Josh Heupel Has Elevated Tennessee — But Can He Evolve?

#102
#102
RockyTop603 said:
I’m just gonna say it — Josh Heupel is turning into Tennessee’s version of James Franklin. Yeah, he wins games, puts up points, and has us looking way better than we were a few years ago… but he still can’t win the big ones. Every time we get a shot to take that next step, we fall flat.

At some point, being “better than before” isn’t enough. We need a coach who can close the deal when it matters most.
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He has peaked. Dude sucks donkey dicks on the road and with in-game management. We will never win anything significant under him. But he is just good enough that you can’t fire him.
 
#103
#103
RockyTop603 said:
I’m just gonna say it — Josh Heupel is turning into Tennessee’s version of James Franklin. Yeah, he wins games, puts up points, and has us looking way better than we were a few years ago… but he still can’t win the big ones. Every time we get a shot to take that next step, we fall flat.

At some point, being “better than before” isn’t enough. We need a coach who can close the deal when it matters most.
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If you were to fire CJH with what he has done to turn this program, there isn’t a top tier coach in the nation would take the job. Remember we couldn’t get anyone after firing CPF
 
#104
#104
Budalicious said:
If you were to fire CJH with what he has done to turn this program, there isn’t a top tier coach in the nation would take the job. Remember we couldn’t get anyone after firing CPF
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Lol. People are saying Penn State won't be able to find a top tier coach because they fired Franklin with his record. Stop the lunacy. If you pay, you can get any coach you want.
 
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#105
#105
JMSqb11 said:
Lol. People are saying Penn State won't be able to find a top tier coach because they fired Franklin with his record. Stop the lunacy. If you pay, you can get any coach you want.
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Not true! Look at all the HOME RUN HIRES, Almost all of them are not doing any better than CJH. Name someone you know for sure would take the job. You will get top coaches raises at their perspective schools as we did in the past. I ve been a fan for over Fifty years .C,mon I’m waiting for you sure fire Can’t miss messiah! As for Penn State where were they the last 20 to 30 Years before Franklin revived them.
 
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#106
#106
GVol1966 said:
The ones that win championships.
And they may have occasional squeak by wins , but they do win .
And their is a difference between occasional, and getting a reputation for it because you do several times a year every year.

Heupel has a reputation of his teams not playing well on the road.
It’s not unfair, but based on results over 5 years.
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1998 - squeaked by
Syracuse
Florida
Auburn
Arkansas
Mississippi St. for 3 quarters
Florida State
-almost half the schedule
 
#107
#107
Budalicious said:
Not true! Look at all the HOME RUN HIRES, Almost all of them are not doing any better than CJH. Name someone you know for sure would take the job. You will get top coaches raises at their perspective schools as we did in the past. I ve been a fan for over Fifty years .C,mon I’m waiting for you sure fire Can’t miss messiah! As for Penn State where were they the last 20 to 30 Years before Franklin revived them.
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using Tennessee’s past performance in searches when they made strings attached and cheap offers to every coach is not the current regime.

We told coaches in 2010 they had to take on the staff that didn’t leave with Kiffin.

We went cheap and tried to nickel and dime the guy we wanted from the get go with Strong and he stayed at UL. That resulted in a settling hire with Butch

Tennessee went after a bunch of scrubs after Schiano Sunday like Doeren, Pruitt, and Tucker all while there was a significantly better head coach publicly lobbying for the job but Tennessee cared more about hurt feelings than actual competent candidates

Tennessee hired Danny White who swung for the fences to go after James Franklin and put up the money needed to hire him. Franklin said no and White’s fallback option was Heupel.

The current program is stable and flush with cash and resources. If there was ever an opening, Tennessee could easily go after any coach with money to get them to the table.

Simple exercise… if Tennessee had an opening tomorrow, it would arguably be the second best, if not best, opening in the country right now neck and neck with Penn State. That’s even with Auburn and Florida likely to have openings as well.
 
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#109
#109
farmdogvol said:
There are only 2 currently next level and 1 can't beat his biggest rival. Dabo is going the wrong direction and is no longer next level. People act like college football is full of next level coaches and UT just needs to go get one.
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He won't mention who an "elite next level coach" is the same reason he won't mention the "25 teams better than UT"
 
#111
#111
JMSqb11 said:
using Tennessee’s past performance in searches when they made strings attached and cheap offers to every coach is not the current regime.

We told coaches in 2010 they had to take on the staff that didn’t leave with Kiffin.

We went cheap and tried to nickel and dime the guy we wanted from the get go with Strong and he stayed at UL. That resulted in a settling hire with Butch

Tennessee went after a bunch of scrubs after Schiano Sunday like Doeren, Pruitt, and Tucker all while there was a significantly better head coach publicly lobbying for the job but Tennessee cared more about hurt feelings than actual competent candidates

Tennessee hired Danny White who swung for the fences to go after James Franklin and put up the money needed to hire him. Franklin said no and White’s fallback option was Heupel.

The current program is stable and flush with cash and resources. If there was ever an opening, Tennessee could easily go after any coach with money to get them to the table.

Simple exercise… if Tennessee had an opening tomorrow, it would arguably be the second best, if not best, opening in the country right now neck and neck with Penn State. That’s even with Auburn and Florida likely to have openings as well.
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This. The future of the program is bright. The state of Tennessee is booming with an increased population and per capita income. This translates to improved in state recruiting and funding. We’re fourth in wealth behind the states of Texas, Florida and Georgia. The new rules means that the Alabamas and LSU’s are going to be outspent. It’s not immediate but Saban saw the writing on the wall and that it was going to be impossible to recruit at the same level without his “special” grant from oversight.
 
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#113
#113
McDad said:
See how "big game" is nuanced to fit a preconceived narrative?

I understand ascribing a ceiling until he "breaks through" that ceiling. I don't think it is a novel approach to assessment.
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I will never, ever, apologize for having high standards with this program, or in any area of life, for that matter. I expect us to consistently be at the level of Georgia, Alabama, and Ohio State and be in the conference championship/national title hunt 4 out of every 5 years. Games like last night show me we still have a ways to go.
 
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#114
#114
JMSqb11 said:
using Tennessee’s past performance in searches when they made strings attached and cheap offers to every coach is not the current regime.

We told coaches in 2010 they had to take on the staff that didn’t leave with Kiffin.

We went cheap and tried to nickel and dime the guy we wanted from the get go with Strong and he stayed at UL. That resulted in a settling hire with Butch

Tennessee went after a bunch of scrubs after Schiano Sunday like Doeren, Pruitt, and Tucker all while there was a significantly better head coach publicly lobbying for the job but Tennessee cared more about hurt feelings than actual competent candidates

Tennessee hired Danny White who swung for the fences to go after James Franklin and put up the money needed to hire him. Franklin said no and White’s fallback option was Heupel.

The current program is stable and flush with cash and resources. If there was ever an opening, Tennessee could easily go after any coach with money to get them to the table.

Simple exercise… if Tennessee had an opening tomorrow, it would arguably be the second best, if not best, opening in the country right now neck and neck with Penn State. That’s even with Auburn and Florida likely to have openings as well.
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You just made my point look at the last couple of hirings of Auburn and Florida. How did that work out for them?
 
#116
#116
JMSqb11 said:
Both went cheap for multiple hires.
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Ok then , who you going after! I want to know this messiah you speak of! The one who never loses and wins championships every year! Just sitting waiting on brinks to pull up! Napier has a 24 million dollar buyout and Freeze is 27 million or 70% of his remaining contract. 😅. Yea they went cheap
 
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#117
#117
Go47 said:
CJH did elevate the program. Will he win an SEC title here? I think it’s very unlikely for the following reasons:

1. He doesn’t have the built in recruiting advantages of schools like Texas, TAMU, Florida, UGA, etc. For a UT coach to win it all at UT you need to be a unicorn coach / generational coach like Saban / Meyer. And I don’t think CJH is or ever will be that level of coach. His teams are way too undisciplined for me to believe that.

2. The SEC is more competitive than ever. Mizzou is now good. Ole Miss is now a good program, and we added Oklahoma, Texas, and TAMU.

3. I don’t see UT having a championship level defense under CJH.

Can we get a better coach? Highly unlikely. Theoretically, it’s possible we hire the next Saban but it’s not statistically likely to happen.

He will be a coach who on average wins 8-9 games . . . With an occasional, with a little luck, 10 win season.

He will be our coach until he has a couple of “down” seasons where we are expected to win 9-10 and only win 6-7 with a loss or two to a really bad team.

At this point in a season . . . What a team is becomes evident. We are a penalty prone, mistake prone (at the worst times), poor tackling, good rushing, turnover prone, porous defense team.

We could easily be 4-3 right now (we were fortunate to beat Mississippi State).

JMO.
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We could just as easily have been 6-1 with a win over Georgia
 
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#118
#118
VolCalls said:
I will never, ever, apologize for having high standards with this program, or in any area of life, for that matter. I expect us to consistently be at the level of Georgia, Alabama, and Ohio State and be in the conference championship/national title hunt 4 out of every 5 years. Games like last night show me we still have a ways to go.
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Who asked you to deviate from your high standards? Your standards and their justification doesn't affect my life.
 
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#119
#119
Budalicious said:
If you were to fire CJH with what he has done to turn this program, there isn’t a top tier coach in the nation would take the job. Remember we couldn’t get anyone after firing CPF
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We fired Fulmer one year after extending his contract with a penny pinching AD who wanted to hire someone who was a polar opposite culture personality.

We literally fired Fulmer at a point when his buyout would be the highest possible amount. And to top it off, we gave Lane a cheap out with his buyout being $1m for leaving for another job.

Tennessee then forced other coaches to take on staff holdovers as a condition for being considered.

Part of the issues post Phil was the morons running the Admin and AD
 
#120
#120
VolCalls said:
I will never, ever, apologize for having high standards with this program, or in any area of life, for that matter. I expect us to consistently be at the level of Georgia, Alabama, and Ohio State and be in the conference championship/national title hunt 4 out of every 5 years. Games like last night show me we still have a ways to go.
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Is that what Currie told you too 😂
 
#122
#122
JMSqb11 said:
We fired Fulmer one year after extending his contract with a penny pinching AD who wanted to hire someone who was a polar opposite culture personality.

We literally fired Fulmer at a point when his buyout would be the highest possible amount. And to top it off, we gave Lane a cheap out with his buyout being $1m for leaving for another job.

Tennessee then forced other coaches to take on staff holdovers as a condition for being considered.

Part of the issues post Phil was the morons running the Admin and AD
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We are well past Phil,so again who are you getting that is A PROVEN TOP TIER CHAMPIONSHIP WINNING COACH. IM WAITING
 
#124
#124
with all the movement in coaching changes this season already, we’re in a great spot because this is the first NIL era silly season with multiple high to mid programs with openings and all the same usually coaches past 6 years are on the hot boards everywhere. It’s great we can sit this out for a couple of years. Of all the available coaches right now, nobody can say they would overall be better than CJH record at TN, despite the sloppiness.

Does CJH need to fix some serious coaching flaws? Yes! And if he can’t we will replace him in 3 years, perhaps with Golesh if he hasn’t left USF already. They’re building a new stadium and he says he likes where he lives (for now lol), maybe he’s waiting …. Maybe CJH gets tired of the college craziness and goes pro? He’s already shown he mostly only cares about offensive scheme and drawing plays.

The admin and coaching staff need to address the issues, make improvements and changes, especially at OL and DC, and if not, prepare yourself for 8-4 next 3 seasons until a change is made! The schedules are not favorable to this staff considering 5 years of road misery!
 
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