Thoughts that will make people angry

[zidanefan]

Again, scroll to the bottom for the Cliff's Notes version...

Before I go further, I may as well say this: most of you aren't going to read this, give it any critical thought, or click a link. Fair enough.

Still, I'll define my terms:

"national power" - 'national' implies that it has to do with the entire country, and 'power' implies a degree of might or force, and the ability to exert these things on another team/program at will; in other words, a "national power" is a program/team who is currently able to exert its force onto any other team in the country and it be felt

"nationally relevant program" - a program being discussed by media, coaches, players, recruits, and fans as one that is expected to (or even has an outside chance of) being involved in the playoff hunt, Top 10, or even Top 25.

Feel free to take issue with my definitions. But, here's an example to illustrate my point.

At one time, England was the world's premier super power. Ever heard the term British Imperialism? It's because they were everywhere in the world, creating colonies, spreading their influence.

What about Spain, who sent the majority of explorers to the Americas?

Let's use this Hudson Institute study of 2017 World Powers, chosen at random, as an example. (Disclaimer: I don't care what your opinion is of Hudson, and you shouldn't care what mine is either. This isn't a political debate - it's an analogy). Guess who's the top world power? Right. Us.

But, wait... we aren't the oldest country on that list! We don't have all the accolades of other countries, some of whom are still on the list. And, holy crap... India's on the list?!?! But, England isn't! What's going on here? India was a British colony? My brain is melting!

Nobody gives a crap about England's history of imperialism now, because their history isn't relevant to their current status as a powerful nation.

We can debate whether this list is legit, whether India beating out England (or any other country, for that matter) is legit, or whatever else. The point is that, for the purposes of what's happening in the world now, it doesn't matter what happened 100, 200, or 500 years ago in world history.

Cliff's Notes:

Tennessee has a brand. Tennessee has a storied history. Tennessee has accomplished things most other programs have not.

To currently be a national power program, or nationally relevant, you need to be considered "in the hunt" for something other than trying to make a bowl game and be above .500 at the end of the season.

Tennessee's past does not change the present reality that, over the last decade at least, in terms of ranking, overall W/L record, conference record, bowl appearances, etc... Tennessee is not nationally relevant or considered to be a power program.

 

[82_VOL_83]

Strongly disagree that we don’t now have a strong Athletic Department. Our previous ADs since Dickey left have all been asshats......until Fulmer took over last year and has added much needed stability, focus and confidence from the fan base. And btw, it was Fulmer who hired the Head the “real football coach” you referenced at the end.

This 1000 X

 

[zidanefan]

You're right. You essentially stole my post from a couple of weeks ago. I'd say this is all tied back to when Doug Dickey and Joe Johnson left. As Fulmer has referenced, everyone was pushing and pulling in the same direction.
The administration has been an embarrassment. Multiple presidents and chancellors. Confused priorities. A bunch of idiots on the board and of course, the Haslams. I think the mob reaction over Schiano was evidence that enough was enough.
UT has a chance since both the president and chancellor roles will be replaced.

Fulmer was the stabilizing force we needed. I don't think he'll take a lot of **** from these academic types.

I would add that despite all this, UT is a national power, albeit a really jacked up one that is not having the results it ought to. Look no further than Alabama or Notre Dame for an example of how even the most elite can fall.
But the truth is 95% of the programs don't have what UT has. UT has the history, facilities and donor base to be elite. It's not an accidental that we have a 100k seat stadium and a practice facility paradise. It's also amazing to consider how many tickets are sold despite the problems and how long they've gone on. That is why UT still gets consideration from so many recruits and still has a very strong presence with players in the NFL.

Never saw it - I'm not on here a ton these days.

Strongly disagree that we don’t now have a strong Athletic Department. Our previous ADs since Dickey left have all been asshats......until Fulmer took over last year and has added much needed stability, focus and confidence from the fan base. And btw, it was Fulmer who hired the Head the “real football coach” you referenced at the end.

I'll use the same logic here that many, many, many posters use when a new head coach is hired. Let's wait and see the results. I agree that Fulmer seems to have made a good hire in Pruitt, maybe even an excellent hire.

But, this Admin and AD is sick with something that hiring a former head coach alone as AD doesn't cure. It's going to take a lot of time to clean up the mess - so, only time will tell on Fulmer as an AD.

 

[PulaskiVolFan]

And another thing mr. Way offbase, Tennessee is at an All-Time high in current donors, the highest in the history of the university, 220 + million last year alone! 1 thing you state as fact is not considered fact by most. You state that you must be in contention to win something recently in order to be considered a national power and it's just not true. It may be a small part of it but revenue, brand and history carry much more weight, it's the ONLY reason we have still been able to recruit top 15-20 classes with our horrible record the last 10 years.

 

[TrentVol]

Whether or not the boosters and UT leadership get along or not, we still are swimming in money.

4-8 season and UT Football still makes this bank lol

It meant to say 2018 season not 2016 at the top. The Associated Press published this just a few months ago.

And this Forbes report from 2014 had us 7th on most valuable football programs

I agree with what you wrote but just wanted to remind folks to be thankful we got some great boosters despite the contention they may have with some leadership at the university

 

[volfannbama]

And another thing mr. Way offbase, Tennessee is at an All-Time high in current donors, the highest in the history of the university, 220 + million last year alone! 1 thing you state as fact is not considered fact by most. You state that you must be in contention to win something recently in order to be considered a national power and it's just not true. It may be a small part of it but revenue, brand and history carry much more weight, it's the ONLY reason we have still been able to recruit top 15-20 classes with our horrible record the last 10 years.

Lol

 

[Orange defense]

 

[Bumpndnite]

Scroll to bottom for TL;DR version...

I always end up watching UT late Saturday night or sometime Sunday, via DVR. While perusing the board this afternoon after watching yesterday's win, I saw this thread and thought, "Wow, that's a serious case of fandom blurring the line between fantasy and reality." It made me think back to all the threads on here since I've joined that were focused on Tennessee's prestige, status, and what we "deserve" in a head coach based on "who we are" as a football program.

So, here are a few thoughts certain to rustle some people's pantaloons.

Let's begin with facts:

The last time Tennessee won the east was 2007. And, let's face it... we fell backwards into that one.

The last time we beat a team ranked in the Top 10 was 2006.

The last time Tennessee won a national title was 1998. 20 years ago. Let that sink in.

These facts alone should indicate that we are not a national power anymore. But, wait, there's more!

The Coaching Carousel

Each successive coaching search has been bigger circus than the last.

Fulmer getting fired and Kiffin getting hired was okay, even understandable. Some people clearly weren't pleased because he was young, arrogant, and brash. But, he was an "up and comer" who had a great offensive mind, had just had a stint as an NFL HC, and was bringing a great staff. With a traditional staple of UT football on his way out the door, Hamilton gambled on Kid Football.

When Kiffin left in the middle of the night, we got Dooley. He was not the first choice for HC, and many, many people called it out as a bad hire. However, Hamilton's back was against the wall, and we moved forward. Until we began moving backward. Dooley then proceeded to urinate all over the program, in more ways than one, and we sank really, really low.

After Dooley was dismissed, Hart proceeded to offer the job to multiple candidates, none very impressive, but all of whom turned us down. The most conspicuous was Strong who left us at the altar to remain at Louisville. Then we got Butch Jones as head coach, the man who was Dooley's signature win at UT while Jones was at Cincinnati.

(A little aside here, but it warrants mentioning because we're talking about progressively amateur coaches being hired each time: Did anyone hear Daniel Hood's interview in which he said that when Jones arrived at UT, Hood and several defensive players had to alert him to the line-up tell that allowed them to animalize his Cincinnati team? Let that sink in for a minute. But, I digress...)

Then Butch is fired after losing all of his SEC games, and we proceed to lose the rest of our SEC games, a feat not accomplished by any other UT HC in the history of the school. This began Grudenpalooza, Part Deux. Now, I'm not going to run an entire timeline. Most of us remember this pitifully embarrassing debacle. But the quick synopsis is:

Gruden (I know, I know, he was never coming), Kelly, Frost, Mullen are named.
Then we hired Schiano.
Then we unhired him.
And then we went after Gundy, and got him a healthy raise.
And then we went after Campbell, and Cutcliffe, and Brohm, and Doreen (!!!), and Leach.
And then we fired Currie.
And then we hired Fulmer.
And then we proceeded to look at Tee.
And Mel Tucker.
And Steele.
And I think Sumlin was in there somewhere, even though he'd just been fired for not being able to cut it at A&M.

<Takes a deep breath>

Then, we hired Jeremy Pruitt.

So, what does all this mean?

Tennessee does not have a healthy administration.
It doesn't have a healthy athletic department.
It doesn't have a healthy relationship with its boosters.

And, largely because of all this, it hasn't had a good head coach in over a decade. The level of disfunction on display during this coaching search was at a surreal level. If Hollywood made a satirical film about a college football program, it couldn't be any more crazy than UT is.

It's time that everyone continually posting that UT is a "national football power" and "Top 10 job nationally" recognizes this.

Is there any good news?

Yes. Having said all that, I think I see actual game day coaching in Pruitt and his staff. I think there appears to be true player development. I'm pretty sure I saw them just beat a team they weren't supposed to beat. Let me say that again: we beat a team we weren't supposed to beat yesterday. That's a good thing.

The Auburn win was a good win, because it was a win. But, it was also a good win because it came against an SEC opponent. An SECW opponent at that. A ranked, SECW opponent, in fact. It's been a loooooooong time and a lot of UT HC's since that happened. And the offense looked pretty darn good against a good SEC defense.

Yes, Auburn has issues, had turnovers, etc... but, we won. In Auburn.

Let's try to enjoy it, shall we?

TL;DR version:

Tennessee is not a national power, and we haven't been for sometime. <Dodging pitchforks> The good news is, we just might have a real head coach. Finally.

Good synopsis. As an Alabama fan, I can relate; we endured a decade of blundering coaches,and administrators. At least UT didn't hire a coach that had to be fired after his first spring (didn't even coach a real game) for using a university credit card to fill his hotel room with strippers/hookers. Hugh Freeze is a choir boy compared to Mike Price. So.....(a) it could be worse, and (b) I'm thinking that UT has hit on a good hire this time around.

BTW - It was good to see Phil Fulmer so happy last Saturday. A lot of Bama fans don't like Fulmer, but I do. Gotta admire a guy who obviously loves his school as much as Fulmer does.

 

[Volador]

Damn, honestly I can’t help but say wtf are you? This ain’t your board. Don’t tell us what we may or may not believe.

I'm just a Vol gloater for another couple of days. Ain't it great to be a Tennessee Vol??