I’m Lovin’ It

Yes, it’s 2021 and the world has returned back to normal. The University of Tennessee football program has begun another coaching search.

On Monday, it was announced that Jeremy Pruitt was out as head coach for the University of Tennessee Volunteers. Here we go again. This time the coaching change was not for Pruitt’s 16-19 record in three seasons, but fired for cause as an investigation by the NCAA into potential recruiting violations. All I understood was that there is no coaching buyout!

Athletic Director, Phillip Fulmer, announced he would retire once the new AD is hired. The new AD will hire the new head football coach. Fulmer is a Vol for life. He has given his heart and soul to the University of Tennessee and no one wanted to bring the Vols back to the national spotlight more than Fulmer. The worst part of all of this mess is knowing that Fulmer wasn’t the one to do it.

Kevin Steele will be the ‘active’ coach until a new AD and head coach are hired. If you know anything about the coaching search for UT football, you know it will be pure entertainment over the next few weeks/months. Throw in Pruitt’s legal team planning to make a lot of noise over what he calls the Universities “orchestrated effort” to remove him for “financial convenience”. Get your popcorn ready. Actually, get your French fries ready!

What is this “cause” the NCAA is referring to? Allegedly, football players were being paid in McDonald’s bags. Yes, fast food and fast cash delivered in a bag while singing the tune “ba da-ba-ba-ba”.

It’s no secret that players are paid directly. Don’t let the “Volunteers” fool you, they too are paid to play athletes. These “payments” do not affect the cost of any other student on campus. These payments are NOT coming from student’s tuition. Basically, no one should care if these transactions are happening and you should just stay in your drive-through lane. It’s important to realize that EVERY school is handing out happy meals. In reality, it’s a matter of how and if you get caught. My guess is the tattle tale ordered a McFlurry and was told the ice cream machine was down, again.

What stands out to me about the McD’s bag is that Chick-Fil-A is the fast food king in the south, not McDonald’s. It would be a lot more believable if the money bags were actually Chick-Fil-A bags. I’m more interested in how much ‘bread’ was really in these bags. Were players holding back on the field because they were not paid enough? We know Jarrett Guarantano was waaaaaay overpaid. He should have only been given a Filet-O-Fish smothered in that disgusting tartar sauce. If anything, JG was paying the coaches to let him play. And the coaching search is a lot like the McRib; a lot of marketing hype, they are never around long and mostly a disappointment in the end.

Shelton Felton, outside linebackers coach, and Brian Niedermeyer, inside linebackers coach, were both fired for cause. Niedermeyer was one of the most popular coaches on social media and he was named the National Recruiter of the Year by 24/7Sports and ESPN in 2019.

Here is a summary of the current state of UT football: There is no Athletic Director, no head football coach, (and most likely the assistants are all gone too), facing some serious NCAA sanctions, five head coaches in 12 years and haven’t won the SEC or a National Championship since 1998.

Who will they hire? Well, you can’t hire Hugh Freeze when you just fired Pruitt for cheating. But that media drama could be a fun ride. However, at the end of all of this, when new AD and Head coach are hired, I just need the students to write “I’m Lovin’ It” back on the Rock.