OT: Tennessee rejected by Charlie Strong, Big east passes sec as football conference

Submitted by ak47 on

Tennessee just got turned down by charlie strong, does this mean the big east has surpassed the sec as a conference?  From what the media has told me coaching moves can dictate who the best conferences are. 

Pete Thamel ‏@SIPeteThamel 
BREAKING: Charlie Strong turns down Tennessee, new Louisville contract is being finalized.

p.s. in case you missed it this was a parody post about the wisconsin-arkansas situation

Zvornik Bosna

December 6th, 2012 at 12:30 AM ^

Job security could add more money to that. 2.3 over 6 years is longer than 3.5 for 3 years. At Louisville he can get by as long as he goes to bowl games and not worry about being fired. Cannot say the same about the Tennessee job. Reminds me a lot of Shaka Smart, although he'll have to turn down a couple more higher programs to reach that level.

UMgradMSUdad

December 5th, 2012 at 11:20 PM ^

On the local sports radio here in Oklahoma, they were quoting figures like a 5 or even 5.5 mill offer to Mike Gundy. I kind of wonder if it's not coaches' agents floating some of these figures to sweeten the pot for new contracts.  But if these figures are accurate, I might not feel as inclined to jump at that kind of pay raise if it's so much lower than they offered the previous candidate for the same job.  Granted, just because it's the same job, doesn't mean every candidate is equally qualified.  Still, it would be hard to take being essentially told another candidate is worth 50% more than you are.

Tater

December 6th, 2012 at 2:06 AM ^

When Mike Gundy said that he turned down the UT job, Strong probably decided that he didn't want to be their second choice.  They also could have been lying to him and telling him that he was their first choice.  

This is a great move on Strong's part.  The UT job looks more and more like a dumpster fire, and it's not like coaches of African-American descent are treated with much patience there at Tennessee if they don't win big and win now, without having even one bad year.  

Also, I find it sorta funny that the same people who bitched the most loudly about Fulmer are probably the ones who are now calling the most loudly for his return.  

LSAClassOf2000

December 6th, 2012 at 8:11 AM ^

Another name that seems to appear in every other article about the Vols' search is Larry Fedora, although I don't know if he's leave North Carolina after having just arrived essentially and having led them to an 8-4 season. Supposedly, he is supposed to reaffirm his commitment to the Tar Heels this afternoon according to the papers in North Carolina, although he did interview for the open position on Tuesday supposedly.

Some of the Tennessee blogs have started suggesting out-of-the-box solutions (probably our of desperation), such as former Kansas State coach Ron Prince (currently the OL coach in Jacksonville, I think).

Don

December 6th, 2012 at 6:27 AM ^

At this point, that would be a big step down. Ten years ago TN would have been a dream destination job, but now it's a tire fire. Strong was smart to turn it down—not every "move up" is really moving up in the long term.

M-Wolverine

December 6th, 2012 at 12:02 PM ^

And coaches aren't jumping to take the job. Sound familiar?  

I think people have to come to the reality that big time jobs aren't THAT much better than 2nd tier jobs anymore. There's a reason I listed so many coordinators as now head coaches at the top programs right now. People will leave bad programs they've built up for big time jobs, but aren't all anxious to leave middle of the pack or 2nd tier teams that they've built up. Arkansas-Wisconsin is the anomaly, not the norm.  And even there he wasn't their first choice.

LightTheLamp

December 6th, 2012 at 6:53 AM ^

He loves Louisville and the city loves him. They have the budget to pay him and Louisville's AD is more than happy to open the check book for him. If they were rejected by the ACC, I have a feeling the headline would be totally different

tn wolverine

December 6th, 2012 at 7:23 AM ^

Not gonna happen, according to all the radio guys here. Chavis is really good friends with Fulmer and left really pissed at the admininistrtion for the way he was dismissed. The same goes for David Cutcliffe at Duke. They both made critical statements about the administration on the way out. I suppose ridiculous amounts of money could possibly change their minds but it looks very doubtful on either of those two.

tn wolverine

December 6th, 2012 at 7:50 AM ^

 Tress has a five year show cause, he's been away for two already. Tennessee doesn't want anything to do with that after the Bruce Pearl issues. There would be scholarship reductions and recruiting sanctions for anybody that hires Tressel and UT said they want a coach without that kind of baggage. It will be interesting to see if they stick to those ideals as they get desperate to fill the job. If they get somebody the fans don't feel is a big enough name they will go crazy. They're talking about how the school should just throw money at Saban until he comes. It's starting to be fun to watch now, like a train wreck. OOps this was an answer to a question about Tressel, not sure where that one went.