Justin, I don't argue that. What I am trying to say though is that evidently he was doing something right at LT for 3 years because he wasn't on the hot seat there. MH brought him in here 2 weeks before signing day having to sign basically an entire coaching staff. I don't think even MH, as clueless as I think he is, thought that there would be any improvement before year 3. I think that year 1 was an abberation and surprised most of us but gave many a false hope that hey, things aren't that bad, we will be back next year. When that didn't happen the coach was to blame. The mistake CDD made was doing as well as he did in year 1. Had that really sucked, then the hopes would have been moved to year 3 and not falsely placed on year 2.
I would not be surprised to see and 8 - 5 or 9 - 4 season this year. I am excited that we "should" do better, but I won't be surprised. I have followed UT football closely since 1977. I lived through Majors' disappointments one after another. To me, CPF's 90's were a blip on an otherwise mediocre to decent football team history. I love the Vols and want them to win everygame. I want to think we have the opportunity to win the SEC every year. But in 35 years, those hopes have been RARELY fulfilled. I think many on here remember the times that we played as if we could be ANY team on the planet including the NFL and I think many remember the teams that hit the field with Majors and CPF that acted like either they didn't want to be there or just didn't know which end of the football to grab. Many times those were the same teams in the same season. A fine example of that were years 95 - 97. I NEVER bet on the Vols having learned early on that it is never safe. However, a friend that I worked with went to Vandy. He and I bet 3 years in a row on the UT Vandy game. We bet the line. I LOST all three bets with Peyton at the helm. Have we been good, at times yes, have we been great, a couple of times, but mostly we have been just decent. I want to give this guy a chance to bring us to good bordering on great every year. We can't do that by bashing him everytime his breathe smells bad or he says something that we don't happen to like. If we get through this year and he is here the next year and he just isn't cutting it, then let's move on. But to dismiss him outright as a failure before he has been given a chance is WRONG.