Rick Barnes to Jeremy Pruitt: Tennessee Vols 10 notable 2010s coaching hires

I have said for years now that Derek Dooley got a very short stick when he took over the Tennessee football program in 2010. The program suffered unprecedented levels of attrition due Phillip Fulmer’s firing in 2008 and Lane Kiffin’s departure after 2009.

Meanwhile, the Vols’ administration remained divided over supporting the program after Fulmer’s firing. Add in the NCAA investigation that came due to Kiffin’s tumultuous one year and the fact that UT was about to have its most brutal three-year run in terms of scheduling ever, and Dooley had the toughest job in the country.

However, he’s not No. 10 on this list for not working out. The reason he’s No. 10 is because the hire on its face was bad from the start. After Kiffin left, Mike Hamilton was rejected by Will Muschamp, Troy Calhoun and David Cutcliffe.

He then settled for Dooley, whose resume was just three years as head coach of the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs with just one winning season. The other selling points? He was Vince Dooley’s son and a Nick Saban protege. But he had never been a coordinator. It was a horrible hire on its face.

This isn’t to say Dooley isn’t a good coach, but he wasn’t qualified at that point. What made it worse was the fact that Hamilton passed over longtime Tennessee Vols loyalist Kippy Brown for the job. He also passed over Kevin Sumlin, who had been superb at Houston.

The only thing that made Hamilton look worse was after he was gone three years later. At that point, Dooley was fired. Sumlin, whom he passed over, went 11-2 his first year with the Texas A&M Aggies. But it gets worse.

Brian Kelly, whom he passed over in 2009, was coach of the year and in the national title game with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. And Kiffin, who was hired over Kelly, was on the hot seat and would eventually be fired by the USC Trojans. Nobody looked worse in college sports than Hamilton in 2013, and the Dooley hire was bad on its face.