Developing: U of Tennessee Football Players Investigated in Rape Allegations--Updated

((ht: knoxnews.com))

Oh boy, this may not end well.

The Knoxville, Tennessee police department and prosecutors are investigating a reported rape that may have involved players from the University of Tennessee over the weekend.

The rumors began circulating early Monday morning that there may have been players involved in the incident, which is alleged to have involved two 19-year old women at a South Knoxville apartment complex where many football players live.

One of the two women, reportedly from Florida and who was a part of the original complaint, has decided not to press charges. The other, is still pursuing them.

More from the Knoxville News-Sentinel RIGHT HERE

Tennessee coach Butch Jones did confirm in a press conference Monday afternoon that some of his players may be involved. Jones added they when all the facts were made available, he would act in a "decisive" manner.

WBIR TV in Knoxville reports that at least two players; A.J Johnson and Michael Williams are suspected in the incident. Johnson has had legal issues before, having been arrested in February for underage drinking and resisting arrest.

And it should be noted both Johnson, an All-SEC performer and the teams leading tackler and Williams have been suspended from team related activities.

Read into that what you will

WBIR provides video of the Butch Jones presser:

Peyton Manning: Biggest Dancing Nerd Ever

((ht: 9news.com))

If you ever wanted proof that Denver Broncos and former University of Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning is the king of the nerds, well...now you have it.

Look what happened Monday morning at Broncos camp when while the team was doing stretching drills, the Vols fight song (Rocky Top) broke out on the speakers.

The rest...well, just watch.

And remember you cannot unsee this--

Thanks KUSA-TV:

University of Tennessee Baseball and The Fastest Field Cleanup Ever

Haha!

This is pretty funny. And kinda cool too.

Check out this video of the University of Tennessee's baseball team clearing their field off about an hour or so before the opening pitch at their own stadium.

Apparently, the pitchers have taken it upon themselves to see how fast they can get the cage, the tarp etc off the field before the game.

And yeah, they are pretty good at it...

It's Official: The Battle at Bristol--CFB at NASCAR

150,000 plus College Football fans in one of NASCAR's fabled tracks.

Yup, we told you just last week that Virginia Tech and The University of Tennessee would be squaring off in 2016 at the Bristol Motor Speedway.

You can read the original story RIGHT HERE

Today, the schools, the track and NASCAR made it official.

The game slated for September 10th of 2016, assuming it's played, could potentially set the World Record for highest attendance figure at a College Football game. The stands are slated to be ready to host 150,000 screaming fans.

And according to the Knoxville News-Sentinel, the attendance will reflect on how much each school could make. Reporter Evan Woodberry says both schools will get 40,000 tickets each. If they sell those tickets, it's a $4 million payout.

Read about the payouts from Mr. Woodberry RIGHT HERE

We think this is a great idea and are surprised nobody has thought about it sooner.

They did, they just couldn't pull it off.

Why not put this kind of game half way between two of College Football's best drawing teams. We're betting if this works, you'll see it happen more often.

Your promotional video from the Speedway to hype the game:

College Football at Bristol Speedway: Yes Please

((ht: cbssports.com))

Do you think going to Neyland Stadium with 106,000 or so is crowded? Or going to Lane Stadium with 80,000 or so of your closest friends is a handful?

Well, what if we told you that Tennessee and Virginia Tech were going to play football in 2016.

At the Bristol Motor Speedway

In front of roughly 150-160,000....

CBSSports.com writer Bruce Feldman tweeted Wednesday afternoon the two schools, separated by just a few hours on I-81 will square off on the infield of the famed track.

We're guessing there will be tickets for everyone too...

It could potentially be a tailgaters dream.

For those of you unfamiliar with the track:

Ess-E-Cee The Early: Sakerlina Survives, Tennessee Survives, UGA Survives

((HT: SECDN/ESPN))

It was the theme of the day (early on, anyway) in the Ess-E-Cee where teams got skeered and still won...

Example Number One: Sakerlina was on the road and had to deal with this injury while playing in one of the more obnoxious environments around- the on-campus stadium at UCF...


The HQ covered Davis in high school at Stephenson High in suburban Atlanta... the kid can flat out run...
And UCF made a lot of people happy with their back door cover...

Example Number Two: The HQ never thought we would ever hear the voice of the Volunteers, Bob Kessling, ever talk about the Volunteers "surviving" a game against South Alabama (of all teams), but that did happen...

Vols only win by 7...
At home...
Against South Alabama...

The HQ would write that line again, but we don't know if we would believe it if we wrote it ourselves...

What is the world coming to...???


And, then, the 3:30 game...

Aaron Murray throws for four scores and may be the best one-loss team in 'Murica right now having gone 2-1 in the top ten with the early part of their schedule in a 44-41 win...

Evidence below that tied the game at 14...
((HT: SECDN/SEC on CBS))

Arian Foster: I Got Paid So I Could Eat While at Tennessee

((ht: si.com))

An interesting story is developing involving Houston Texans RB Arian Foster and what he says he did while at the University of Tennessee.

And mind you, we agree with him, but he's setting off a bit of a debate.

Foster, in an interview for a documentary called "Schooled: The Price of College Sports", admits that he and several of his teammates took food money (an NCAA violation), while on a football scholarship.

He says he did it, because after a game and the celebration after a win, he went home only to realize he had no food late at night and no money to go get any.

Read more from Sports Illustrated RIGHT HERE

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Our suspicion is, nothing will happen, though the Twitter debate amongst sports writers has been interesting.

Foster spoke out and the documentary producers used him and others to illustrate a fact of life in today's college football.

Everybody is making gazillions of dollars in the game.

Except the players.

Yeah, sure, the old argument that they get a "free-ride" scholarship is true. Though thousands of kids get into school on academic scholarships. And if they take a free meal or a couple bucks from a teacher, the school doesn't run the risk of getting in trouble with the NCAA.

The athletes, most of whom come from poor backgrounds, don't have the pocket money that other college students do. They don't have discretionary money to spend and their scholarships only get them the meals served at the training table. Which isn't necessarily 3 meals a day 7 days a week. Or in their case 11 or 12 p.m after a game.

The NCAA is under a tremendous amount of pressure to allow athletes to have some "spending" money, but nobody can figure out a good way to do it.

We really don't think this should get Tennessee in trouble, but the possibility does exist. Part of the bizarre NCAA rules system tends to punish schools for things that happen, well after the fact. The people involved who may or may not have been involved have long left town and the current players are the one's left to suffer the penalties.

Really, it isn't fair and we, like many, hope it soon will change.

Here's your video of Foster talking about his case:

Now It's The NCAA's Turn On Concussions... Have Fun...

Three ex-NCAA football players, two of whom played at the University of Tennessee only two years ago, have filed suit against the NCAA didn't educate them about concussions risk and didn't do enough to prevent, diagnose and treat brain injuries.

Chris Walker and Ben Martin from UT-K along with Dan Ahern, who played for North Carolina State from 1972-76, filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Here's a feature on Walker from UTSports


And one on Martin...
((HT: knoxnews))


The lawsuit was filed by Washington-based attorney Michael Hausfeld, who is also the lead attorney in the Ed O'Bannon case against the NCAA.

((Commence spooky music...))

"The NCAA has not taken the necessary steps to protect these former players even though the medical tools to assist them have been available for some time," Hausfeld said in a statement. "It is not too late now for the NCAA to offer important education and needed medical testing to these former players."

Walker and Martin now claim to suffer headaches from the repeated head trauma and Ahern says he can't concentrate, his memory is not what it once was, he has ringing in his ears, and he can't sleep because of his injuries. He also claims to have been forced into retirement at age 50 and disability six years ago because of all this.

Conventional wisdom has the NCAA in a lot of trouble if Hausfeld gets to run with the concussion suit as much as he has run with the O'Bannon suit...

This does not look good at all...

The Butch Jones Song: The Most Tennessee Thing You'll See This Year

((ht: biglead.com))

It is with great trepidation that we pass on something that we can only call painfully bad.

And it's bad in a way the will ring in your brain and if you are watching during dinner, might make you throw up...just a little.

Most of all it falls into a category of things that we can only qualify as: "Things we can't Unsee" or maybe "Things that only happen in Tennessee"...

It's quite possibly the most SEC thing you will see today...or any other day this month.

((Note--Butch Jones/University of Tennessee football coach))

With that introduction...or warning, we give you the "Butch Jones" song--

University of Tennessee to Build Pat Summitt Plaza

((ht: utsports.com))

The University of Tennessee athletics department announced Wednesday morning that they will build a plaza, complete with bronze statue of legendary woman's basketball coach Pat Summitt.

Summitt who retired in 2012, coached at the school for 38 seasons, winning 1,098 games, 8 NCAA Championships and a ton of SEC titles.

According to the school's press release, the Plaza will be on the corner of Lake Loudon Blvd and Philip Fulmer Way and will have the statue along with a tribute to the success of her teams.

Read the Press Release RIGHT HERE

And the website for the Plaza/Project is RIGHT HERE

It's a fitting tribute to a coaching legend who's career was cut short after her diagnosis of Alzheimer's. We applaud the school and athletic department for doing this.

Vols Fire Student Judicial Services Head During Investigation

((HT: OKTC/WVLT-TV))

Clay Travis gets the lead for this one...

The University of Tennessee has fired Jenny Wright, the director of the school's office of student judicial affairs, for failing to cooperate with a university investigation into whether she had inappropriate relationships with student-athletes.

Here's Jim Wogan's early report...
((HT: WATE-TV))


Travis is putting one and one together and his money is on former basketball player Trae Golden, who transferred out of UT last week...

From Travis:

If you want to read the tea leaves, it certainly looks like Wright was helping to cover up Golden's academic fraud and then the university found out about it.

Which led to Golden's dismissal and subsequent questions about why Wright would help cover up the fraud. When Wright was asked about inappropriate relationships with players, she refused to cooperate and attempted to resign instead.

Does that seem like something an innocent person would do?

So now the larger question for the University of Tennessee is this, was Wright sleeping with multiple players and taking advantage of her position as head of student judicial services to keep those players eligible when they otherwise wouldn't have been able to compete?

That, my friends, is a potentially huge mess.

Wright submitted a letter of resignation last week. But Matthew Scoggins, an assistant general counsel for the university, wrote that the school wouldn't accept her resignation because it wanted her to respond to the allegations. Wright was also sent a pre-termination letter last Friday.

The school, then, sent Wright a letter Monday stating that she was being terminated "for unsatisfactory work-related behavior" and for her "failure to comply with the directives of authorized university officials to cooperate with a university investigation."

Well, then... harumph...

Read Wright's termination letter and other fun stuff hyah, thanks to Govolsxtra.com

Auburn and Tennessee Spring Games: Why the SEC is Bigger Than You

If any of you ever wondered why the SEC is the biggest College Football conference of them all, well, here is an answer to your question.

Auburn and Tennessee both held their spring games on Saturday....and well, they were pretty well attended.

To be specific, Auburn,  had over 83,000 in the house (check out the photo). Yes, that's correct, the 3-9 Tigers with a persecution complex drew 83+ thousand to their game.

It should be noted that the game, in which the Orange beat the Blue 35-14 featured the ejection of CB Jonathon Mincy for laying out WR Dimitri Reese with a hit towards the head. All in all, we're guessing the Tiger faithful are happy to have new/old coach Gus Malzahn and his crazy offense in the house.

As for Tennessee, well, they only drew 60,000 plus to their game, featuring new head coach Butch Jones. (Though hard to tell in the below video)

The Volunteers are also looking for a bit of redemption after several years of mediocrity and coaching changes.

Guess the fans are buying in...at least for the moment.

Here's your Tennessee video:



And the other reason that Auburn had close to 90,000 people in the Loveliest Village was the opportunity to say good-bye to the Oaks at Toomer's Corner. They're going to be removed this week since their death is imminent- thanks to Harvey Updyke. The school introduced a plan yesterday as to how the celebrations will continue at the Corner complete with more trees leading into campus off the diagonal and more seating room for those who want to drop by.

And, as the HQ predicted, it was like the Whos on Christmas Morning...
Here's a look back...
((HT: Auburn Athletics))

Teddy Bear Inspires Lady Vols

((HT: WBIR-TV))

The HQ covered Andraya Carter during her uber-talented high school career in the Atlanta area at Buford High School. She was, visibly hurting and not fully recovered by title game time as her Buford Wolves team lost to The Lovett School.

Carter went on to Tennessee, but is having to sit out this year because of shoulder problems. But what she has done is combine her love of her sport, her team, and the devastation at her alma mater over the last two years into a team award that gets passed from player to player as they all see what heart has to do with everyday life.

In the form of a teddy bear...

Here's the story through Carter's eyes...

Glad to see that home is never far from Draya's heart...

Butch Jones to Tennessee: No really

It appears this time, reports that now former University of Cincinnati coach Butch Jones has accepted a new job are true.

Just two days after the false report by Woody Paige of the Denver Post saying Jones was taking the Colorado job, he officially accepted a much better one. Jones will be introduced Friday afternoon as the new head coach at the University of Tennessee.

Jones had been at Cincinnati for 3-years and won 23 games. He took them to a bowl game each of the last two seasons.

He moves from the relative obscurity of a job in the Big East to the bright...and we do mean bright lights of Knoxville. The Volunteer program has been in free fall for the past 5-years after the school fired long-time coach Phil Fulmer after the 2007 season. Now USC coach Lane Kiffin followed Fulmer and was there for a season, Derek Dooley was hired shortly thereafter Dooley went 15-21 in his three seasons before being asked to leave.

It will be very interesting to see what Jones can do. Tennessee was once of the SEC East's power schools and the alumni have never gotten past that. But with their limited success over the past few years, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and even Vanderbilt have passed them by. We will be very curious to see if the somewhat delusional Vol faithful give Jones the time needed to rebuild their program.

As for Jones's previous employer, they will again search for another "Up and Coming" candidate. Cincinnati has done a good job grooming coaches (Brian Kelly) for bigger positions, so the expectation is they'll find someone who may not be a "Big Name" but will probably be successful before moving on to one of the "Big Boy" conference jobs.

Here's the Jones presser:
((HT: WBIR-TV))

Gruden not going To Tennessee: Nobody but Vol fans shocked

((ht: @jimmyhyams))

We've purposely tried to stay away from talking too much about coaching rumors, partially because they are mostly not true.

But we wanted to mention this.

Reports from UT Radio Reporter Jimmy Hyams now say that Jon Gruden told Tennessee officials last week he is NOT a candidate for a job there and has NEVER been offered a contract.

Shocked?

Only if you are a UT fan.

This comes on the heels of yet another stray, "sources say" report from Chattanooga that Gruden was "Mulling" an offer from the school and the only hold-up was paying his assistants what he thought they were worth.

Read the Times-Free-Press story RIGHT HERE

Bwahahaha! We are laughing, but at the same time, we'd really like to know who puts this stuff out there. Is it the "Pipe Dream" faction? Is it delusional alumni? Or is it reporters trying to scoop each other?

Of course there was the even more bizarre story from Glenn Carver of WREG-TV in Memphis. You'll recall Mr. Carver saying that Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam offered Gruden a share of the team in addition to what UT would pay him.

Of course everyone involved denied it. Immediately.

You can read it RIGHT HERE

For a better perspective, read OUR story earlier this week about Stupid Coaching rumors RIGHT HERE

To summarize all of this: We believe that either Tennessee AD Dave Hart or an emissary of the school reached out to Gruden and asked if he's interested. And Gruden thought about it for a bit. And decided smartly, that it wasn't a good idea.

But it is just mind boggling to us the rumors that continue to fly about Gruden and others. It appears the reporters, alumni and others just can't help themselves.

Heck, we saw the original tweet about Les Miles too, but didn't report it, because we knew it would turn out to either be not true or a ploy for a pay raise. And that's exactly what it was.

Anyway, we'll get off our horses and unfortunately you'll be on your own to decide what is true and what isn't because the sports reporters giving you the information may or may not be correct.

(Opinion) Coaching Carousel gets stupid: Les Miles and Jon Gruden stuff

Okay. This one has been bothering me for awhile.

It's bad enough that college football schools just randomly, willy-nilly fire coaches. But what is worse is the random speculation that seems to fly out of left field for who will replace them.

Sure, I get that over-zealous alumni think that if they get a new football coach that they'll get a "Big Name" guy and he'll fix everything, but how often does that work?

It was absolutely amazing on Tuesday to see how fast the Les Miles/Arkansas rumor flew around the Internet. Yes, it came from a pretty reliable blog (Sports by Brooks), that is often ahead of the mainstream media when it comes to big-ticket stories. But Brooks's Tweet that Arkansas made a 5-year, $27.5 million offer for Miles to leave LSU to come to Arkansas went viral in hours. Heck, it was mentioned during the Indiana/North Carolina basketball game last night.

Read the ESPN.com story on it RIGHT HERE

The problem with it...

While maybe Arkansas asked Miles agent about it, there is and was no way that it would ever happen. It would defy any kind of logic. Sure, Les is a bit of a wild-card...but. A successful, national championship level coach spurns the team he's coached for years to jump to a wannabe? No, not in our lifetime.

We do however believe Arkansas floated the offer. (The Times-Picayune in New Orleans reported it too)  But we would also add that there is a BIG difference between an offer being made and someone actually considering it. 

And then there is this.

WREG-TV in Memphis is now reporting that Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam has offered former Tampa Bay Buccaneer coach and current ESPN football analyst Jon Gruden a share of the Browns if he'll take a contract offer from the University of Tennessee.

Read that story RIGHT HERE

The problem.

(1) Gruden is still being paid by Tampa Bay and the NFL won't allow him to double dip.
(2) Gruden just started a new deal with ESPN.
(3) According to multiple NFL reporters, the Browns deny any knowledge or existence of said offer.
(4) Haslam himself denies this.

The real issue here is the Tennessee fans believe that Gruden should be there coach. And they will say anything to make it happen. Yeah, sure his wife went there and he was a grad assistant there for a year, but really, be honest with yourself Tennessee fan: Why would he take THAT job?

Unfortunately, this is all exacerbated by a local and to an extent national media who fan the flames by speculating who THEY think would be a good coach for them. Sometimes it's delusional (ie: James Franklin to NC State or Miles to Arkansas) and sometimes it's very good (ie: Mark Stoops to Kentucky).

And then there is Auburn. Auburn, a school teetering on the edge of probation and coming off the worst season in decades. A school with a lot of money and the stereotype of the way-too over-zealous fan base. And that fan base is a bit torn. Many want to hire Bobby Petrino, who would win, but further pile dirt upon the schools reputation. Or do they go the more traditional route and hire a Mark Hudspeth or Sonny Dykes? Inquiring minds want to know....

We totally get that everyone has an opinion. And college football fans think their team can achieve greatness simply by changing the coach. But not everyone is Nick Saban and not everyone associated with a big name means a ticket to greatness. Does anyone outside of Tennessee think Gruden can walk in and take a team that won 1 SEC game this year and contend for a title in 2013? How long a rope would he get before they'd be calling for his head too?

The thing everyone forgets is sometimes you have to get a really good assistant coach (ie: Wil Muschamp at Florida) or go to a coach who has had success at a lower level (ie: Hugh Freeze). There are guys out there who'd be great at a bigger school, if the alumni and media would allow the school to look at them.

They also forget that quite often a name is floated just for the simple fact that coach wants a better deal where he is. How many times does Jimbo Fisher's name get floated for jobs? Each time Miles name gets out there, he gets a bigger and better extension. Don't buy the hype, when these names get floated, it's usually an agent looking to get his guy more money.

We just wish that everyone would refrain from jumping to quick conclusions. The thing that so many schools, alumni, fans and media seem to forget is that sometimes the devil you've got is better than the devil you want.

Besides, Todd Graham can't have every job? Can he?

Welcome to Carousel:

Smokey And The Wildcat, Mascot Gets Loose vs. UK

Nothing like a blue-tick coon hound getting loose to put some excitement into a really bad football game...

All we have to say about this is: How in the bluetick hell do you let your mascot loose...???

It wasn't quite UGA-V going after Robert Baker, but it was pretty funny...
((HT: SEC on ESPN/SEC Network))


Smokey got his drive-by. Tennessee got the win...
It was a wash...

DEVELOPING: Derek Dooley Done... Dave Hart Was Complimentary, Though...

Not that this is a surprise, especially after the losses to Missouri in Knoxville and Vanderbilt last night...

A very handy Vandy win at that, 41-18...

Here is a statement from Derek Dooley and from the school on the firing...

The University of Tennessee announced today that Derek Dooley will not return as the head football coach of the Vols. The announcement was made by Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Dave Hart, who will immediately begin a search for a new head coach for the Vols.

Hart will address the media at 2 p.m. today (Sunday, Nov. 18) at the Stokely Family Media Center at Neyland Stadium. The press conference will also be streamed live on UTSports.com.

"We very much appreciate the effort and energy that Derek Dooley and his staff have poured into our football program at the University of Tennessee," said Hart. "Derek and I met early this morning, and I informed him that I believed a change in leadership, despite the positive contributions he has made to the overall health of the program, was in the best long-term interests of Tennessee football. We will immediately begin the search for the best possible candidate to assume this leadership role."

Dooley will not coach the Vols in the season finale against Kentucky on Saturday, Nov. 24 at 12:21 p.m. Offensive coordinator Jim Chaney will serve as interim head coach for Saturday's game.

"I am sorry we could not generate enough wins to create hope for a brighter future," said Dooley. "Although progress was not reflected in our record, I am proud of the strides we made to strengthen the foundation for future success in all areas of the program.

"During the last 34 months, I've given my all for Tennessee, and our family appreciates all this University and the Knoxville community has given us."

Here was Dooley after the worst loss to Vandy since 1923...
((HT: WVLT-TV Knoxville))
WVLT VOLUNTEER TV Knoxville, TN:

UPDATE: Here was AD Dave Hart talking about Dooley only being able to bring a knife to a gunfight...
((HT: WBIR-TV Knoxville))

Lattimore Hurt Again: South Carolina escapes Tennessee (UPDATED)

It was a tough day, which extended a string of tough weeks for the South Carolina Gamecocks. Though they did find a way to hold on and beat a game University of Tennesse 38-35.

South Carolina, once a Top 3 team, had to run a gauntlet of Georgia, LSU and Florida before this game. They won 2 of the 3.

They'll finish the season without star tailback Marcus Lattimore. Lattimore who missed last season after a serious left ACL injury, was carted off the field and taken to the hospital in the 2nd quarter after a gruesome injury to his right knee. He had run for 70 yds and a TD when it happened

Thanks for the video ESPN:



The Volunteers fought hard, Tyler Bray threw for 368 yds and 4 TD's, but Connor Shaw had 356 and 3 scores.

Check out Bray to receiver Zach Rogers for a 4th Quarter TD.

Thanks again ESPN:



In the end South Carolina's Jadeveon Clowney  forced a late Tennessee fumble and the Gamecocks move to 5-2 in the SEC. Tennessee with apparent lame duck coach Derek Dooley, drops to 0-5 in the conference and 3-5 overall.

PM UPDATE: Lattimore's news is not good...

From Brian van Ochten's Twitter...

The news on South Carolina's Marcus Lattimore is awful: Broken femur and all four knee ligaments torn.

Payne Insider is also reporting on his Twitter feed that Lattimore's knee cap is also chipped to go with the ligament and bone damage...

The University is scheduled to give the official update Sunday...

So, What About Derek Dooley...??? Tide Roll Vols

((HT: WBIR-TV Knoxville))

The HQ has talked about the impending doom on the Plains with the anticipated dismissal of Gene Chizik and his staff at Auburn after their 1-6 start and (probable) 3-9 finish- setting themselves up for the second pick in the upcoming Ess-E-Cee Draft behind Kentucky...

What...??? They don't do that...???

Oh, right...

But what about the seemingly-overwhelmed Derek Dooley and Tennessee...???

The 44-13 thrashing by Alabama last night in Knoxville didn't help his case, either- hip replacement or anything else for that matter. Volunteer fans actually are comparing the fate of Dooley to that of Mike Shula... the guy might be a good coach, but here...??? He's outgunned and overmatched...

Here's the wrap...
So, now what...??? Nick Saban did the neighborly thing for his old assistant in post-game saying, "Derek’s doing a fantastic job. They have been better and better every year that we’ve played them.’’
But the HQ isn't buying what the top team in the country is selling...

Okay... who's Dooley's replacement...???