On Saturday, October 25, 2014 Rocky Top will welcome the beloved duo of Lane Kiffin & Nick Saban back to town in order to shatter the record for noise and hatred in one area, originally set by Ghostbusters II.

Then as Basketball season hits, Knoxville will see the return of their 10th Doctor. The man ripped from them before they were willing to let go. Bruce Pearl took a program with no energy or enthusiasm and gave it both. He gave it a sense of purpose. He gave it a narrative. He united the fanbase and had people who didn’t even like basketball buying in. He accomplished something that hadn’t been done since before Ronald Reagan was President. He returns now and not as the Coach of the Big Orange. Vol fans will see Bruce Pearl match up against the University of Tennessee. The man they didn’t want to lose. The man who uttered this out the door:

That GIF is Bruce Pearl and his time in Knoxville personified.

Pearl happens to be in the next phase of his life, which you can see below if you still want to punish yourself. I’d advise against it. That said I’ve never been comfortable as the bartender of anywhere. So, let’s make a checklist:

Do You Have The Day Off?

1) Yes!

You Can Watch, Easy On The Whiskey.

Can You Get The Day Off?

2) No!

You May Not Watch! Stay Employed!

This is the internet and the libertarian in me will post this below, just be careful. It will sting:

This entire year is its own form of emotional chemotherapy. It seems like in 2014-2015 even General Neyland himself could be playing Tennessee with a different team. All of this carries with it a complicated and intricate emotional template for each fan of Tennessee.

Donnie Tyndall can add something to that. For the better.

Basketball schedules have all the stability of the weather in Knoxville. Games are scheduled so abruptly that any attempt to ascertain now what tickets you should focus on will have you quickly screaming and reaching for a shotgun and whiskey. I say that from recent, personal Google experience.

So Donnie Basketball, here’s the first person throwing down the gauntlet upon your arrival:

Schedule this gentleman and his new team.

Welcome to #BearTerritory! Cuonzo Martin to be announced this afternoon as HeadMen’s Basketball Coach @Cal! #GoBears pic.twitter.com/Zz0UwgG50I

— Sandy Barbour (@gobearsAD) April 15, 2014

It’s time for the University of Tennessee to attack its recent past. We’ve been running from it or ashamed of it for too long. We’ve made mistakes and so have people we’ve trusted.

No more.

We already have two people coming in who Vol Nation trusted and who we ultimately saw wind up elsewhere. It is forgiven, in Pearl’s case, because the path he took was not chosen. But he’s in the early stages of building his latest empire. It’s not here.

Coach Tydall, you’ve had this job for all of approximately five minutes as I write this. You’re trying to assemble your staff and deal with the fact that the incoming recruiting class is bailing and the World is freaking out. I understand. But while I’m making what I know is a a preposterously pompous and pretentious request, and I recognize that, it’s being made anyway.

Because beyond that provocative request is opportunity.

2014-2015 is already the year that Tennessee faces it’s ghosts. Bring in the third. Rocky Top should put all three of these games in their sights as “The Season of Revenge.” Two of these Coaches received adoration upon their tenures: “The Coach We Regret,” Lane Kiffin and “The Coach We Can’t Forget,” Bruce Pearl. By Scheduling Cuonzo Martin, Coach Tydall, you are completing the circle of recent trauma your fanbase has suffered: “The Coach We Never Met.” For all his admirable qualities, Tennessee never broke the Cuonzo Martin reserve. There, too is a lesson for you sir. But it’s one you already know. By completing the trifecta and scheduling this game, by any means necessary, you will close all the wounds. The healing can only begin once the surgery is complete.

Scheduling this game means the work can begin.

The foundation of circumstance is currently already set before you. All you need to do is pick up a phone. Find out what tournament would make this possible. Find out if a home-and-home would be an enticement. But you need to make it happen. It is in your best interest for this year to mean that Tennessee truly becomes #OneTennessee. Unite the fanbase. Attack the past. The only way to bring everyone together is to attack the past as an enemy to be beaten. That means adding Coach Martin to the schedule this year.

Rocky Top needs to look at the totality of next years schedule as all hands on deck. Because the fact of the matter is, it’s the only way for #OneTennessee to survive:

Bring it on, Donnie Basketball and slay some dragons on the way.

Tennessee needs to stop looking backwards and look exclusively forwards.

This brings us closer to that dream.