Expectations for the Vol Athletic Program

#1
87Vol

87Vol

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#1
I saw a thread like this posted on another UT site and thought it would be an interesting discussion here to know what everyone's expectations are (especially football, first and foremost). So the question for everyone is:

What is your expectation for the 4 major athletic department sports programs: 1) Football 2) Men's Basketball 3) Women's Basketball 4) Baseball

Here are my expectations:

1) Football
- SEC Championship once or twice per decade
- Top Tier SEC program every single year, NO EXCEPTIONS.
- Perennial Top 20 or better nationally
- Rarely have less than 9 wins per season.
- National Championship contender once or twice a decade

2) Men's Basketball
- Winning record every single year.
- 8 NCAA and 2 NIT bids per decade on average
- Serious SEC contenders most years, with an SEC Championship maybe once every 15-20 years on average.
- A Sweet 16 or better run twice per decade.

3) Women's Basketball
- Continue historic position as the most overwhelming dominate program in the SEC
- NCAA Sweet 16 or better 95% of the time
- NCAA FINAL 4 two or three times per decade
- NCAA Champs once every 10-15 years.

4) Baseball
- Make the SEC Tourney every year.
- Make the NCAA Tourney 50-60% of the time
- Make the Super Regionals 1 or 2 times a decade
- Make the CWS once a decade (on average)


I think these are reasonable expectations for our programs, given our history and tradition in each sport, our facilities, our fan base, and financial potential. And, as most of you who read my posts already know, I get highly negative and critical when our programs underachieve these expectations.

What do the rest of you think? Are these reasonable expectations? If not, what are yours?
 
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#5
#5
Nega-vol IMO, OP does not embrace the "process", brick by brick, or patience. Don't you know CBJ inherited a flaming pile of crap?

Sarcasm in case you missed it, but many posters on here will flame you this way.
 
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#6
#6
The Tall Gguy said:
Nega-vol IMO, OP does not embrace the "process", brick by brick, or patience. Don't you know CBJ inherited a flaming pile of crap?

Sarcasm in case you missed it, but many posters on here will flame you this way.
Click to expand...

I hear you. There are a lot of well meaning fans on here that exclusively accept hearing positives and optimism about the athletic programs, and they react harshly to folks like me who can be strongly critical and unbending about the standards for Tennessee. However, even Butch himself has said publicly that the standards are the standards at Tennessee and they don't ever change regardless of the circumstances.

Yes, even I recognize that there is a process necessary to get back to that point, but an appropriate amount of on-field progress and maximizing of our potential must be shown at every point along the way. It's arguable as to whether or not that is happening.
 
#8
#8
Sums up with everything we have experienced in the last 10 years in all sports it has now turned into a decade of rebuilding. Football, 2 Basketball programs, Baseball
 
#9
#9
87Vol said:
3) Women's Basketball
- Continue historic position as the most overwhelming dominate program in the SEC
- NCAA Sweet 16 or better 95% of the time
- NCAA FINAL 4 two or three times per decade
- NCAA Champs once every 10-15 years.
Click to expand...

I can't go for this. Going back to Pat levels of dominance may not be doable, but a championship once every 5 years or so should still be the standard.
 
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#12
#12
I think your football expectations are pretty low actually... We should eventually be contenders every year, like Alabama... No reason we can't, eventually...

As far as next year, if Lyle gets the raise, 10 wins... If he only comes up with 7-8 wins AFTER his raise and AFTER his recruiting classes, that is unacceptable...
 
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#14
#14
87Vol said:
I saw a thread like this posted on another UT site and thought it would be an interesting discussion here to know what everyone's expectations are (especially football, first and foremost). So the question for everyone is:

What is your expectation for the 4 major athletic department sports programs: 1) Football 2) Men's Basketball 3) Women's Basketball 4) Baseball

Here are my expectations:

1) Football
- SEC Championship once or twice per decade
- Top Tier SEC program every single year, NO EXCEPTIONS.
- Perennial Top 20 or better nationally
- Rarely have less than 9 wins per season.
- National Championship contender once or twice a decade

2) Men's Basketball
- Winning record every single year.
- 8 NCAA and 2 NIT bids per decade on average
- Serious SEC contenders most years, with an SEC Championship maybe once every 15-20 years on average.
- A Sweet 16 or better run twice per decade.

3) Women's Basketball
- Continue historic position as the most overwhelming dominate program in the SEC
- NCAA Sweet 16 or better 95% of the time
- NCAA FINAL 4 two or three times per decade
- NCAA Champs once every 10-15 years.

4) Baseball
- Make the SEC Tourney every year.
- Make the NCAA Tourney 50-60% of the time
- Make the Super Regionals 1 or 2 times a decade
- Make the CWS once a decade (on average)


I think these are reasonable expectations for our programs, given our history and tradition in each sport, our facilities, our fan base, and financial potential. And, as most of you who read my posts already know, I get highly negative and critical when our programs underachieve these expectations.

What do the rest of you think? Are these reasonable expectations? If not, what are yours?
Click to expand...

I think these are very reasonable expectations. However, in reality, these won't be achieved over night.
 
#16
#16
I think your football expectations are right on honestly. I would also expect a top 10 recruiting class year in and year out. I would also add beating rivals (Florida,Georgia,and Alabama)to the more immediate expectations.
 
#17
#17
Football and Baseball expectations will be easily hit by Jones and Serrano. Dave Serrano is the best coach on campus right now. I think the Basketball expectations could be hit soon, but women's is on a steep decline.
 
#18
#18
87Vol said:
I hear you. There are a lot of well meaning fans on here that exclusively accept hearing positives and optimism about the athletic programs, and they react harshly to folks like me who can be strongly critical and unbending about the standards for Tennessee. However, even Butch himself has said publicly that the standards are the standards at Tennessee and they don't ever change regardless of the circumstances.

Yes, even I recognize that there is a process necessary to get back to that point, but an appropriate amount of on-field progress and maximizing of our potential must be shown at every point along the way. It's arguable as to whether or not that is happening.
Click to expand...

I would argue that a lot of our fan's standards have changed. A large fraction seem to accept things that would have been unacceptable 10 years ago.

I'm still baffled by some of those that defended Fulmer and Dooley.
 
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#19
#19
TacomaJPP said:
I would argue that a lot of our fan's standards have changed. A large fraction seem to accept things that would have been unacceptable 10 years ago.

I'm still baffled by some of those that defended Fulmer and Dooley.
Click to expand...

Fulmer deserves being defended until someone else can so much as even sniff a 9 win season.

There's no doubt in my mind that Fulmer would have out performed what Tennessee has accomplished since he was fired.

It doesn't mean it wasn't time for him to go, but it does mean that what people thought were "bad years" (post 2001 SEC title game) were far better than the crap you are dealing with now and some of those years are the type of season one can only dream of right now.

2002-2008 Tennessee was 57-32. (7 seasons)

2009-present Tennessee is 34-40. (6 seasons)

Pretty easy to defend Fulmer.
 
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#24
#24
No discussion on Softball? They have been our closest thing to a bell cow over the past few years.
 
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