RTT Tennessee Volunteers Head Football Coach Search, Round 1

by David Hooper on Nov 5, 2008 7:18 AM EST in Tennessee Volunteer Football

Now that UT is officially on a head coaching search, it is time for us to do our democratic duty and help the university find the next great UT Legend to lead our football team to SEC and National championship every year (give or take). It may seem a little ghoulish to start on this trek so soon after The Announcement (that's because it is), but time presses and these matters will not wait for us to finish our mourning. So here were are.

I will present to you 16 potential candidates for the next head coach at Tennessee. They will come in the form of head-to-head vote-offs, with 8 first-round votes, 4 second-round votes, etc. until we get to the 1 Chosen One who will defeat the Crimson Menace once and for all:

Warning: 10 minute Youtubery (via GhettoChu)

So, without further comment, here is your first matchup. Remember, this is a contest of your preference between the two, not who you think the actual coach will be, nor necessarily your top preference overall. Polls will stay open for 24 hours; then the next vote-off will commence.

THE BATTLE OF THE WESTERN MAJORS

(Wiki links: Lane Kiffin, Mike Leach, Will Muschamp, and Steve Sarkisian)

Poll

Which of these candidates would you prefer to be Tennessee's next head coach?

Lane Kiffin - Former Head Coach, Oakland Raiders

146 votes

Mike Leach - Head Coach, Texas Tech

218 votes

Will Muschamp - Defensive Coordinator, Texas

115 votes

Steve Sarkisian - Offensive Coordinator, USC

23 votes

502 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Meh.

Any chance that we can leave “the search” alone here at RTT? Discussing developments in the search is one thing, but do we really need to have a fantasy HC pick? Although it may be fun to do, it has absolutely no purpose and probably has a better chance of disgrutling fans if the actual selectee doesn’t jive with RTT’s popular vote. You know; kinda like how I’m disgruntled over the selection of Obama this morning. Double meh.

by Aerobab on Nov 5, 2008 7:11 AM EST reply actions

What? You don't believe in the sanctity and infallibility of a hastily-assembled internet poll?

And one on a fan website at that?

In all seriousness, of course this has no effective purpose and I’m fine with that. (Well, I’m actually curious to see how the numbers play out, but that’s not significant toward the real coaching search.) UT isn’t going to give this thing $0.02 in their consideration, and they shouldn’t; if the coaching hire were indeed influenced by a fansite poll, we’d have serious reasons to be concerned.

I would actually think that there’s a greater chance of it not matching the actual hire, and that doesn’t bother me at all. There are a lot of very good coaches out there. No matter who’s hired and no matter their popularity today, they’ll be judged solely by the product on the field once the season starts. That was the case with Fulmer; for all of the good he did for the players outside of Saturdays, it was the gameday experiences that turned the fanbase against him.

by David Hooper on Nov 5, 2008 9:33 AM EST up reply actions