Recruiting Forum Football Talk XXX

[Vols4us]

Posters/fans keep attacking each other on here. I guess "we" are the problem with what UT and Butch choose to do. We have so much control over their processes.

Meanwhile Saban and Meyer keep winning. Their employers spend whatever is necessary to try to do that because it make economic sense to do so. The perennial winners in every collegiate sport do that. UT has not demonstrated their willingness to do it except in women's basketball. Once proven to be successful, they paid Pat top money and provided for the program well above anybody in the sport. She was the right person to do that with and the results were legendary. But then they made the classic mistake of not doing that when Pat retired.

UT is not who it used to be. It is who it is now. Forget the tradition and past. The leadership of UT and its big boosters have moved on and do not have the same motives we have. They celebrate the past achievements when it benefits what they want. That mindset is producing what we see. Disunity, discord, anger, disillusionment, etc. Again.

It's OK to talk about who might replace Butch on here. The problem has not been the fans. The problem has been the people in leadership of the school we support. We can talk about what we would do, then they will do whatever they want. Then we will blindly support their choice and blindly spend our money accordingly. How's that working out? Might as well have some fun in fantasy land.

 

[Vols4us]

On another note, prayers for any of y'all being affected by the fires in E Tennessee!

I have immediate family in law enforcement that just came home after working 18 hours helping to evacuate people and handling road/traffic issues. It is a horrible situation. Thankfully people helped each other and no loss of life at this point. Need the rain this PM to come in and stay for awhile because the worst fires are still burning.

 

[volssam]

Posters/fans keep attacking each other on here. I guess "we" are the problem with what UT and Butch choose to do. We have so much control over their processes.

Meanwhile Saban and Meyer keep winning. Their employers spend whatever is necessary to try to do that because it make economic sense to do so. The perennial winners in every collegiate sport do that. UT has not demonstrated their willingness to do it except in women's basketball. Once proven to be successful, they paid Pat top money and provided for the program well above anybody in the sport. She was the right person to do that with and the results were legendary. But then they made the classic mistake of not doing that when Pat retired.

UT is not who it used to be. It is who it is now. Forget the tradition and past. The leadership of UT and its big boosters have moved on and do not have the same motives we have. They celebrate the past achievements when it benefits what they want. That mindset is producing what we see. Disunity, discord, anger, disillusionment, etc. Again.

It's OK to talk about who might replace Butch on here. The problem has not been the fans. The problem has been the people in leadership of the school we support. We can talk about what we would do, then they will do whatever they want. Then we will blindly support their choice and blindly spend our money accordingly. How's that working out? Might as well have some fun in fantasy land.

I skipped a lot of pages over the last few days. So I may be out of the loop. But who among the fanbase is attacking other fellow fans? I think most people are pretty united in feeling disgusted about things right now.

 

[BigZiti09]

Baylor only has 1 commit in the 2017 class.

 

[chavisut]

Saw someone mention Mullen the other day.

Not saying he wouldn't be a good coach here.

But if we make such snap final judgments on coaches because of bad losses , he lost to a Division 2 team this year, didn't he?

Sun Belt team. Bad loss.

He also has done well at Mississippi State, a perennial loser, during a division peak that I doubt is matched.

 

[Z06VolinWV]

I have immediate family in law enforcement that just came home after working 18 hours helping to evacuate people and handling road/traffic issues. It is a horrible situation. Thankfully people helped each other and no loss of life at this point. Need the rain this PM to come in and stay for awhile because the worst fires are still burning.

Fox News just did a piece on all of it, and I hadn't realized how bad it was. We flew back from Florida this past Saturday and you could see many fires from the air, but none looked that severe. Hope the rain stays for awhile down that way!!

 

[Ron Swanson]

McElwain to Oregon?

College football coaching carousel notes on Oregon, Jim McElwain, Tennessee, Ole Miss

Hmmm that's interesting. He's a west coast guy, he knows his defense won't be as loaded, his offense sucks...this might be a smart move.

Who would UF hire?

 

[volssam]

Baylor only has 1 commit in the 2017 class.

Kid on signing day:

 

[volssam]

Sun Belt team. Bad loss.

He also has done well at Mississippi State, a perennial loser, during a division peak that I doubt is matched.

Fair enough. Again, he might would do well here. Just pointing out it's funny that people were writing off Butch (which may prove prophetic of course. Ha) after losing to Carolina. But excuses are made or its overlooked when another coach has a worse loss.

 

[jordan4vols]

Hmmm that's interesting. He's a west coast guy, he knows his defense won't be as loaded, his offense sucks...this might be a smart move.

Who would UF hire?

They would hire Mullen and kill it

 

[chavisut]

Fair enough. Again, he might would do well here. Just pointing out it's funny that people were writing off Butch (which may prove prophetic of course. Ha) after losing to Carolina. But excuses are made or its overlooked when another coach has a worse loss.

It was a bad loss. Not overlooked and I've not seen any excuses. Just looking at entire picture.

 

[Grey_pilgrim]

Hmmm that's interesting. He's a west coast guy, he knows his defense won't be as loaded, his offense sucks...this might be a smart move.

Who would UF hire?

Kiffin perhaps? Could you imagine him at Florida? He could be scary there.

 

[InVOLuntary]

This is kinda what I'm thinking. It's doubtful he's going anywhere.

I guess maybe it's a good coping mechanism to talk about dreams of greener grass. But I don't see Butch backing down and giving up of his own choosing and leaving on such a sour note.

Many on here have talked a lot about and said he has a big ego and so on. So what makes you think he would give up when the talk and general consensus is that he hasn't met expectations?

I think there is a huge diconnect between how Butch sees the season and how the fans see the season. I think Butch feels unappreciated and thinks this season given the circumstances (injuries, drama) wasn't anything to get all torn up about. It mirrors the Cuonzo situation almost to a T except Cuonzo won a few games in the end to make himself look better. I think if Butch had of beaten Vandy then SC would have been his only bad loss and he would have been more marketable and would have probably jumped ship similar to Cuonzo and gave the Vols the single finger salute on the way out. This would have made him look like the good guy in the national media while fans would have said meh, who cares.

Now we find ourselves (Butch included) in an awkward position. We don't care if he stays or goes and doesn't really want to be here. We're not coughing up a huge buyout and he's not marketable enough to make a move that would be acceptable to him. So we are stuck with each other for at least another year.

Now next year is what will be interesting to watch. If he has a good year, say 8-4 or better, in a year that we were not projected to do much, does he use that opportunity to get out? Or, if he has another 7-5, 6-6 year does the University go ahead and pull the string and cut bait, especially if the rumors are true and he really doesn't want to be here?

It will be very interesting to see how all this unfolds.

Two things I am watching are how we close in recruiting. Do we get Smith and a couple of other higer ranked players? Or, does the class end up being very average? Also, watch the staff. Do we lose coaches that we perceive as good coaches or just the ones that we feel are not performing? Are the replacements highly very well thought of or do they appear as reaches?

A lot of dynamics at play.

 

[NMVol]

Saw someone mention Mullen the other day.

Not saying he wouldn't be a good coach here.

But if we make such snap final judgments on coaches because of bad losses , he lost to a Division 2 team this year, didn't he?

As long as the Vols didn't lose, not so bad.

 

[McGeesPub]

Fair enough. Again, he might would do well here. Just pointing out it's funny that people were writing off Butch (which may prove prophetic of course. Ha) after losing to Carolina. But excuses are made or its overlooked when another coach has a worse loss.

I would have rather lost to the Sun Belt team on our schedule than Vanderbilt. Honestly. I'd be surprised if any Nashville Vol fan felt differently.

 

[InVOLuntary]

Posters/fans keep attacking each other on here. I guess "we" are the problem with what UT and Butch choose to do. We have so much control over their processes.

Meanwhile Saban and Meyer keep winning. Their employers spend whatever is necessary to try to do that because it make economic sense to do so. The perennial winners in every collegiate sport do that. UT has not demonstrated their willingness to do it except in women's basketball. Once proven to be successful, they paid Pat top money and provided for the program well above anybody in the sport. She was the right person to do that with and the results were legendary. But then they made the classic mistake of not doing that when Pat retired.

UT is not who it used to be. It is who it is now. Forget the tradition and past. The leadership of UT and its big boosters have moved on and do not have the same motives we have. They celebrate the past achievements when it benefits what they want. That mindset is producing what we see. Disunity, discord, anger, disillusionment, etc. Again.

It's OK to talk about who might replace Butch on here. The problem has not been the fans. The problem has been the people in leadership of the school we support. We can talk about what we would do, then they will do whatever they want. Then we will blindly support their choice and blindly spend our money accordingly. How's that working out? Might as well have some fun in fantasy land.

 

[Z06VolinWV]

The 2 losses to SC and Vandy hurt Butch very bad in 3 ways, lost the East, lost the Sugr Bowl bid, and thirdly which isn't talked about, a Vandy win would've given us the second best record in the SEC at 9-3. Now, there's, what, 5-6 teams with an 8-4 record? This is all assuming Bama beats UF of course, which I'm sure they'll do handily.

 

[Dust10]

Is it true that Ober Gatlinburg is gone?

 

[McGeesPub]

Is it true that Ober Gatlinburg is gone?

News literally just broke that the owners said the property is fine.

I expect all news to be fluid though.

 

[InVOLuntary]

Is it true that Ober Gatlinburg is gone?

I've been asking that question too. I went to their website and it is down. I was hoping to see a webcam but can't. This will be hard on them. The ski season last year was almost non-existent. Hopefully they have good insurance but that doesn't help those families that work there.

 

[Dust10]

News literally just broke that the owners said the property is fine.

I expect all news to be fluid though.

Yeah, I figured it would be hard to trust national news. Thanks for the update. :hi:

 

[LA Vol]

Fair enough. Again, he might would do well here. Just pointing out it's funny that people were writing off Butch (which may prove prophetic of course. Ha) after losing to Carolina. But excuses are made or its overlooked when another coach has a worse loss.

That's not really the case. Most people are looking at a bigger picture. Blown leads culminating in four hard losses were concerning last year, but fans looked positively toward a new season. This year, the team has played sloppy and undisciplined in almost every game. App St was a recovered EZ fumble away from an embarrassing loss and UGA was a Hail Mary from the same. Seven TOs at aTm led to a disappointing loss, followed by a total collapse at SCAR after a bye.

Bottom-of-the-SEC teams have put 1.13 miles of offense on UT over the past three games, and UT has choked up the SECE championship and a Sugar Bowl bid over inexplicable losses to two of these bottom-tier teams. People aren't judging CBJ on one bad loss—they're raising legitimate questions over long-term performance.

 

[VOLinCO]

Kiffin perhaps? Could you imagine him at Florida? He could be scary there.

I suspect he'd be fired from there in under 18 mos. for "calisthenics" with coeds.

 

[AV_12]

They would hire Mullen and kill it

I'm just not full Mullen like some of you. I know the program history, but I'd still have to see it.

 

[Atzar]

Saw someone mention Mullen the other day.

Not saying he wouldn't be a good coach here.

But if we make such snap final judgments on coaches because of bad losses , he lost to a Division 2 team this year, didn't he?

Vols fans are too invested to be rational about their own program. Any bad loss is the end of the world. When somebody else has a bad loss, we're detached from the situation. We have a much easier time viewing it logically.

Realistically, the loss to the Sun Belt team doesn't mean Mullen is a bad coach... just means that **** happens. And realistically, our season doesn't prove Butch is a bad coach... just means that he had a bad season. People are pissed at him. People have lost faith in him. These things are justified. He has a lot of work to do to regain his fanbase's confidence.

On the bright side, I do think there were many things about this season that were aberrations from the identity he had established for himself in his first three years here. His teams are usually disciplined and prepared, they usually play hard and they usually play for each other. This year, they committed penalties and blew assignments, they didn't come out of the tunnel ready to play, there was discord in the locker room and injuries to many important players.

There is a chance, based on his first three years here, that much of this was a fluke. If he's still all in for Tennessee, he'll have a chance to prove that next year.

But if he's looking for a way out, **** him.