For fun. If Johnny Majors had remained coach would he have won a NC?

#54
#54
DiderotsGhost said:
If Fulmer leaves, I don't think Cutcliffe goes with him; instead he's promoted to OC here.
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Doubt many assistants were sticking around after 1992. Between the heart attack, Majors’ behavior over the Summer and him suddenly showing back up at the complex unannounced and fracturing the locker room, a lot of guys were done with the situation.
 
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#55
#55
No.

1. His teams were inconsistent.

2. He had not begun to deal with the Spurrier menace yet.

He got early Spurrier where Spurrier was winning with what he inherited. He didn't see Florida when Spurrier had the weapons that he would eventually have.
 
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#57
#57
99gator said:
No.

1. His teams were inconsistent.

2. He had not begun to deal with the Spurrier menace yet.

He got early Spurrier where Spurrier was winning with what he inherited. He didn't see Florida when Spurrier had the weapons that he would eventually have.
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Majors was a much better gameday coach than Fulmer, especially 1993 Fulmer. He'd have been able to go toe to toe with Spurrier.
 
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#58
#58
BigOrangeMojo said:
Id lean No. His teams always seemed to have 1 brain fart game each year and that would have been enough to keep us out of contention in the mid to late 90s.
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I think this is the better question. Would Manning and Martin have come under Majors? And would we have had Rodney Garner getting those guys that he got. The Vols were good enough to win the Natty in 1990 and 1991, but didn't and that was before expansion and divisions with 6 game conference schedules. What UT did to their credit was keep the system in place and keep up the recruiting steam instead of rebooting and starting from scratch with new offensive and defensive schemes. Majors had both overhauled and brought in Al Saunders to create the offense used for 3 decades and got a 4-3 guy in when that was en vogue. But it's doubtful that he would have looked to his 'trusted lieutenants' to grow into the roles they grew into.
 
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#60
#60
1972 Grad said:
Without Clint Stoerner, we still wouldn't have won one.
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Actually, prior to that play the refs blew a call in the Arkansas punter. We should have had the option to have the ball 1st and goal at the 5 yard line. A score there would have likely sealed the game
 
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#61
#61
guesscrazy said:
I always liked the guy and sorta think he was done dirty. Could he have won a NC if the coup hadn't taken place?
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To go along w/ Spurrier's thought that coaches can only stay somewhere for so long, I think Majors was on that threshold...I think 16 years. Everyone was about ready to move on...if you think about it, it only took losing 3 games to get him bounced (Ark, Bama, SC). Fulmer was at right place at right time to take us to another level. If you think about it, if Fulmer didn't work out, we'd arguably be Ole Miss or other teams who were relevant back in the day. Let's face it, our shining bastion of relevance to being a top tier SEC historic team is really helped w/ our run in the 90's and early 2000's. However, we wouldn't have moved on Majors if Fulmer wasn't there...and Majors may not have won a Natty, but he'd have still kept us in the mix.
 
#62
#62
MurphyVol said:
I'd say probably not. His teams were very erratic.
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I think that's where you had alot of love/dislike for Majors. He'd beat ND or Bama, and lose to Rutgers or Duke. I'd for sure trade for him right now...that's where Pruitt hasn't been able to get any momentum. We had a 8-0 win streak, but Auburn is our biggest win in 3 years. An upset of Bama or UGA or UF would buy some equity for him.
 
#63
#63
I love Johnny - always will. But I say No. He rebuilt the Vols after the Bill Battle debacle and deserves enormous credit. He left a loaded Pitt team in 1977 that might have won another National Championship for sure. However. Johnny was challenging to work for, he had lost support of many of the main UT administration and of course had the heart attack. Fulmer was ready for a HC position so he would have taken a huge group of key Vol coaches with him and yes he was under very serious consideration for other jobs. None of Johnny's key Vol staff followed him to Pitt. Fulmer, Cutcliffe and Chief took the Vols to the top (with enormous luck as most great teams have) in 1998. I just don't think Johnny with all the turmoil of his last few years could have pulled it off. Again I love Majors for all he did - the program he took over was by far the worst personnel wise in the SEC - but both Majors and Fulmer made the Vols extremely competitive with a sad instate recruiting base. They put the work in - loved Tennessee and got the results. I get tired of people faulting Fulmer when Cutcliffe left, etc. Bobby Bowden never could replace Mark Richt - his great longtime offensive coordinator - either after he left for Georgia. Some times the core team is not replaceable at the same level. It just is like that in real life hate to break that news. I would take either Johnny or Phil at their lowest points in lieu of the fiasco that has followed them.
 
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#64
#64
LargeOrange1 said:
Phil-o-Potamus won a NC because of Cut & Chief.....notice how we fell off when Cut left for Ole Piss? Remember how many teams tried to hire Phil-o-Potamus when he was axed from UT? Here's a clue: its less than 1.
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Not true but whatever you want to say. Hilarious how people hate someone who won TN's only NC in the modern era. Makes zero sense.

But you do you champ
 
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#65
#65
MurphyVol said:
Actually, prior to that play the refs blew a call in the Arkansas punter. We should have had the option to have the ball 1st and goal at the 5 yard line. A score there would have likely sealed the game
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And Syracuse got flagged for a bogus pass interference on TN's last drive to set up Jeff Hall's winning FG. And Florida's place kicker, Collins Cooper in missed a mid-range fg to lose to us in overtime. Very good team, but we had some help to win 3 of them.
 
#66
#66
1972 Grad said:
And Syracuse got flagged for a bogus pass interference on TN's last drive to set up Jeff Hall's winning FG. And Florida's place kicker, Collins Cooper in missed a mid-range fg to lose to us in overtime. Very good team, but we had some help to win 3 of them.
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It was legitimate PI. What’s “bogus” is people saying that you shouldn’t call a penalty because of the time of the penalty.
 
#67
#67
butchna said:
It was legitimate PI. What’s “bogus” is people saying that you shouldn’t call a penalty because of the time of the penalty.
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I haven't seen the P.I. call since the first game in 1998, but from what I remember, it was on the near sideline, and we were going right to left as the camera looks at it. I thought it was questionable at the time, and I'm a U.T. fan. I try my best to be objective. Just my opinion.
 
#68
#68
Jon Majors was one fine football coach! National Coach of the Year at Iowa St, Pittsburgh and Tennessee. That’s rare air! and would be in the HOF hash’s not stubbornly returned to Pitt which dropped his winning percentage below .600. That is a requirement to be in the HOF!
 
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#69
#69
1972 Grad said:
I haven't seen the P.I. call since the first game in 1998, but from what I remember, it was on the near sideline, and we were going right to left as the camera looks at it. I thought it was questionable at the time, and I'm a U.T. fan. I try my best to be objective. Just my opinion.
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We all have them. Even the announcers admitted it was PI but questioned calling it with everything on the line.
 
#70
#70
1972 Grad said:
And Syracuse got flagged for a bogus pass interference on TN's last drive to set up Jeff Hall's winning FG. And Florida's place kicker, Collins Cooper in missed a mid-range fg to lose to us in overtime. Very good team, but we had some help to win 3 of them.
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Collins Cooper struggled with PATs let alone FGs. That's on Spurrier letting it come down to an awful kicker.

Again, the Arkansas game should have been put away before the stumble by Clint.

We had help on one game, Syracuse. Although we did have to drive the ball another 50 yards after the PI call.

I thought Fulmer did a great job as the season went on, having to adjust after losing his #1 tailback early in the season,
beating 4 top 10 teams that year and 6 ranked teams. Greatest season in Vols modern history
 
#71
#71
MurphyVol said:
Collins Cooper struggled with PATs let alone FGs. That's on Spurrier letting it come down to an awful kicker.

Again, the Arkansas game should have been put away before the stumble by Clint.

We had help on one game, Syracuse. Although we did have to drive the ball another 50 yards after the PI call.

I thought Fulmer did a great job as the season went on, having to adjust after losing his #1 tailback early in the season,
beating 4 top 10 teams that year and 6 ranked teams. Greatest season in Vols modern history
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I said it was a very good team and season, but we had to have some help to win it all. Other teams have had to have some luck along the way, too. If Alabama wins tomorrow convincingly, they didn't need any luck this year.
 
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#72
#72
knox73 said:
I love Johnny - always will. But I say No. He rebuilt the Vols after the Bill Battle debacle and deserves enormous credit. He left a loaded Pitt team in 1977 that might have won another National Championship for sure. However. Johnny was challenging to work for, he had lost support of many of the main UT administration and of course had the heart attack. Fulmer was ready for a HC position so he would have taken a huge group of key Vol coaches with him and yes he was under very serious consideration for other jobs. None of Johnny's key Vol staff followed him to Pitt. Fulmer, Cutcliffe and Chief took the Vols to the top (with enormous luck as most great teams have) in 1998. I just don't think Johnny with all the turmoil of his last few years could have pulled it off. Again I love Majors for all he did - the program he took over was by far the worst personnel wise in the SEC - but both Majors and Fulmer made the Vols extremely competitive with a sad instate recruiting base. They put the work in - loved Tennessee and got the results. I get tired of people faulting Fulmer when Cutcliffe left, etc. Bobby Bowden never could replace Mark Richt - his great longtime offensive coordinator - either after he left for Georgia. Some times the core team is not replaceable at the same level. It just is like that in real life hate to break that news. I would take either Johnny or Phil at their lowest points in lieu of the fiasco that has followed them.
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It would have been cool if Johnny would have become head coach in 1970 and slugged in out with Bear Bryant throughout the 1970s.
 
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#73
#73
I have respect for Johnny Majors but I was super frustrated many times when he was coaching. I thought we were more dominant with Fulmer back in his run.
 
#75
#75
guesscrazy said:
I always liked the guy and sorta think he was done dirty. Could he have won a NC if the coup hadn't taken place?
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Nope. I think 1990 was the best team ever. 2 ties and that awful, awful, awful, awful, awful, awful loss to Bama. No way we ever won another SEC title much less a Natty. I know we "won" the SEC that year, but Jeez..Johnny...we were so loaded.
 
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