Are we broke or just reactionary?

#26
#26
LWSVOL said:
The players that left, including Nico, all wanted significant bumps in NIL. The staff worked hard in December giving bumps to the players they felt were worth it. They let the ones they didn’t feel were worth bumps go. Money is not an issue. But this staff is not going to overpay players to retain them or bring players in that they don’t believe provide the value.

Now everyone is going to come up with their own narrative as to the issues and broke is the easy narrative to play.

They reviewed film on almost every WR that has hit the portal this spring and didn’t see one as good as the 7 on our roster. Those they did speak with wanted starting money but were not good enough. So we passed.
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So difficult for our fan base to understand this. Everyone cries pay him/drop the bag.
Then every single WR on the roster will want a bump because they are as good or better than what was brought in.
 
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#27
#27
Dobbs 4 Heisman said:
So is this fiscal responsibility gonna be utilized in other ways (i.e. recruiting) or are we a poverty program that will always be bargain shopping?
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UT has always been a poverty program that bargain shops. We've been fortunate to get lucky with a couple of hires that have succeeded in winning championships. This is nothing new. Barnes is the ONLY big name coach besides John Majors that I can remember UT ever hiring. And again... we got lucky with timing on the Barnes deal.
 
#28
#28
jeff1vol said:
UT has always been a poverty program that bargain shops. We've been fortunate to get lucky with a couple of hires that have succeeded in winning championships. This is nothing new. Barnes is the ONLY big name coach besides John Majors that I can remember UT ever hiring. And again... we got lucky with timing on the Barnes deal.V's
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The coaching hires after Fulmer was a cluster F not doubt. I blame that more on an incompetent AD, Hamilton, than UT not willing to spend the $ but boosters may have played some role in the hirings to, don't know. IMO, DW brought in Heuple after the Pruitt fiasco because he knew him and knew he would run a clean program which was needed with the program on NCAA probation.

He went cheap on the LV's BBHC but that turned out well. The next FB coach will be his legacy hire or not.
 
#29
#29
Dobbs 4 Heisman said:
Cause I haven't seen any other team have as much portal drama as us. Can we not pay to keep our team together like other programs cause it seems like everyone of our players has either threatened to enter the portal or did enter the portal. And before yall say everyone is going through this, they're not. We have been involved in far more portal drama than everyone else. I supported not paying Nico but at some point you gotta try to keep your team together. It seems as though Huepel and higher ups have conceded this upcoming season given the fact we're going in with a team that's a shell of what it was last year.

The only way I'm giving Huepel a pass for this year is if we land a top 5 recruiting class with all the funds we've presumably saved from not paying guys what other teams in the portal were willing to pay. However, if we land another mediocre 10-15 recruiting classes paired with losing so many contributing players to the portal I have to assume we are a broke program that can't compete in this new money driven era of college football.
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Giving CJH a pass? What are you smoking? We better hope he doesn't leave. We were straight dog water before he got here. We went 3-7 the year before he got here. He had us ranked #1 (only for a week) 2 years later.......using Pruitt's recruits. He has resurrected the program. Get a grip.......
 
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#30
#30
The only portal drama that exists is within our fanbase. Personally, I love the approach we are taking at WR. It tells HS recruits that we only recruit players we intend to develop and play. That's not to say that we won't sign a game changer or fill holes using the portal, but we aren't going to use the portal to recruit over kids every year.

Brazzell and Matthews can play. Staley has track speed and ELITE athleticism. Jackson and Smith Jr are both consensus four-star prospects and Jackson was the #1 PLAYER IN TENNESSEE according to On3. Jefferson was a top 200 player in HS and Harmon is a local kid with 4.4 speed and hands good enough to be trusted in punt return by our coaches.

Maybe if y'all weren't so obsessed with the portal you'd recognize what we have and be excited that these kids are going to get an opportunity.
 
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#31
#31
Dobbs 4 Heisman said:
Cause I haven't seen any other team have as much portal drama as us. Can we not pay to keep our team together like other programs cause it seems like everyone of our players has either threatened to enter the portal or did enter the portal. And before yall say everyone is going through this, they're not. We have been involved in far more portal drama than everyone else. I supported not paying Nico but at some point you gotta try to keep your team together. It seems as though Huepel and higher ups have conceded this upcoming season given the fact we're going in with a team that's a shell of what it was last year.

The only way I'm giving Huepel a pass for this year is if we land a top 5 recruiting class with all the funds we've presumably saved from not paying guys what other teams in the portal were willing to pay. However, if we land another mediocre 10-15 recruiting classes paired with losing so many contributing players to the portal I have to assume we are a broke program that can't compete in this new money driven era of college football.
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Is that you Danny White
 
#32
#32
Dobbs 4 Heisman said:
Cause I haven't seen any other team have as much portal drama as us. Can we not pay to keep our team together like other programs cause it seems like everyone of our players has either threatened to enter the portal or did enter the portal. And before yall say everyone is going through this, they're not. We have been involved in far more portal drama than everyone else. I supported not paying Nico but at some point you gotta try to keep your team together. It seems as though Huepel and higher ups have conceded this upcoming season given the fact we're going in with a team that's a shell of what it was last year.

The only way I'm giving Huepel a pass for this year is if we land a top 5 recruiting class with all the funds we've presumably saved from not paying guys what other teams in the portal were willing to pay. However, if we land another mediocre 10-15 recruiting classes paired with losing so many contributing players to the portal I have to assume we are a broke program that can't compete in this new money driven era of college football.
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There like a-holes every one has one. I expect the reason you think we are so bad is you, like most of us, never go look at other program site, there are many programs out there that took harder hits than we. Bye the way have you seen what has happened in some of the basketball programs? Look at what happened to UCLA's women's team. If that were a UT program, we the VolNation, would need to be put out of our misery!!
 
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#33
#33
LWSVOL said:
The players that left, including Nico, all wanted significant bumps in NIL. The staff worked hard in December giving bumps to the players they felt were worth it. They let the ones they didn’t feel were worth bumps go. Money is not an issue. But this staff is not going to overpay players to retain them or bring players in that they don’t believe provide the value.

Now everyone is going to come up with their own narrative as to the issues and broke is the easy narrative to play.

They reviewed film on almost every WR that has hit the portal this spring and didn’t see one as good as the 7 on our roster. Those they did speak with wanted starting money but were not good enough. So we passed.
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I can buy most of what you are saying, but I know for a fact that we do not have 7 guys better than anyone else who hit the portal at wide receiver. Whoever is claiming that is a real spin doctor.
 
#34
#34
Dobbs 4 Heisman said:
Cause I haven't seen any other team have as much portal drama as us. Can we not pay to keep our team together like other programs cause it seems like everyone of our players has either threatened to enter the portal or did enter the portal. And before yall say everyone is going through this, they're not. We have been involved in far more portal drama than everyone else. I supported not paying Nico but at some point you gotta try to keep your team together. It seems as though Huepel and higher ups have conceded this upcoming season given the fact we're going in with a team that's a shell of what it was last year.

The only way I'm giving Huepel a pass for this year is if we land a top 5 recruiting class with all the funds we've presumably saved from not paying guys what other teams in the portal were willing to pay. However, if we land another mediocre 10-15 recruiting classes paired with losing so many contributing players to the portal I have to assume we are a broke program that can't compete in this new money driven era of college football.
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No, we don't have the cash that other teams do that is more than obvious at this point. That is why we are targeting hs recruits over mercenaries but the problem with hs recruits is it's a guessing game much like with Nico. The other major issue is if we sign a great hs recruit that performs really well then it takes a lot of cash to hold onto them. We either have the money to compete with OSU, Georgia, Michigan, etc. or we don't. It's that simple now and it appears that we do not because we aren't really a factor for any of the high level, proven transfers each year
 
#35
#35
LegionnaireOfTheMiserable said:
I can buy most of what you are saying, but I know for a fact that we do not have 7 guys better than anyone else who hit the portal at wide receiver. Whoever is claiming that is a real spin doctor.
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ok. Its the football staff that doesn't believe anyone is better for the money they are asking. Not just a talent assessment but financial / talent assessment.

and they are looking at spring portal players, not winter.

just for clarification.
 
#36
#36
LWSVOL said:
ok. Its the football staff that doesn't believe anyone is better for the money they are asking. Not just a talent assessment but financial / talent assessment.

and they are looking at spring portal players, not winter.

just for clarification.
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How is the player worth determined? At some point there seems to be a need to reevaluate some things. It seems odd to let a guy like Jakobe Thomas enter the portal when we are already thin at safety...especially after losing out on Lagonza Hayward and not having a backup plan.
 
#38
#38
landscapingvol said:
No, we don't have the cash that other teams do that is more than obvious at this point. That is why we are targeting hs recruits over mercenaries but the problem with hs recruits is it's a guessing game much like with Nico. The other major issue is if we sign a great hs recruit that performs really well then it takes a lot of cash to hold onto them. We either have the money to compete with OSU, Georgia, Michigan, etc. or we don't. It's that simple now and it appears that we do not because we aren't really a factor for any of the high level, proven transfers each year
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This is just not true. UT has the NIL $ to sign whomever they want. They are just not signing the players some of you think they should. The coaching staff in all the sports decides which players they want to go after and work thru Spyre for the NIL $.

The holding on to players is a universal problem for all schools now.
 
#39
#39
Volfan76 said:
How is the player worth determined? At some point there seems to be a need to reevaluate some things. It seems odd to let a guy like Jakobe Thomas enter the portal when we are already thin at safety...especially after losing out on Lagonza Hayward and not having a backup plan.
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I would say that it depends on who is assessing and what their needs are. You have to weigh that assessment based on your depth chart and skills, the skill of the player being assessed, the amount you believe he is worth and what he is asking for. If you think he is a backup at a position and you see that as a 200K requirement but the player wants 500K, is he worth that to you? You just have to decide and move forward one way or the other.

I don't know what the DT that committed to Vanderbilt was asking for financially but let's say 500K. Tennessee was looking at him as depth so 500K might be higher than they wanted to pay. But for Vandy, he might be a starter and worth 500k to them.

Worth is determined by what someone is willing to pay.

FYI: Jakobe's agent had a LOT to say about him leaving. He is promising him a lot more than what Tennessee thought he was worth. They were thinking he was going to withdraw and return but suddenly, he stopped talking to coaches and was gone. Similar to Nico.

that is my opinion.
 
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#43
#43
OrangeBeachVol said:
This is just not true. UT has the NIL $ to sign whomever they want. They are just not signing the players some of you think they should. The coaching staff in all the sports decides which players they want to go after and work thru Spyre for the NIL $.

The holding on to players is a universal problem for all schools now.
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You may be correct but I find it questionable that UT has the money to compete with anyone when there are obvious glaring holes on the team that weren't addressed with the best possible players that sign with our competition and have been difference makers. If Heupel is intentionally not targeting them out of strategy, then we have more problems than just NIL. No team would intentionally not sign a proven difference maker at a position of need unless that player has baggage which would be understandable but no serious person would argue that every highly coveted transfer that fails to come to Tennessee has baggage.
 
#44
#44
Dobbs 4 Heisman said:
Cause I haven't seen any other team have as much portal drama as us. Can we not pay to keep our team together like other programs cause it seems like everyone of our players has either threatened to enter the portal or did enter the portal. And before yall say everyone is going through this, they're not. We have been involved in far more portal drama than everyone else. I supported not paying Nico but at some point you gotta try to keep your team together. It seems as though Huepel and higher ups have conceded this upcoming season given the fact we're going in with a team that's a shell of what it was last year.

The only way I'm giving Huepel a pass for this year is if we land a top 5 recruiting class with all the funds we've presumably saved from not paying guys what other teams in the portal were willing to pay. However, if we land another mediocre 10-15 recruiting classes paired with losing so many contributing players to the portal I have to assume we are a broke program that can't compete in this new money driven era of college football.
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What makes you think Heupel and the higher ups have conceded on this season?
 
#45
#45
landscapingvol said:
You may be correct but I find it questionable that UT has the money to compete with anyone when there are obvious glaring holes on the team that weren't addressed with the best possible players that sign with our competition and have been difference makers. If Heupel is intentionally not targeting them out of strategy, then we have more problems than just NIL. No team would intentionally not sign a proven difference maker at a position of need unless that player has baggage which would be understandable but no serious person would argue that every highly coveted transfer that fails to come to Tennessee has baggage.
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Don't disagree with you at all. See LWSVOL's post above, #39, explains some of thinking on NIL recruiting. Why UT is missing out on some of the high profile recruits is a question I would like to see answered also.
 
#46
#46
Dobbs 4 Heisman said:
We just lost Jakobe Thomas who played a ton last year and was set to start. We lost Jayson Jenkins and Squirrel White (two major contributors last year) to Florida State. Obviously we lost our starting QB. Then there's the injury to our best CB without an obvious replacement. And not to mention all the depth that left. Depth guys leaving is acceptable but losing at least 3 potential starters without reasonable replacements makes us a shell of what we could've been.
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Can you name one game that Squirrel took over during his time at UT? He was mediocre at best. Jenkins looked like a guy that could have developed into a good player but there are a lot of proven guys and young talent left on the DL for UT to be good again.
 
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#47
#47
OrangeBeachVol said:
This is just not true. UT has the NIL $ to sign whomever they want. They are just not signing the players some of you think they should. The coaching staff in all the sports decides which players they want to go after and work thru Spyre for the NIL $.

The holding on to players is a universal problem for all schools now.
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Exactly. We didn’t beat out OSU for Sanders because we have no money. They were going all in for him and we ponied up. We do it for specific players
 
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#48
#48
LegionnaireOfTheMiserable said:
I can buy most of what you are saying, but I know for a fact that we do not have 7 guys better than anyone else who hit the portal at wide receiver. Whoever is claiming that is a real spin doctor.
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No you don’t know that for a fact. You believe you do. But stop living in a fantasy land where you know what you are talking about. Because you are exactly like 99.99% of us here on VN. We don’t truly have a clue. All we do is speculate.

None of us are coaches and are qualified to make such statements as fact.
 
#49
#49
PEPPERJAX said:
Can you name one game that Squirrel took over during his time at UT? He was mediocre at best. Jenkins looked like a guy that could have developed into a good player but there are a lot of proven guys and young talent left on the DL for UT to be good again.
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Bingo. White, Jenkins nor Thomas were big time losses.
 
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#50
#50
BigOrangeTrain said:
Bingo. White, Jenkins nor Thomas were big time losses.
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I do give props to Squirrel for doing the best he could on the field why he was here. He was just a marginal player imo. Jenkins looked like a DL to me that was only going to get better so it is a loss but one UT can live with because of depth. I like UT's chances of being able to put a DB on the field that can replace JT's 22 tackles from last year.
 
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