Joe Burrow Had Reportedly Decided to Go to Tennessee Under Greg Schiano Before Switching To LSU

Let me say right off the bat: I do not believe this is remotely true. I simply refuse to accept this and I also don't know why Bear from College Gameday, of all people, would be the one to break this story. It sounds to me like Greg Schiano made it sound like he could have had Joe Burrow at Tennessee, because what does he have to lose by telling that story? It can never be proven or disproven.

But let's take this at face value and just say it's true. Schiano and Burrow were at Ohio State together, so it's at least plausible. Even if Tennessee was able to bring in Burrow, though, that doesn't mean hiring Schiano would have been the correct decision. It's also no guarantee Burrow would have done anything near what he did at LSU, though I imagine he would have done more with receivers like Marquez Callaway and Jauan Jennings than Jeremy Pruitt was able to do with his quarterbacks.

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Does Tennessee win a national championship with Burrow, though? Absolutely not. And then you still have Schiano as your head coach.

Look, I don't want to re-litigate the entire Schiano thing today, but I will say this: anyone who was legitimately concerned about the things Schiano was accused under oath of having known was well within their rights to not want that man leading the University of Tennessee football program. That doesn't mean everyone who hid behind the guise of that excuse was being genuine, but I believe there were many who were. And anyone who simply said they didn't think he was a good enough football coach was just as well within their rights to voice that opinion, as well.

How different does Schiano Sunday, as it became known around Knoxville, look if Tennessee hires Josh Heupel immediately after instead of toiling in the wasteland that was Jeremy Pruitt football for three years? Just because the next decision was bad doesn't mean the one before it was wrong.

Again, this entire story reeks of something fed to Bear by a source that wanted it out there. And I think it's fairly obvious which of the parties involved benefits from having this story being talked about.