no rain on our parade

Like the rest of Vol Nation, we were shocked to hear the news of Lane leaving UT for USC last night. Shocked, angry, pissed, and shocked some more. Too angry to blog about it, but The Hater and I talked about it while reading what updates we could find online and listening to what ESPN reported. Lane left with his coaches, his recruiter, and our hopes of beating OU when they play each other in a few years.

We're bitter. We're not lighting things on fire or shouting direct obscenities, but we're more than a little hurt.

We're not so bitter that we want Fulmer to come back and coach UT football. The Hater heard that once the UT athletic director names the new football coach (which he says will be by the weekend), the university will be looking for a new director. Personally, I don't think that's necessary, but I'll assume that there's stuff going on to justify it. The Hater also heard that Fulmer might be considered as the new UT athletic director. Both he and I think this is a great idea, as Phil has demonstrated that he loves UT. (We just want to clarify that we don't want him back as a football coach.)

We're not angry with Lane for leaving UT to go to his "dream job." We think the way he handled leaving and his exit was very low class. He had an opportunity to leave and not burn bridges, but he chose the scorched earth policy. The Hater heard that the players didn't find out he was leaving until they saw the press conference on ESPN. That's just shady.

I read an article online today that summed up why it was good for the UT program for Lane to leave (link). The Hater said he read this one, too. We both decided that we feel much better about the situation after reading it. There's still a bitter sting to the whole thing, but Schlabach is right - this is best for our program.

We're hopeful for a new coach who is really ready to commit to the program.

We're hopeful that most of our recruits will choose to play for what we consider is one of the most fantastic football programs ever.

Mostly we're just hopeful.

Dear Lane,

Have fun with those NCAA sanctions coming your way!

Love, Baby