Well lets hope we are all here for the multiple posts between now and then that hes not the guy, as well as the official buy in date should it occur, as we are all interested.
Chaney is never going to reinvent the wheel as an offensive guy. But he might be the best in the business at teaching and maximizing the talent he has to work with. What he was able to do with crompton and now JG is truly amazing. This staff can coach. And the only other year that gets close with player development is kiffins year in 2009. The question is Pruitt 7/8 win coach or a championship coach.
Much like a couple of others I'm still not sold on Coach Gomer but I don't hate him AND think he might be able to get the job done which is way more than I could say for the last couple of imbeciles. We never should have lost to Georgia State and the BYU end of the game was inexcusable. But, for him to hold the team together and for the team not to give up does say a lot. I'll give him a lot of credit for that feat. Because that was a team of losers that only knew how to lose and choke. When you lose to Georgia State and BYU and somehow manage to beat the majority of your SEC schedule - that's something pretty hard to believe. I think if he can get more talent in here he definitely can be a coach who can win the East. That, and hang onto Chaney for at least a few more years. His game management is still lacking though. I just hope he can learn from the mistakes he's made and continues to make. It wasn't Trumpet Humper level of idiocy but it's enough for concern. Now just go kick the shit out of Vanderbilt. Blood letting those bastards next weekend. We need to assert dominance and let everyone know that this most certainly isn't the last 10 years worth of Tennessee football. Go out there and do what I remember as a kid - beat Vandy 56-7 or something like that. Kick them while they are down and then slit their throat for good measure.
Chaney will keep hitting a matchup until you take it away. Wrs are the strength of the team and OL is pass blocking at a high level. Crazy
I think he can be a championship level coach but we need to be realistic (which I believe most people are) with where we are right now. These next two seasons could be very similar in outcome with us scrapping to reach 7-8 wins. There isn't a generational recruiting class waiting in the wings to vault us back into SEC title contention.
I mean I’m not in “Pruitt is our king” mode. But he dug into a hole that I really didn’t think he could dig out of, and he dug out of it. Right now, we’re sitting at exactly the record I would’ve expected from a competent coach this season, and that’s despite pissing away the first two games, which makes the last two months even more impressive. He’s still going to have to recruit (and there have been legitimate critiques of his staff’s recruiting), he’s still going to have to develop, he’s still going to have to game plan (and there are legitimate critiques here regarding game management), and ultimately, if he doesn’t take another step forward next year, I’m going back to doubting whether he can succeed here. But right now, I’ve gone from so convinced in failure that I didn’t even remember to check scores when I was doing something else during the Georgia game to seeing a reasonable chance of success and being excited to watch Tennessee football again. That’s something, and whether or not it lasts, I’m glad it’s here now. And I think Pruitt has a real chance of keeping me excited about Tennessee football in the short-to-medium-term future, which is not something I’ve thought about another coach at this point of his tenure since I’ve been a Tennessee fan (I was too young for Phil’s second year).
Recruiting has to get better to take the next step. That’s where Georgia State and BYU really hurt. This will be a mediocre class, when it really could have been top five-ish and propelled us way forward.
Great to see the turnaround. And both Georgia State and BYU are 7-5, with BYU beating two ranked teams, so those losses don’t look nearly as bad.
So GA State is definitely an albatross....but it is incredibly shortsighted to dismiss the improvements on both sides of the line and the defense in general.
It’s actually possible to see the GA St. & BYU losses as inexcusably terrible AND to be pleased / proud / impressed with how the team kept fighting and improving over the course of the season after suffering those losses. You needn’t pick between the two, because they can both be true, and simultaneously. They dug themselves an enormous hole, for sure, but damned if they didn’t make the absolute best of it, thereafter. If anyone here would not have taken a 6-5 record heading into the Vandy game after the BYU loss....you’re either stupid or a liar.
BYU was the worst game of JG's career at the time. That loss is 100% on the quarterback. The GSU loss is inexcusable
Georgia State? Yes BYU? It was almost identical to the Mississippi State game, but without Byrd breaking the long touchdown and with one extra defensive breakdown. We outplayed them noticeably and probably win that game 8 out of 10 times even if we play at the exact same level. For me, the games that soured me on Pruitt were Georgia State and Florida, both of which were terribly played on our part. The BYU game didn’t move the needle a bit.
