Helton: Pruitt can stand toe to toe with any offensive coach: a great football mind

#51
#51
Most of the players that played in the last two games didn't give their all for UT the last two games of the season. Even great coaches like Saban can't make players 'WANT IT'!!! If you watched the AU and UK game and don't think the team improved, I don't know what to say. I agree with you on the last two. But, Pruitt will get it done here as long as he doesn't let his loyalness to his buddies get in the way. He has shown he can develop players, recruit, will lay it on the line by being aggressive, and work his azz off to have an ELITE PROGRAM. Let's hope the administration and fan base is patient enough to give him at least four years. I really think they will be. I think UT wins the East in 2020 or 2021. After that, the program will be back on track. As long as we win the east 3-4 times every decade, with 2 SEC CHAMPIONSHIPS and 2 PLAYOFF APPEARANCES every decade. I think that qualifies as ELITE. I really see Pruitt bringing us to a level where we were in the 90's and early 00's within three years!
When did he develop a defense that wasnt stocked with 4/5 star talent?

To the UA/UK games, that 2 games of 11 where UT performed well. Do you think those are good odds?
 
#52
#52
Most of the players that played in the last two games didn't give their all for UT the last two games of the season. Even great coaches like Saban can't make players 'WANT IT'!!! If you watched the AU and UK game and don't think the team improved, I don't know what to say. I agree with you on the last two. But, Pruitt will get it done here as long as he doesn't let his loyalness to his buddies get in the way. He has shown he can develop players, recruit, will lay it on the line by being aggressive, and work his azz off to have an ELITE PROGRAM. Let's hope the administration and fan base is patient enough to give him at least four years. I really think they will be. I think UT wins the East in 2020 or 2021. After that, the program will be back on track. As long as we win the east 3-4 times every decade, with 2 SEC CHAMPIONSHIPS and 2 PLAYOFF APPEARANCES every decade. I think that qualifies as ELITE. I really see Pruitt bringing us to a level where we were in the 90's and early 00's within three years!


So coaches are no longer responsible for leading and motivating players? It's so difficult to keep up with the changing criteria that supposedly makes one a good coach.

Maybe CJP will become a good coach but blaming the players for not giving effort is a direct reflection on the coaching staff.
 
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#54
#54
So coaches are no longer responsible for leading and motivation players? It's so difficult to keep up with the changing criteria that supposedly makes on a good coach.

Maybe CJP will become a good coach but blaming the players for not giving effort is a direct reflection on the coaching staff.
No sir, coaches are not responsible for the performance of their teams.
 
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#56
#56
They both mattered to me. You guys wanna give back fine, I ain't.

I'll never understand why the wins over Kentucky and Auburn can't be just that, good wins. If someone makes them more than that they get smacked right the fork back down with but but but Vaaaannndy, and SC last year, and Wyoming, but but but Peyton never beat Florida.

Lol, it ain't never gonna end. We're gonna suck until we don't, then we still will.


I for one don't want to give them back as I think they are proof that plenty of talent exists on this team. Definitely enough talent to win more than 5 games when the right practice plan and game plan are implemented along with good in game adjustments. Those two wins define exactly why i believe hiring rookies to coach in this league is asking for inconsistent performance. which is exactly what we saw this season past. Those two wins work against those that are so willing to throw the players under the bus for lack of talent while proclaiming the obvious greatness of coaching by this staff.

So while i cheered and celebrated those wins, they prove the talent was there on the sidelines. The poor game prep and performance against Missouri and Vandy show that this staff wasn't ready for the big time as of yet. Not saying they can't get there but if they can't get their players to compete at a high level consistently, can't game plan and make in game adjustments consistently then I would say they aren't a very good staff yet.

Here's to hoping an experienced OC, with a proven track record of teaching his offense in a P5 conference is hired. My guess if that doesn't/didn't happen then we will be in for another year or two of learning and losing.
 
#57
#57
I for one don't want to give them back as I think they are proof that plenty of talent exists on this team. Definitely enough talent to win more than 5 games when the right practice plan and game plan are implemented along with good in game adjustments. Those two wins define exactly why i believe hiring rookies to coach in this league is asking for inconsistent performance. which is exactly what we saw this season past. Those two wins work against those that are so willing to throw the players under the bus for lack of talent while proclaiming the obvious greatness of coaching by this staff.

So while i cheered and celebrated those wins, they prove the talent was there on the sidelines. The poor game prep and performance against Missouri and Vandy show that this staff wasn't ready for the big time as of yet. Not saying they can't get there but if they can't get their players to compete at a high level consistently, can't game plan and make in game adjustments consistently then I would say they aren't a very good staff yet.

Here's to hoping an experienced OC, with a proven track record of teaching his offense in a P5 conference is hired. My guess if that doesn't/didn't happen then we will be in for another year or two of learning and losing.

Actually the post I responded to said the Florida and Georgia wins in 16 didn't mean anything, because we lost to Vandy and SC. Though I understand what he meant, my response was to those two games.
 
#58
#58
Do you feel warm and smokey? You guys who do not see the progress don't want to see the progress.
While I really like Pruitt and I do think we showed some progress in some areas (for example, I really like the freshmen corners Taylor and Thompson), I think the “progress” was subjective and a bit in the eye of the beholder.

While we won 2 more SEC games in 2018 than 2017, which was surely progress, but we also had twice as many 25+ point losses in 2018 than 2017 (6 vs 3). While we FINALLY got a win vs an SEC West team, we still got blown out by Alabama. While we rose up and played a very good physical game vs the best Kentucky team in many years, we still got embarrassed by Florida, Mizzou and Vandy.

So yeah, while at times I think we all believe we saw progress and a coach who has his team headed in the right direction, the bad losses, especially the last 2 blowouts vs Mizzou and Vandy when the season’s goal was on the line definitely seemed to negate some earlier, albeit sporadic success.
 
#63
#63
I for one don't want to give them back as I think they are proof that plenty of talent exists on this team. Definitely enough talent to win more than 5 games when the right practice plan and game plan are implemented along with good in game adjustments. Those two wins define exactly why i believe hiring rookies to coach in this league is asking for inconsistent performance. which is exactly what we saw this season past. Those two wins work against those that are so willing to throw the players under the bus for lack of talent while proclaiming the obvious greatness of coaching by this staff.

So while i cheered and celebrated those wins, they prove the talent was there on the sidelines. The poor game prep and performance against Missouri and Vandy show that this staff wasn't ready for the big time as of yet. Not saying they can't get there but if they can't get their players to compete at a high level consistently, can't game plan and make in game adjustments consistently then I would say they aren't a very good staff yet.

Here's to hoping an experienced OC, with a proven track record of teaching his offense in a P5 conference is hired. My guess if that doesn't/didn't happen then we will be in for another year or two of learning and losing.
I get where you are coming from but you can spin this situation any way you want to fit a narrative. I could say that the talent really wasn’t there but a masterful coaching job led them to play above their talent level with those 2 good wins. The truth lies somewhere in the middle. The team isn’t an overly talented team and certainly not deep. Not every player plays their best every time, not for any coach, so when guys didn’t play quite as well or simply got tired or hurt we didnt have options that were just as good to turn to. Even if these kids did end up quitting I’m not going to lay that blame on Pruitt this year, not when he didn’t recruit pretty much every player on that team. He’s night and day different than Butch and I seriously don’t think some of the guys could handle it. Next year it’s definitely on him as he’s had a chance to see who’s really with him and who isn’t. Right now there’s not enough evidence to tell anything about Pruitt and I’d feel the same way if he went 7-5.
 
#68
#68
I for one don't want to give them back as I think they are proof that plenty of talent exists on this team. Definitely enough talent to win more than 5 games when the right practice plan and game plan are implemented along with good in game adjustments. Those two wins define exactly why i believe hiring rookies to coach in this league is asking for inconsistent performance. which is exactly what we saw this season past. Those two wins work against those that are so willing to throw the players under the bus for lack of talent while proclaiming the obvious greatness of coaching by this staff.

So while i cheered and celebrated those wins, they prove the talent was there on the sidelines. The poor game prep and performance against Missouri and Vandy show that this staff wasn't ready for the big time as of yet. Not saying they can't get there but if they can't get their players to compete at a high level consistently, can't game plan and make in game adjustments consistently then I would say they aren't a very good staff yet.

Here's to hoping an experienced OC, with a proven track record of teaching his offense in a P5 conference is hired. My guess if that doesn't/didn't happen then we will be in for another year or two of learning and losing.
You don't have to give them back. The team did with their lack of follow-through. Just like Butch Jones' teams did. It means nothing to beat good teams if you immediately hurl up hairballs against the Vandy's of the world.
 
#74
#74
I get where you are coming from but you can spin this situation any way you want to fit a narrative. I could say that the talent really wasn’t there but a masterful coaching job led them to play above their talent level with those 2 good wins. The truth lies somewhere in the middle. The team isn’t an overly talented team and certainly not deep. Not every player plays their best every time, not for any coach, so when guys didn’t play quite as well or simply got tired or hurt we didnt have options that were just as good to turn to. Even if these kids did end up quitting I’m not going to lay that blame on Pruitt this year, not when he didn’t recruit pretty much every player on that team. He’s night and day different than Butch and I seriously don’t think some of the guys could handle it. Next year it’s definitely on him as he’s had a chance to see who’s really with him and who isn’t. Right now there’s not enough evidence to tell anything about Pruitt and I’d feel the same way if he went 7-5.


If i give you your premise that it was a masterful coaching job against UK and Mizzou why those two games and no others. Not even UTEP and ETSU looked like masterful game plans nor coaching.

And even if it were masterful coaching against those two, inconsistency is what you get when you hire rookies to fill your top spots. Which my biggest (and really only) problem with the Pruitt hire is simply he and his Coordinators were new to their positions. Regardless of how great of a football coach you are cutting your teeth in the top spots of a program in the SEC is a guaranteed way to have a crappy first and very likely second season.

So, while I don't think Helton was the right guy for the OC spot last year it had more to do with his inexperience coupled with his bosses inexperience (and one could argue his bosses boss' in experience) than him not being a good football coach. Which is also why i hope that CJP will hire a proven in a Power 5 conference guy, take all contingencies off of him and let him coach the offense in the way that has been successful before.

Bringing in a guy to run a division of your company because he has been successful elsewhere and then tell him he/she can't do it the way that did it elsewhere is almost always a losing proposition.
 
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