No turning this program around.

#51
#51
Tenn has actually been a top 10 state producing football talent in the past couple of years. Last year Pruitt basically didn’t try to recruit the top guys . Lots on here said they were over rated and Pruitt knew talent and they didn’t fit his scheme. That may be true but Tenn does produce talent
 
#53
#53
Joking aside, Honestly.

I don't know how you can enjoy being here as much as you are. Its our team so we, or I should say I, I have an interest, Obviously. And I feel obligated if nothing else.

I don't understand how you can enjoy all of this misery. We're very little if any competition to you guys and its been that way for damn near ever, so I can't see you hating us so much that you enjoy our misery. I guarantee I hate Florida way more than you do Tennessee and I wouldn't spend a minute over on one of your boards dealing with this type of doom and gloom.


You really don't bother me. I'm irritated more by some of the love our fans show you when you're talking crap about us, but I don't care whether your here or not. I know you don't care if I care, I just thought I'd let you know. Haha.

Anyway, why you do I don't know, but enjoy the misery.
He gets his jollies stating the obvious and reading his fanclub respond.
 
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#54
#54
Guys this crap has been on a downward spiral since 2007. 12 years of misery with a few 9 win seasons in there. It's getting worse for our football program. I dont see any way this program is going to be back to where it used to be. I used to love tennessee football and was excited every year for ut to start since I was a kid. From the 80s to now. I never thought we would be down this long. This program is in a very dangerous position right now. But ive become numb to it. When will the misery end?
Yeah they should just shut it down 🙄
 
#55
#55
Tenn has actually been a top 10 state producing football talent in the past couple of years. Last year Pruitt basically didn’t try to recruit the top guys . Lots on here said they were over rated and Pruitt knew talent and they didn’t fit his scheme. That may be true but Tenn does produce talent
Kids don’t care about state loyalty, but it is easier to recruit when the school is closer to home.

If UT was able to lock down the state they could be a good program, but UT is not able to hold onto the instate talent because it’s all in central/west TN.

Geographically, Knoxville is the worst possible location in the state. Where does the state of Tennessee rank if you eliminate Memphis? You have got to treat Memphis as part of your national recruiting instead of local.
 
#56
#56
I used to think Butch was good recruiter too. Now I feel that he was more a star collector, picking up players with high ratings that other programs (who evaluated attitude and character better) had passed over. It made for high recruiting class rank and made a splash in the media, but the bill would eventually come due. And we are paying it now.

I don't agree. He was a good recruiter but had a schiitty system and tried to fit square pegs into round holes, and completely lacked developmental skills and game day coaching ability.

Give that talent to a competent coach and we would have been competing for the SEC title and potentially been a top 10 team those years. One thing's for damned sure - even a half-assed coach would have recognized how great a talent Kamara was and utilized him properly.
 
#57
#57
Kids don't want to live in Knoxville but they want to live in Gainesville or Tuscaloosa?

Facilities aren't an issue here

Money isn't an issue
Perception is an issue. All recruits these days have never seen a good Tennessee team. All they have ever seen is coaches getting fired and being a national laughing stock year in and year out while never improving.

That's the problem
 
#58
#58
Yeah they should just shut it down 🙄

Wouldn't stop the whining. I'd rather see what Pruitt can do the rest of this season, Maurer could get pretty good by November. Then see who he gets in December and February. Don't know what kind of ranking we end up with, but we could get some really good players.

And if he doesn't work out, there's always the replacing him with an experienced proven winner 10 million dollar man like we're so used to.
 
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#59
#59
Kids don't want to live in Knoxville but they want to live in Gainesville or Tuscaloosa?

Facilities aren't an issue here

Money isn't an issue

The people who say this have apparently never been to most any other city where SEC football teams are located. Knoxville is a metropolitan mecca compared to them. Players are unique and have different wants. Some pick their college based on the girls they saw at the school. Some on wins and losses. Some on where the campus is located. Some on weather. Some on the potential to make it to the NFL.

Also, every one recruits well at Tennessee. Even Dooley signed decent classes except his decision not to sign any OL. Tennessee should have a floor of 7 wins in any season just based on talent. That's with bad breaks. We out talent, at minimum, 7 teams we face each year. Usually it's more like 9 unless we rotate LSU/Auburn onto the schedule.
 
#60
#60
I used to think Butch was good recruiter too. Now I feel that he was more a star collector, picking up players with high ratings that other programs (who evaluated attitude and character better) had passed over. It made for high recruiting class rank and made a splash in the media, but the bill would eventually come due. And we are paying it now.

Butch did really well recruiting. Just like everyone who has ever coached here. He couldn't coach on gameday worth a lick but amassed enough talent to beat Georgia and Florida and win 9 games.
 
#61
#61
No big name coach wants to touch UT because the geographical disadvantage is very real. You have to play Bama, UGA, Florida every year who have everything you have when it comes to money/facilities, but much better positioned geographically.
You can’t build a great program only recruiting nationally, You need tons of depth, and that comes from your back yard while you are building.

For all the talk of HS football improving in the state, I wouldn’t put much weight into Memphis, 6 SEC schools are closer than Knoxville.
In my opinion Nebraska is the only big program with a worse geography.

This is the absolute truth. In proximity to Knoxville there is no high density concentration of quality black athletes as exists throughout the Deep South. Census information can be your friend check it out.

Memphis is a time zone away and has a long history of academic deficiencies and quasi corruption. The way back for Pruitt and his formidable staff is through camps, deep recruiting ties, some luck and 48 months of hard work recruiting day and night. Established coaches run from a job like this as it is way too much work and a huge hole to dig out of. My main knock on Pruitt is over signing defensive backs and not enough down and dirty linemen who are the name of the game in the SEC. the 25 recruiting limit is ridiculous but the 4 game redshirt rule is the only recent change to help develop depth. It was interesting watching Johnny Drum Majors rebuild the Vols and Pruitt if given patience while bringing in sec caliber athletes can get the job done.
 
#63
#63
Vols never again will be a top 10 team, too much competition in the SEC for recruiting, kids don't want to live in Knoxville, facilities, coaching, money etc etc. Top 25 sure, playoffs even if expanded to 8, no I doubt it.

Top 25 and competitive week to week is fine by me.

Seriously? Fourth largest stadium in the country, very good training facilities, coaching still to be determined, but we should have a number of players on this team getting drafted. I think Knoxville is a very nice city, overall. Have you ever been to Tuscaloosa, downtown looks like Mayberry, and their mall is a dump. I have been to various malls around the country (DC, Dallas, Atlanta, San Diego, etc.) and West Town has to be top ten. Haven't been to Auburn or the Mississippi schools, but have heard they are not much different from Tuscaloosa. Getting the right coach is the key, and jury still out on Pruitt.
 
#64
#64
We didn’t outplay them there was a couple of busted plays we cashed in on.

I was there, and we did out play them for about the first 20 to 25 minutes. These "busted plays" as you call them happened mostly because our receivers were top notch, and the O-line was performing pass protection probably than they have all season. Unfortunately we simply do not have the depth to keep it up at this time. We need to build that depth through recruiting, and that takes time.
 
#66
#66
It seems the defeatist attitude of some of the players has seeped into some of the fans. UT will be back. We have the right coaches. We are getting the right players, we already have some, we just need more. Pruitt will get them. Stop being Chicken Little.
 
#67
#67
Seriously? Fourth largest stadium in the country, very good training facilities, coaching still to be determined, but we should have a number of players on this team getting drafted. I think Knoxville is a very nice city, overall. Have you ever been to Tuscaloosa, downtown looks like Mayberry, and their mall is a dump. I have been to various malls around the country (DC, Dallas, Atlanta, San Diego, etc.) and West Town has to be top ten. Haven't been to Auburn or the Mississippi schools, but have heard they are not much different from Tuscaloosa. Getting the right coach is the key, and jury still out on Pruitt.

LOL... Are you really citing a shopping mall as a reason recruits would want to play for Tennessee? In 1987 the quality of the local mall might have mattered a slight bit, probably not, but definitely not at all in 2019.
 
#68
#68
LOL... Are you really citing a shopping mall as a reason recruits would want to play for Tennessee? In 1987 the quality of the local mall might have mattered a slight bit, probably not, but definitely not at all in 2019.

Don't lie, you know that was the perfect comment to get this Brutal Monday going.

I literally just laughed for 10 minutes over this. This guy needs a job with the program for recruiting/marketing. Love it.
 
#69
#69
I'm just hoping Pruitt can get us back to being competitive at this point. Not expecting anything more from him. He clearly needs more players because nothing extraordinary is happening on the sidelines. Need too get back to competing with the second tier teams in the SEC. Getting to first tier i think a whole lot would have to change up there for that to occur. It's not likely.
 
#70
#70
Guys this crap has been on a downward spiral since 2007. 12 years of misery with a few 9 win seasons in there. It's getting worse for our football program. I dont see any way this program is going to be back to where it used to be. I used to love tennessee football and was excited every year for ut to start since I was a kid. From the 80s to now. I never thought we would be down this long. This program is in a very dangerous position right now. But ive become numb to it. When will the misery end?

Every team that is currently considered an SEC contender has been down at some point. LSU spent decades wallowing around, UGA, Auburn, Bama have all had some pretty lousy streaks. It'll come back around. UT used to have better players than most teams. That hasn't been the case in a long time and it shows on the field. If we continue recruiting better, the wins will come.
 
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#71
#71
Guys this crap has been on a downward spiral since 2007. 12 years of misery with a few 9 win seasons in there. It's getting worse for our football program. I dont see any way this program is going to be back to where it used to be. I used to love tennessee football and was excited every year for ut to start since I was a kid. From the 80s to now. I never thought we would be down this long. This program is in a very dangerous position right now. But ive become numb to it. When will the misery end?
You are correct. We have been going down for years. Since Fulmer was fired we have had 4 coaches and the program hasn’t improvement. What experienced coach and top recruits want to come to Tennessee?????? This is big business and we can’t pay a coach who has been a success because we keep having to pay buy outs. You get what you pay for!!!!!!
 
#72
#72
Guys this crap has been on a downward spiral since 2007. 12 years of misery with a few 9 win seasons in there. It's getting worse for our football program. I dont see any way this program is going to be back to where it used to be. I used to love tennessee football and was excited every year for ut to start since I was a kid. From the 80s to now. I never thought we would be down this long. This program is in a very dangerous position right now. But ive become numb to it. When will the misery end?
Misery loves company. Thanks for the boost to more misery
 
#73
#73
LOL... Are you really citing a shopping mall as a reason recruits would want to play for Tennessee? In 1987 the quality of the local mall might have mattered a slight bit, probably not, but definitely not at all in 2019.

No, I don't think anyone would come here just for the mall. My comment was in response to an earlier post where someone stated that kids don't want to live in Knoxville (among other reasons for recruits not coming here), so I noted that Knoxville far exceeds Tuscaloosa as a place to live, but that does not keep athletes from going to Bama. The mall was just one example showing how much better Knoxville is than Tuscaloosa.
 
#74
#74
You must be a young one. Look back through our history...you know..back before Y2k. We've seen this before. This game is cyclical.

We’ve had down periods before but nothing as bad as the last 12 years to the OPs point. The most recent stretch would be majors run from the late 70s to 85 but he at least had some winning seasons where we made bowl games. Most of our down years have been 7-8 years, not 12 with mostly losing records and no bowl games. I think this 12 year stretch is the worst in our history at last back to Neylands first year. No idea about pre 1900 😁
 

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