Obligatory Pro-Dooley Thread (sort of)

Before I launch into this post, I want to make clear that I don't think Derek Dooley is the guy to lead us back to prominence. My hope when he came in was that he would surprise me, but I was really clinging to the prospect that he would improve the roster and at least stop the bleeding. I actually think he has done that to a certain extent.

But I wanted to get y'all's thoughts on things that Dooley has done right. I gave up for a while after the Kentucky game last year but then as time wore on decided, since he was going to be here for sure in 2012, to give him a fair shake.

When you look at the body of work, it is clearly a knock on Dooley. We all know the numbers about his performance (or lack thereof) against ranked teams or teams outside of the state of Tennessee. We know he's gone three years without beating Florida, Alabama, Georgia, or South Carolina once. That isn't going to cut it here, and that's why he's in some real trouble.

BUT, having said that, there are some tangible things that are at least positive. The roster is deeper and more talented than it has been since he arrived. Now, you can make the argument (and I have), that now you have to DO something with that talent (as in win a game that means something), but at least the roster is in much better shape.

The improvement in the O-Line and the run game has been excellent. Even if you can Dooley I think the next coach has to look seriously at keeping Pittman and Graham, who have done good work. Overall, the offense is in pretty good shape.

The glaring issue now is the defense, but who imagined that there wouldn't be growing pains with a switch? However, that doesn't excuse the losses -- any time you score 44 points against Georgia and 31 points against Mississippi State, you should win those games, period.

My basic point is this: the team is clearly and demonstrably better than they were in either 2010 or 2011, but the wins are not coming. Can we afford to get rid of Dooley IF the powers-that-be are unwilling to go for a big hire this time?

I'm worried that, in our frustration, we are approaching firing Dooley for the sake of making a change. That may be warranted if we have someone good lined up, but if we're going to fire Dooley to replace him with another unknown or unproven commodity (like Kirby Smart), is it really worth it? Kirby Smart may be the next great head coach, but we simply don't know. Kevin Steele made that Alabama defense look good. The constant there is Nick Saban.

My personal view is we can't take a chance and hope to find a diamond in the rough. If we're going to fire the coach, we need to make sure we're doing it because we have someone who we KNOW can do better. No more rolling the dice and hoping we get the right guy.