Nero fiddled while Rome burned.
OK, so maybe that's a bit of a harsh analogy to use regarding first-year Tennessee athletic director John Currie's handling, at least thus far, of the Butch Jones situation and what to do with the Volunteers' fifth-year football coach. The season's not over yet, even if the expectations were long ago wrecked, so it's probably a far fairer thing to do to wait for all of this to play out as it used to in college sports - namely after the final game of the year.
But is the legend of Nero's supposed consumption with less important things not at least a somewhat fair comparison after reading the following quote from Currie during a Monday night radio appearance in Knoxville?
Asked about internet rumors and such regarding the foggy future of Jones, Currie replied, in part: "You're not happy about the game last Saturday night (at Kentucky), but you're getting ready for the next game. You've got to keep moving forward. Every next game is the most important game.
"At the same time, you've got to make sure, too, that you've thought about long-term. We're working on improvements to Neyland Stadium and are excited about getting ready to break ground on a golf practice facility. A lot of things are going on."
Improvements to Neyland Stadium are one thing. Not to be flippant about this, but if you're going to ask people to come watch a 3-5 football team that remains winless in the Southeastern Conference (0-5), you best make their game-day surroundings top of the line.
But mentioning a golf practice facility followed by "a lot of things are going on," as if one (golf) is as important as the other (football) to anyone but the golfers, their families and possibly a few close friends is tone deaf at the very least.
You think the Big Orange Nation is sitting around today saying, "Hey, we could wind up with the first eight-loss football season in school history, but golf has never looked better"?
One veteran Knoxville media person attending Jones' weekly news conference Monday said he's never seen such hatred from the UT fan base for a football coach as it displays toward Jones. Why is anyone's guess, given that Jones has had far more success than his predecessor Derek Dooley, and if those haters are that angry over back-to-back 9-4 seasons and three straight bowl wins, the next potential Vols football coach - assuming Jones doesn't return in 2018 - might strongly consider what he's walking into.
That's not to say that breathing fire and spitting venom over this season isn't wholly understandable. There's not a school anywhere in the country that thinks as highly of itself as Tennessee does when it comes to football that wouldn't be mad about this season.
And for a coach in his fifth year, a lot of alarming things have happened, including at least four offensive penalties well inside the opponent's 5-yard line that wound up costing the Vols not only a touchdown but possibly a victory in the case of close losses to Florida, South Carolina and Kentucky.
Let UT stand 6-2 today instead of 3-5 and Currie could not only talk about a golf practice facility to his heart's content, he might find at least a few folks happy to listen, justifiably proud that while the Big Orange wins in football, it's far from the only sport its athletic director takes seriously.
But that's not where Currie, Jones or the UT fans are at this moment. They're all tied to a 3-5 football team that hasn't won an SEC game all year, has gotten blown out by both Georgia and Alabama - though those two are 1-2 in the first College Football Playoff poll - and seems to spring a new leak each time it patches an old one.
So when Currie not only threw in that bit about the golf practice facility but also the surgeon's creed practiced by his late father, the one that states "there's no problem you can't make worse by operating," if he didn't expect the Big Orange Nation to grow more restless and irritated, he should have.
That statement alone about the surgeon's creed couldn't more strongly suggest that Currie is leaning toward keeping Jones, if only the coach will give him some reason not to be fired.
And it's clearly Currie's call. That's why UT president Beverly Davenport hired him, because she believed he was up to the most difficult of tasks, and it doesn't come any more difficult or important in the SEC than choosing a football coach who can take on the likes of Alabama's Nick Saban, especially when your school plays the Tide every year.
On at least one front, there was something admirable about Currie's declaration: "I believe that supporting our staff and supporting our players getting ready for the Southern Miss game is the best thing I can do for our football program right now."
Loyalty is hard to find in any walk of life these days, especially when the man being loyal to you at the moment did not hire you and could easily elevate his popularity by firing you.
That said, Currie also needs to understand that in the eyes of the Big Orange Nation, there's only one thing going on and it has nothing to do with breaking ground on a golf practice facility.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.