The juicy bits from Derek Dooley's introductory press conference

“weren’t taken along by Kiffin solely because he wanted them to be fired so they could collect their buyouts”… if that is the case I would transfer them to maint. and have them scrubbing toilets and hire a new OL and QB coach.

And the Washington Generals’ coach was praising Lane Kiffin. It was funny as a crowd schtick at first, but they kept hammering on Kiffin all night long. It wasn’t funny at all anymore the 8th and 9th times they were reminding us of Kiffin.

He interviewed with Auburn last year and looked like a good candidate. Good luck with him!

respect this guy. I know i just saw one press conference and thats it of Dooley, but I just got a good feeling when I was watching it. Please be patient Vol fans, he deserves a chance.

I am a huge Tide fan, but iam a Tenn. resident and my brother played at UT. I think this is a brilliant hire, congrats UT for getting it right.

I think UT’s AD is doing his best to find the next Bear Bryant, and I give the following to support my contention:

Bear Bryant

Lane Bryant (where else would Bear got all those tasty, matching plaid hats and coats)

Lane Kiffin

Layla Kiffin

Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs

Derek and the Dominos

Derek Dooley

You see. Now it all makes sense.

/takes another pull off of Maker’s on the rocks…

I check in with UT football from time to time just to see how you guys are doing (and since I am in Tennessee right now, that’s all I pretty much see on the news). I believe if you give Dooley a chance, he will go far (at least he won’t ditch you guys for a PAC-10 school). I believe this year he showed everyone he can handle tough teams week after week (something you SEC fans love to point out). He almost beat Boise, then LSU the next week with mostly second and third string guys.

Good luck in 2010 and beyond

i have to admit it will be very interesting year, two eeks into the year and what a ride

except when you play Bama.

rucker is reporting that Kippy may be gone… didn’t think hammy gave him a fair shot

And actually reminded me a lot of Fulmer. If this means Fulmer in his glory days, that’s a very, very good thing. Although hopefully he’s a little bit better on the in-game stuff. Very classy, pleased with him being respectful of everybody as people but still taking shots at certain actions. He was very composed, didn’t look nervous. Thought he handled the questions very well. Of course he didn’t answer the questions about our current predicament, but I would’ve liked an answer as to whether we’re going to run a 3-4 or 4-3 (and some other very general football questions). He’s shown that he can conduct himself the way we want our coaches to conduct themselves. He’s proven in the past that he can recruit (and damn does he have the perfect connections. LA, TX, GA, South FL. Sweet!). The questions are whether he brings the fire on gameday and whether he can do X’s and O’s. And the helmet slapping video, I think he looks plenty fiery. We’ll see about the X’s and O’s. If he keeps some of the current staff (Chaney!) that will help. Also, we’ll see if he coaches his own special teams. That’d be a plus; I’ve heard he does it well.

it’s like how i feel about Bobby Johnson, but not Urban Meyer, Nick Saban, or Mark Richt. I do like Les Miles, but we don’t really have to worry about him too much.

Young couch with a so so record and a son of a famous coaching legend….another legacy hire? Maybe not.

I may be just drinking the koolaid here, but I was impressed by the background info on Dooley, whom, I’ll admit, I knew absolutely nothing about (aside from that last name of course).
1. A degree from Virginia (an outstanding school from my understanding) with a law degree from UGA to boot.
2. The only Head Coach/Athletic Director of any school in major college football.
3. His wife is an OB/GYN. Now I loved Ms. Vicki’s visibility in the Tennessee community and the following is not meant to marginalize her in any way. Mrs. Dooley is a freaking doctor….the MD kind. So we know that there is something special going on behind the headlights. There were reports that Ms. Layla was not real ecstatic about living in East Tennessee….it wasn’t California/sunny enough for her. Layla didn’t really talk very much in public (as far I could tell) but she always came off as Coach What’s-his-face’s arm candy/trophy wife. In fact in an article in SI, she was reported as saying something along the lines of, “Believe me, [Coach What’s-his-face] could talk a person into walking off a cliff.” Curious statement that said a lot about the type of person she is and, frankly, a psuedo-admission of how manipulative/slicktalking/arrogant her slickster husband could be. With Mrs. Dooley, hell, she’s got her own profession, her own career goals, and is a football coach’s wife/mother to boot. So without getting into stereotypes of what type of people become doctors, I’ll just say this: from the initial reads on the background info, Mrs. Dooley seems to be an impressive person. And that old cliche about husbands and wives comes to mind…you can tell a lot about a man by the woman (don’t read anything into that…that’s an argument for another place) he is married to. In other words, Double D can’t be all that bad if she stuck by him…she definitely had the means to find somebody else if she wanted.

I know this is probably pointless banter, but there is not a lot else to go on. I’d rather not focus on his record at La Tech since, lately, win loss records don’t seem to be in consideration anymore on a major program Coaching search. Other than all that, I was impressed with his answers, I was impressed with his refusal to be baited into talking about Coach What’s-his-face or Ass(t). Coach Red Bull, and I was relieved to see that we got someone who seems eager to embrace TRADITION!!! (Looking forward to someday seeing Dooley on the Roof)

but Doolery is a whole heck of a lot smarter. I think Kiffin is dumb as a rock. I defended him because I’m a homer, but the guy did say some of the dumbest things

DD walks in to the presser, holding a Red Bull.
Take a long drink, makes a sour face, and says “God, what kind of idiot drinks this crap?”
and throws it in the trash.

Mike Hamilton saying that Dooley was one of “3 or 4 names” given to the search firm on Wednesday. And they sat down face to face for the first time on Thursday morning.

Dude is a coaching search ninja. We (media, too) really have no idea what he is up to.

I made a comment yesterday “we now officially suck” that I must throw myself upon the mercy of the court and hope it will be stricken from the record . For one -this guy gets good cred from Saban (who is not exactly a cute and cuddly guy) stayed with him for seven years at the college and pro level ++ . I was also impressed on his stand about a “comfort zone” he wanted to go out and show he could do the job , not ride on someone elses rep (see Muscahmp ,Will ) . The proof is ultimately in the pudding , but I will admit I feel we may turn s**t into shinola in the long run here.

you guys finally hired a guy i can’t hate…give it a few years and that will probably change…

…I know Kiffin and the way he left will hurt a little in the short run but you couldn’t have found a better anti-Kiffin to replace him. Dooley is a class act and he did a pretty good job with a hard situation in Ruston. Give him at least 3 years and I think you will be top dogs in the East again. Also, maybe this will cool some of the venom between your fanbase and mine. I remember when the UT and BAMA fanbases used to respect each other. I would like to see that again and reserve our hate for when it is appropriate, the TSIO. Roll Tide and, well I can’t quite say it but this will have to do, Go Dooley.