The Derek Dooley Project

Photo: SB Nation

Well the Derek Dooley project in Knoxville has come to a close. He just didn't win, so the UT Athletic Department will continue their laughable game of coaching musical chairs until they miraculously run into another Phillip Fulmer. This situation generates some interesting questions that could be posed to the "die hard" fans of college athletics.

The first question would be whether or not passionate fans even care about the academic work of the student athletes. Some could argue that outside the moments that student athletes slip up academically and are punished by removal of participating in competition, the fans and patrons of college sports have begun to completely overlook the academic workload and progress of collegiate athletes. This in time, has strongly influenced the ways in which administrators go about getting rid of college coaches in a Laker-like fashion. This comes about simply because I worked side by side many of Dooley's players and once they began to come close to toeing the line academically, he pulled the reins and significant progress in classrooms was a direct result. Unfortunately that doesn't translate into wins in conference play.

The second question is also aimed to be answer by those who consider themselves "die hard" fans. The question would be as to how long of time a new coach gets in order to get his fair crack at a successful season? You hear people talk about 3-4 years so a coach can recruit and develop his guys in a system that he puts in place, but many college fans call for their coach's job like he was running the princeton offense in Los Angelas a week into the season. Heck Dooley's head has been called since day one by many people who had been Vol fans their entire lives.

This approach along with the neglect of the academic priorities that collegiate athletes have and the impact a coach has on a young person's motivation to graduate maybe what Tennessee fans learned about themselves from their test drive with Derek Dooley. So as of right now, Vol fans and Laker fans should open up a bar here in town so all of the negativity can be bottled up and not infest the rest of the sports fans across the country.

Oh, hey Gruden I wouldn't do it. That chair on MNF looks comfy and so does your paycheck.

Photo: Bleacher Report

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