Where is this football program, in your mind?

#27
#27
We reached bottom last year and we are slowly crawling out of that hole. There is no quick fix competing in the SEC, it takes time to build LOS players to win in this league. I am hoping by 2022 we'll be back in the upper echelon of the SEC. Keep on working.
 
#28
#28
Football program is dead and irrelevant at the moment. I don’t have much hope as it stands right now, and I doubt Pruitt is the guy to get us there. I think if Fulmer has time to seek out the right HC hire when the time comes then we may be able to get out of this but we are many years away.
 
#29
#29
At least the program is on my mind now.
During the Butch years it had descended to a place between the hemispheres of Uranus.
 
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#30
#30
Needs Time and Stability.....Recruiting and Coaching.

Will this fix it? not sure, but if it doesn't then fire another coach and get a new one.

Getting over the hump is more like climbing a Mountain....

At times it seems like we haven't even started the Climb and every time we do there is a minor/major setback generated by the fans in a panic mode or Trolls taking advantage of our issues.

Problem is nowhere on Volnation is there a person or group that can do anything about it....Too much Information, too many rumors and too much speculation by people that do not know.... add to this that the Media does its fair share of speculation for advertising $$$....

As a result we have lost people in the know because of it.....Yet, the trolls remain....
 
#31
#31
We reached bottom last year and we are slowly crawling out of that hole. There is no quick fix competing in the SEC, it takes time to build LOS players to win in this league. I am hoping by 2022 we'll be back in the upper echelon of the SEC. Keep on working.
It took Bama and UGA a year to compete for a National Championship. Now, I fully admit that our situation is drastically different and more difficult. But telling ourselves that there are no “quick fixes” ignores that this “rebuild” is a decade old. And we can’t even do the basics, like hire a staff member without a controversy.
 
#32
#32
Look, this is going to take a couple of 2-3 recruiting cycles to get past the OVC mindset that Butch installed during his time here. And as long as Saban is employed to that state to the south of us, it's going to be next to impossible to get to that level, that "assembly line" is based on him being there.
What is the correlation between their success and our failure?
 
#34
#34
We won't have an above average SEC quality Dline and Oline until 2020 at best. Those are 2 building blocks you MUST have to be top shelve in this league. It sucks that we are rebuilding still, but it's the facts. Could we surprise and win some games as an underdog, of course and should as we get better. In reference to quick fixes, I'm comparing our situation to other conference's that have only a few quality teams where improvements can quickly mean conference championships.
 
#36
#36
If you are at the bottom, there is only 1 direction to go .....it 's up. That is unless of course you stay on the bottom.
 
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#37
#37
Football program is dead and irrelevant at the moment. I don’t have much hope as it stands right now, and I doubt Pruitt is the guy to get us there. I think if Fulmer has time to seek out the right HC hire when the time comes then we may be able to get out of this but we are many years away.
Fulmer is the cause of all of this. He couldn't make the right hires when he was coach. What makes you think a decade removed from that he can make the correct hire as AD? Has he done something as AD that has made you feel confident?
 
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#39
#39
If you are at the bottom, there is only 1 direction to go .....it 's up. That is unless of course you stay on the bottom.
 
#40
#40
Well, keep in mind, Johnny Majors had already won a National Championship, and was very successful, before returning to Knoxville. JP is a first-time NCAA Head Coach, and at a very Prestigious and historically respectable university. As much as I hate to say this, UT IS NOT a good place right now, for proven Coordinators. As it stands, it is really only a good place for players, who want to play, right away, and coaches/coordinators who are looking to prove themselves, like HC JP. Is there a Johnny Majors like hire out there? A UT graduate, or a Legacy hire, or someone that has ties to UT? That was the only reason I ever bought into the Gruden drama, at first.

Did I hear someone say Tee Martin? Dale Jones?

There is the possibility of Randy Sanders up at ETSU.

Former ties to UT. From Morristown originally.

I would want to see how he does at ETSU for at least a couple more years though. He exceeded expectations during his first year by a wide margin, but there have been many coaches over the years that have started out good and ultimately crashed and burned.
 
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#41
#41
There is the possibility of Randy Sanders up at ETSU.

Former ties to UT. From Morristown originally.

I would want to see how he does at ETSU for at least a couple more years though. He exceeded expectations during his first year by a wide margin, but there have been many coaches over the years that have started out good and ultimately crashed and burned.
Agree, but don't know if Sanders wants back into the fire that he left w/ Fulmer, and probably perfectly fine doing a nice job as HC until he gets a loftier opportunity as HC.
 
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#44
#44
Fulmer is the cause of all of this. He couldn't make the right hires when he was coach. What makes you think a decade removed from that he ca make the correct hire as AD? Has he done something as AD that has made you feel confident?

Fulmer was handicapped by Hamilton limiting his budget for good hires. He already brought a calming effect to the school after the coaching search debacle which makes me more confident than anyone since Dickey. If a Tennessee guy like Fulmer can’t right the ship then we need to move to the ACC.
 
#45
#45
Agree, but don't know if Sanders wants back into the fire that he left w/ Fulmer, and probably perfectly fine doing a nice job as HC until he gets a loftier opportunity as HC.

There's also the fact that ETSU is an FCS program. Expectations, risks, rewards, etc, are a lot different then at FBS level schools. He could go undefeated two or three seasons in a row and win it all up there, go to a Group of 5 school or a weak Power 5 school and be lucky to break even or maybe get win #7.
 
#48
#48
It took Bama and UGA a year to compete for a National Championship. Now, I fully admit that our situation is drastically different and more difficult. But telling ourselves that there are no “quick fixes” ignores that this “rebuild” is a decade old. And we can’t even do the basics, like hire a staff member without a controversy.
Do you think CPF was given an Opportunity to Rebuild the Program before he got the Axe?

Do you think Kiffin's hire (Unproven as a HC) and then his departure had anything to do with the Rebuild process being delay.

Do you think Dooley's hiring was totally about getting us a Coach to Coach or do you think he was hired to complete the complex and to help with the investigations levied against TN by the NCAA. Dooley's recruiting and analogies pretty much some it up...

Do you think Jones was hired out of neediness for a position he had a zero qualifications of coaching in the SEC. He may have been our 5th choice for all we know...Jones was nothing much more than a salesman suitable for use car lot. And our lot was filled with pretty cars that would start only on sunny days.

Desperate people do Desperate things and making hires is one of them.

Tennessee has not had a real football coach since Fulmer.

Worse of all CJP may have to take this program to ground zero to rebuild it right. IOW, hit the reset button and reformat the hard drive...
 
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#49
#49
Why why why another one of these threads? Pointless naval gazing. There are onky two discussions that are actually relevant right now that pertain to getting us where we need to be: recruiting and the OC search.
 
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#50
#50
Why why why another one of these threads? Pointless naval gazing. There are onky two discussions that are actually relevant right now that pertain to getting us where we need to be: recruiting and the OC search.
It's simple, too much speculation, too many opinions, too many fixes, too many wants and needs at this point....A lot of people can't let go, they come here seeking answers and reason...Add a few trolls to the mix and you have Chaos.

Slow deaths are hard to cope with by some....we are not dying but the fix is not immediate. We have covered up our issues for years and still can't Identify the problem....A lot of symptoms that could be the problem but problem ID varies from fan to fan....
 
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