Paul Finebaum

[UTVOLS1614]

https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/tennessee-football/paul-finebaum-explains-frustrated-butch-jones-sec-media-days/

Idk if u guys read this article but recently have been getting annoyed by finebaum. first of all he states tennessee should be competing for the east every year. correct me if im wrong we obviously didnt win it but certainly competed for the east last year. and look in good shape to compete again. Also him comparing sabans 5th year to butchs 5th year is rediculous. Saban didnt take over nearly as much of a mess as butch had to

 

[05_never_again]

https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/tennessee-football/paul-finebaum-explains-frustrated-butch-jones-sec-media-days/

Idk if u guys read this article but recently have been getting annoyed by finebaum. first of all he states tennessee should be competing for the east every year. correct me if im wrong we obviously didnt win it but certainly competed for the east last year. and look in good shape to compete again. Also him comparing sabans 5th year to butchs 5th year is rediculous. Saban didnt take over nearly as much of a mess as butch had to

Finebaum is exactly right. Saban's mess was closer to Butch's than you think. It is easy to forget now but Alabama was one of the great laughingstocks of college football from the mid 90s up until the mid 2000s. He took over a program that was coming off probation, still had scars to its image from the Mike Price debacle, etc. Alabama was not a supremely talented squad when Saban took over. Butch is just about one-tenth the coach Saban is, that's the biggest difference.

As far as "contending for the East" I suppose it depends on your definition of "contending." We failed to control our own destiny for the East crown after October 29 last year with 4 games left in the regular season. We will could have still gotten in after that but needed help. Is that "contending?" I can see it being argued both ways.

 

[v011s]

Butch does this to himself.

He has gotten UT out of the cellar but just continues to burn any goodwill with all the idiotic things he says.

Any reference to year 1 at this point is laughable. He should be embarrassed that he even thinks about what happened in his first year.

 

[v011s]

I take it back. Not even laughable.

Just roll my eyes and carry on at this point.

 

[UT Hill Man]

 

[utvolpj]

From the title I was thinking he got injured. Disappointing

 

[BigOrangeMojo]

https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/tennessee-football/paul-finebaum-explains-frustrated-butch-jones-sec-media-days/

Idk if u guys read this article but recently have been getting annoyed by finebaum. first of all he states tennessee should be competing for the east every year. correct me if im wrong we obviously didnt win it but certainly competed for the east last year. and look in good shape to compete again. Also him comparing sabans 5th year to butchs 5th year is rediculous. Saban didnt take over nearly as much of a mess as butch had to

Why was Saban the only word you capitalized?

After taking a couple of shots, I think I am ready to decipher your points. Tennessee should be contending every year for the East and they have been the past two years. It's absolutely fair to compare Butch to any other coach by Year 5 since the statute of limitations for blaming Dooley has expired (UT showed in Year 3 that they had closed the talent gap as evidenced by the OU and Bama games)

 

[ptcarter]

It is what it is. We had the east and blew it. What is the definition of compete anyway? By my standards, we competed last year. Probably will in 2017. We need to win to shut these talking blowhards up.

 

[NeverWe'llSever]

Finebaum is exactly right. Saban's mess was closer to Butch's than you think. It is easy to forget now but Alabama was one of the great laughingstocks of college football from the mid 90s up until the mid 2000s. He took over a program that was coming off probation, still had scars to its image from the Mike Price debacle, etc. Alabama was not a supremely talented squad when Saban took over. Butch is just about one-tenth the coach Saban is, that's the biggest difference.

As far as "contending for the East" I suppose it depends on your definition of "contending." We failed to control our own destiny for the East crown after October 29 last year with 4 games left in the regular season. We will could have still gotten in after that but needed help. Is that "contending?" I can see it being argued both ways.

Not supremely talented maybe, but they went 10-2 just two years prior to his hiring with Shula. The teams before Butch went 5-7, 5-7, 6-7, 7-6, 5-7. And as much of a laughingstock that Alabama was in that time, they still won an SEC title in 1999. Unbelievable.

 

[05_never_again]

Not supremely talented maybe, but they went 10-2 just two years prior to his hiring with Shula. The teams before Butch went 5-7, 5-7, 6-7, 7-6, 5-7. And as much of a laughingstock that Alabama was in that time, they still won an SEC title in 1999. Unbelievable.

Alabama has inherent advantages that Tennessee does not and never will. Their up periods are way up (multiple national titles over a span of many years) and their down periods are not as bad (as you say, they actually managed to win the SEC one year during that down period).

Tennessee, on the other hand, might win a national title during the up periods (just conference titles much more likely) and will miss bowl games/be consistently irrelevant during the down periods.

 

[BigOrangeMojo]

Not supremely talented maybe, but they went 10-2 just two years prior to his hiring with Shula. The teams before Butch went 5-7, 5-7, 6-7, 7-6, 5-7. And as much of a laughingstock that Alabama was in that time, they still won an SEC title in 1999. Unbelievable.

Saban lost to Louisiana Monroe his first year. I think that shows the amount/depth of talent that he inherited.

 

[Lloyd_Christmas]

Finebaum is exactly right. Saban's mess was closer to Butch's than you think. It is easy to forget now but Alabama was one of the great laughingstocks of college football from the mid 90s up until the mid 2000s. He took over a program that was coming off probation, still had scars to its image from the Mike Price debacle, etc. Alabama was not a supremely talented squad when Saban took over. Butch is just about one-tenth the coach Saban is, that's the biggest difference.

As far as "contending for the East" I suppose it depends on your definition of "contending." We failed to control our own destiny for the East crown after October 29 last year with 4 games left in the regular season. We will could have still gotten in after that but needed help. Is that "contending?" I can see it being argued both ways.

Didn't Shula lead them to a 10 win season? They were 22-14 in the previous 3 seasons before Saban. Compare that to our 15-21 record for the three years under Dooley. They weren't great, but an argument could be made that Saban took over a more talented and likely better coached team than Butch. That's not to say that Butch is anywhere near the coach Saban is, but you have to look at the facts if you want to compare them.

 

[N.ohio vol]

Hate to say it because I like Butch but comparing him to saban really isn't fair to begin with. For so many reasons.

 

[05_never_again]

Didn't Shula lead them to a 10 win season? They were 22-14 in the previous 3 seasons before Saban. Compare that to our 15-21 record for the three years under Dooley. They weren't great, but an argument could be made that Saban took over a more talented and likely better coached team than Butch. That's not to say that Butch is anywhere near the coach Saban is, but you have to look at the facts if you want to compare them.

He did, but it isn't like he left Saban with that 10 win team. Alabama went 6-6 (2-6) in his final year (wins ended up being vacated). He was 26-23 (13-19) at Alabama overall, and the SEC was nowhere near as strong then as it was now. Alabama was awful when Saban took over.

 

[sjt18]

Butch does this to himself.

He has gotten UT out of the cellar but just continues to burn any goodwill with all the idiotic things he says.

Any reference to year 1 at this point is laughable. He should be embarrassed that he even thinks about what happened in his first year.

You do know that is one of the "go to" excuses for his apologists here, right?

 

[jbr82]

That ain't nothing folks....Vandy went 4-8...5-7...7-6...2-10..2-10 before Franklin got there. Then he went 6-7..9-4...9-4. Talkin about inheriting a mess

 

[njvols]

Saban this, Alabama that...Good Lord, real football can't get here fast enough.

 

[jakez4ut]

Alabama has inherent advantages that Tennessee does not and never will. Their up periods are way up (multiple national titles over a span of many years) and their down periods are not as bad (as you say, they actually managed to win the SEC one year during that down period).

Tennessee, on the other hand, might win a national title during the up periods (just conference titles much more likely) and will miss bowl games/be consistently irrelevant during the down periods.

so how does this make a case against Butch Jones?

 

[05_never_again]

That ain't nothing folks....Vandy went 4-8...5-7...7-6...2-10..2-10 before Franklin got there. Then he went 6-7..9-4...9-4. Talkin about inheriting a mess

He's also about 10x the coach Butch is.

Franklin would have been pursued heavily by Tennessee after Dooley was fired if he wasn't the coach at Vandy. An open pursuit of him would be too much of a blow to the ego.

 

[Lloyd_Christmas]

He did, but it isn't like he left Saban with that 10 win team. Alabama went 6-6 (2-6) in his final year (wins ended up being vacated). He was 26-23 (13-19) at Alabama overall, and the SEC was nowhere near as strong then as it was now. Alabama was awful when Saban took over.

You can take out vacated wins and argue about the strength of the SEC, but the results on the field the three years prior to Saban certainly look better than the three years prior to Butch at UT. I never said Alabama was good, just that the team Saban took over was "likely" better than the one Butch took over.

 

[jakez4ut]

He's also about 10x the coach Butch is.

Franklin would have been pursued heavily by Tennessee after Dooley was fired if he wasn't the coach at Vandy. An open pursuit of him would be too much of a blow to the ego.

we may have another chance to pursue him if things go terrible this year.

 

[05_never_again]

so how does this make a case against Butch Jones?

It doesn't. The poster made a mention of Alabama's 1999 SEC title and its unbelievable nature considering it was during a down period. I agree that it is unbelievable, but my point is that Alabama is able to do stuff like that because of some inherent advantages they have as a program.

 

[VolunteerHillbilly]

I'd add that Butch is handicapped by fans who don't really expect much, thereby letting him skate without feeling any real pressure to move the program up the pecking order. Saban doesn't have that luxury.

 

[WildTurkey]

Saban lost to Louisiana Monroe his first year. I think that shows the amount/depth of talent that he inherited.

Maybe so. Butch has plenty of traits/decisions that can be analyzed and criticized. Comparing him to Saban at Alabama is not exactly apples to apples.

Saban was a much more established, nationally known coach.

I think the Dabo comparison is fair, probably some others too. If Saban is who Finebaum wants to look at, he should at least look at Saban's first Power 5 job performance (MSU).

 

[checkerboards09]

We compete for it every year. I wanna win it.