Since 1992 when the SEC expanded and created the East and West Divisions, Tennessee has won or shared the SEC East Title 6 times. That is 6 in 25 or 24%. We haven't sniffed it, prior to this year, since 2007.
Since 1933 we have won or shared the SEC Title 13 times. That is 13 in 95 or 14%. We haven't won the SEC since 1998 when we won our last NC.
We have the potential to be a very good football team but we need stability and strong coaching to do it. CBJ has made his share of mistakes but what some of y'all are whining about it silly. You don't like the way he does press conferences... so don't watch. You want him to hire this guy or that guy. Well he hired Shoop. We don't know all the ins and outs of the behind the scenes stuff that limits firings and hirings. We lost about half of our 2 deep this year to terrible injuries and most of the rest are playing hurt in one way or another. We had at least two cancerous personalities that left mid-season in Williams and Hurd. It was visible to me that the team started playing better after Hurd left after the SCar game. They looked defeated all season and probably because one of their leaders was unhappy and spreading his unhappiness around. The coaches and players have some serious work to do in the offseason to make things right but there is plenty of talent on this team. CBJ needs to make a few staff changes and start working on preparing Team 121 to take the field. Our spoiled rotten fan base needs to grow up and realize that while we have a storied past, we are not guaranteed anything when it comes to college football. We have the odds stacked against us every year by having to play in the SEC and face Bama at least once a year. Even if we had made the SECCG this year we would have had to play Bama and we are not on their level right now with our injuries. Let Florida get their butts handed to them. Everybody needs to chill out with the firing or Butch leaving talk. That is the worst thing that could happen to our program right now. With the exception of a couple of drains, the players love CBJ and we have seen vast improvements in many position groups. Butch needs at least two more years to adjust the staff and continue recruiting his players. He has had to learn some things on the fly but I see major adjustments being made even within this season. Please everybody just chill and stop wishing a good coach away. We did that with Fulmer and you know where that led us. UGA did it with Richt and look where they are. Please just be happy to see small improvements and be ready to support our team every time they take the field whether it is a practice, a scrimmage, a regular season game, or a National Championship game. They all put their blood sweat and tears into playing a game we love to watch and we want to spit on them when they don't live up to our unrealistic expectations? I think we should have lofty expectations but if you fall short it is not the end of the world. We get up, dust ourselves off, and get ready for the next go round. Let the rest of the season, coaching changes, and recruiting season play out and see how you all feel in April for Spring Camp.
P.S. Sorry for the run on paragraph but some of y'alls just gets me blood pressure up!
Go Vols!!
