quote:
Exactly.

And my point is that UT needs another showman. Someone who can fire-up the fanbase ala Pearl. Get people excited up there and get the players playing like they are excited to play.

Tennessee men's basketball is a lot like SCAR in that regard. Matter of fact, both of our heydays were in the early 70s and we've been struggling off and on since.

Of all those candidates above, which one is the one that puts on the best show and can coach?

That's the one UT should focus-on IMHO.

ETA: Marshall is probably going to be the one ... but y'all will not like him. If he wasn't such a prima donna prick we would have hired him either of the two times he begged us for the job.

Shaka, ... good question.

Volquest had an article up about the history of showmanship at UT and how UT fans really respond to it more than a lot of other schools. Although I'd say our best years were actually the Pearl years (and even a few before then) the ones we remember so fondly were the Mears' years. We're an area that demands it even in our politicians - hells bells Cas Walker was a legend because of it and all he did was sell shite (launching musicians like Dolly Parton was secondary to promoting shopping at his stores

). When he was a politician he staged a 'fight' on commission. National media ran with a photo of a punch being thrown.

Here's a sample of Cas Walker (telling thieves they're gonna whoop the hell out of them and tell the cops the thieves started it - well worth the watch): LINK

As for basketball showmanship:

quote:
As Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Dave Hart begins his nationwide search for a basketball coach, the long time athletic administration should take note from the past and not his past when it comes to what's important in hiring a hoops coach.

As Hart looks for a new coach, one with head coaching experience makes sense, one who can recruit is a must, a good staff is an obvious requirement. But what Hart really needs is a showstopper.
....
But Green and Martin combined for 152 wins, 77 losses, 5 NCAA tournament bids, and 20 win seasons in 6 out of 7 years. Yet, Green was run out of town and the line from most fans would be longer to pack up Martin's moving van than it would be to get to shake his hand. Why would two coaches with a combined winning percentage of 66% be footnotes at best in the annuals of Tennessee basketball. They couldn't sell it or didn't want to sell it.

The two most popular coaches in Tennessee basketball history are Ray Mears and Bruce Pearl, who combined to win 71% of their games. Mears never won an NCAA Tournament game, but he was successful thanks in large part to great players like Bernard King and Ernie Grunfeld. However, "The Ernie and Bernie show" was not what made Mears so beloved. It was showmanship. It was striped pants, running through the "T," unicycles and more. Mears made the game an event. He was a marketing guru before any school offered a marketing major. Decades later, Pearl followed in the same mold.

Tuesday, Hart said that Tennessee had a great history and a great tradition of basketball to go with a great venue. That is true. But the great tradition of Vol hoops is it's zaniness if you will. The tradition is the show. The reason Green and Martin were never really accepted is they didn't put on a show. Green often times never got out of his chair on the bench. He told the fans to go to K-Mart. Not only did Martin never get a technical. He never protested, stopped his foot, or take off his jacket. He did the bare miminum when it came to fan interaction.

Unicycles and fancy warm-up drills are not resume requirements, neither is chest painting and singing Rocky Top at a bar on the road before pre-game.

But the requirement for Tennessee basketball remains, to be a successful basketball coach at Tennessee it's not just about winning, you must have personality and must give the program a brand. It can't be done through a slogan or a marketing campaign. The head coach must create an identity, a brand that breaths and lives. It's something a fan has to feel not only when he or she walks into the arena, but also when they visit with the coach at a caravan stop or a radio show. The competition for everyone's time is at an all-time demand. Options have never been more plentiful. So the battle for fans is more difficult than it's ever been. Of Tennessee's 19 home games this past season, all 19 were on television.
...

If you don't, 9pm tip-offs become much later in the eyes of fans. Saturday afternoons in January become much colder. The excuses become more plentiful. The challenge facing Dave Hart now is to hire someone that the fan base has reason to fall in love with. There's no doubt that the hire has to win and get the the tournament, but history says there's also no doubt that this hire must capture the hearts of the fans, to do that it takes more than wins.

A lot of people didn't understand that Bruce Pearl was being straight when he said he wore the orange jacket to honor Ray Mears. Those two were twins in terms of showmanship and really just loving and feeding off of the love UT fans gave them in return.

LINK