Andy Staples: "Tennessee fans need to learn from Nebraska fans."

[DaddyChad]

He’s a DA. What kind of national power was Clemson before Dabo?

 

[RollllTide]

You guys are a big hire from being good.

We were you pre Saban. The hire after Nick will be key for us. Players wanna go pro and win.

Continuity and winning = recruits. Players don’t care about your school. You might but they don’t. You guys gotta stop firing people constantly and settling for what you can get.

 

[Voltopia]

I don’t agree with the assessment.

But, there is a difference between being mediocre for 8 years with a couple of good years sprinkled in and being terrible for a decade and a half.

The problem with a lot of the comparisons to other programs that are often made is that either (a) they weren’t nearly as bad as what Tennessee has been or (b) they weren’t as bad as long.

The comparison is not 1:1, I won't deny that, not in the wins and losses. But there are similarities. When Franchione ditched Alabama for A&M, forcing Alabama to settle on Mike Shula, only to boot him, endure the Mike Price fiasco (so everything before Saban) - journalists in that period treated Alabama like a laughingstock. Alabama fans were too proud, living in the past, didn't realize the reality of the SEC, etc. The tone was usually about how Alabama fans and athletics people were incapable of getting out of their own way, and they were seen as having no patience for Alabama restoring itself to the top of the heap - part of why they cut enough corners to get caught again by the NCAA. Just couldn't settle down, those wacky Alabama fans. Too much passion, not enough sense. Oh I read all sorts of sports articles with that very tone, all the time. People made fun of Alabama on the regular, and Alabama fans knew it. "Roll Tide Roll, you ain't goin' to a bowl." It was common then.

Oh but after all that crap, they hired Saban and got their house in order.

Will Tennessee do the same? I have no idea. Can Tennessee do the same? Absolutely. To hell with the "Nebraska" stuff. Tennessee will only be as mediocre as it allows itself to be. Yes the tragedy has run longer, but this mentality of accepting being an also-ran is a joke.

Interestingly enough, now that I about it, the ineptitude is fascinatingly similar. Franchione ditches Alabama like Kiffin ditches Tennessee (jumping ship early), then each school settled on a "football family" type (Shula and Dooley), there's a complete meltdown moment (Price and Schiano), all sorts of things. Has Tennessee handled it worse? Oh yes, absolutely. And they're not 1:1. But Alabama didn't quit back then - they stuck to their courage and their insane passion for football. I hope Tennessee does the same. And I scorn any moron who claims it impossible.

 

[DiderotsGhost]

So sick of this s@$# from the media.

Nebraska's struggling because the college football landscape has moved away from them. It's difficult to recruit to Nebraska. The closest major market for talent is Texas and it's more difficult for them to tap into Texas since they left the Big 12. So Nebraska will probably not be able to replicate the great success they had in the 80s and 90s any time soon because all the fundamentals have gone against them.

Tennessee is in the reverse situation. There's actually much more talent in Tennessee (and the Southeast in general) than there was back in the 80s and 90s. Tennessee's advantages have gotten much larger since we won a national title. And yet, we've sucked for the better part of a decade and a half mostly due to terrible ADs and terrible coaches.

This idea that 'we can never be great again' and 'time has past us by' is just rubbish. It's easier to succeed here in 2021 than it was in 1985. We've just had crap leaders.

Very happy to see the Danny White hire today, though. Our AD has been a joke for the better part of 2 decades. Looks like we finally got serious about fixing it. Much more optimistic today than I was yesterday.

 

[Voltopia]

I want to see these articles where journalists said Alabama would never be good again.

Okay then. Here's an excerpt from a Paul Finebaum story written in 2006 (after Shula was fired, I think?) containing comments from national commentators -

Here is an example from one of ESPN’s highest-paid and most respected radio hosts, Colin Cowherd: “The one everyone thinks is such a great job and I don’t is Alabama. They have a bad athletic director, Bear Bryant’s son is your boss. They have wacko delusional boosters, an absurd and unrealistic scrutiny, hyper-competitive environment … What’s good about that?”

Jim Rome, the nation’s top sports-radio talker and host of ESPN’s “Rome is Burning” television show, said: “Maybe Alabama wouldn’t be so quick to have fired Mike Shula if they knew that nobody in America who mattered would be willing to step in and replace him. Look at who has already said no. Nick Saban: Pass. The Ol’ Ball Coach: No thanks. Frank Beamer: Why should I? Bobby Petrino: Downgrade. Rich Rodriguez: Make me. Oh, and Jim Leavitt wants nothing to do with you. That has to hurt. Being Alabama and getting the Heisman from the coach at South Florida, at least the U. was turned down by Rutgers. At this point, you might as well dig up Bear Bryant. Or better yet, see if Mike Price is still interested. Trust me, you’re not going to do any better. The front of the jersey may still say Alabama but in name only. That program is nowhere right now. It’s become an SEC afterthought. Enjoy the glory days of Bryant, Namath, Stabler, Stallings, Alexander, Price because that’s all you have and that is not going to change.”

Gee. Sounds pretty similar to me. Anyway. The rest of the article is here.
In '06, Finebaum ripped ESPN, Rome, and Cowherd for hilariously wrong Alabama/Saban rants

The opinions Cowherd and Rome expressed, while being called out in Finebaum's article, were not unique to them alone. Alabama was considered an overly-prideful afterthought in the SEC at its lowest point in 2006.

 

[VolsSince78]

Alabama did not go 15+ years. Where do you all get this from?

@wmcovol gets this from knowing facts. Bama never ranked higher than 5th from 1993-2007, i.e. 15 football seasons. No legit national contenders in that time as he stated.

 

[VolinMichigan]

Nebraska has actually fielded some decent teams within the last 15 years. Played for multiple Big10 championships. Bo Pelini showed that Nebraska could consistently compete for conference titles. I would love to have been in their place some of those seasons.

With how top heavy recruiting has been this last decade, outside of Bama, Clemson, Ohio St, maybe Oklahoma, maybe LSU, the next 10-15 teams are on a pretty equal field recruiting wise. This usually translates into playing for the occasional conference title, winning 9-10 games consistently, winning more than half of your games against ranked opponents. That’s where Tennessee wants to live and where they could live with solid recruiting, player development and good coaching. Has that been the case with TN in the last 15 years? Absolutely not. I don’t think many realistic fans think Tennessee will be competing for a national title, but the potential is there to be at that level.

 

[VolForLife83]

Paul Finebaum asked Andy Staples what he would say to Tennessee fans about the state of Tennessee football. Something like "Tennessee is basically irrelevant to the conversation these days, so what is the message Tennessee gives to the fans in Knoxville now?"

Staples basically said (also paraphrased somewhat) that - "Tennessee fans need to learn from Nebraska fans, who've come to term with what Nebraska is now. Nebraska fans would be happy now just being Wisconsin. That's reality. You win some games, you occasionally compete for the Big 10 title. Tennessee fans need to learn that same lesson. You can't compete for national titles every year at Tennessee. You're not Alabama, you're not LSU. You never will be. Every now and then you will compete for an SEC East title (note: that's not a real thing, Andy), and every so often you may in the mix for a national title. But you won't do it every year, and that's okay. It's not like the 1990s. The days of Tennessee being a major player are over."

Seriously, SCREW this GARBAGE. THAT is the sort of mentality that makes you a Nebraska. "Aw shucks we're just lucky to be playing good this year" horsecrap. I wonder if they said the same garbage about Alabama after Mike Price exploded in scandal and Mike Shula flopped into oblivion. I'll save you the Google searches - they did. Sports journalists used to write about how Alabama was irrelevant, particularly when the NCAA bashed their heads in for the textbook stuff. But here we are 15 years later and these fat flapping gasbags are running their mouths about how Alabama is one of a kind and Tennessee "trying to be Alabama" simply won't work, and they need to be content being a Nebraska or being third in the SEC East division.

Never believe these morons. Never back down. Never stop aiming to be the best. I long for the day when Tennessee can print out every page containing all the garbage these idiots spewed and cram it down their throats until they choke on it.

He can suck my husker

 

[mj755]

Well, The state of Tennessee isn’t the state of Nebraska. Nebraska has a population of 2 million and slow growing. Tennessee has a population of 7 million and growing at a steady clip. We have three major metro areas over 1 million population including Nashville which is right at 2 million. People are moving here and our high school talent is getting better. It’s not Alabama or Florida quality but we’re making progress. For some reason CJP ignored our in state prospects for the most part. That’s one of the few things CBJ did well is too recruit well in state. Hurd, Malone and Barnett really made a difference in 2014-16. If CBJ could actually coach well in big games, we would have beaten OU, UF and Arkansas in 2015 and Bama barely beat us that year as well.

Therefore, you cannot compare UT to Nebraska. Nebraska has always had to hit it hard out of state when comes to recruiting regardless of an occasional talent out of Omaha or a strong farm kid lineman out of rural Nebraska every once in a while. I think UT has enough in state talent in the coming years (if they’re recruited well) to at least put a Music City bowl team on the field before any additional out of state 4 and 5 stars are recruited. We just need somebody to coach and develop and we certainly didn’t have that with CJP.

 

[njvols]

I want to see these articles where journalists said Alabama would never be good again.

THANK YOU. Reality is, LSU, UF, UGA, BAMA, UT are all in a position to be dominant. Bama struggled for 10years (not to UT's degree), LSU struggled for decades before they hired Saban, Less. All these teams are only one great hire away from dominance...though UT will take longer because of our self inflicted wounds. Not that Saban has a problem bringing talent to Bama, but if imagine if he were at UGA or UF, where in state talent is in such abundance.

 

[SaintLouieVol]

Tennessee does need to learn from Nebraska. Don't hire Scott Frost!

Frost, as coach, is not the problem, he is good with the Xs & Os. Frost, as a recruiter to the Great Plains, is the problem. Very few HCs could recruit to Nebraska at a level to compete for national titles. And those that could (Sabin, Urban) would never go there for other reasons. For this reason I wish everyone would stop comparing the situations at UT and Nebraska. Despite our recent failures, there is a much higher chance of getting back to national relevance at UT. I seriously doubt that White would have left UCF to take an AD position at Nebraska but he jumped at the opportunity to come to UT.

 

[Jaws]

Alabama went 15+ years when they weren’t a national contender also in the 90s-2000s. It’s about hiring the right people. They weren’t doing it and they weren’t competing very well. Then they got it right.

LSU went something like 5-6 straight years with losing seasons. Then they got it right, same guy as Bama hired. Now, they may be coming back to the pack. Their sanctions could easily be worse than Tennessee’s when all is over.

Bama played in 5 SEC title games in the 90’s, including winning it in 99. They did have a stretch of 6-7 seasons in the 2000’s where they weren’t playing for championships, but they had some good seasons mixed in there. And then Saban arrived in 2007 and the rest is history.

LSU has been more sporadic but even in down years, they’ve never seemed completely non-competitive and doomed to mediocrity.

I think Tennessee is in a much deeper and wider hole than either of those programs.

 

[Vol737]

He can suck my husker

And he knows where he can put that corn Cobb too.

 

[SpookyAction]

So sick of this s@$# from the media.

Nebraska's struggling because the college football landscape has moved away from them. It's difficult to recruit to Nebraska. The closest major market for talent is Texas and it's more difficult for them to tap into Texas since they left the Big 12. So Nebraska will probably not be able to replicate the great success they had in the 80s and 90s any time soon because all the fundamentals have gone against them.

Tennessee is in the reverse situation. There's actually much more talent in Tennessee (and the Southeast in general) than there was back in the 80s and 90s. Tennessee's advantages have gotten much larger since we won a national title. And yet, we've sucked for the better part of a decade and a half mostly due to terrible ADs and terrible coaches.

This idea that 'we can never be great again' and 'time has past us by' is just rubbish. It's easier to succeed here in 2021 than it was in 1985. We've just had crap leaders.

Very happy to see the Danny White hire today, though. Our AD has been a joke for the better part of 2 decades. Looks like we finally got serious about fixing it. Much more optimistic today than I was yesterday.

Nebraska can also no longer juice their players like the East German women's olympic swim team like they could 20 years ago. That is the big part of their decline.

Nebraska has actually fielded some decent teams within the last 15 years. Played for multiple Big10 championships. Bo Pelini showed that Nebraska could consistently compete for conference titles. I would love to have been in their place some of those seasons.

With how top heavy recruiting has been this last decade, outside of Bama, Clemson, Ohio St, maybe Oklahoma, maybe LSU, the next 10-15 teams are on a pretty equal field recruiting wise. This usually translates into playing for the occasional conference title, winning 9-10 games consistently, winning more than half of your games against ranked opponents. That’s where Tennessee wants to live and where they could live with solid recruiting, player development and good coaching. Has that been the case with TN in the last 15 years? Absolutely not. I don’t think many realistic fans think Tennessee will be competing for a national title, but the potential is there to be at that level.

Bo's 8-9 win seasons weren't enough. Let that sink in next time you think about HuskerCountry 2021.

 

[Electric Orange]

Paul Finebaum asked Andy Staples what he would say to Tennessee fans about the state of Tennessee football. Something like "Tennessee is basically irrelevant to the conversation these days, so what is the message Tennessee gives to the fans in Knoxville now?"

Staples basically said (also paraphrased somewhat) that - "Tennessee fans need to learn from Nebraska fans, who've come to term with what Nebraska is now. Nebraska fans would be happy now just being Wisconsin. That's reality. You win some games, you occasionally compete for the Big 10 title. Tennessee fans need to learn that same lesson. You can't compete for national titles every year at Tennessee. You're not Alabama, you're not LSU. You never will be. Every now and then you will compete for an SEC East title (note: that's not a real thing, Andy), and every so often you may in the mix for a national title. But you won't do it every year, and that's okay. It's not like the 1990s. The days of Tennessee being a major player are over."

Seriously, SCREW this GARBAGE. THAT is the sort of mentality that makes you a Nebraska. "Aw shucks we're just lucky to be playing good this year" horsecrap. I wonder if they said the same garbage about Alabama after Mike Price exploded in scandal and Mike Shula flopped into oblivion. I'll save you the Google searches - they did. Sports journalists used to write about how Alabama was irrelevant, particularly when the NCAA bashed their heads in for the textbook stuff. But here we are 15 years later and these fat flapping gasbags are running their mouths about how Alabama is one of a kind and Tennessee "trying to be Alabama" simply won't work, and they need to be content being a Nebraska or being third in the SEC East division.

Never believe these morons. Never back down. Never stop aiming to be the best. I long for the day when Tennessee can print out every page containing all the garbage these idiots spewed and cram it down their throats until they choke on it.

Yeah and Clemson was just Clemson until it wasn't. With winning, all things are possible.

 

[beachvol23]

Okay then. Here's an excerpt from a Paul Finebaum story written in 2006 (after Shula was fired, I think?) containing comments from national commentators -

Here is an example from one of ESPN’s highest-paid and most respected radio hosts, Colin Cowherd: “The one everyone thinks is such a great job and I don’t is Alabama. They have a bad athletic director, Bear Bryant’s son is your boss. They have wacko delusional boosters, an absurd and unrealistic scrutiny, hyper-competitive environment … What’s good about that?”

Jim Rome, the nation’s top sports-radio talker and host of ESPN’s “Rome is Burning” television show, said: “Maybe Alabama wouldn’t be so quick to have fired Mike Shula if they knew that nobody in America who mattered would be willing to step in and replace him. Look at who has already said no. Nick Saban: Pass. The Ol’ Ball Coach: No thanks. Frank Beamer: Why should I? Bobby Petrino: Downgrade. Rich Rodriguez: Make me. Oh, and Jim Leavitt wants nothing to do with you. That has to hurt. Being Alabama and getting the Heisman from the coach at South Florida, at least the U. was turned down by Rutgers. At this point, you might as well dig up Bear Bryant. Or better yet, see if Mike Price is still interested. Trust me, you’re not going to do any better. The front of the jersey may still say Alabama but in name only. That program is nowhere right now. It’s become an SEC afterthought. Enjoy the glory days of Bryant, Namath, Stabler, Stallings, Alexander, Price because that’s all you have and that is not going to change.”

Gee. Sounds pretty similar to me. Anyway. The rest of the article is here.
In '06, Finebaum ripped ESPN, Rome, and Cowherd for hilariously wrong Alabama/Saban rants

The opinions Cowherd and Rome expressed, while being called out in Finebaum's article, were not unique to them alone. Alabama was considered an overly-prideful afterthought in the SEC at its lowest point in 2006.

Oh please send this to Andy Staples tweet it for the whole world to read!!!

 

[ATLVols]

We need to learn from Nebraska not to hire a mid-major coach who was the flavor of the month. Now their coach is on the hot seat. That’s what concerns me with Chadwell and other mid-major coaches.

 

[DERELICK_MY_VOLS]

I want to see these articles where journalists said Alabama would never be good again.

A look back to when the current Alabama football dynasty began

The current Alabama football dynasty began with a game against Clemson in 2008. The Crimson Tide record after Gene Stallings and through Nick Saban’s first season in 2007 was 74-61.
The 2006 season did not include any quality wins among the six victories. The Crimson Tide worked hard to beat Bobby Johnson’s Vandy team 13-10. The Alabama football win over Ole Miss is tainted by Ed Orgeron being the Rebels’ head coach. Six SEC losses and a loss to Oklahoma State in a bowl took the final record to 6-7.
Following Mal Moore’s dismissal of Mike Shula, the mood of Alabama football fans was later described by Rick Bragg,

"The Alabama faithful were done with waiting, with mediocrity and with disappointment. They were sick of Auburn, which had beaten them five years in a row; bone weary of NCAA investigations and probations reaching back to 1993; and finished with coaches who could not gut out the expectations."​

Sound familiar?

Tennessee Football from Lane Kiffin up to Jeremy Pruit...going back 12 seasons our record is 73-75.

 

[Volbrando]

Tennessee gets so much press because while we have screwed up a ton lately we are also a sleeping giant that’s just waiting to get it right. If we were a smaller school with no huge fan following and without potential, we’d never be mentioned

 

[VolsSince78]

Bama played in 5 SEC title games in the 90’s, including winning it in 99. They did have a stretch of 6-7 seasons in the 2000’s where they weren’t playing for championships, but they had some good seasons mixed in there. And then Saban arrived in 2007 and the rest is history.

LSU has been more sporadic but even in down years, they’ve never seemed completely non-competitive and doomed to mediocrity.

I think Tennessee is in a much deeper and wider hole than either of those programs.

LSU was 58-65-1 with 3 winning seasons in an 11 year span. Their futility ended when they hired Saban.

Like LSU, the Vols are a home run hire away from a return to prominence. Don’t need a Gator hack like Staples, nor you, to advise me on the future prospects of Vol football. Bye now.

 

[GVol1966]

Paul Finebaum asked Andy Staples what he would say to Tennessee fans about the state of Tennessee football. Something like "Tennessee is basically irrelevant to the conversation these days, so what is the message Tennessee gives to the fans in Knoxville now?"

Staples basically said (also paraphrased somewhat) that - "Tennessee fans need to learn from Nebraska fans, who've come to term with what Nebraska is now. Nebraska fans would be happy now just being Wisconsin. That's reality. You win some games, you occasionally compete for the Big 10 title. Tennessee fans need to learn that same lesson. You can't compete for national titles every year at Tennessee. You're not Alabama, you're not LSU. You never will be. Every now and then you will compete for an SEC East title (note: that's not a real thing, Andy), and every so often you may in the mix for a national title. But you won't do it every year, and that's okay. It's not like the 1990s. The days of Tennessee being a major player are over."

Seriously, SCREW this GARBAGE. THAT is the sort of mentality that makes you a Nebraska. "Aw shucks we're just lucky to be playing good this year" horsecrap. I wonder if they said the same garbage about Alabama after Mike Price exploded in scandal and Mike Shula flopped into oblivion. I'll save you the Google searches - they did. Sports journalists used to write about how Alabama was irrelevant, particularly when the NCAA bashed their heads in for the textbook stuff. But here we are 15 years later and these fat flapping gasbags are running their mouths about how Alabama is one of a kind and Tennessee "trying to be Alabama" simply won't work, and they need to be content being a Nebraska or being third in the SEC East division.

Never believe these morons. Never back down. Never stop aiming to be the best. I long for the day when Tennessee can print out every page containing all the garbage these idiots spewed and cram it down their throats until they choke on it.

Who?
Andy Staples needs to come to terms with nobody cares what the F he thinks.

 

[wmcovol]

Bama played in 5 SEC title games in the 90’s, including winning it in 99. They did have a stretch of 6-7 seasons in the 2000’s where they weren’t playing for championships, but they had some good seasons mixed in there. And then Saban arrived in 2007 and the rest is history.

LSU has been more sporadic but even in down years, they’ve never seemed completely non-competitive and doomed to mediocrity.

I think Tennessee is in a much deeper and wider hole than either of those programs.

3 if those SEC championship appears were ‘92, 93, & 94 which I admit ‘93 & ‘94 were good teams but not national contenders. The West was clearly the weaker division in those years with LSU down & Auburn on probation. Getting there wasn’t very hard for them. Their 99 team wasn’t really in the NC hunt either (Tennessee beat them handily in Tuscaloosa that season). They won 3 games the following season. They won 10 games in 05, but lost any hope when Prothro kid got hurt. Shula was fired the following season so even Bamers weren’t impressed.

 

[99gator]

99, I understand what you're saying, but I will caution you that although you are generally a tolerable Florida fan, this isn't the time for an opposing fan to jump in to the 'Tennessee will never rise again' argument.

Again, not bashing, because you add to most discussions, but this may be a time and place you wanna sit out, brother.

I said I don’t agree with assessment.

 

[Vols8086]

Honestly, if we look at our history after Neyland (1953-Present) we have had a couple bursts of great years but been fairly mediocre the rest of the time. We had a nice 5 year run in the late 60's and early 70's. Then obviously you have the 95-98 run which really has skewed people's perception of the program. Other than that you will have some great years like 56, 87, 89, 01 but there is a whole lot of mediocrity in there.

 

[jeff1vol]

Not LSU??? Staples needs to put down the crack pipe. Hes about as stoopid as Beldar Cornbread. Vol Twitter!!! ATTACK NOW!!