The idea scares him to death as a Florida fan, and the idea of being scared of Tennessee again thrills him because he’d like his adversaries to be worthy.

I think the criticism is rooted in the anticipation that in the end the decision makers will indeed make a traditional choice mostly because it’s the traditional choice and not because it has the best and biggest upside. Perhaps it’s just been the football program under Fulmer that looks primarily to the “risk” part of the risk/reward analysis and seeks to minimize that at all costs including a possibly bigger reward, but it’s also possible that it’s systemic in the administration as well. What do we have to point to to believe otherwise at this point?

I believe that Leach is on the short list, but I also fear that in the end we’ll go with the traditional for the sake of tradition. And remember, I am at heart a traditionalist, but like Tevye, if you’re holding on to a tradition and can’t say why, you’ve got a potential problem. Why? I’ll tell you why. I don’t know.

The sad thing is that Hamilton and the rest of the decision makers might in fact choose someone other than Leach for very good and appropriate reasons and that even if they do, the rest of the nation will continue to view Tennessee as they do now despite the subsequent enumeration of those valid reasons. Can’t really win there.

I think Leach has the best resume. If they don’t hire him for some good reason and get somebody else better, great, but if they don’t hire him only because he’s quirky, that would be a huge mistake in my view. And until I’m somehow convinced otherwise, I’ll continue to fear that they’ll do just that.

they will lose a LOT of enthusiasm – particularly from the younger fans. The last thing that UT needs to do right now is look like they’re holding onto a stodgy concept of football.

I could see UT doing that, even if it’s not the actual reason for not hiring Leach. It’s very convenient to say “we didn’t choose him because xxx” rather than to say “he didn’t choose us because yyy”. Even if yyy is “Family likes current location” or “Allergies to East Tennessee” or whatever you can think of that’s a legitimate, non-footballish reason, most executives would rather act like they made the decision.