Football: List of Demands

So, how's this, for a start:

1. 8 is NOT Enough
An 8-win season (.666 winning percentage) is not commensurate with a program of our immense resources and innumerous strengths, both tangible and intangible. As such, and barring the most egregious and rarest of circumstances, the failure to exceed this single-season win total is indefensible and categorically unacceptable, and should be treated as such.

2. Immediate Change is Needed
Now, some 12 years removed from our last championship - the longest such drought in the storied history of our program - and as the football program plummet further into the morass of mediocrity and insignificance, the need to proactively seek their correction is both acute and necessary. Tennessee can no longer afford, literally or figuratively, to continue to cling to the outdated and near-sighted methods and practices of the past, where reason gives way to emotional sentiment and wishful thought is substituted for effective strategies.

3. It's the Coaches, Stupid
That the most consistently successful programs are built upon and around the best and most well-proven coaches is self-evident. Given their finite supply and the return on investment which their universities recoup, they command a premium salary. Be willing to pay the cost to bring these types of coaches (there are only 5-10, max) to come here. and enjoy the same benefits of other schools who have done the same, albeit some 5+ years before we seemed to catch on.

 

D,

I think exonerating the awful administration is too damn nice. The administration has sucked and Cheek has doubled down on that effort. The booster shenanigans haven't helped either. This is a top to bottom problem that isn't limited to the coaching staff. In fact, I'd say the current staff is a perfect example of the main problem. The financial impact is finally becoming clearer to idiots like Cheek.

 

I get that you can probably charge a lot for a Florida or Bama, but there is really no reason in the world any upper-deck non season-ticket holder seat for a MTSU or Buffalo should ever be above $25 a ticket.

 

What gets me about the administration and the fans is this:

They tucked their tails due to Kiffin leaving. Instead of saying, "Damn, we're paying a former NFL HC $2 million while the guys we expect him to beat every year are making $4 and $5 million. We can't be surprised he left for a substantial raise" they blamed him for not being "Southern" enough. They then proceeded to hire a guy that will not have any job offers to make sure it wouldn't happen again just because Daddy coached in the SEC.

They let a complacent coach who believed in such a thing as equity, in regards to keeping his job, and now won't go out and get the best.

 

I don't recall saying that. I do think that's the standard by which you measure your coaching prospects against. If you don't think your coach can compete with the best, then why the [uck fay] would you hire them?

 

1. Agreed.
2. Immediate actions in that from right now going forward we are silently looking for a coach, and will be prepared to make a change next year.
3. That is a lot of it. Not getting the best that you can falls on something else.

 

It was a joke. Les seems to be the only one that even gives him a ball game anymore

 

Sorry. Brain apparently isn't working today.

 

4. Mascots Make Poor Coaches
In the overwhelming majority of cases, these proven and elite coaches have little to no ties to the school before being hired, nor certainly do they come pre-packaged with some intrinsic love of the institution and its many traditions, however wonderful. They come for cash, and you hope they grow roots - not the other way around. So, stop comparing every candidate to such out-dated and nonsensical criteria, as it needlessly limits the pool of available candidates.

5. Boosters Shouldn't Be Anchors
We all know who drives the train around here. We really do. And we also know that the money and influence which you yield has the single greatest and most immediate impact on who is selected (or retained) as our coach. We appreciate your many important contributions - financially and otherwise - to not only the football program, but the entirety of the university. We are impressed with and appreciative of your efforts to fund and oversee the on-going upgrades to our facilities - but to us, the throngs of average fans, we care most about the renovations which we know that you could (quite easily) cause to occur on the sidelines, and in turn, on the field of play. Simply, we just want to win, to compete at the highest level and to consistently compete for championships. And that takes the type of coach who commands a premium salary. And with a severely cash-strapped university system (who is already charged with feeding the leeches of satellite campuses), it's widely known that your small group will have to lead - and more importantly, finance - this, or it simply will not otherwise occur.

6. Excuses for Poor Performance
We are willing to accept as many excuses for the poor performance of our team as the head coach may be willing to provide, and without question - insofar as the University agrees to refund 20% of the total cost to all season-ticket holders for each reason we accept. If the University is unwilling to allow these excuses to affect the cost of the product which they provide, then we will be equally unwilling to accept the coach's reasoning for their own failures, and will hold him wholly accountable, instead.

7. Give Students Back Their Tickets - FOR FREE
The policy to begin charging students for tickets was a travesty, in every sense of the word, and should be immediately corrected to its previous form. As one of the most loyal, loud and all-around boisterous sections in the stadium, they were an integral and important part of the stadium experience, and greatly added to our home field advantage. It seems counter-intuive to place a barrier to their entry into the stadium, regardless as to what other schools may do or how "affordable" you believe it to be. It is the crystallization of all that has gone so egregiously wrong over there for the last 12 years or so. And it should be immediately remedied - for the betterment of all.

 

Britches. Mama. Trains. Trucks. Gettin' Drunk.

 

Lack of Leadership. This isn't just in the coaching staff, but from the top of the university down. Tennessee has the feel of an institution that is just wishing to be succesful, while other schools are being proactive about winning in academics and athletics.

An identity. We have nothing to hang our hats on with the program right now. I remember a time when Tennessee took the field you knew three things: You were going to see a great defensive team, a physical running game, and great effort. It was an identity that the people of Tennessee embraced. After two seasons, I still don't know the true identity that the staff wants to establish.

True self reflection. The average fan can't and won't pay for the product, that is Tennessee football right now. We're a basement vaule SEC team right now. You can build all of the nice facilities and weight rooms you want. None of that matters, till you can find a coach that can beat South Carolina and Georgia on a regular basis.

Open door policy to the past players that represented the program with class and dignity.

 

#9 on hat's list is the big one for me. Quit hiring as if this is East Carolina and go after guys who deserve a shot at UT. If that's the way the shot callers view the program, why should anyone else see it as anything more?

 

1. Realize: The Current State of Affairs
2. Require: 8 is NOT Enough
3. Results: 10 wins in '12
4. Replacement: Big Fish
5. Remit: Pay The Cost
6. Reach Out: Former Players
7. Re-Engage: Fans and Students
8. Return: To Glory


Get'em all?

 

Work like heck?

Oops.

 

This is your warning. Say it again and receive the no-reason ban.

 

Aaaand Beech gets a [itch bay] slap. Cardinal don't play.....


Are we allow to say, " Watch the film."?

 

I have rights under the "8th" amendment.

Smoke that Cardinal.

 

Hat I agreed with your post except for the food comment. I liked the all beef big dogs with everything on it. And you got your wish we changed food providers it seems. They better find something to replace my big dog.

 

HEAR! HEAR! That sums it up.

I would leave off number 6 for now. Don't distract them with anything but winning right now. We can worry about firing announcers after we get the program out of the ditch.

 

Left out "in the rain"