Vol Fans,

Before I talk about what this petition is about, let me talk about what it's NOT:

1. This is NOT an attack on our University.
2. This is NOT an attack on our players.
3. This is NOT an attack on our fans.
4. This is NOT a hasty reaction to a single play, single game, or single season.

Now that's out of the way...

WHAT? This petition is a pledge. A pledge that states: As long as Derek Dooley remains head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers, we as fans will choose to no longer show our financial support for the University of Tennessee.

HOW? By halting our financial support, which includes: renewing season tickets, purchasing single game tickets, purchasing Tennessee Volunteer merchandise, and generiously donating to the University.

WHO? Any Vol fan who signs the petition. And by spreading this across social media, we can get the word out. The more signatures, the bigger the voice.

WHEN? Effective immediately.

WHERE? Everywhere.

WHY? The most complicated question. Many of you have already seen it: The performances on Saturdays, the seasons full of losing, the growing anger/apathy of your fellow Vol fans. However, some of you haven't seen it yet and still believe, or still want to believe. I can understand that, Dooley *seems* like a nice guy and you want to believe that the current UT coach has us on the right track. But let me be your Morpheus from the Matrix real quick and offer you the red pill, reality, for a moment by answering some concerns:

Isn't Dooley an ok coach?

No. Despite pointing out his obviously terrible win-loss record, the on-the-field product of our team is diminishing. Instead of being coached up, our players have shown very little improvement. Every Saturday we constantly see false starts, blown assignments, out of position players, and poor clock management by our staff. These are not rare occurences either, they happen every. single. Saturday. And it costs us games.

Isn't Dooley recruiting well?

No. Dooley's classes have ranked towards the middle of the SEC, maybe slightly higher. This is not enough to compete with the top end talent that teams like Alabama, LSU, Florida, etc continually bring in year after year. Of the 35 four and five star recruits Dooley has landed, only 23 remain, with 12 being dismissed for non-injury related events. They top teams reload, we reset.

But Dooley walked into a mess with depth, he's fixed that, can't he get credit for that?

No. Dooley has not done anything that any other BCS coach in America couldn't have done by increasing our depth. Tennessee is a premiere school in the best conference in college football. There is a myth that it takes a special coach to be able to recruit here, this is false. There is a level of recruiting that Tennessee will always get, with even the most average coach, and Dooley, at best, has recruited slightly above that. But if you look at the "depth" he has built up, our only solid positions in terms of talent and depth are QB, OL, and DL. That's it. We lack either depth or talent or both at RB, WR, TE, LB, P/K, and the Secondary.

Can we fire our defensive coordinator and keep Dooley?

No. As bad as our defense is, a new defensive coordinator would not help. Sal was Dooley's hire and Dooley's responsibility, he must be accountable for this.

Ok our defense is bad, but our offense is good, right?

Yes. Thankfully our offense is good, and does seem to be improving. However, when you look at our three primary weapons, Bray, Hunter, and Patterson, all three have the potential to leave for the NFL after this year. This year was supposed to be "Dooley's year", it wasn't, and now we go into another rebuilding year, breaking in a new QB and new WRs.

Can we afford to buy out contracts?

Yes. While the Athletic Department may have reported a deficit in their most recent budget report, many of this was due to the facility upgrades and decreased fan revenue. Dooley's contract currently has a $5 million buyout, this does not decrease signficantly if we were to wait, only by $1 million down to $4 million in 2013. Our previous coaching buyouts, Fulmer, Pearl, and Raleigh, all ended in 2012, so we wouldn't be paying those as well. Our assistant coaches do have buyouts, but these would also be kept somewhat manageable by the fact that we would likely retain some assistants and that the buyouts disappear/decrease if they were to accept a job at another school.

Can we afford to pay a new coach?

Yes. And frankly, we can't afford not to make this change. Revenue is decreasing, but this is a result of fan apathy caused by a bad coach. People saw how the fans traveled to Atlanta vs NC State, and showed up in Neyland vs Florida. If the fans have hope and optimism, the money WILL come back.

Can we afford to take a risk on another coach?

No. But this does not mean not firing Dooley. Derek Dooley's hire was a budget hire. Kiffin left 2 months before signing day and something had to be done. Unfortunately, Mike Hamilton chose the cheap & quick option, by hiring a risky coach with an unproven record from LA Tech. This can't, and shouldn't happen again. I don't want another up and comer. I want a proven coach at the College or NFL level. One simply has to look across the SEC at a school like Alabama, who after many years of hiring the "next big thing", simply went out and offered a proven winner the biggest contract in College Football, and started winning. Meanwhile their big contract has been repaid several fold, admissions are up, and they are having some of their brightest years since Bear Bryant. We hired a budget coach and got budget results, this cannot happen again.

Doesn't this petition hurt the University?

Yes, to an extent it does, but that's kind of the point. We, as fans, do not have a collective voice, until now. This petition is our unification, from all displeased message board posts, angry texts, disappointed facebook posts, monday morning watercooler conversations, etc...the displeasure is out there, but it has never had a collective outlet. Now is our chance to tell the University that we will not stand for another minute of Derek Dooley or budget football results.

I urge everyone, sign this petition, spread the word. The University of Tennessee MUST come together, internally and externally, or suffer the consequences of an apathetic fanbase and alumni base. It is time for a change, and I plead with them to not wait until it's too late.

If you have any questions/comments/concerns please post them below, or e-mail me at NoDollars4Dooley@gmail.com

Signed,
G