If the reds give JH five years, we will be relevant again. He is cleaning up behind a couple of really dumb assholes, and it’s going to take a while. I’m hearing extraordinary things about his relationship building.
I figure that’s going to be up to him. Jones got five years without ever doing better than 9-4. If we’re still under .500 in year three, he’s probably gone. Then again, if we’re still under .500 in year three, he’s probably not making us relevant again.
I don't know how you can say that. The reds stuck with the last guy while seeing the worst football ever played here and only jumped ship because of his obsession with JG.
I think people understand at this point that competing consistently with Alabama 3-4 years in is probably not a reasonable ask. It would be nice if either Florida or Georgia took a step back, but they both look like legit top ten teams right now. I suspect that in two years, if we’re beating the unranked teams on our schedule and 50/50 against the non-elite ranked teams, people will still be pretty optimistic about the future. Edit: just looked back at the final rankings for the last few years, and “beat all the unranked teams, lose to the top ten teams, go .500 against 11-25” would’ve been good for 8-4 in 2018, 10-2 in 2016, and somewhere in between every other year for the last half-decade. So yeah, if he has us there, I don’t think giving him time will be a problem at all.
I think Mullen will leave or flame out. And let’s pray Georgia doesn’t win it all this year for Kirby to really get that thing rolling.
I think as long as you get 7-5 a couple of times and year 4 isn’t a losing season he will get year 5.
It depends on context. In year four, do you have a bunch of juniors and four legit top ten teams on the schedule (basically, see 2011)? If so, yeah, 7-5 may start warming the seat, but it’s not getting anyone canned. If we have all seniors, and Florida and Georgia implode, and we end up playing one top 20 team all season (basically, see 2016)? Well, honestly, recent history indicates that 7-5 would be good enough to hang around in that context too, but it probably shouldn’t be. His seat would definitely be on fire.
I don't know exactly what it is, but I think Heupel will do well here. It boils down to hiring good coaches, which he has. Good people management, which he has shown. Strategy and good game-planning looks to be there. I haven't thought a coach had a chance since Kiffin.
I don’t totally trust myself, because I have had periods of optimism with the last three. Dooley closing with four straight wins in 2010, hiring Sirmon (to go with already good coordinators), and then just lighting up Cincinnati (including a brilliantly designed onside kick that was reportedly all him) had me feel pretty optimistic. Jones had a two week stretch in 2013 where I went from total apathy to cautious optimism—that Georgia game was the best-designed his offense ever got, and South Carolina is the best team we’ve beaten in a decade—and Pruitt had me optimistic with the way he recruited and sat there calling out Auburn’s plays in 2018. It’s not hard to recruit to Tennessee, but it’s gotten harder lately, and Heupel still has to show he can do it. He also has to show he can coach a team to play with some discipline, because stupid penalties and other various mistakes were a major criticism at UCF that is 100% following him. But my goodness it’s hard not to feel at least a little optimism seeing (1) a group of players and coaches that seem to be enjoying football, and (2) a scheme that consistently gets playmakers in space.
No one on Earth was coming in here with the number of players we lost and the recent years of history and the teams we play against and have huge success in Year 1. It just isn't reality. All we can realistically expect is fighting like hell for .500 and continuing to fix the roster. Repeat in year 2. Hope for measurable results improvement by year 3 and beyond. And that is without knowing if we get hit by sanctions.
We all look past the possible warning signs when we want to believe there's a bright future and there's evidence to suggest it might work out. I think if you have to call right now what Heupel's problems will be, for me there would be two top candidates. One, this team is sloppy/undisciplined at times. It wouldn't be a cause for concern at all at this point if it hadn't also been the case at UCF. The second is just the offensive scheme. I don't know how married to it Heupel is, but it is gimmicky. Now, he's got receivers running free all the time so I'm not dogging it or anything, but it is incredibly simple and I don't think you could rule out it being a dud after people play against it a while.
I look at it this way…JH is the first mature adult since Fulmer to have this job. Right now UT needs him more than he needs us.
We are also going to by % have more penalties when we and they run a lot more plays than we are accustomed to. I believe we have also had 3 or 4 centers and haven't had a consistent and healthy qb/C pairing in the 2 losses. It's hard for me to say it's going to be a pattern until I can see him for 3-4 years with his players and upperclassmen helping train the newcomers.
The presnap penalties by and large aren’t concerning me as much because we have some personnel upheaval and are trying to learn a new offense. But my goodness, the personal fouls. It’s too much.
I'm still not on board yet but I can say I like the offensive plan a lot. He has guys wide open and the running backs are getting yards. On Defense I like what we are doing as well. He definitely has a better chance than the last 3 idiots. It's all going to come down to recruiting and hitting the portal hard. He also needs to get rid of Burns. That was a terrible hire. I like the rest of his hires which is another positive.
There's a coherence to what they do on offense and I don't think we can point to much of anything similar since '09.
