Ranking all five Tennessee Vols athletic directors by performance in 2010s decade

5. Mike Hamilton; 2003-2011

What he’s doing now is admirable. And Mike Hamilton’s early tenure with the Tennessee Vols was actually pretty solid. He oversaw the dramatic improvement to facilities and also brought in Bruce Pearl. But all of his good was undone by how he handled numerous things this decade.

Hamilton’s failures started before this decade. It began with his hire of Lane Kiffin and shelling out ridiculously high salaries to Kiffin’s assistants. When Kiffin bolted for the USC Trojans, though, Hamilton’s failures this decade began.

He started this decade unable to find a replacement for Kiffin, being rejected by Will Muschamp, Troy Calhoun and David Cutcliffe. Then he passed over Kippy Brown and Kevin Sumlin for Derek Dooley, who had a losing record with the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs.

We know about the disaster of Dooley. But things got worse. Hamilton overreacted to the NCAA infractions levied toward Bruce Pearl and fired him despite the fact that he could have won any appeal if he tried it. The replacement was Cuonzo Martin. He also had to oversee investigations into the football program after the mess Kiffin left, which he let happen.

Simply put, Hamilton’s tenure during this decade was a complete disaster. He failed in far too many ways, and it resulted in his resignation in 2011. When Kevin Sumlin won SEC Coach of the Year in 2012 while Dooley, the guy he passed Sumlin over for, was fired, his failure was complete. That’s why we have to have him at the bottom of this list.