catscratch

Yes. In all fairness though you have to include everyone and that would include the A.D.

Absolutely!

You did seem to Blame the players, even just a good coach can get an effort out of a kid, there are many of those kids who wanted to be coached, they did not get it. We will see how Coach Blade does with them.

 

.. Yes the Ad was there the entire time SS was over there, guess what---- he took care of that did he not?

He was fair about it as well ...

 

 

Will you agree on one thing with me?

The 2005- 2008 staff was the worst in OR history..

Can we agree on that?

 

I just need a yes or no.

Yes. In all fairness though you have to include everyone and that would include the A.D.

No the fact is, I do know who you are, your name is Tommy & you are quitter because you are not coaching next year.

Now if you can talk your son into quitting, OR will be a much better place.

Let me quote some stats for you ,

 

The owls had 560 yards & over 20 first downs against us..

Do you have have questions?

 

How dare you blame the players!

 

You all were the worst staff in OR history. The stats prove it. I guess it was in the incoming AD's fault huh?

Runner this time we finally we do not agree. You are totally clueless as to my identity. Not only am I not coaching next year I did not coach in years past certainly at that level. Also if you would re-read my post I said others said we did not have much talent no one can blame them for that I certainly never would as a fan. As far as the A.D. goes I wonder how he did interact with the former staff if he tried to help them out with as much experience as he had in the past? I assume he was the A.D. the whole time SS was coach was he not?

That is your opinion.

I would say that the AD is much more skilled at his craft than you are at yours. that is my opinion.

 

Let me ask you this, how would you say our D coord. would rate last year?

How would he compare in his craft?

 

How about the head coach?

 

How about the assistants?

 

Let's see where you are coming from there Joe,

Again Runner we agree that is my opinion. I would have to rate the staff last year on their record and that was not very good. Although I do hear many say we don't have much talent I choose to never blame the players. Also if I rated Joe Gaddis's or Bruce's record now or in the past there is no comparison to our A.D.'s lackluster record now or as a coach and that is what we were talking about. I also respect your opinion concerning my skills vs the A.D's it tells me a lot about you since you obiviously don't have a clue as to who I am. I guess the future will tell us all we need to know about the skills of all involved. You have good day and keep supporting those Cats.

Let me get this straight, you are ok with Joe Gaddis coming back after what

happened, but you have a problem with what Coach Mullins did? Wow.

Runner, I agree with you what he did was wrong and can never be considered anything but wrong. I can forgive them both. I just believe the H.C. is much more skilled at his craft than the A.D. is at his.

Maybe if Bruce had been even a little bit diplomatic he wouldn't have left. It's interesting to talk to so many coaches who didn't have a good relationship with Bruce yet people say they're all the ones who had the problem, not him? Weird.

Come on now be objective I believe I remember you saying that the A.D. was blunt and had alienated some people it's hard to be diplomatic when your blunt and an alienator. If it's ok for the A.D. it has to be ok for the H.C. You can check it out on page 12 or so. Let's be fair though.

It sounds like everything you are saying is hearsay; I have met him & have talked with him many times RE: the direction of this program, I am Impressed with the man.

 

I'm sure you have a problem with Joe & Bruce as well right?

 

 

All I am hearing is what you think happened.

 

It's not like he pulled a knife on someone, or cursed a player.. Or pushed another coach or anything..

 

All Coach Mullins is done is make this Program better. Period..

 

I called the ORPD to put out an APB out on Jeff ...I mean Nick Orlando, is he at your house?

Runner, I don't know who you refer to as Jeff or Nick Orlando. I have seen the posts on here by Nick Orlando but I promise you neither is at my house nor have been, although Nick apparently does know some of these characters pretty well. It is not heresay that He(present A.D.) walked out on the Kids, and the program really left them in a bind a very short time before the season was to start, but they went on to have a great year in spite of being short-handed from a coaching stand point. I certainly have no problem with Joe or Bruce would love to have either back now or in the future. As far as making the program better I like the selection of the coach I just choose to give others credit for that hire.

Ohhh.. I'm sorry that you felt Mullins walked out on you.. I hope the other coaches or at least your Mommy & Daddy were there to help you through it.

You must have really felt abandoned when SS told coaches & fans that he was coming back this year & then decided to resign! How do you feel about that?

It's not about walking out me or how I felt. It is about teaching young people not to quit and give up at the first sign of a little adversity. If they see their coach quit it makes easier for them to quit. That is what my coaches and all good coaches try to instill. This has nothing to do with SS he was a head coach our A.D. never was nor will he be.

I've said nothing the people I've talked about haven't told me I could say. They read this stuff too.

Young and confused Ram you need to go back and read some of your posts a little closer.I don't believe you asked permission to speak on and about everything you have said about others. Not that I think you need to but your the one that said you had. If the A.D. and others who really have a position of importance with the program or school read this stuff we are in a bad way.

You clearly don't know him, at all. And you don't know the story behind that. I know the story (I've been told by multiple sources that aren't him) but I'm not sure he would appreciate his business being all over this place. What it comes down to is that he had his reasons, he explained himself to the players and everyone understood. It's easy to say "he was a quitter and he didn't really care" without knowing the facts.

 

You're really splitting hairs. You make it sound like Mullins alone was doing all the hiring....there were many people involved with the process. Mullins wanted Blade, and Blade was hired. If the search committee hired the right guy, then everyone on it should get credit for a good hire...you can't say everyone BUT Mike Mullins gets credit, that's illogical.

You have not been concerned with other people's business being spread all over the place by yourself and others until now that is strange. There is no acceptable reason for a coach at that point in the pre-season to quit short of a family emergency and we both know that was not the case. I know exactly what happened and a true Wildcat or someone who cared about the program more than themselves would have found a way to fight and not run away. There are other instances of him being self serving but I don't think they belong on here at least not at this point. By the way they had a great season that year and several more after that.

Yeah I'd like to know what I'm so confused about? I've known him for a long time. I played Dline for him, I had him as a teacher, I know both him and Karla well personally, etc. I'd like to think I know him pretty well. I don't know what I'm confused about?

Would someone who cares or cared so much about the program and the Kids walk out on them and the other coaches days or weeks before the start of the season like he did in 2003 or 2004 not sure which year. Is that caring ? Also I am told he was turned down by the present coach and others came in to secure the hire.

Mike Mullins is a good guy and a good AD. There is not a person in Oak Ridge that cares more about ORHS sports than Mike Mullins, I guarantee it. Yes he's blunt and doesn't play the game, which is why he's alienated some people, but he doesn't mind making the hard decisions and alienating some people. He's another guy who is there just for the kids and doesn't have some ulterior motive.

LOL! You have no clue.

I don't know. One things for dang sure, he doesn't know Mike Mullins at all. I know the guy personally, he came to my graduation party and has been to my house a couple times. He and Karla are very good people who care very much for Oak Ridge sports. The day after Blade was hired Karla hugged me and told me it was a great day for Oak Ridge High School...she didn't act like someone who was upset that her husband had been overruled by Bailey and the school had hired someone they didn't want. Then later that day Mike told me about recommending Blade.

 

If they were lying they did an extremely convincing job! /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

LOL! You are so young and confused.

If you don't think the powers that be have abandoned football at OR for basketball (spent $6M on a new gym and have spent about $6 on Blankenship in the last 10 years) then explain how 66% of the search committee is made up of OR basketball coaches? So the basketball coaches are selecting the new football coach. That has to make you feel warm and fuzzy if you love OR football.

 

Ole Dad

Dad, it is odd that you have a search for a new football coach and you don't have one football person on the committee. Especially odd that it is during basketball season, like a basketball coach has nothing else to do. Very poor planning from the start but probably a personal agenda there. Sure has been slow and none of the names that we know have been interviewed are very impressive by OR standards. Hope the caretakers of the program realize how important this is to so many.

Where do you buy your crack! If you think you should give the last coach anything, you must be related to him! The 2004 Riverdale team is the best team I have seen in Tennessee regardless of class. We gave them all they wanted that night, but came up short, the best team won. I cannot say that about the State Championship game the LAST coach took us to! The 2003 team, give me a break. Selfish talent does not make a team! Where did some of those guys end up? Enough said!

No not related just willing to admit that he did something that the previous coaches did not do and they had plenty of chances going all the way back to the early 90's. I agree the 2003 team(players) gave them all they wanted and had they had an O coordinator with a mind for football that would have given the ball to the horses that got him there they would have won that game and were in postion to do so.

No, they didn't, but the Riverdale teams of 1993, 1994 and 2003, 2004 were blessed with speed and talent, more than we had, and the 2005 Riverdale team was not nearly as good as any of those. Winning the state means winning the final game, when you are fortunate enough to get there. Beating Riverdale does not guarantee you the State Championship, unless you beat them in the finals.

The 2003 OR team was as talented as Riverdale as I remember towards the end of that game our O Coordinator decided not to give the ball to two of the best backs in the state. Remember who that coordinator was? Don't tell me Riverdale was more talented than the team with Mcaddley, Bohanon, and Gibson. Give the last coach credit he ended the dominance Riverdale had over OR that the other two could not.

Anyone?? The one we had did not. Bruce and his staff built that team, starting in 2003, it took three years to put a team like that on the field. You have to build a team like that, they just don't come out of nowhere.....

Don't remember Bruce or Joe and their staffs staff ever beating Riverdale.

I heard today that Oak Ridge has approached Ron Gray about what kind of staff he could put together. That is a 100% fact. I will be very surprised if he is not the new head coach.

 

The Pemberton situation is a little strange too. He was gung-ho about helping Ron get the OR job a while back and even wrote him a letter of recommendation...then all the sudden he jumped in the mix and then turned it down. I wonder if he was using OR to leverage a better deal from Catholic? Any KC fans here know the story?

You can bet it won't be anyone from Bearden or Karns. Maybe the A.D will work with him.

I hope that's not true. That staff was a big part of Steven's downfall. There are 1 maybe 2 guys I would keep from that staff, let the rest go find jobs elsewhere. That's extremely disappointing if that's true.

VilleRam, totally agree with you on the staff. The special teams have steadily gone down the last few years. I don't believe we made one field goal this year and missed several Pats. Roger's returns were all him being athletic. Our punter was very good but our coverage was average at best. I hope the new coach will do something to make special teams Special again.

So, how is UT going to be playing against those two when they have no D1-A offers? Yep, those kids have a lot of heart, but heart alone doesn't get you to D1-A football.

HTV. They do both have some good opportunities at this point and many things are going to change between now and signing day.You are going to be surprised and the viles will miss out on yet another in state prospect that could help them get their program back to respectibility. Stay Tuned.

Funny thing - those same "thugs and players that play for themselves" won an SEC East title the year before and darn near won the over all SEC crown. I guess talent does help.

 

UT had a bad year in 2005. Is that a pattern or a one year thing? We'll see what happens next year.

The viles have under achieved now for sveral years with the exception of the year Ainge was a Freshmen. Those same thugs went 5-6 this year could have been much worse except for some good luck. The good years are over we are seeing the end of this era. VANDY enough said. I hope Ucheat gets to play against The player from Oak Ridge and from Ravenwood so they can see what a football player with heart, class and ability looks like. It makes you wonder about all those top 5 recruting classes that they have had.Overrated or under coached?

I hope not. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do. He will be successful where ever he goes. For selfish reasons I hope he stays one more year.

TnBreakers,or OR19 who is leaving I must have missed something ?

Arian Foster?

Foster was real good against Vandy and Kentucky.

Every year we have this same discussion. Why isn't so and so being more heavily recruited? Why doesn't Local School look at him?

 

Facts are that while these players are good, they are not great. SEC schools want great. Great to them fits a formula. At the QB level, the QB has to have certain measureables. If he is not 6'4", he can't see over the linemen to his passing lanes. If he is shorter, he must be able to run and scramble like Reggie Bush. RB's need to run no slower than a 4.5. No assistant coach is going to go out on a limb and risk his job over a kid who doesn't fit the formula.

 

Most of the athletes we're talking about are low D-1, 1-AA type athletes.

 

At 6' 1 1/2, 180 unfortunately TC doesn't fit that mold. I'll go back to the last great Brentwood QB, Austen Everson. At 6'2", 215, he didn't fit the mold-not good enough arm strength for the deep out in their opinion. He got a scholarship to a MAC team and was their starting QB this year.

 

TC will go where he is most comfortable and can fit into their system. He is not a projected SEC caliber contributor at this point.

Top, you can give me all the formulas you want but I know if the vols had two players the claliber and character of Jennings and Gulmire they would not be 5-6 this year. They do not have a QB or Tb on their team as good as the two we speak of. If they do why have they not played them? I really believe the big weakness is the coaches are lazy(or can't coach) and believe if they recruit the best of the best on paper that they won't have to coach or scheme which there is not doubt they can't do either one.

Thanks for the clarification.I am happy that they are being helped by the coaches. I just don't understand why they weren't being heavily recruited. Both had solid seasons as jrs and had stellar seasons this yr. It just doesn't make sense sometimes that these kind of great and unselfish team players take a backburner to others who may not be as deserving.

It is a mystery to all involved why two good players and quality individuals are not being heavily recruited by all the Schools in this state big and small. But then again when you look at some of the problems the larger schools in this state have with their athletes being in trouble all the time and even as they put up with all the problems from those kids and they still don't win sure makes you wonder what they are looking for. I think some coaches at the bigger schools do not want to put in the time coaching players up so they have to get the best athletic ability they can to compete because they know they can't coach,but what they forget is that you will win more games with kids with heart, discipline, and being a team then you will with a bunch of great athletes that are in jail all the time.

Is his coach not helping to promote him? GEEZ.....someone needs to snap him up. It is sort of like Gulmire.....

If you think people are not trying to help Jennings and Gulmire you are very mistaken. Many hours have been put in for both of these young men's options so they can have a college career at any and every level. They both will play some where and make a huge impact. I wish they could play together. They are both not only great players, but also tremendous people the kind of young men that instantly give character to any program or anyone they are around. The colleges are the ones who need to take a good look at themselves and their biased choices in athletes.