The sad thing is I don’t know if Tennessee can be competitive in the current landscape of college football. There are numerous obstacles, most of which are ones they’ve put in their own way. Athletic dept funding runs through the chancellor. You just have academia having way too much influence on what happens in athletics which is a business unto itself.
We also have way too much in fighting amongst boosters, alumni, former coaches, etc. Quite possibly the single most dysfunctional major program in the country for a long time. Imagine someone trying to accuse Bama or Georgia of providing improper benefits, does anyone legit believe that would happen at those programs; is anyone naive enough to believe those programs haven’t and aren’t providing illegal benefits. Kids arrive on campus driving SUVs and sports cars after being penniless in high school.
Then of course the NIL deal, seems like we’re a joke when it comes to the deals being offered in comparison to other programs. And I haven’t even touched on the “investigation” into the program hovering over us.
What Heupel and White have accomplished to this point is remarkable. Even recruiting has impressed me bc I didn’t think we would be this far along this soon after the damage Pruitt did there. Idk if it’s still enough in the long run to overcome the obstacles we place in our own way. And if Heupel can’t get it done we maybe headed down the tubes long term.
We also have way too much in fighting amongst boosters, alumni, former coaches, etc. Quite possibly the single most dysfunctional major program in the country for a long time. Imagine someone trying to accuse Bama or Georgia of providing improper benefits, does anyone legit believe that would happen at those programs; is anyone naive enough to believe those programs haven’t and aren’t providing illegal benefits. Kids arrive on campus driving SUVs and sports cars after being penniless in high school.
Then of course the NIL deal, seems like we’re a joke when it comes to the deals being offered in comparison to other programs. And I haven’t even touched on the “investigation” into the program hovering over us.
What Heupel and White have accomplished to this point is remarkable. Even recruiting has impressed me bc I didn’t think we would be this far along this soon after the damage Pruitt did there. Idk if it’s still enough in the long run to overcome the obstacles we place in our own way. And if Heupel can’t get it done we maybe headed down the tubes long term.