Karl Rove sending @MegynKelly to AD's office to see if Dooley still has a chance.

I kind of feel sorry for Dooley. Is there something wrong with the Vols or has it been the coaches? I can't imagine who might want to step up and take over this program, unless of course they have a great contract. I'm thinking many people could retire on Dooley's (or Kiffin's or Fulmer's) remaining payout.

There's millions of dollars more walking out the door. UT can't afford to keep doing that.

and the talent, coaching, commitment, scouting, conditioning, planning, preparing, and overall effort to get above the line and stay above the line in an ultra competitive conference like the SEC is incredibly demanding. Unfortunately, Dooley and his staff were not able to push the program past that very thin line. They didn't break any rules, didn't bend the rules, and didn't turn a blind eye to obvious shortcomings on and and off the field (that we know of). Hopefully, the university will hire coaches and staff with much more experience, a tenure in the sport without a midlife career change, and the capability and propensity to represent the university well, win or lose.

That fine line is also present in what seperates a successful businesses from a marginal business, what seperates successful people from average people, what seperates the sane from the insane, and the hard work and ongoing efforts to get to the line and get over it are unending and require a daily, hourly, every second type commitment and a disciplined approach to all things involved in the process.

Dooley and staff may not have broken any rules, but the distortion that football causes goes far beyond that. Very few of the players on that team are serious students. There is an entire infrastructure built up around the AD to perpetuate a facade of studiousness. Much money is spent on perpetuating this farce. I don't exactly blame the players on this, though it disappoints me when they don't take seriously the opportunity of a college education. (Mens basketball players, in my experience, have been as bad or worse.)

To put a finer point on how football distorts the priorities of a university, Dooley will be getting $102,040 per month through December 2016. That amount of money, each month, would essentially cover the salary portion of two assistant professors for a year. That's 96 person-years of Assistant Prof. salary for Dooley's abject failure as a football coach.

Meanwhile, the administration at UT is going through a rhetorical/branding exercise claiming it wants to elevate the school to a top-25 Research University. Dooley's compensation package highlights the distance between the university's actual values and message. That isn't a communications problem. It's much more fundamental.

I agree with somebody up above. We should privatize college athletics. It's a peculiarity of the US that universities are a site for athletics.

Vols' financial woes may end academic reinvestment

I'm kind of surprised that UT even had photo IDs in 1970. Wow.

Starting in about 1973, UT cafeteria meal cards used optical hand scanners for I.D. They were buggy at first, as I recall, but then seemed to work pretty well, though had the annoying bright flash like that of a copier machine with the cover lifted.

It is not really relevant, beyond the return of student fees, whether or not football is an intrinsic fit in a top twenty-five research university.

It is however, relevant in the sense that every person that shows up to the game has an impact on our local economy. We are a big event town, and when our big events suffer, our whole town suffers. Without the major influx of football dollars, our local economy is hard pressed to grow.

Two football coaches have now taken the fall for sagging attendance. One may argue that it is just or unjust, but that this town is highly dependent on a decent football program as a major contributor to it's economic prosperity is just the way it is.

The reasons for stagnant attendance go far beyond the coach.

U.T. needs both a coaching change and a culture change in order for the program to regain its luster. The is no excuse to not have every school child that wants to see a game in a half empty stadium. That's where I'd start.