re: Who should Tennessee hire as their new coach?

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Tenn can't get rid of Fulmer unless they have a good coach lined up to take his place.

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Why?

I've never understood that mentality. If a coach is not getting the job done (I'm not saying Fulmer isn't, but assuming UT concludes that he isn't) and shows no real promise of getting it done in the future, then it's time to get rid of him, even if you don't know who his replacement will be or how good he will be. If you are satisfied that your current coach is a known quantity with no real chance of success, then hiring someone new, even an unknown quantity, increases the chance of success.

And what's really funny is that, the one time LSU actually did go looking for a replacement before firing the current coach (Archer and the Raycom debacle with Joe Dean), we caught nine degrees of shite for it from everybody. Ditto for Auburn with Petrino-gate.

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Here are some they should be talking to:

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Tennessee and the coaches you list would be absolutely insane to start talking to each other any time soon.

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Mike Leach (47), Texas Tech -- records at TT: 7-6, 7-5, 9-5, 8-5, 8-4, 9-3, 8-5, 9-4. They went to a bowl game every season, and are 5-3 in bowl games. This season they are 4-0. Assuming they get squashed by the big boys again this year, Leach might want to move on to a bigger program where he has the resources to be a big boy national title contender.

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His offense was shut down by Alabama in the Cotton Bowl after the 2005 season. Their big numbers are a product of the fact that few teams play any defense in the Big XII, and Texas Tech plays nobody outside the conference. Whether his system would work in the SEC is highly questionable.

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Mike Gundy (41), Okla St -- 4-7 first season, then went 7-6 (won Indy Bowl), 7-6 (won Insight Bowl). They are now 3-0.

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Still unproven, but by God he's 40...he's a MAN!

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Chris Peterson (44), Boise St -- 13-0 first season (upset of Oklahoma in the Fiesta), 10-3 second season, 2-0 this season (including upset of Oregon on the road).

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A tempting choice, but then so was Houston Nutt when Arkie hired him away from Boise State. Success in the WAC is not the same as success in the SEC, but they have beaten a couple of Pac Ten schools, and did upset Oklahoma, and that may justify giving him a shot in the SEC. But at Tennessee, one of the richest and most traditional SEC schools? I don't know. UT is the caliber program that should be able to go out and swipe an established coach from a big-time program.

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Bronco Mendenhall (42), BYU -- 6-6, 11-2, 11-2. Now 4-0. 2-1 in bowl games.

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May be a good choice. I honestly don't follow BYU closely enough to know, although obviously I see the scores and results.

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Jim Leavitt (52), South Florida -- 79-47 record at South Florida

Pat Hill (57), Fresno St -- 88-55 record at Fresno St

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These two have the look of lifers at their respective programs, school legends who built the programs and are content to stay there, ala Sonny Lubick at Colorado State, Fisher DeBerry at Air Force and LaVell Edwards at BYU. I'd be surprised if either of them left their current schools.