Cancel the rest of the season!

The new year of which we do not speak!

First things first…thanks for joining up here at RTT. New folks are always welcomed, regardless of their points-of-view.

With that said, you are the stereotypical bandwagon/“boo-bird” fan. I’m in total agreement with you and the rest of Big Orange Nation that this season has been quite unbearable. However, true fans of the team such as myself, Joel, Hooper, and many others understand that it is not the undefeated team that needs to be supported; rather the team that’s down in the dumps. Is an empty stadium any way to help turn around a program? (Think: recruiting effects?)

You’ve been bitten by the anual high-expectation bug. Anything less than a National Championship is a failure in your world. There’s no fault in hoping for such on a year to year basis, but you MUST get your head of the clouds when reality rightly smashes you in the face. Accept the fact that we’re at the bottom of the “success-cycle” right now and will resurface again soon.

Alabama fans suffered for years. Look who’s lauging now.

gili4, i am in no way bashing you or your point of view, i respect that. but did u even see Fulmer after the game or any of the phillip fulmer show? i have not seen him so upset ever. he is not giving excuses, rather telling the media that the team has to work harder. i just dont understand how you can blame this on fulmer. although he is the head coach and maybe has his hand in the play-calling, but dave clawson is the one that is supposed to get the offense ready each week. and who do you expect from east tennessee to be the next coach, the maryville high school coach? no way. fulmer is the guy regardless and i will stand behind my team and the head coach no matter the number in the W column now and at the end of the season. i live here and this is my team. real fans dont go around saying that their teams should forfeit the rest of the season, that is ridiculous.

Much like our country decided to invade another nation without a backup plan in place for what would happen after the invasion, many Vol fans are calling for the firing of Phillip Fulmer without providing an answer as to who would take over the program after his demise.

If you fire Phillip right now, who is going to take over, Dave Clawson? John Chavis? It would fall to Chavis if you ask me, but our defense was badly exposed against Georgia. I don’t like either option. Why should we trust Clawson in that situation? Allowing Trooper Taylor to leave was a misstep.

If you fire Phillip at the end of the season, who are you going to get to replace him? Jon Gruden? Bill Cowher? Or some guy out of the college ranks? Who is going to want to come to Tennessee where the staff is paid less than the elite programs in the conference? Tennessee will have to spend big time money if they make a change, and I don’t think they’re ready for that.

The new coach will have to absolutely love recruiting. He is going to need to equal Ed Orgeron in his prowess in order to draw top talent to the state. We all know that we aren’t getting very many players from neighboring states (Georgia) that those universities don’t want.

And why does our new coach have to be from Tennessee, and East Tennessee at that? Our new coach needs NFL experience. He needs to have experienced the details-oriented approach that that league demands. He needs experience at the highest level of the sport. He needs to understand what it takes to win in a quarterback driven league. He needs to discipline players and make sure the details are correct everytime. Also he must play the players who are able to execute the plays.

So to sum up, I feel your pain, I really do. It’s hard to endure all the taunts at work. All the farks on smashmouthsports, all the ridicule from Gary Danielson and Verne Lundquist, the upstart bammer fans — I hate it all. But I’m tired of fans calling for Fulmer’s head without providing a viable alternative. I don’t want to fire Phillip. But if we do go that route, it needs to be because we thought we could get someone that would make the program better. Someone to make the program what it ought to be.