University of Tennessee fans are so hungry for any hint about who will become the next head football coach, they'll gladly eat up any rumor on social media.
Of all the coaching options, UT fans fiercely feast on "Grumors" about former NFL head coach and current Monday Night Football commentator Jon Gruden. The fascination comes primarily from Gruden's family ties to the Vols. His wife was a cheerleader for the University of Tennessee and his son currently attends the school. Gruden was also an assistant for UT under head coach Johnny Majors in the 1980s.
How hungry are the fans for news about Gruden? More than 44,000 people watched a live social media video posted by a Knoxville sports radio host as he sat in the parking lot of the airport with nothing happening, just in case a coaching candidate arrived.
Then there's the case of the Chief Operating Officer of Copper Cellar. His incorrect tweet that Gruden was eating at Calhoun's with Peyton Manning spread like wildfire. He posted a follow-up tweet apologizing for the error while commending the passion of Tennessee fans.
The recent online fervor for rumors about Gruden is merely "deja Gru" from UT's last coaching search in 2012. A WBIR story from Nov. 28, 2012, about the advent of the Grumors hashtag could just as easily air today. It includes social media posts of a blurry photo of Jon Gruden on an airplane supposedly watching a Tennessee football game on a tablet and taking notes.
The 2012 Grumors also included a wild story about Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam offering Gruden a future stake in the NFL franchise to convince him to coach in Knoxville. Then there was the bogus letter someone posted of an acceptance letter from Webb School for Gruden's children.
The Grumors this time around may not be any more far-fetched than 2012, but they are amplified by five years of social media growth. The audience is larger and louder than ever.
"Every single day, there's something new. There's some new rumor somewhere and it'll continue to be that way until Tennessee gets that next head coach," said Mark Nagi, the spokesperson for TDOT whose career also includes a couple of decades of covering UT sports.
Nagi said a personally amusing aspect of the current coaching search is the social media focus on traffic at the airport.
"You have fans tracking down the tail numbers on planes to see if they're connected to a UT booster or a coach. It's like everybody is in 'A Beautiful Mind' calculating how it's connected to the Vols. It's like, 'This plane landed in Chicago, but it had originally come from Atlanta, and that is very close to Tampa. So, it's possible Jon Gruden is on that plane.' It just gets more ridiculous by the day," laughed Nagi.
The intensity of fans and boosters is also apparent at Knoxville's Quarterback Club meeting on Monday. President Jeff Hagood said the willingness to latch onto any rumor shows how desperate the fans are for gridiron success.
"We're starving for a championship. I don't think you can find a more passionate fan base. Now, when you combine a passionate fan base with a hungry fan base, that's when you get some of the things you're asking about," said Hagood. "What a great place we have. We have beautiful facilities, a great stadium, a passionate fan base, a great place to live and raise your family. It's a wonderful job and our fans are starving to win."
Nagi said while he may sometimes laugh at some of the antics of UT fans, he believes they are as good as it gets anywhere in the country.
"Look at last weekend [against LSU]. There were more than 90,000 fans who showed up in the middle of a monsoon for a team that is a couple of games below .500 and hasn't won a game in the SEC this year. That's a testament to the fans at Tennessee," said Nagi. "As for who will be the next head coach, your guess is as good as mine. I still think it's the longest of shots that Jon Gruden is going to be the head coach of the Volunteers in 2018. But I do think Tennessee is closer than they ever have been to actually getting that to happen. There is a real organized and focused effort to make sure the next hire is a 'home run' for the Vols."
