Your thoughts on Derek Dooley

[Heavy D]

I gotta tell you, I like the guy. I don't think this is a "Mike Shula" hire for them. I don't think he is ready for the position either though.

I have a brother in law very high up at La Tech and he loved the guy. They knew they would lose him.

I am just finding it hard to hate Tennessee now. I definitely don't dislike them as much as I did.

Does anybody else feel this way?

 

[sweet diane]

I am finding it harder to 'hate' Tennessee with Dooley there. I hope he does well and I look forward to beating him!

Roll TIDE!

 

[TideJAM13]

I can say that I think it was a good hire, and he will be succesful eventually. One just has to ask themselves if in 3-4 years Richt gets the boot at Georgia and Dooley is doing well at TN, would he would bolt for the chance to be a dawg? Regardless of how I feel about DD, I still HATE the viles.

 

[bobstod]

In the Mobile Register today they interviewed the Senior Bowl players and gave them a survey to fill out. One question was "What new college coach was the best hire this year?" The Dooley hiring was down at the bottom, below Tommy T to Texas Tech and way below Kelly to ND. Kiffin to USC was very high (3rd place).

What were they thinking?

I think the Dooley hire will have a greater impact on the Vols than any of the others will have on their teams; and obviously a greater effect on the SEC as well.

 

[TRU]

Dooley is going to make it harder to hate the Viles any more. Kitten made it easy. Who knows, maybe he'll restore the class and respect into the rivalry.

 

[chuxlee]

Since I work In Tennesse, the Vile fanbase will keep me hating them till the dawn of time.

 

[p'colabamaman]

He is certainly a step or two up in the class department than his two predecessors. I don't think he'll stoop to Kiffin's level of bashing other coaches of the league, and I would expect that he knows recruiting rules a lot better. Overall, I think UT is in better hands.

But I sure as heck don't want to lose to them!

 

[TommyMac]

He does seem like a good guy, but I have enough residual hatred left over from Phatamus and Kiffy to tide (no pun intended) me over for years. I used to just hate them on the 3rd Saturday in October, but it's 24/7, 365 now.

 

[CHATTBRIT]

I think he is a good hire -- a way to avoid further violations that were a sure thing with Lame Kitten. I'm not sure he is quite ready for the job but he should do OK. Have to admit my animosity to "thems up the road" is not quite as high. Of course, that can be ramped up very easily.

 

[drfrankfree]

I think its a good hire. He seems like a great X's and O's guy. His biggest question mark will remain his ability to recruit. If he can bring in the top notch guys and compete in living rooms with Saban, Meyer, Petrino or Nutt, then he has a chance. Whether the malcontents in the orange cesspool will be patient enough to give him a chance remains to be seen.

 

[BamaInBham]

He is certainly a welcome relief from the brazen, juvenile liar, but IMO, he is a stretch for UT. The question is whether he will be able to compete with Saban and Meyer on a consistent basis, even other SEC programs. He has proven little.

 

[Relayer]

He worked under Saban and Saban likes him, so that speaks well of him.

He doesn't have a great w/l record by any means (but it's early).

He said the right things I (imho) in his intro presser.

Seems like a nice enough fellow, but he's not had the stage like he does now, so we'll have to see.

It's been a quite a shilw since I wished anything but doom for the vols, so I can't say that I'm hoping for great success for the program even now.

 

[VolFan1]

So far, so good for Dooley. He has done a better job recruiting and keeping this class together than I thought he would a couple of weeks ago. We have lost a couple of players and may lose a couple more. He has also got interest and commits from a couple that wasn't a possibility before. I will all boil down to what the team can do on Saturdays in the fall.
Right now, I have been much more impressed than I thought I would be.

 

[HomeBrew Tider]

In the Mobile Register today they interviewed the Senior Bowl players and gave them a survey to fill out. One question was "What new college coach was the best hire this year?" The Dooley hiring was down at the bottom, below Tommy T to Texas Tech and way below Kelly to ND. Kiffin to USC was very high (3rd place).

What were they thinking?

This may be what we'd call a "contrarian indicator" in the finance world.

 

[GrayTide]

I believe that Derek Dooley is a very good hire for UT. He will obviously "fit in" better with the other coaches and teams in the SEC than the punk he followed. If, and this is a big IF, his lineage from his father and his 7 years with Coach Saban mean anything then he will be successful at UT. Those things though are not a given.

His record at LaTech IMO does not mean much, Coach Stallings had losing records at TAMU and in the NFL and he turned out okay. He is now at a program that has all the tools he needs to be succesful. Time will tell but I would be surprised if he is not a much better hire than Chizik, Phillips, or Mullen.

 

[Bama323]

I think Dooley has class, which is something the last two Vile coaches desperately lacked. Dooley is also doing fairly well salvaging their recruiting class. UT will be much better off with Dooley than they were with Kiffin.

 

[derek4tide]

I think Dooley has class, which is something the last two Vile coaches desperately lacked. Dooley is also doing fairly well salvaging their recruiting class. UT will be much better off with Dooley than they were with Kiffin.

^^^ This ^^^

 

[Gadfly]

I still hate orange.

 

[treetreego]

some friends of ours are friends with DD and his family. According to them they are great people. i feel he's a classy guy and will work out well for them eventually.

i still hate orange too though.

 

[formersoldier71]

I think Dooley has class, which is something the last two Vile coaches desperately lacked.

Agreed.

If he conducts himself above board and with class, it might not take too long for the UT rivalry to become a respectful one again in my book.