From a coaching, culture, attitude, and philosophy perspective, this guy just fits in Knoxville. I know there are some people still second-guessing some of his decisions from Saturday but he is a heck of a coach and representative of Knoxville. We are slowly building up. Honestly, I have seen a lot of Georgia fans talking about it, and we have won their respect.
I had Tennessee at 9-3 in my preseason predictions but I think we will land at 10-2 now. Heupel is too good of a coach and we have too much talent. I knew that the 24th rank and Nico concerns were ridiculous because we have too talented of a team now. Every year, our recruiting is getting builder, our culture is getting better, our hunger is getting better.
Kirby Smart, best coach in CFB right now IMO, took 7 years before he broke through and got the National Title. He inherited a lot stronger program than Heupel. We are just now off of sanctions. We have literally been irrelevant for 15 years (not a destination place) and had recruiting sanctions and yet we are bringing in blue chips, competing with Alabama and Georgia, making a Playoff, etc.
The guy represents the school well off the field, recruits players that I want to root for, builds a team that we can be proud in, etc.
I hope this is appreciated and I look forward to future with Heupel. I think he knows it is a good fit for him and I hope he sticks around. If he stays long enough, I think we will eventually take home the big trophy and perhaps even more than one.
