Program Expectations

Discussion in 'Vols Football' started by CardinalVol, Jan 2, 2021.

  1. TDVol1989

    TDVol1989 Always Be Menstruating

    Well Campbell is not my first choice but I would think he is the most likable if that’s a requirement. Dooley was a jerk in the AD, Butch was a jerk everywhere, and Pruitt has nothing but blank. Pruitt’s schtick would work if he won. But not losing.

    Campbell would certainly win the likability wars. Fickel interesting as he turned down Mich St job last year
     
  2. RevBubbaFlavel

    RevBubbaFlavel Contributor

    I think the hiring, and then keeping, of Butch Jones has changed my perception of the program. I guess you could add the incompetence surrounding the coaching search after we fired him as well.
    But programs that expect to compete for SEC Championships yearly or 3 times a decade do not operate the way we have operated for some time - going back at least 15 years.
    When I think dispassionately about it the fact is that we have become Kentucky. We have far more in common with Arkansas and South Carolina than we do Florida, Bama, LSU, Auburn, Georgia.


    I would think the expectations of Vols fans are different based on age - just a guess. But us older guys think we should compete for conference titles almost every year (and we "should"). What about fans under 30? I mean over the last 20 years we have an average losing record in the SEC. Over the last 10 we are tied with Kentucky.
     
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  3. Volsdude

    Volsdude Well-Known Member

    Under 30 here. I think it’s doable to reach those heights here, but I think it’s much harder than it ever has been. To me, jobs like GA, FL, AL, LA, A&M are all much easier jobs with the talent you need growing in your back yard. I think in those states there has been more of an investment in developing football talent before college than there has been in TN, and I think if we had a 5 star built into every class to start off and a batch of four stars hanging around behind them we’d be in an easier position not having to be such a major rebuild every coaching search and I feel we’d be a more attractive option to other coaching candidates. Just my 2 cents. I think with the resources we have we should be contending and with the right coach and leadership could be an Alabama or Clemson, but it feels like more of an uphill battle here. I really would like to know if the recruiting stuff isn’t as lopsided as it seems to be, if anyone could explain that better to me it would be great.
     
  4. justingroves

    justingroves supermod

    Tennessee has recruited nationally since Neyland travelled around on trains. Middle Tennessee is producing a lot of power 5 talent and when former Vols are coaching high school ball in states like California and Georgia there's no excuse to not recruit well.
     
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  5. justingroves

    justingroves supermod

    Tennessee should play in 2 or 3 sec championship games a decade, win one and never be out of the top 20 in the polls.

    People around the program need to let go of the Majors/Fulmer issues and the Fulmer firing. There's no organization and no leader, Fulmer hasn't gotten everyone on the same page.

    Pruitt is a byproduct of the unbelievable dysfunction that's surrounded Tennessee pretty much since 1992. Dickey kept it in check, once he left it went up for grabs and they're still fighting.
     
  6. JohnnyQuickkick

    JohnnyQuickkick Calcio correspondent

    Yeah, the instate recruiting thing is way overblown but that’s what media keeps saying over and over, so people believe it. There isn’t any football reason we can’t compete, be it facilities, budget, acquisition of talent. It’s all about the nut jobs calling the shots. I don’t even think it’s that UT “doesn’t want to win.” There’s just too many people pulling in different directions that don’t know they don’t know what they’re doing.
     
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  7. 2Maggitt2Quit

    2Maggitt2Quit Chieftain

    This will be 2nd year in recent memory we have an instate player in contention for #1 spot on a recruiting service.
     
  8. Ssmiff

    Ssmiff Went to the White House...Again

    Who?
     
  9. Volgrad98

    Volgrad98 Contributor

    I feel this is absolutely the case.
     
  10. justingroves

    justingroves supermod

    Walter Nolen, a defensive tackle from Cordova. Marlon Walls is his coach.
     
  11. Ssmiff

    Ssmiff Went to the White House...Again

    Oh i thought current cycle. Seen a lot of the local kids play for a couple years now and just dont see the same level compared to watching HS football in other areas. Wmsn county is better but imo i dont see difference makers for a program like UT and we need impact players, not ones who are looking at playing as jrs and srs
     
  12. justingroves

    justingroves supermod

    Rutherford and Davidson are doing pretty well
     
  13. Ssmiff

    Ssmiff Went to the White House...Again

    Yeah Oakland was loaded, main advantage being big boys in the trenches where wmsn county public school big kids get poached by BA/MBA/CPA/Ensworth.
    Still though, not a top 25 player from rutherford. Cane Ridge is starting put out some talent
     
  14. warhammer

    warhammer Chieftain

    If you posted that you had expectations that were any less than to be in the hunt for the East every year and winning it much less than half those times back about 20 years ago, you were definitely in negavol territory, but those were different times.

    Spurrier wasn't as big a big bad he was of the mid-90s (and was gone after '01), Georgia had just shown flashes of being more than the doormat they had been since the early 90s but was still nowhere near where they have now ascended. South Carolina was showing more determination in coaching hires but couldn't translate that to meaningful on field results. Vandy and Kentucky were Vandy and Kentucky.

    The West flat out sucked with the exception of maybe one team per season. Expectations were to win the SEC every 2-3 years, every 5 as a minimum. Mike Hamilton's expectations were fairly close to 2 in 10 SEC wins as I recall. He didn't exactly back that up, but that tire has been retread so many times it'll make your head swim just thinking about it.

    Expectations were high, probably a little too high depending on how you look at it. I still believe Tennessee should always be in the hunt for the East. No number of Dooleys or Joneses (or possibly Pruitts) or Kiffin debacles is going to change that for me. I expected it this year. I'll expect it next year.

    That's not to say we all should have expected it every year in the last 12. Bad stuff has happened. It shouldn't have.
     
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