mr.checkerboards
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The best argument for trying to fix what can be fixed and recruiting like hell is that nobody's going to pay Butch $200K a month for the next 17 months plus buy out this staff. Pruitt's contract has no offset and our extravagantly-paid coordinators are under three-year deals. Anybody know any boosters who're going to cover that plus the cost of a new high-ticket staff plus facilities improvements? There might be one.
So we'd better raise the Titanic.
This statement tells me all I need to know. Pruitt is here 5 years regardless of record.
the whole 'if you're not willing to fire, you're settling for mediocrity' blah blah blah.How so? You think that going with what we have for the long term is better then doing something totally different then we've been doing the past decade. It's just a differing of opinions.
Not buying the financial argument. Here’s the solution
Fulmer-HC at a discount salary
Keep the coordinators
And the money that is sure to be lost in ticket sales is minimized and that money saved with rejuvenated ticket sales pays Bama Pruitt to take his ass back to Saban
We dont care about winning. We want to be fun and competitive. We hated Cuonzo because he was boring. We want to be fun and exciting for basketball.Yeah that lack of interest in winning is why the fans created a petition to bring back our most successful coach ever that attracted so much media attention it caused our Sweet 16 coach to leave us for Cal. UT fans absolutely care about basketball. We have among the highest attendance in the nation.
As someone who thought it was time to move on from Fulmer, didn’t want him in the AD seat, and never thought he should be given another chance as HC at UT, he’s obviously proven to be a much better head coach than Pruitt has hope of being at this point. I’m all for your suggestion at this point. It would be better than watching Pruitt flop around on the deck for the next two years.Not buying the financial argument. Here’s the solution
Fulmer-HC at a discount salary
Keep the coordinators
And the money that is sure to be lost in ticket sales is minimized and that money saved with rejuvenated ticket sales pays Bama Pruitt to take his ass back to Saban
No, not at all. There's a lot of gray between 1.5 years and 5 years.
Realistically, coaches generally want out when things go really south. If Pruitt is here five years, then things have turned around and we're winning. Otherwise, both sides will want the same thing-- a behind-the-scenes deal to sever the relationship. Pruitt cares about his reputation and will want to be successful elsewhere, if it doesn't work out here.
There again, it's just a differing of opinion. It's the kind of thing that goes on in a forum. I don't think decisions will be made regarding the program based on what you or I think.the whole 'if you're not willing to fire, you're settling for mediocrity' blah blah blah.
literally right out of the old fulmer threads from 2008 and previous.
just lazy and thoughtless take.....and it's old. really old.
things are bad, but that can be expected in Yr2 of a rebuild. Holdovers not buying in....new kids taking their seat and eating their food. We were warned that older kids were going to be leaving, sooner or later. I am excited for the future....right now hurts a lot, but it will get better.Things have already went south, and I’ve been wondering whether Pruitt doesn’t already want out. At the very least, I think it’s in the back of his mind that this task is too big for him at this stage of his career.
Of course you're not, it's not your pocket being dipped into.
Seriously, as fans we shouldn't even approach the talks about "just pay the buyout" because we're not on the hook for a damn red cent of it. sheesh
As long as CJP brings in top 25 classes, I have no issue waiting until year 4 or 5. It's going to suck losing the rest of this season, it'll suck more if we're still trending that way next year.
But he needs a full roster purge and as long as he's restocking the pond with better fish, then we'll endure. Because as soon as he wins 10 games no one will care and it'll be dismissed as "yeah, he was rebuilding"
At this point the only way a firing happens is when Neyland is less than 50% full. Or the entire crowd is the opponent. And I'm not sure we'll see that happen
I still believe you could get more out of some of Pruitts walkons than you can out of most of the upperclassmen.
How many times are people going to pretend like Larry isn’t the best insider out there? He’s been damn near on the money about everything. Ultimately I think he’s right about Pruitt. Our fan base got way to excited about him and set the bar way higher than it should’ve been.I think Larry is discounting the fact that coaches around the country know that UT has been down primarily because of poor coaching hires. Rick Barnes is actually a very good counter example to what he's saying. Rick came here, got everything he needed and then some, and is having a sort of career renaissance. Got lured by UCLA and stayed in Knoxville because we ponied up for him.
IMO there isn't a single worthwhile coach in America thinking "boy, Derek Dooley and Butch Jones got a raw deal. They really had something going at Tennessee and got the rug pulled out from under them." And if we fire Pruitt at 2-10, there won't be a single coach going "wow, Jeremy Pruitt got a raw deal. He went 7-17 and got fired. What fantasy land are they living in in Knoxville?"
It might be different if Dooley and Butch were successful elsewhere. But Dooley is an OC and Butch is an intern. We made the right decision by firing those guys.