 4:15 left in the game, Tennessee failed to convert on a 4th and 1, the ball coming up just shy of the BYU 30-yard-line (I thought UT got a bad

spot) and the Cougars took over on downs. UT’s defense then stopped BYU on downs and got the ball back but punted the ball back to BYU with about 1:11

left on the clock.

BYU ball – on their own 10-yard line – facing a 2nd and 18 with no time outs left and only 47-ticks remaining.

Surely, this will be a great win to sort of make-up for the devastating defeat to Georgia State from the week before – and for the moment at least

– Jeremy Pruitt will be able to point to his team’s resilience in beating a pretty good Cougars team, right?

BYU’s quarterback, Zack Wilson is flushed from the pocket and runs for 12 yards bringing up a 3rd and 6 with the clock running and no BYU timeouts

remaining.

Wilson, in the shotgun, took the next snap with 16-seconds left…and disaster ensued.

Somehow, someway, UT’s defense allowed BYU receiver Micah Simon to get lost and get behind the UT defensive backs where Simon hauled in a pass near the

right sideline at the UT 45-yeard line. Simon eluded a few UT players and raced down to the Volunteers 11-yard-line before he was taken down.

With the benefit of the clock stopping to move the chains BYU was able to race to the other end of the field where Wilson spiked the football with 5-seconds left allowing their kicker, Jake Oldroyd to nail a 35-yard field

goal as time expired, tying the game and sending it into overtime where UT would eventually lose in double-OT.

After that game 99.9% of all Tennessee fans and boosters wanted Pruitt fired – and who could really blame them?

UT came back to win against Tennessee-Chatanooga, but then this past Saturday they were trounced thoroughly by Florida who was playing their

second-string quarterback Kyle Trask.

What now?

Some speculate that Pruitt will be fired during the season only to be replaced by Phillip Fulmer, which in my opinion would be a huge mistake.

If Pruitt is to be fired, then UT would be better off naming one of his assistants to finish out the season instead of Phillip Fulmer.

Phillip Fulmer, in my opinion, is an impediment to Tennessee football being able to find their footing again because the game and the sport has passed

Fulmer by in a big way.

How much of this is Pruitt’s fault?

You mean beyond feeling that perhaps he shouldn’t have been named to the post to begin with?

Consider that Tennessee-Chatanooga lost to Tennessee only a few weeks ago – actually, they were shut out by the Vols in Knoxville.

Now also consider that Mocs coach, Rusty Wright, told a writer that the team his club was playing this past Saturday, James Madison, was better

than the Volunteers, and Tennessee-Chatanooga defeated James Madison this past weekend 37-14.

How’s that for some sobering news if you’re a UT fan?

If everything on offense starts with a line and a quarterback – then Tennessee is hurting in both of these areas in a big way.

Quarterback Jarrett Guarantano is a guy with lots of heart but limited ability – at least on the SEC level.

UT’s line is a mess, they have trouble consistently run-blocking and in pass protection – which has had Guarantano either running for his life or

sacked and knocked down countless times throughout the first 4-weeks of the season.

The most concerning thing to any Vols fan is that UT has actually looked worse in this second season under Pruitt than they did in his debut

campaign last year.

Things are regressing, Pruitt continues to look lost, his post-game explanations aren’t adding up, and as I said earlier up the page, Pruitt is

most likely a good assistant coach and not a leading man – at least not in this situation where he’s almost been set up to fail by being thrust into

the role of trying to lead a Tennessee revival.

At this point, it’s more than fair to say that it’s not if Pruitt will be fired – but at what point?

While relieving Pruitt of his role as head coach will fall to Phillip Fulmer, that act and decision should be the very last major determination

that Fulmer ever makes at UT.

Yes, Pruitt needs to go, the fit is all wrong, and I almost feel sorry for the guy as he suffers through a lot of sleepless nights no doubt.

But UT cannot stop there.

Sometime over the next few weeks, UT needs to thank Fulmer for his time and efforts, but they should also tell him that the program will be seeking a new face to restore order and begin the process of bringing UT football

back to where it once was.

UT needs a bold and visionary AD who understands and comprehends the culture in Knoxville, and that AD should be permitted to go out and find

the right guy to restore order in Knoxville.

That’s been the biggest hurdle UT has failed at since Fulmer left – they simply have swung and missed at the wrong choices to lead their football

program.

Perhaps if Kiffin has not left things would have turned out differently? Tough to say.

Buying out Pruitt and his staff will cost the university upwards of $15 million dollars – but UT has the kind of old money in their pipeline to

facilitate such a much-needed move.

The program is at rock-bottom in many ways right now – Neyland Stadium has thousands of empty and embarrassing seats these days – and the once-proud

UT football program has sunk to near unthinkable depths over the last decade-plus.

If this is indeed rock-bottom for Tennessee football – then perhaps they can only go up from this point forward?

I know this, I truly believe that the SEC – as well as college football – is better when Tennessee is a major player in the affairs.

It’ll get worse before it gets better, but UT has a brand and a history that could help it to spark another cycle of top-level collegiate football

with the right people in charge.

Jeremy Pruitt and his team have a bye this weekend before Georgia comes to Knoxville on October 5th.

As I said, it’s gonna get worse before it gets better.