The last decade has been one that Tennessee Vols fans would love to forget.

At the end of the 2008 season, the Vols decided the football program needed a change.

Legendary head coach Phillip Fulmer, who was just 10 years removed from delivering a national championship to Rocky Top, was out and the young, charismatic Lane Kiffin was in.

As we all know, the decision to hire Kiffin didn't work out.

Kiffin bolted after a year and fans were eventually forced to suffer through the Derek Dooley and Butch Jones eras (though there were a few bright moments during Jones' time in Knoxville).

Fans are hoping that Jeremy Pruitt, who was hired in late 2017, will be the man who finally restores the Tennessee program.

Tennessee's lost decade is obviously the result of some bad decisions.

But you might not realize just how bad those decisions were.

A critical mistake was made

Before the Vols hired Kiffin in late 2008, they had a chance to hire a 48 year old coach who had led his team to 11 win seasons in three of the previous four years.

But the Vols, unwisely, passed on TCU's Gary Patterson.

The reasoning?

According to a recent interview with The Athletic, Patterson was "too much of a football coach" for UT.

Essentially, Tennessee didn't think he could handle the spotlight.

That's rich. Especially when Butch Jones, a man with extremely thin skin, arrived at UT just a few years later.

I can only imagine what the state of Tennessee football would be right now if Patterson had been hired in 2008. There's no doubt the results would be better.

Patterson has been the head coach at TCU since 2000. His team has failed to reach a bowl game only twice.

Since 2008, the Vols have failed to reach a bowl game on five occasions.

I think it's pretty obvious that passing on Patterson, especially for a senseless reason, was foolish of Tennessee.

And while I think Pruitt will ultimately be the coach who turns UT around, I'm certain that Tennessee would be in a much better spot today had they extended an offer to Patterson in 2008.

Hindsight is 20/20, but this is a decision that always seemed like a mistake from the moment it was made.

Featured image via Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports/Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports