Recruiting Forum Football Talk III

[orangejuice]

I cant believe some of yall are actually wanting kiffin back

Honestly, losing seasons are worse than sucking up my pride and getting over my hatred of kiffin. Much worse at that. I’m at the point of not caring what we do, as long as we win.

 

[nicksjuzunk]

Being a pretty systematic and evidence based individual, I'm trying to come up with criteria for selecting a coach, and there is just no way to nail it down because there are so many exceptions to the rule. You do truly never know what you are going to get.

1. Proven at a high level: Saban was average at Michigan State. Pete Carrol was average. Both are examples of opposite. Jim Harbaugh is a curious failure of this where you get exactly what you want, but don't get the results you expect. Hugh Freeze would seem to fit the positive of this mold, but as others have noted, his overall win % was actual not great. A lot of nuance in that, but the point stands. Freeze could sort of be put in category 3a by that metric.
2. Success at a big school: What we typically want, but out of reach. The danger is they are playing with better players. Pruitt seems to fall into this category.
3. Did more with less:
a. Better for that school, but not stellar: Dan Mullen. Is he ever going to go to the next level or is he just going to be a really good coach?
b. Lesser program success: Justin Fuente, Dino Babers, Kevin Sumlin, Scott Frost. How do you know they can replicate it?
c. Up and Comer: Complete roll of the dice. Chad Morris, Tom Herman, Chadwell, Healy. Chad Morris and Tom Herman "should" have worked.
4. NFL Guy: Who knows? Lovie Smith just got fired. Pete Carrol won a championship. Charlie Weiss was a nightmare. Few NFL guys are "exciting" I'd love Joe Brady, but who knows?
5. Coaching Tree: Especially with Saban disciples. Dooley, Pruitt, Muschamp and others have failed. They know the recipe but it don't taste right.

These are just a few things I would look at, and there are frustrating exceptions to every category. I've got no clue how to choose a coach.

 

[butchna]

The things being said about Gus could easily have been said about Mack Brown or Rick Barnes. Sometimes you just need a change of scenery. And sometimes the chance to prove your old employer wrong motivates a coach to take the next step.

Bottom line: we could (and likely will) do a lot worse than Gus Malzahn.

Hopefully the bar is higher than the guy who’s not the worst.

 

[BruinVol]

F Lane

 

[BAJAvol]

Freeze
Campbell
Fickell
Napier
Chadwell

That’s the list.

Take chadwell off and this is it

 

[FairburnVol]

we’ll lose by 14 to A&M and Pruitt will keep his job we know how this will turn out

 

[rekinhavoc]

I do find it curious after several media outlets have opined on who Tennessee should hire that they have not come out with a full throated denial and show of support for Pruitt.

 

[Smyrna ATL Vol]

That would be like hiring March Richt. He would stabilize the program, but you’re going to go 8-4 to 9-3 every year until you get tired of it in about year 6 and fire him. He would never win a championship here.

I would die for that right now compared to what we have now lol.

 

[Batman1948]

So I take it none of you listen to Feldman's podcast. He addresses his thoughts (and related tweet) in the first few minutes.

There is NOTHING to his tweet. Stop reading desperately between the lines. I wish it were true, I really do, but Bruce is just making a larger point about 2021.

Do you see what you did there? You just ruined a bunch of our posters day .

Never post facts in here---it's bad MoJo

 

[bigorangecrush89]

I do find it curious after several media outlets have opined on who Tennessee should hire that they have not come out with a full throated denial and show of support for Pruitt.

Fulmer already came out on Vol Calls and compared Pruitt to the early UT career of Johnny Majors. Never mind that CJM had already won a NC as a head coach and was proven before coming here. Pesky facts...

 

[MarcoVol]

The things being said about Gus could easily have been said about Mack Brown or Rick Barnes. Sometimes you just need a change of scenery. And sometimes the chance to prove your old employer wrong motivates a coach to take the next step.

Bottom line: we could (and likely will) do a lot worse than Gus Malzahn.

Mack Brown won 10 or more games for 9 straight seasons at Texas.

He and Gustavo are not even close to being in same league in regards to coaching success.

 

[HankHill]

I don’t like Gus either, but I’d rather give him 5 years then Pruitt, just saying.

That’s my thought.

 

[BigOrange15]

I cant believe some of yall are actually wanting kiffin back

I just want to win games.

 

[vol494]

I do find it curious after several media outlets have opined on who Tennessee should hire that they have not come out with a full throated denial and show of support for Pruitt.

That’s it. I heard or read nothing about the AD backing Pruitt. This Sunday either he’s gone (which I fully expect) or Fulmer comes out with a statement of backing him into next season.

 

[MoCo_Vol]

Yes as a true freshman he had 12 TDs...in 109 attempts. That's a TD every 9 passes lol. 199 QBR.

In his 3rd year he was at Auburn and had a 151 qbr.

In Y4 at Auburn he posted a whopper 137 qbr, including that stinker vs us. Slid all the way to the 4th rd. He undeniably got worse under Malzahn.

Could be....he went from being a freshmen in the Big 12 to playing in the SEC West. At Baylor he only had 3 games with more than 10 attempts, mop up duty against 2nd string makes a fellow look amazing *cough* JT vs Florida *cough*

 

[engineerVOL]

View attachment 330320
#gustothehill

Gus Bus is fueled up and I’m here for it, Possum. @Bassmaster_Vol we need a conductor or someone to pass out flyers and pins. The job is yours if you want it.

 

[Leeleesteeth]

Imagine Freeze as head coach with Malzahn as OC and Muschamp DC

Last night I dreamed my Truck got stuck in the mud and slid off into a lake. I like that better.

 

[05_never_again]

The more that I think about it, I bet Gus isn't fired if they beat South Carolina.

 

[Batman1948]

So who are we excited about in this recruiting class?

For me: Brooks, Willis, Brown, T. Evans, Salter, Campbell, and I think we get Lewis back. Don’t know really what to think about the rest of the class

Bringing Lewis back might not be a good thing for the locker room. He probably is a great football player but might not a good character guy. It's a double edge sword.

 

[Ron Swanson]

How does Freeze, Kiffin, and Sark not lead our list like it does at Auburn?

Per ESPN - behind paywall.

Apparently Steele has a real shot to land the gig per the Auburn mods. Price said the same thing. Imagine paying $20mil to fire Gus to promote Steele?? Wow if that happens.

 

[Bassmaster_Vol]

Gus Bus is fueled up and I’m here for it, Possum. @Bassmaster_Vol we need a conductor or someone to pass out flyers and pins. The job is yours if you want it.

The Gus bus is heading for a cliff. No thanks

 

[Pacer92]

Kiffin would make Tennessee football fun again. And he’d win big.

If I was a FU Money guy, this would be my #1 priority.

Where’s George Steinbrenner when you need him? The guy hired Billy Martin like 4 times..

 

[Voltrapnbama]

That’s it. I heard or read nothing about the AD backing Pruitt. This Sunday either he’s gone (which I fully expect) or Fulmer comes out with a statement of backing him into next season.

I may be wrong but I thought Fulmer already backed Pruitt.

 

[Nashvegas31]

I have been out on Pruitt because of QBs handling. However the Twitter trolls with all the regurgitated comparisons of auburn and tn situation are not comparable. Look deeper than surface.

Auburn has had same coach for a long time. They have had stability. Gus been on hot seat every year for last 5 years. So this has been brewing for years. Boosters been preparing for this moment for years.

Meanwhile, TN has been paying coaches from multiple staffs to not coach here. Pruitt was riding a win streak coming into year 3. Nobody was prepared for a coaching search or to fund a buyout in a regular year let alone a pandemic year. Can you really judge a guy that had training camp without 50 guys then midsession loses 20 more. Fans may have quit but judging by the effort vs Florida and Vandy the players clearly have not quit. QB play looks better which makes offense look more competent. Kids still playing hard. Defense all of a sudden swarming to ball now that Pruitt calling plays again.

Imo people need to chill and let things play out behind closed doors. We don’t need this social media madness making kids think twice. Let them get kids signed take advantage of lack of relationships for recruit/current players at South Carolina and auburn and see what staff does with their own recruited QB. We have really good talent at offensive skill positions and OL. Defense should have most guys back. It would not surprise me to look better next yr under pruitt

 

[Jimmy Football]

Mack Brown won 10 or more games for 9 straight seasons at Texas.

He and Gustavo are not even close to being in same league in regards to coaching success.

Just the first name that came to mind. The point was that coaches that have had success and then declined can often renew their past success at a different place.

Then again, sometimes they just get keep getting worse.