The reason we should hold off on coaching change

[BigOrangeMojo]

The Vols absolutely cannot from a financial standpoint afford a coaching change. The UT Athletic Department will be almost $40 million dollars short due to the virus effects. We are still paying Butch Jones and at present Coach Pruitt has a buy out package of some $13 million....folks it ain't going to happen with those financial numbers. In two more years Pruitt will have the players to compete and will have the program headed in the right direction. If you were a potential recruit would you choose the Vols with all the negative comments that appear here daily?

South Carolina is almost $60MM in the hole from COVID. Muschamp's buyout was larger and they have $300MM less in revenue over the past 15 years. Didn't stop them.

 

[njvols]

View attachment 326809

until you realize you need more band-aids. Unfortunately, we've pulled off alot of band-aids the last 12 years...

 

[bpalmer28]

Here's 2 reasons to make a move now:

1. Harrison Bailey is currently being under-utilized and under-developed. He deserves better.
2. Kaidon Salter is signing with us in a little over 2 weeks. He also deserves better.

With those two young men at QB; Jalin Hyatt, Jimmy Holiday, and Malachi Wideman at WR (not to mention the four incoming 4-stars); Eric Gray, Dee Beckwith, and Cody Brown at RB; Morris, Wright, Calbert, Carvin, and Spraggins at OL.... there's NO REASON we shouldn't have a VERY GOOD offense for the next two years.

The best way to make sure we don't is to change nothing.

 

[hog88]

The Vols absolutely cannot from a financial standpoint afford a coaching change. The UT Athletic Department will be almost $40 million dollars short due to the virus effects. We are still paying Butch Jones and at present Coach Pruitt has a buy out package of some $13 million....folks it ain't going to happen with those financial numbers. In two more years Pruitt will have the players to compete and will have the program headed in the right direction. If you were a potential recruit would you choose the Vols with all the negative comments that appear here daily?

UT can afford it, might have to cut back on some construction plans or in other areas but they can afford it.

 

[JBVolunteer]

As I’ve maintained on previous threads; Pruitt should have never been hired to begin with. He is a school teacher turned defensive coordinator. He does not have an ounce of organization management expertise or experience. He is not and will likely never be qualified to run a flagship football program.

Unfortunately, we ended up with a poor head coaching hire because Phil Fulmer was a poor, unqualified AD hire. I think the administrators and boosters thought it would work like Wisconsin’s Barry Alvarez but what they obviously failed to understand is that Alvarez holds a Masters Degree in Sports Management. Fulmer studied history... seriously, he has a bs in history...

Tennessee is likely stuck with Pruitt but Fulmer should be fired now before he does any further damage.

 

[Steve_Smith89]

In two more years Pruitt will have the players to compete and will have the program headed in the right direction.

And here you can see the battered Vol fan in his natural environment defending the person that is destroying UT football.

 

[90 Vol]

I'm one who tends to give coaches plenty of time. I stayed in with Butch longer than was warranted. And, I do believe Pruitt coaches out this year and in to the next one. But next year is critical. If the team struggles early, I believe he's gone.

Yet another coaching search sucks at this point. Who will want to come here? Past evidence shows that no big time coach will take this job. But, if Pruitt struggles yet again in to next year, he's clearly not the man for the job. And that sucks. I thought we has a good recruiter, game time coach, and player developer. He's proving me wrong.

If you make the move now, we could land a top coach. If you wait until Pruitt completely burns it to the ground, it's coach Google McFartweed 3.0

 

[BigOrangeMojo]

If you were a potential recruit would you choose the Vols with all the negative comments that appear here daily?

If I was a recruit, would I want to choose the Vols when you see multiple 4* and 5* guys fail to develop and regress? If I was a recruit, would I want to choose the Vols if I know the coaching staff won't have me prepared for games and make the necessary adjustments during games? If I was a recruit, would I want to play a style of football that is being phased out at the collegiate and professional level?

 

[90 Vol]

The Vols absolutely cannot from a financial standpoint afford a coaching change. The UT Athletic Department will be almost $40 million dollars short due to the virus effects. We are still paying Butch Jones and at present Coach Pruitt has a buy out package of some $13 million....folks it ain't going to happen with those financial numbers. In two more years Pruitt will have the players to compete and will have the program headed in the right direction. If you were a potential recruit would you choose the Vols with all the negative comments that appear here daily?

 

['Boro-vol]

The Vols absolutely cannot from a financial standpoint afford a coaching change. The UT Athletic Department will be almost $40 million dollars short due to the virus effects. We are still paying Butch Jones and at present Coach Pruitt has a buy out package of some $13 million....folks it ain't going to happen with those financial numbers. In two more years Pruitt will have the players to compete and will have the program headed in the right direction. If you were a potential recruit would you choose the Vols with all the negative comments that appear here daily?

It's utterly absurd to think recruits, in any appreciable numbers, visit this site. This is not how late-teen and 20-somethings access information. I have one that plays college football, who makes fun of me for participating in "forums". If anything potential recruits are turned off by the product they see on the field.

But use whatever you need to convince yourself we should keep another program-killer HC.

 

[hog88]

If you were a potential recruit would you choose the Vols with all the negative comments that appear here daily?

I wouldn't consider playing for Pruitt unless it was my only P5 offer, to hell what's said on message boards.

 

[volmandu]

Here is the deal. We need to give Coach JP 2 more years to show what he can do with his recruits and to show his coaching acumen with players that actually match up with the beasts of the SEC. We will see that in the next 2 years, as we have been getting not only good recruiting classes, but players that match the style that we want to play. Any coaching change now would be senseless and pointless.

The main reason we can wait 2 years is the following:
1. In 2 years, Steve Sarkisian will be ready to be a coach at any Power 5 school of his choosing. He proved this past weekend he can coach with Saban not able to coach. Alabama's offense is humming like never before. Steve Sarkisian is the real deal

2. Hugh Freeze has already said he is not interested in the South Carolina job and for sure would not go to Vanderbilt. That means in 2 years, Hugh Freeze will still be available as a candidate.

If CJP doesn't work out the next 2 years, we should bring the Brinks truck and offer whatever either Sarkisian or Freeze ask for. Let's hope it doesn't come to that and we are giving a substantial extension to CJP.

You are worse at making points than JP is at Head Coaching and JG at making reads. Re-read what you just wrote. Damn man.

 

[sjt18]

Here is the deal. We need to give Coach JP 2 more years to show what he can do with his recruits and to show his coaching acumen with players that actually match up with the beasts of the SEC. We will see that in the next 2 years, as we have been getting not only good recruiting classes, but players that match the style that we want to play. Any coaching change now would be senseless and pointless.

The main reason we can wait 2 years is the following:
1. In 2 years, Steve Sarkisian will be ready to be a coach at any Power 5 school of his choosing. He proved this past weekend he can coach with Saban not able to coach. Alabama's offense is humming like never before. Steve Sarkisian is the real deal

2. Hugh Freeze has already said he is not interested in the South Carolina job and for sure would not go to Vanderbilt. That means in 2 years, Hugh Freeze will still be available as a candidate.

If CJP doesn't work out the next 2 years, we should bring the Brinks truck and offer whatever either Sarkisian or Freeze ask for. Let's hope it doesn't come to that and we are giving a substantial extension to CJP.

You can list on one hand the number of coaches who have not won 9 games within the first 3 years and gone on to have success... in the last 40 years- the modern, "media" era of CFB.

What is "senseless" and "pointless" is to let a coach fail to the point where the roster is in the shape it was when Jones was fired. That's where it will be with Pruitt if you just arbitrarily give him 2 more years. He needs to "shock the world" and win 9 games minimum next year. If he doesn't... then fire him before the roster deteriorates.

UT has a pattern now of dooming the next coach by letting the current coach drive roster talent into the dirt before firing them. If Dooley had been put out of his misery a year earlier then his successor (who would not have been Jones) would have shown up with a very talented O to work with and a thin but talented D. That one extra year... left Jones to "rebuild" (especially the OL... which he failed completely)
. If someone had had the courage and wisdom to fire Jones after his 3rd year when he had squandered talent and begun to decline in recruiting... someone not named Pruitt would have inherited a very good roster. Even the extra two years Fulmer got hurt the roster by the time Kiffin took over. What you are proposing may "sound" reasonable... but it virtually assures the next guy fails due to a lack of roster talent.

Sark didn't do well at USCw where they can literally sign a top 5 class without traveling more than 100 miles. One game at Bama... doesn't prove anything.

Freeze is intriguing but he's not the only good possible replacement. There will always be options if you take action at the right time. Most coaches know when a roster spells doom.

 

[JonGrudensAgent]

 

[05_never_again]

South Carolina is almost $60MM in the hole from COVID. Muschamp's buyout was larger and they have $300MM less in revenue over the past 15 years. Didn't stop them.

They also have something like 3x the cash reserve we do ($30m vs. $10m) because it hasn't been depleted from buyouts like ours has.

 

[volmandu]

The Vols absolutely cannot from a financial standpoint afford a coaching change. The UT Athletic Department will be almost $40 million dollars short due to the virus effects. We are still paying Butch Jones and at present Coach Pruitt has a buy out package of some $13 million....folks it ain't going to happen with those financial numbers. In two more years Pruitt will have the players to compete and will have the program headed in the right direction. If you were a potential recruit would you choose the Vols with all the negative comments that appear here daily?

Buy out is paid in installments. Hit this year would be around 3-4 million total including assistants. What is 8-10% more of the 40 million hit ? Compare that to revenue lost and ticket sales from apathetic fanbase over next year.

Also, JP is pretty much lame duck now. The longer we keep him, the more recruiting suffers and the worse we make it for the new guy. Remember we made this mistake not firing Butch in year 4 (or even year 3)

 

[cd12]

What leads you to believe that he’s finding players that matchup? There are less than a handful to date.

 

[TC 83]

For the love of God...no more Saban connections please. I know he’s the greatest but I’m tired of it.

 

[VolMarine1371]

Here is the deal. We need to give Coach JP 2 more years to show what he can do with his recruits and to show his coaching acumen with players that actually match up with the beasts of the SEC. We will see that in the next 2 years, as we have been getting not only good recruiting classes, but players that match the style that we want to play. Any coaching change now would be senseless and pointless.

The main reason we can wait 2 years is the following:
1. In 2 years, Steve Sarkisian will be ready to be a coach at any Power 5 school of his choosing. He proved this past weekend he can coach with Saban not able to coach. Alabama's offense is humming like never before. Steve Sarkisian is the real deal

2. Hugh Freeze has already said he is not interested in the South Carolina job and for sure would not go to Vanderbilt. That means in 2 years, Hugh Freeze will still be available as a candidate.

If CJP doesn't work out the next 2 years, we should bring the Brinks truck and offer whatever either Sarkisian or Freeze ask for. Let's hope it doesn't come to that and we are giving a substantial extension to CJP.

Why do we wanna give Pruitt 2 more years to keep doing the same **** he is doing now and refusing to change. What’s worse than not accepting change is expecting change when you do nothing to change. We will not win with Pruitt, he is not a CEO type coach. He is a great coordinator and position coach that’s it. There is a reason why no one other than UT was wanting him as a HC. Everyone was saying he’s a better coach than Kirby but there was actually schools lined up for him and Kirby has shown he can recruit. Kirby is in top 3 recruiting every year and yet Pruitt can’t get close enough to sniff his jock on the recruiting trial right now.

 

['Boro-vol]

For the love of god...no more Saban connections.

Certainly not if you EVER want to beat Saban.

You cannot out-Bama, by trying to be Bama.

 

[airvols]

No more Alabama retreads under any circumstance

 

[Volbrando]

it all comes down to at what point is keeping Pruitt costing us more than letting him go

 

[JonGrudensAgent]

The Vols absolutely cannot from a financial standpoint afford a coaching change. The UT Athletic Department will be almost $40 million dollars short due to the virus effects. We are still paying Butch Jones and at present Coach Pruitt has a buy out package of some $13 million....folks it ain't going to happen with those financial numbers. In two more years Pruitt will have the players to compete and will have the program headed in the right direction. If you were a potential recruit would you choose the Vols with all the negative comments that appear here daily?

If you were a potential recruit would you choose the Vols after watching the QB short circuit the team for the better part of 3 years on national TV and the coach steadfastly refuse to do anything about it?

I am guessing CBS, SEC Network, and ESPN sees more traffic than Vol Nation.

The program is a laughingstock and the random musings of posters here have little impact to sway recruits one way or another IMO.

 

[SaintLouisVol]

I simply cannot understand why someone could believe that a coach will somehow have a lightbulb come on and all of the sudden be great. If Pruitt was the right guy, we would know it by now.

 

[tennrich1]

This is sad but here's two football programs in the last decade. School 1 is historically one of the worst D-1 programs. School 2 was the school that in the prior 75 years had more wins than any other D-1 School

School 1
New coach for 2010.
School interviewed guy with famous last name but had losing record. Decided on hiring position coach instead.
Coach in over his head
Coach fired after 2 years
Program bad enough to lose by 50 to Ark State and to UT Martin
Program hired offensive minded coach who was told by School 2 that he wasn't good enough to be OC
Program had more SEC West wins than School 2
Coach left for a P5 job
School had chance to interview DC from SEC school with personality issues and no HC experience
School hired offensive mind
School has 6 bowl appearances in a row

School 2
New coach for 2010
School interviewed guy with famous last name but had losing record. School 2 hired this guy after School 1 passed.
Coach in over his head
Coach fired after 3 years
School hires former band player
School goes 0-8 and loses 8 games for first time in history
School had chance to interview DC from SEC school with personality issues and no HC experience. School hires him.
School gets curbstomped by GSU and UK at home

School 1 is Memphis, School 2 is UT.

Ok...I guess I'll be the scape goat...Clearly, a very applicable point that's left out is...School one plays in the AAC and School two plays in the SEC with a fairly challenging OOC schedule. Your point is well taken...I just think we needed a HUGE perspective on it though. JMO....as evidenced by the struggles Fuentes and Norvell and several other former AAC coaches are experiencing in the P5 jobs coaching in the P5 is a bit different.