Dave Hart and Tennessee’s biggest boosters need to walk into a Knoxville meeting room, drop the cones of silence from the ceiling, and relax.  While Vol fans scream, national writers and rival fans throw barbs, and mid-level donors set their hair on fire outside… Hart and UT’s leaders should remain calm.

The absolute worst move Tennessee could make right now would be to panic and rush a hire.  That’s what everyone says they need to do and it’s what we at MrSEC.com believe they will do — based on the school’s past history — but it’s the last thing they should do.

As we’ve said before, searches are almost always viewed as total failures right up until a coach is hired.  Example: Bret Bielema to Arkansas.  Bielema had grown tired of simply being Barry Alvarez’s replacement.  Razorback AD Jeff Long properly gauged this and grabbed Wisconsin’s coach out of thin air.  Presto!  Long went from being a buffoon to a genius in Hog fans’ eyes in the span of about two minutes.

If Tennessee found that Nebraska’s Bo Pelini, for example, was tired of living in Tom Osborne’s shadow and could grab him, don’t you think UT’s search would be viewed in a bit different light?  Instead of hiring a man from Louisville with three years of experience, they’d be swiping a coach from one of the winningest programs in the country who happens to have more head coaching experience and an SEC pedigree from his days at LSU.  Oh, and as a head coach he’s never won fewer than nine games in a season.

Pelini makes $2.7 in Lincoln.  If Tennessee offered him $4 million, would NU match it?

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Former Arkansas quarterback and NFL receiver Matt Jones declined to tryout for the Washington Redskins on Tuesday, telling the team he had opted to retire, according to a report on MSNBC.com.

Jones, 27, was cut from the Cincinnati Bengals practice squad in September and hasn’t played in an NFL game since 2008 with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He was suspended for the final four games of that season for violating the league’s substance abuse policy, stemming from an arrest in Fayetteville for cocaine possession.

That year Jones had the best season of his short NFL career, catching 65 passes for 761 yards and 2 touchdowns in 12 games.

Jones was a first-round receiver selection by the Jaguars in 2005. In four years with the franchise he caught 166 passes for 2,163 yards and 15 touchdowns.

At Arkansas, Jones was a record-setting quarterback. He is the school’s career leader with 8,392 yards of total offense and 77 touchdowns.

He finished his Arkansas career with 2,535 rushing yards – an SEC record for quarterbacks at the time.

For more visit WholeHogSports.com. You can follow Matt Jones on Twitter @NWAMatt.