tvolsfan
VN GURU
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First of all, let me say I hate all of those above terms, and I believe a person over the age of 13 who legitimately uses the word 'hater' to describe people should be extremely embarrassed.
Now, I'm not going to pretend I've completely changed my predictions about Dooley, but I do feel at least a little better than I did before, for a few reasons.
1. The reputation of the guy among certain fans, particularly LSU, has been great to hear. No one has a high opinion of the LaTech Job or Ruston. People really think he was nicely things turned around, and they seem to have an overall high opinion of him. Other in-conference fan bases have said Dooley is a major upgrade for us, but most of those are due to the fact that Dooley didn't give them any crap upon his arrival here. I don't care what Will Muschamp says, and I don't expect Saban would be perfectly honest in describing the guy, but I do believe LSU fans have at least some clue about the guy.
2. The staff, while not as good as the previous staff, in my opinion, looks to be capable. Looking at the points BSU gave up before and after the hire, Wilcox didn't look quite as good at first, but upon researching the guy more, it looks to be a solid hire. I also like the Smith hire, and am glad we kept Chaney and Thompson. If anything, it keeps me from worrying about what may happen if some guys leave.
3. Dooley seems to have a certain fire that makes me think he'll shoot for excellence. Nothing would be worse than a guy like Fulmer who just stares at mediocrity and claps in a way resembling the Gator chomp. If Dooley works hard, demands the staff do so as well, and holds players accountable for screw ups on and off the field, things could turn out well.
My current feelings: I still am not overly confident. I really, really want Dooley to succeed. Believe me, I haven't made close to 20,000 posts on this site because I want to increase my 'e-cred.' I love Tennessee and want them to succeed. Period. That being said, I still think he's over his head. He's just in a situation which I find to be incredibly difficult. You may be optimistic, but I'm not thrilled about hiring an unproven coach to beat rival coaches who, in the future, may be considered two of the greatest of all time.
My prediction for his tenure: Something along the lines of 6-7, 7-6, 8-5, and 8-5, resulting in his firing after 4 years or so. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm just not expecting it. I do not, however, believe that he'll be like Bill Battle was, and I think the next coach, hopefully a great one, will be able to come into a decent situation and compete for championships relatively quickly.
Bottom line: I'm certainly not wishing anything bad on Tennessee, so I can feel smart. If I'm wrong, I'll gladly admit it, although I admittedly won't be so quick to give everyone else here credit, because I don't feel like everyone else is making rational, unbiased predictions. I do believe some people are optimistic based on what they really know about the guy, and they may turn out to be right, but I believe a lot of the optimistic people here simply aren't looking at the situation without bias.
To summarize: If Dooley wins, those of us who criticize him need to admit we were wrong. However, those who call us 'haters' also must be able to see it like it is if this isn't going so well. In my opinion, the problem with UT right now can be attributed to the failure to make the necessary changes when they were needed years ago, due to loyalty and optimism. We, as a fan base, need to support the head coach and team. However, we also need to demand excellence for the program we love. If we want to win, we have to stop accepting anything less.
Just like not everyone who likes Dooley is a 'blind sheep,' I'm most definitely not a bandwagon/fair-weather fan. If I was, I'd be rooting for Ohio State, which in all honesty, is a school I have much, much more connection to. However, I love and will continue to root for the Vols. Believe it or not, G8trH8tr Eric and Hatvol ultimately want the same thing for the Tennessee. I'm not saying we should cease to debate the hire, the present and the future, but we shouldn't absolutely loathe each other when doing it. It's getting hard to watch, and I imagine the only ones really enjoying it are Lawgator and some Yellowhammers. I'm not thrilled, we really do have to 'wait and see.' I just hope we realize that reaching the top will require excellence, and as fans of UT, we should do whatever we can to make sure we have that excellence. Sucking for a few years is one thing, and it happens to everyone. Sucking for a few years and refusing to address the problem is unacceptable.
It's time to get back to writing my report (unfortunately, engineering isn't quite as exciting as football), so I'll simply leave it at this. We all want the same thing. We'll get it, too. I just hope it's sooner, rather than later. Let's just try to avoid killing each other in the mean time.
Now, I'm not going to pretend I've completely changed my predictions about Dooley, but I do feel at least a little better than I did before, for a few reasons.
1. The reputation of the guy among certain fans, particularly LSU, has been great to hear. No one has a high opinion of the LaTech Job or Ruston. People really think he was nicely things turned around, and they seem to have an overall high opinion of him. Other in-conference fan bases have said Dooley is a major upgrade for us, but most of those are due to the fact that Dooley didn't give them any crap upon his arrival here. I don't care what Will Muschamp says, and I don't expect Saban would be perfectly honest in describing the guy, but I do believe LSU fans have at least some clue about the guy.
2. The staff, while not as good as the previous staff, in my opinion, looks to be capable. Looking at the points BSU gave up before and after the hire, Wilcox didn't look quite as good at first, but upon researching the guy more, it looks to be a solid hire. I also like the Smith hire, and am glad we kept Chaney and Thompson. If anything, it keeps me from worrying about what may happen if some guys leave.
3. Dooley seems to have a certain fire that makes me think he'll shoot for excellence. Nothing would be worse than a guy like Fulmer who just stares at mediocrity and claps in a way resembling the Gator chomp. If Dooley works hard, demands the staff do so as well, and holds players accountable for screw ups on and off the field, things could turn out well.
My current feelings: I still am not overly confident. I really, really want Dooley to succeed. Believe me, I haven't made close to 20,000 posts on this site because I want to increase my 'e-cred.' I love Tennessee and want them to succeed. Period. That being said, I still think he's over his head. He's just in a situation which I find to be incredibly difficult. You may be optimistic, but I'm not thrilled about hiring an unproven coach to beat rival coaches who, in the future, may be considered two of the greatest of all time.
My prediction for his tenure: Something along the lines of 6-7, 7-6, 8-5, and 8-5, resulting in his firing after 4 years or so. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm just not expecting it. I do not, however, believe that he'll be like Bill Battle was, and I think the next coach, hopefully a great one, will be able to come into a decent situation and compete for championships relatively quickly.
Bottom line: I'm certainly not wishing anything bad on Tennessee, so I can feel smart. If I'm wrong, I'll gladly admit it, although I admittedly won't be so quick to give everyone else here credit, because I don't feel like everyone else is making rational, unbiased predictions. I do believe some people are optimistic based on what they really know about the guy, and they may turn out to be right, but I believe a lot of the optimistic people here simply aren't looking at the situation without bias.
To summarize: If Dooley wins, those of us who criticize him need to admit we were wrong. However, those who call us 'haters' also must be able to see it like it is if this isn't going so well. In my opinion, the problem with UT right now can be attributed to the failure to make the necessary changes when they were needed years ago, due to loyalty and optimism. We, as a fan base, need to support the head coach and team. However, we also need to demand excellence for the program we love. If we want to win, we have to stop accepting anything less.
Just like not everyone who likes Dooley is a 'blind sheep,' I'm most definitely not a bandwagon/fair-weather fan. If I was, I'd be rooting for Ohio State, which in all honesty, is a school I have much, much more connection to. However, I love and will continue to root for the Vols. Believe it or not, G8trH8tr Eric and Hatvol ultimately want the same thing for the Tennessee. I'm not saying we should cease to debate the hire, the present and the future, but we shouldn't absolutely loathe each other when doing it. It's getting hard to watch, and I imagine the only ones really enjoying it are Lawgator and some Yellowhammers. I'm not thrilled, we really do have to 'wait and see.' I just hope we realize that reaching the top will require excellence, and as fans of UT, we should do whatever we can to make sure we have that excellence. Sucking for a few years is one thing, and it happens to everyone. Sucking for a few years and refusing to address the problem is unacceptable.
It's time to get back to writing my report (unfortunately, engineering isn't quite as exciting as football), so I'll simply leave it at this. We all want the same thing. We'll get it, too. I just hope it's sooner, rather than later. Let's just try to avoid killing each other in the mean time.
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