Why did Butch Jones get us so close, where Dooley and Pruitt didn't?

#26
#26
Brave Volunteer said:
Is JG the only QB in Tennessee history to get two head coaches fired?
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Brave, I would not say JG got Butch Jones fired. Butch Jones got Butch Jones fired.

Remember, the QB position was played by committee that year, 2017, Butch's last. Quinten Dormady was our starter the first third of the year, including the loss to Florida and the first half of the ugly loss to Georgia. Then panic set in. Guarantano and McBride split the rest of the games, most of which were losses. More Guarantano then McBride, but only because he was the better of the two.

No, can't blame the firing of the coaching staff on JG. He didn't save them, no, but he's not the reason we went 4-8 and they got fired. That's all on Butch & Co.
 
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#28
#28
I was always critical of Dobbs because I felt there was a definite ceiling with him and it would be difficult to win a championship with him. On the the other hand I think he also raised the floor by covering up some overall team deficiencies.

Butch's tenure was kind of like a damp cardboard box. You could put some stuff in it, but the bottom was eventually going to fall out..
 
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#31
#31
DOBBS and getting lucky with some other recruits.

Butch does not win 8 games in 2019.

I think Pruitt was better. Yeah crazy to say that now, but getting that 2019 team to 8 wins after the way they started with JG continuing to play was quite an accomplishment. Even though... he shouldn't have been sticking with JG at all in the first place.

But Butch finding ways to blow it in a much weaker east was just as uncomorrhensible as Pruitt continuing to trot JG out there time and time again.
 
#33
#33
Recruiting was a big reason. As others mentioned, we had Hurd, Kamara, and Kelly at RB, Malone, Jennings, and Smith at WR, Wolf at TE, and Dobbs at QB for the offensive side in 2015-2016. The clear weak link was OL, as there was no real talent or development, which held us back.

On defense, Barnett, Reeves-Maybin, Sutton, Abernathy, TK , Tuttle, Kirkland, also had Maggitt and Coleman in 2015. Injuries and depth were the problem here. The depth was directly related to them not developing players. I think of Justin Martin, McDowell, Kahlil to an extent, Austin Smith, Sapp, Dillon Bates, Evan Berry.
 
#37
#37
sonofUT62 said:
I can’t speak for the future of the program after 2012, but that was a 10 win team with a mediocre defense.
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But they would’ve almost certainly stepped back to 5 or 6 wins the following year with all the offensive talent that left. Even if that team lived up to its potential it would’ve just been a flash in the pan, similar to Mike Shula’s lone 10 win season at Bama.
 
#40
#40
VFL-82-JP said:
Brave, I would not say JG got Butch Jones fired. Butch Jones got Butch Jones fired.

Remember, the QB position was played by committee that year, 2017, Butch's last. Quinten Dormady was our starter the first third of the year, including the loss to Florida and the first half of the ugly loss to Georgia. Then panic set in. Guarantano and McBride split the rest of the games, most of which were losses. More Guarantano then McBride, but only because he was the better of the two.

No, can't blame the firing of the coaching staff on JG. He didn't save them, no, but he's not the reason we went 4-8 and they got fired. That's all on Butch & Co.
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That was more of a joke comment. I don't realistically think that JG got Butch fired. It was the staff's fault for misevaluating/under developing JG so yeah, ultimately the fault lies with the coach and his staff. I blame Pruitt more for failing to bring in another QB in 3 years to take the position away from JG.
 
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#43
#43
SGMVols said:
But they would’ve almost certainly stepped back to 5 or 6 wins the following year with all the offensive talent that left. Even if that team lived up to its potential it would’ve just been a flash in the pan, similar to Mike Shula’s lone 10 win season at Bama.
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Did you read the part where I said I couldn’t speak for the future of the program after 2012? 🤷‍♂️
 
#44
#44
sonofUT62 said:
I can’t speak for the future of the program after 2012, but that was a 10 win team with a mediocre defense.
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Disagree

The majority of the NFL talent on that team was on the offensive side of the ball and they were the only reason we were in the games. The best player on Defense turned out to be Justin Coleman who got torched repeatedly in college. He surprisingly got drafted and played well in the NFL. AJ Johnson and Maggitt were good collegiate players but unfortunately, we did not have enough athletes like them in 2012. Daniel Hood received significant snaps as a D lineman at UT who was at one time on the OL. The defensive side had a big-time talent deficiency. An elite D coordinator might have got us two more wins. IIRC we lost to Vandy that year by 3 TDs.
 
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#46
#46
I know in 2015, regarding our defense under Butch, losing Danny O'Brien on the defensive line was a HUGE blow! He was absolutely the anchor of that defensive line that year and when he was dismissed, you saw a huge difference in the stoutness of our D with him out if it!
 
#47
#47
Brave Volunteer said:
I know in 2015, regarding our defense under Butch, losing Danny O'Brien on the defensive line was a HUGE blow! He was absolutely the anchor of that defensive line that year and when he was dismissed, you saw a huge difference in the stoutness of our D with him out if it!
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Never heard what became of Danny. Did he get cleaned up and take a shot at professional ball?
 
#48
#48
VFL-82-JP said:
Never heard what became of Danny. Did he get cleaned up and take a shot at professional ball?
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I honestly have no clue. I haven't heard anything about him since he was dismissed from the team. I never even heard what he did to be dismissed. I just remember what a blow that was to our defense that year.
 
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