Random thoughts:
When Jeremy Pruitt was hired, members of the sports media (Athlon, CBS Sports, ESPN, USA Today, and Sports Illustrated) graded the hire as B, C+, B-, C, and 3.2/5.0, respectively. I think that works out to around a C+ average. Obviously this is just their perceptions and at the time their perceptions were likely impacted by the coaching search itself.
I remember most of us here were really optimistic for his rebuild of the imploding 2018 recruiting class. In some cases we got carried away with our expectations. In hindsight many would now probably agree that he did better than what should have been reasonably expected under the circumstances including having 2 jobs and the introduction of the early signing period.
There were generally pretty positive reviews across the board for the coaching staff he assembled. Most came from having early experience as high school coaches and had worked their way up to big time college football. Some were SEC veterans. The staff was perceived as good teachers. At least five members of the new staff had carried or would have the title of coordinator, either offensive or defensive, however, only Pruitt, himself, was actually a well-seasoned and highly regarded play caller.
In my view we at Tennessee tend to put our coaches on a pedestal, at least for a honeymoon period. It’s not unwarranted as fans. It’s just the way it is. We’re really not all that unique as a fanbase, at least in that regard. We do the same for our recruits. I’m not sure who has the shorter honeymoon, recruits or coaches, but it does seem like a lot of people would like to get rid of most if not all of the existing roster at the same time we get rid of a coaching staff.
The average age of college football fans is 52. The cost of attendance continues to increase and is only marginally affordable for anyone outside of the affluent class. The average age has continued to increase over the past couple of decades. Most members of the younger generations are growing up and coming of age in a time where the prospects for our football program have perhaps never been bleaker.
Erik Ainge has said a number of times that it’s hard on a staff and team to lose anywhere in the SEC but it’s hardest to lose in Knoxville.
Our fans have A+ level expectations for everything about our football program. The truth may be that the only things about our football program that ranks that high is our strength of schedule and the amount of revenue the football program continues to produce year after year, almost without regard to the product on the field.
I’m older than the average and I’ve been a die-hard fan longer than the average has even been alive. I know all the evidence strongly suggests that we’re at best a C+ football program but I still believe. When I was a young teenager I would sit at the kitchen table every week looking at the rankings in the newspaper, trying to figure out who above us could lose so we could move up. There is only one spot in the rankings I ever would have been satisfied with and it was the very top. Nothing about that has changed.
This weekend we’re going to Athens. Almost everyone I know is convinced we’ll be blown off the field just like we were supposed to have been in the 1985 Sugar Bowl. Old Dominion proved this past week that teams with a 98.4% chance of losing can still sometimes surprise you. I think I can honestly say that there has never been a single game in my life as a Tennessee football fan where I didn’t expect us to win either because we were obviously the better team or just because I believe in surprises. I don’t mean I have been hoping we would win; I mean I just don’t have it in me to expect us to lose. It’s never been there. It just doesn’t fit.
We’ll need an A+ performance this week and that’s what I’m looking for when we go down to Georgia Saturday and beat those Dawgs!
