The official "regular posters of the Basketball forum" thread II

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#8,801
#8,801
Thunder Good-Oil said:
I'm confused about all this "effort". In 6 years Bruce did the shirtless body paint thing at a LV game, he bought pizza for students waiting in line for tickets, and he got up on a table in the student cafeteria and gave a speech. What am I overlooking? Barnes drove a Cushman people hauler around campus giving free rides for students to classes. Barnes interviewed Dobbs. He also has done several hilarious live interviews of his players. There's a staff of AD employees that are responsible for generating interest. I'm really not sure what Barnes is supposed to be doing right now. Pearl had a lot of appearances with the national media during the seasons, but he also had top 25 teams. Nobody cares what the coach of a middle of the pack, barely over .500 team has to say.

Those 3 stunts by Bruce generated a lot of publicity for himself and his team, but his most effective work promoting the program was most likely lobbying for the renovations to TBA and constructing Pratt. He did much of that work behind the scenes.

Again, what exactly is Barnes supposed to be doing? He has an awe shucks, low key, dry wittiness about him and Pearl has an
in your face, flamboyant persona. Barnes will never be Pearl. Pearl is better at some things and Barnes is better at other things. Barnes is building a program from scratch and Pearl took a terrific group of players and kicked the door down with them in tow. Barnes' approach requires more patience from the fan base... something that's hard for a significant faction of those to allow after witnessing the way Pearl blew through Knoxville.
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Be visible. Get on the radio. Do speaking engagements. Does he even have a twitter? Hold camps. Reach out to the fan base.

When you look and see empty seats and an embarrassing turnout of students you should feel compelled to do something about it as the head coach. Don't just sit back and be content with that. Stoke a fire coach. Good grief.
 
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#8,802
#8,802
VolsSportsFan said:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhI85Q9Am8c[/youtube]

One of the most crushing finishes I remember. And I was mad at Haislip for celebrating after he hit his shot. I mean that first 3 was luck, but after that the team collapsed starting with the bad inbound pass.

UF and UK also hit 3s to send to OT that year.
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There it is. And the next year, 02-03, on the return trip to TBA, Tennessee led Louisville for almost the entire game and had the lead inside a minute, only to blow it again.

Next season, 03-04, Tennessee blew a 7 point lead with 8:24 to play against UofL.
 
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#8,803
#8,803
BigZiti09 said:
Be visible. Get on the radio. Do speaking engagements. Does he even have a twitter? Hold camps. Reach out to the fan base.

When you look and see empty seats and an embarrassing turnout of students you should feel compelled to do something about it as the head coach. Don't just sit back and be content with that. Stoke a fire coach. Good grief.
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Yeah, he has a twitter. He doesn't post often though.
 
#8,804
#8,804
cncchris33 said:
There it is. And the next year, 02-03, on the return trip to TBA, Tennessee led Louisville for almost the entire game and had the lead inside a minute, only to blow it again.

Next season, 03-04, Tennessee blew a 7 point lead with 8:24 to play against UofL.
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In either the 02-03 game or the game after, UT was down by one possession, pressed on the inbounds, and they called a foul on UT. On the replay, when the Louisville player caught the ball, one of his feet was a foot out of bounds before he was fouled and the refs completely missed it.
 
#8,805
#8,805
BigZiti09 said:
Be visible. Get on the radio. Do speaking engagements. Does he even have a twitter? Hold camps. Reach out to the fan base.

When you look and see empty seats and an embarrassing turnout of students you should feel compelled to do something about it as the head coach. Don't just sit back and be content with that. Stoke a fire coach. Good grief.
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You're talking about a coach who doesn't want to go on the road to recruit. He's not going to do the extra things to promote the program.
 
#8,807
#8,807
I would think a better strategy for rebuilding the fan base would be to get former players more involved, having them doing events on a regular basis. This would be in addition to whatever the coach does.

Create some Athletic Department positions for Basketball Ambassadors. Build on the VFL theme. Give them Orange jackets to wear to the events.

Too many identify Tennessee basketball in terms of the current coach. Give people other reasons to support not only the team but the institution.

We should be building Tennessee basketball as a brand based on history and players, not trying to force the head coach to do all the heavy lifting.

This would require a multi-year commitment and a vision. So I'm not holding my breath.
 
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#8,810
#8,810
twoffo said:
I would think a better strategy for rebuilding the fan base would be to get former players more involved, having them doing events on a regular basis. This would be in addition to whatever the coach does.

Create some Athletic Department positions for Basketball Ambassadors. Build on the VFL theme. Give them Orange jackets to wear to the events.

Too many identify Tennessee basketball in terms of the current coach. Give people other reasons to support not only the team but the institution.

We should be building Tennessee basketball as a brand based on history and players, not trying to force the head coach to do all the heavy lifting.

This would require a multi-year commitment and a vision. So I'm not holding my breath.
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They could only round up 5 guys to show up from the 1977 SEC Championship team for their 40th reunion. On the other hand they did get all 8 of the surviving members of the 1967 SEC Championship team to attend as wel as Boerwinkle's widow and daughter.
 
#8,811
#8,811
Thunder Good-Oil said:
They could only round up 5 guys to show up from the 1977 SEC Championship team for their 40th reunion. On the other hand they did get all 8 of the surviving members of the 1967 SEC Championship team to attend as wel as Boerwinkle's widow and daughter.
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The Basketball Ambassadors would need to be paid positions with expectations for participation. Their role would be to sell Tennessee basketball as an institution. It would take a sustained effort, but if Barnes does get us back to winning consistently now would be the ideal time to kick off the effort.
 
#8,813
#8,813
bleedingTNorange said:
Wasn't it you 2 saying you doubted Barnes' would land Walker or Pons because of his "recruiting strategy"?
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I don't think I ever weighed in on walker other than to guess St. John's on announcement day.

Don't consider walker to be a great get just yet. Gonna trust the eval of Barnes I guess.

I didn't think we'd get Pons. Didn't specify why. Still don't have him.
 
#8,814
#8,814
BigZiti09 said:
I don't think I ever weighed in on walker other than to guess St. John's on announcement day.

Don't consider walker to be a great get just yet. Gonna trust the eval of Barnes I guess.

I didn't think we'd get Pons. Didn't specify why. Still don't have him.
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we can revisit when he goes public I suppose
 
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