I will always support the Vols. This thread was a simple question:
Are the results we see on the field any better than when Dooley was here? It is a legit question for fans to discuss.
I am not bailing on him, just asking the question. I expected to see the team 117 perform better due to better coaching. Not necessarily more wins. I do not see better performance.
Will that change? I hope and think it will but for the here and now I see no difference.
It is a legitimate question, and while debatable, a legitimate observation.
Just remember, whenever you stray from the party line of #butchgetsit, the words of jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men: "You want the truth? You can't handle the truth!"
No, it's actually not a legitimate question. Not yet anyway. He hasn't even had a full recruiting cycle or finished his first season. Even if you wanted to give it a thorough discussion you couldn't do it because you just don't have sufficient data. Unless of course you want to use all coaching data at which point Dools isn't even in the conversation. Butch has four conference championships out of six years as a head coach. Dools lost at every stop.It's absolutely ridiculous to ask this question right now.
The Dooley damage actually goes deeper than that. He, as our coach, had a fundamental belief that UT couldn't compete and rather than trying to step up, challenge the players and change that, he coached to it. It happened in every game to some extent but was glaringly evident in the Mizzou game last year. How do you play for overtime when you have two of the best receivers in the SEC, a QB that can flat sling the ball around. You play to at least get in field goal range and try to win in regulation. The decision to play for overtime is a slap in the face to the team and tells them in no uncertain terms "I have no faith that you can get it done"! It was sickening and Dooley was a coward and a loser for playing and coaching like this.
Yes, I am still a bit disjointed about the way Dooley destroyed this team from a competitive standpoint. The way he mentally destroyed this team is worse than his recruiting and Xs &Os. It is CBJ most difficult challenge to turn around.
Like you said...both those decisions signal to the team that the HC thinks you are losers and he has to try something desperate. Unreal.....
And what does it signal to the team when you start an incompetent QB for the first time on the road at UF, and then leave him in the game after he turns it over 3 times?
So at what point does it become "acceptable" to compare the on field results of CDD and CBJ at UT? After a full season? After 3?
Certainly more data makes the picture clearer, but IMO there is nothing "wrong" about comparing them 10 games in.
The discussion gets much more interesting after the next two games and after NSD.
And what does it signal to the team when you start an incompetent QB for the first time on the road at UF, and then leave him in the game after he turns it over 3 times?
This is why we can't have nice things.Dooley should have beat LSU in his first year but didn't.
Dooley beat Cincy when he played Jones with this talent we see on the field now.
Jones almost beat UGA (minus two of their best O players). We did beat SC with a great play by North but every other competitive game has been a blowout and now we are seeing the team flat out give up.
I love the energy Jones brings, the cute slogans etc. but lets be honest....Dooley would have fared just as well this year. We see the exact same level of intensity that Dooley produced with pretty much the exact same results.
When SEC rivals set new records against team 117 it is not improvement. We simply have not improved one iota under Jones and it has me concerned that this turn around (if we are having one) is going to be a lot longer than many of us have the stomach for.
Fire away...
OP asked about how they compare to this point at UT, not for speculation on how many titles that you somehow "know" that CBJ will bring in or how many wins they had outside of their SEC careers.
CDDs first class, with less recruiting time, was top 10. CBJs was top 25.
10 games in to their first season, both were 4-6. CBJ gets the nod for his win over a ranked team at home, but CDD almost upset a ranked team on the road.
As we have noted, both made some very poor coaching decisions.
So overall the first year performances 10 games in are pretty similar. OPs question is answered.
The stage is now set for CBJ to close with wins over Candy and Kensucky (like CDD), go to a bowl game (like CDD), break ahead by WINNING a bowl game, sign a top 5 recruiting class, and go on to win championships.
But until he does it, he hasn't done it.
The problem with your analysis is that you believe all things are equal. If you can't see the differences then no one can help you. I can, and so can almost all others. And more importantly so can those in and around the program. Again, I just don't understand people that want to work at being negative.
And if you can't see the similarities, neither can I help you.
That was a bad decision and I have always said so. But I would be willing to bet anything you were one of the loudest complainers about Worley screaming for Peterson to get in.
But to be clear, I would not characterize it as "desperate" or even sending the wrong message to the team. Instead, it seems like the coach was just trying to win.
I don't question replacing Worley as an experiment, but you are correct that doing it on the road against UF for the first time is not wise. It's not desperate or sending the wrong signal to the team though...just showed a lack of judgement.
Going for it on 4th and 1 5 minutes into the second half from YOUR OWN 39 only down 7 is just a joke. No good coach would even consider that.
Certifiable, what has Butch done that's better than Dooley?