I started this as a simple comment on Joel's fanshot of this Knoxnews blurb, but I quickly realized that I had a lot more to vent on this subject. 

First off, I hate, hate,hate this meme. Even if its not even in full blown meme status, I hate that its a baby meme with the potential to grow into a toddler, child and so forth. 

Tennessee football should be the last program in the country right now with a wandering eye when it comes to its coaching staff. I know its no secret, but need I remind you we are bringing around 60 players to Baton Rouge this weekend. To paraphrase Josh Ward from last weeks podcast, "we're starting the Gooch at center for crying out loud!". We are literally asking Dooley to come in and build a program from next to scratch. And we need to give him a chance, a REAL chance to do that.

Having that said, it really tweaks me when I read probes like that in the Knoxnews link. Also, even if this comes from a rival blog, it really bugs me to read this type of commentary as well.

We all knew things were bad in Knoxville, but not that bad. And, frankly, Dooley has done nothing to convince me that he was a particularly good hire.

This type of discussion is viral in nature and if you hear it enough, it starts to affect your thinking. Our program is in a state where we simply can't afford it. 

We need to give Dooley and company a chance to build the program into something we can consider a finished product before we do any type of evaluation of his job status. In the mean time, he needs our full support. He needs fans in the stands cheering. What he doesn't need is the media and fan base discussing his job security 4 games into his only season after he had only 2 weeks to secure his only recruiting class. 

There is a saying that gets thrown around in my office from time to time. 

"Short cuts lead to long delays" 

What ultimately sealed Phillip Fulmer's fate was a lack of excitement. We took a shortcut to more excitement by hiring Lane Kiffin and that ultimately lead to what has become a long delay in our quest to build a nationally competitive, championship caliber program. 

The road to the top is long and steep and we simply can't afford any shortcuts this time.