A Sad Tale of the Tape

#56
#56
I told the cabby I wanted to go somewhere that had the best something..

That night put a hole in my wallet thats for sure..
We can always make more paper. The wealth is in the experience. Spain is fun. Loved it there and ended up going to every state except the island ones. Nights can get very expensive. I learned to go home early. Lol
 
#57
#57
#58
#58
For the last 15 years or so there have been five SEC teams that have really mattered, and no, Tennessee isn't one of them.

Alabama
Auburn
Florida
Georgia
LSU

Whilst perusing the football Media Guide for material to post in @peaygolf's outstanding trip through Memory Lane in his "Countdown" thread, I came across a section listing UT's cumulative record against everyone they've ever played.

(Warning: you may or may not want to see this)

Cumulative records - adjusted for 2020 results:

Alabama 38-58-7
Auburn 22-29-3
Florida 20-30
Georgia 23-25-2
LSU 20-10-3

Gentle Jesus, Tennessee would have to win EVERY game against 'Bama until 2041 just to pull even!!!

View attachment 372442

For comparison, I consulted my copy of the 1999 Media Guide and learned that Tennessee led the series against Florida, Georgia and LSU at that time. They trailed Auburn by 2 games and Alabama by 10.

Until Tennessee can make those records more favorable, we will be in the cellar.

Coach Heupel has his work cut out.

I believe we tied up the Bama series in 1970...but over the last 50 years Bama leads us 35-14-1...
 
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#60
#60
Should we tell the youngsters?

Nah, let 'em do their own research. Means more that way.

I am something of a Mauldin aficionado. I have four of his books in my library: Up Front, which won the Pulitzer in 1945, Back Home, A Sort of a Saga, which is about his early life, and The Brass Ring which is sort of a BTS story of the other three. His stories of his time in the Oklahoma National Guard which became the 45th Division and the many Indians in that unit are just gold. Note: he served with the 45th in North Africa,, Sicily and Italy.

willie and joe 2.jpg
 
#61
#61
Nah, let 'em do their own research. Means more that way.

I am something of a Mauldin aficionado. I have four of his books in my library: Up Front, which won the Pulitzer in 1945, Back Home, A Sort of a Saga, which is about his early life, and The Brass Ring which is sort of a BTS story of the other three. His stories of his time in the Oklahoma National Guard which became the 45th Division and the many Indians in that unit are just gold. Note: he served with the 45th in North Africa,, Sicily and Italy.

View attachment 372640
I have Up Front. My dad bought it when he came home from WWII
 
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#62
#62
I stated this during the Jeremy Pruitt and still stick to to this belief:

We need to get back to regularly beating Kentucky, Vandy, South Carolina, and Missouri as well as winning against the OOC non-Power 5 teams before we can worry about the big dogs.

This is what we can hope for in the next 2-3 years. The reason the other coaches failed is they could not consistently beat these teams. With what I listed, that is generally 7 wins. You get those 7 wins and then you can start talking about the other teams and trying to improve the record.

Tennessee doesn't have the ability to in-state recruit like the 5 SEC powers that you mentioned. We also haven't had any success the last 15 years. We are more comparable with Arkansas or Ole Miss than the other 5 SEC powers. Arkansas is actually a great comparison as they were once good and have to go out of state, just like Tennessee, to get solid recruits.
 
#63
#63
Nah, let 'em do their own research. Means more that way.

I am something of a Mauldin aficionado. I have four of his books in my library: Up Front, which won the Pulitzer in 1945, Back Home, A Sort of a Saga, which is about his early life, and The Brass Ring which is sort of a BTS story of the other three. His stories of his time in the Oklahoma National Guard which became the 45th Division and the many Indians in that unit are just gold. Note: he served with the 45th in North Africa,, Sicily and Italy.

View attachment 372640
 
#65
#65
Fulmer is as much to blame as Hamilton

Eh, Fulmer was to blame for his bad OC hires, and his inability to see that the game was changing, and adapt, but he was still recruiting fairly well.

Hamilton being completely incompetent, and insisting on hiring Kiffin instead of Gary Patterson is what started UT on the path to where we are today.
 
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#66
#66
Eh, Fulmer was to blame for his bad OC hires, and his inability to see that the game was changing, and adapt, but he was still recruiting fairly well.

Hamilton being completely incompetent, and insisting on hiring Kiffin instead of Gary Patterson is what started UT on the path to where we are today.
He had no way of knowing USC would come calling a year later. The slide is clearly on Fulmer
 
#67
#67
He had no way of knowing USC would come calling a year later. The slide is clearly on Fulmer

It wasn't just USC coming calling. Kiffin was way too immature to lead the program, USC learned that as well, and would have had us under NCAA sanctions in no time.

He and his wife both couldn't seem to keep their hands off of coeds, and UT would have most likely faced a Title IV lawsuit before he was ultimately fired.

For whatever success he has found these later years, at the time, he was not a good hire for UT when Gary Patterson wanted the job.
 
#68
#68
He had no way of knowing USC would come calling a year later. The slide is clearly on Fulmer

The slide started when Hammy nuked Kiffin's buyout in order to keep Kiffin under $2m annually. If Hammy was competent and Kiffin had a normal buyout, USC doesnt come calling.

Hammy then doubled down on stupid and hired Dooley.

Now, Fulmer absolutely attempted to destroy what was left of the football program by hiring and extending Pruitt..
 
#69
#69
It wasn't just USC coming calling. Kiffin was way too immature to lead the program, USC learned that as well, and would have had us under NCAA sanctions in no time.

He and his wife both couldn't seem to keep their hands off of coeds, and UT would have most likely faced a Title IV lawsuit before he was ultimately fired.

For whatever success he has found these later years, at the time, he was not a good hire for UT when Gary Patterson wanted the job.
That we would have been on probation is pure, uninformed speculation. Kiffin has never gotten another program on probation.
 
#70
#70
The slide started when Hammy nuked Kiffin's buyout in order to keep Kiffin under $2m annually. If Hammy was competent and Kiffin had a normal buyout, USC doesnt come calling.

Hammy then doubled down on stupid and hired Dooley.

Now, Fulmer absolutely attempted to destroy what was left of the football program by hiring and extending Pruitt..
Fulmer's arrogance allowed the program to slide to mediocre levels before Hamilton was forced to fire him
 
#72
#72
The program wad sliding but Hammy's incompetence blew it to smithereens.

He made the wrong hire twice and failed to do what competent ADs do with coaches...
I don't know if you realize that the AD doesn't make a unilateral decision when hiring our HCs
 
#73
#73
That we would have been on probation is pure, uninformed speculation. Kiffin has never gotten another program on probation.

USC had him on a short leash given how Pete Carroll left them, Hamilton did not. The only reason that UT wasn't cited by the NCAA, was because they successfully made the case that Kiffin was personally in a position to have prevented the infractions prior to them occuring.

So while UT didn't get hit, it's only because Kiffin had left. Were he still here he'd have opened UT up to a "lack of institutional" control infraction as well.
 
#74
#74
Damn. Did not know he passed. His knuckler was insane.
I can remember the Braves broadcast crew in the 80s telling a story about a fan writing a letter about Niekro. The fan wondered if the crew could explain why they thought Niekro was crazy since they kept calling him "Nutsy." They couldn't stop laughing as they were trying to clarify that they were calling Phil "Knucksy" based on his best pitch.
 
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#75
#75
I feel like the biggest mistake was the Dooley hire. At worse, we should have hired an interim and went after a real coach the following season.
 
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