October 21, 2008

Tennessee plane not sent for visit with Cutcliffe?

Curious minds are wondering what the University of Tennessee plane was doing visiting the new hometown of former Vols coach David Cutcliffe Sunday night.

According to the News & Observer, the plane landed in North Carolina on Sunday night before heading back to Knoxville in "the wee hours Monday morning".

Cutcliffe told The N&O on Tuesday: "It wasn't here for me"

A UT spokeswoman, Elizabeth Davis, said Tuesday the stop in Raleigh was to drop off UT President John Petersen for a Southeast U.S.-Japan conference. Asked if the coach and the president would meet, she said, "I suspect Coach Cutcliffe is busy preparing for the Vanderbilt game."

So there's no reason for speculation, right? Not with an out and out denial like that, huh? For the record, suspecting that Cutcliffe is busy does not equal "No we did not and will not meet with Coach Cutcliffe," now does it.

But... no one around the Vols program is even discussing replacing Fulmer, right?

In an interview with the Knoxville News-Sentinel last week, Tennessee athletics director Mike Hamilton confirmed that some boosters are discussing Fulmer's possible replacement, though he characterized the talks as "limited."

Cutcliffe called any theories or rumors that involved him returning to Tennessee "completely silly."

"I don't think anything is going to happen to Coach Fulmer," Cutclife said of his close friend and former boss. "I'm not even going to speculate on that. He’s such a good friend it would hurt me even to speculate."

...

"It's because of my years at Tennessee," Cutcliffe said. "That's why it's naturally talked about. But it's not something I could even fathom. Like I said, Phillip Fulmer belongs at Tennessee. I wouldn't say no or yes to either thought. I wouldn't want to give credibility to either."

Does that sound like the words of a man who has washed his hands of the University of Tennessee football team? I don't think so.

Only smoke here for now... but it's damn curious smoke, don't you think?

Comments:

Tennessee plane not sent for visit with Cutcliffe?
Curious minds are wondering what the University of Tennessee plane was doing visiting the new hometown of former Vols coach David Cutcliffe Sunday night. According to the News & Observer, the plane landed in North Carolina on Sunday night before heading back to Knoxville in "the wee hours Monday morning".
Cutcliffe told The N&O on Tuesday: "It wasn't here for me" A UT spokeswoman, Elizabeth Davis, said Tuesday the stop in Raleigh was to drop off UT President John Petersen for a Southeast U.S.-Japan conference. Asked if the coach and the president would meet, she said, "I suspect Coach Cutcliffe is busy preparing for the Vanderbilt game."
So there's no reason for speculation, right? Not with an out and out denial like that, huh? For the record, suspecting that Cutcliffe is busy does not equal "No we did not and will not meet with Coach Cutcliffe," now does it. But... no one around the Vols program is even discussing replacing Fulmer, right?
In an interview with the Knoxville News-Sentinel last week, Tennessee athletics director Mike Hamilton confirmed that some boosters are discussing Fulmer's possible replacement, though he characterized the talks as "limited." Cutcliffe called any theories or rumors that involved him returning to Tennessee "completely silly." "I don't think anything is going to happen to Coach Fulmer," Cutclife said of his close friend and former boss. "I'm not even going to speculate on that. He’s such a good friend it would hurt me even to speculate." ... "It's because of my years at Tennessee," Cutcliffe said. "That's why it's naturally talked about. But it's not something I could even fathom. Like I said, Phillip Fulmer belongs at Tennessee. I wouldn't say no or yes to either thought. I wouldn't want to give credibility to either."
Does that sound like the words of a man who has washed his hands of the University of Tennessee football team? I don't think so. Only smoke here for now... but it's damn curious smoke, don't you think?