Thank You Butch Jones

[White_Rabbit]

Since we're looking back, I was not a fan of Baer being the DC. Someone linked a blog about his career following around Willingham and I was scared to death. I'm quite pleased to have been wrong on him. The defense has been more impressive than the offense so far imo.

The Neinas hire still sucks. :smile2:

 

[Highlander]

The Neinas hire still sucks. :smile2:

:yeahthat:
Funny how the most questionable hire on the staff turns out to be the worst.

For the record, I was losing my ***** when he effectively brought his whole staff with him from SJSU. As of now, it looks like I was wrong.

 

[Mick Ronson]

Mac2 is the kind of hire we should have made after Danny. not the hairball bleed black and gold jon embree experiment. i like jon but as a former player....and buff.

i liked the idea of Jones and i think he will win some at Tenn....but there are a lot of yellow lights about that guy imo. Vols might not mind that much but i guess we do.

glad we are not in the market this year with USC, Nebraska, and Texas all possible shoppers...

 

[DBT]

Mac2 is the kind of hire we should have made after Danny. not the hairball bleed black and gold jon embree experiment. i like jon but as a former player....and buff.

i liked the idea of Jones and i think he will win some at Tenn....but there are a lot of yellow lights about that guy imo. Vols might not mind that much but i guess we do.

glad we are not in the market this year with USC, Nebraska, and Texas all possible shoppers...

I think Jones would have turned things around here. However, I also think he would look out for his own self interests with an eye on moving "up." And, yeah, if Mac turns this around, he will probably use it as a stepping stone to the SEC if he has the opportunity. But with him, while he is here, I think he will be dedicated to the program and school. I thihk the difference in that regard is that Mac will be content to just let it happen whereas Jones would have been trying to manipulate it.

 

[absinthe]

Mac2 is the kind of hire we should have made after Danny. not the hairball bleed black and gold jon embree experiment. i like jon but as a former player....and buff.

The irony of it is so many schools make this exact mistake, I just cant understand how they didnt see it coming.

 

[buffaholic]

When we fired Hawkins, I had a long talk with my donor buddy, who is the type that is talking to Benson on matters. I knew we were in trouble when I said we need a proven rebuilder and I suggested several head coaches that had built things (at the time, Brady Hoke was my favorite poster boy, and he had yet to get the Michigan job - remember, Hawk was fired before season's end).

His reply was "we already tried that by hiring a non-BCS successful head coach and that model doesn't work"! When I pointed out that Hawkins hadn't built anything, and he hadn't been a coordinator and thus wasn't the mind behind any of their success, I was completely dismissed. He said we need someone with Buff tradition and with major college or NFL experience! It was clear that the brain washing had been effective. He wouldn't even listen.

Today, he recalls that conversation and asked "what was I thinking"?

I was on the HCMM bandwagon early, because a proven track record was the only thing I cared about. But there were a lot of other candidates I liked that fit that bill. And bringing his staff intact was always going to be key (after seeing Hawk have to build his own).

I was suspicious of Jones' track record, but when I saw his energy, passion, and obvious football know-how, I thought he'd be a good coach here as well.

I like everything about the new staff (with the exception of Neinas) but I will also say it's 2 games. So far so good.