And people still saying he should be fired? I'm frustrated with him too but this is silly. C'mon people. Seems there are some issues but to me he's got to regress over the next two seasons for him to be fired (yes, two).
Now if I thought we had the donors/admin to put up the dough for a can't miss superstar (of which there are only 4-5), then ok. But that's not happening. Given the likely improvement over all 4 reg seasons, we should just let him do his thing.
People forgetting where we were when he got here. We were on the verge of disappearing.
I'd even suggest extending him and giving him raise/increased buyout. I see no reason not to at this point.....unless we tailspin the rest of this season, which I don't think we will.
OP, if this were last year or 2014 then your case would be completely valid. I appreciate what Butch has done since getting here. That being said, this past game was apparent that he should be done coaching at Tennessee. Let me explain.
His first couple of years he was digging us out of a huge hole dug by one of the worst college football coaches of all time. And honestly, he did a good job. He restocked the roster with talent and speed. He also installed a never give up, fight till the end mentality that had been severely lacking under Dooley. He is 2-0 in bowl games and brought us back into the top 25 briefly. I applaud him for that.
All that being said, this SC game should honestly be his Lloyd Carr game. Here is why. Butch is in year 4. All Dooley guys are gone so its his guys and his system. He has his coacing staff and everything in place how he likes it. He has a tesm that has a ton of experience in big time games. This was supposed to be the year where he puts it all together. This was the year where Tennessee went from good to elite. It never came close from the get go.
With a team loaded with experience and playmakers, we have not had 1 game this year in which we have entered halftime with the lead. Not 1. We have played Appalachain State, Ohio, VT, Florida, Georgia, TAMU, Alabama and South Carolina. As a whole team there is only one team we have played that had more talent, Alabama. So ok given the injuries and extreme talent disparity, the blowout loss was not surprising to me. But to need a miracle play to beat App State, struggling mightily against Ohio, needing a hail mary to beat a bad Georgia team was very troubling. But none of those compare to the SC game.
SC was one of the worst teams in the SEC, statistically and just overall. They had the wirst run defense and one of the worst scoring offenses in the entire country. They were playing a HS SR QB who was making his first start against an SEC team. They had a new HC. They are a dumpster fire right now. UMASS, one of the worst teams in the country managed to put 28 points on them. Yet, Butch and the Vols come off a bye week, being healthier than we have been in weeks, cannot manage more than 14 offensive points. The defense got routinely burned by a terrible offense. Poor tackling. Penalities. Blown coverages. Undisciplined. Horrid OL play. Terrible QB play. Bad WR play. These are all things that have been happening every year, consistently, since Butch has been here. Tennessee was a 2 TD favorite against SC. Given hiw bad Florida has looked, it was likely that LSU beats them and Arkansas has a decent shot to beat them because its in AK. All Tennessee had to do was beat SC, Mizzou, UK and Vandy and the East is ours. The weakest the East has been in years and Butch could not get it done. Players look slower, unmotivated, uninspired and just unprepared to go out there and play winning football. This type of thing simply should not happen to a football team with the talent Tennessee has. And its primarily Butch's fault.
