orange+white=heaven
VN GURU
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2005
- Messages
- 30,513
- Likes
- 3
First, a quote I noticed at the end of Hamilton's email last night...
"Expect To Win"..... :question:
Ron Higgins of the Commercial Appeal gets column space on GVX this morning. It is the take of several journalists on the topic of most importance here at VolNation.
What is said you have read right here at this board before, that it is finally being said out loud to the public represents a tidal shift in the Fulmer mystique in Tennessee...
Link
The quotes from the interviewed members of the media are below..
"Expect To Win"..... :question:
Ron Higgins of the Commercial Appeal gets column space on GVX this morning. It is the take of several journalists on the topic of most importance here at VolNation.
What is said you have read right here at this board before, that it is finally being said out loud to the public represents a tidal shift in the Fulmer mystique in Tennessee...
Link
The quotes from the interviewed members of the media are below..
....But the people who do pay attention are media who have covered the Vols for years. Heres a sampling of four veteran media observers, including a former Tennessee player.
Phillip can get it back
Charles Davis is a football analyst for the Big Ten Network, as well as Fox, and also hosts an XM satellite radio show on the SEC. He was a four-year starter at safety for Tennessee from 1983-86, the first three years as free safety and his last year as strong safety.
I guess Im old soul type guy, wish for those days to say, Look let the coach work through it. I dont think its so far gone at Tennessee where he (Fulmer) cant get it back.
They were 9-4 last year and so close to being magical. They ran for negative-11 yards to Florida and lose by one. They used a backup quarterback against LSU and controlled that game into the fourth quarter, and let it get away. Those games tell me hes not that far away.
Right now, this is not a shot at John Chavis because of his track record as defensive coordinator, but whats going on for them to give up those kind of points? Is it the defensive front, the hardest place to replace players?
One observation from watching them play Cal and Florida, it might be the first time where I watched a Tennessee game and said, Wow, they (Cal and Florida) might have more athletes than us. That was a very weird situation. Tennessee has lost games before, but you didnt walk away feeling the other team had a lot more athletes.
I understand when fans believe a change should be made if a program isnt winning championships. But you better know who youre changing with if thats where youre really going to go.
Tennessee is a fit job, meaning you need the right guy to fit the Tennessee job and the Tennessee people to fit this guy. That coach has to embrace what Tennessee and the South is about, to live the Southern coaching lifestyle where youre on 24/7, 365.
I still say Phillip can get it back. Is it difficult to do? Sure, its difficult. His biggest challenge in the short term is if Kentucky and South Carolina finish ahead of Tennessee in the East, thats a real, real issue.
If he can go the rest of the year with maybe one or two more losses, then what are we debating here? For all the quick fixes, this shouldnt be one of them.
A lot of empty seats
Jimmy Hyams has covered Tennessee athletics since 1985, his first 13 years with the Knoxville News-Sentinel and the last 10 in radio, these days as the host of a drive-time call-in show on WNML-AM.
The reaction from fans after the Florida loss has been more negative than any time during the 5-6 season two years ago, even after they lost to Vanderbilt.
Some fans have said that it doesnt matter if Tennessee wins the rest of its games, they are ready for a (coaching) change. That surprised me.
When Fulmer was having his success (in the 90s), he would basically out-talent people on offense and defense. He didnt need a lot of trickery. Now, the talent level has evened out, and the thing that used to work when you had great players isnt working when youve got average to good players. Look at their front seven (on defense). Whos their NFL players?
Recently, I looked at the signing classes of 2002 through 2006. They signed about 120 players. Thirty of them were good-to-great, but more than 40 have been busts already. The rest of those guys are average players or yet to be defined. When you have more busts than good-to-great players, then youve got problems.
Two things would push Mike Hamilton over the edge (to fire Fulmer). One is if they have fewer than seven wins. Seven wins may do it, with a combination of empty seats.
I was at the Arkansas State game (on Sept. 22) and I estimated there were about 90,000 people in Neyland Stadium. There were a lot of empty seats. There were 12,000 to 15,000 empty seats. If you lose, and apathy sets in and fans quit going to games, that will get you fired. Some of that has already set in, and if they lose to Georgia, you may start seeing games with crowds in the 80,000 range.
The majority of fans who call our show or who I run into believe that Fulmer will not win another championship.
Program has grown stagnant
Joe Biddle has been a columnist in Nashville for more than 25 years, first with the Nashville Banner and now with the Tennessean. He also has a daily radio show.
Fulmers seat is as hot as Ive seen it, and it has happened slowly but surely since 2001 when they gagged the second half of the SEC championship game against LSU. If they could have won that game, they would have gone to the Rose Bowl and the national championship game, and he (Fulmer) would have been fine.
But since then, for whatever reasons, that program has grown stagnant. If youre a Tennessee fan and content with the Vols winning eight and nine games, then Fulmer can deliver that. But if you expect more from somebody who you pay more than $2 million a year, like winning the league and playing for national championships, then you think about making a change.
This is very difficult conference now. If you had to rate the coaches in the SEC, Id put Fulmer somewhere in the middle of the pack.
I dont think hes going to get it back. It peaked in 1998, and it has been in a rut for a while. They may have sent more players to the NFL the last 10 years, but why dont the win-loss records reflect that?
Why? Their coaching staff has grown stale, they need some more energy. When some of the staff members are jealous of another staff member like Trooper Taylor, whos enthusiastic and gets the players fired up, thats a problem. I think you have to keep your staff up to date and relevant, and Fulmer hasnt done a very good job with that.
I think he could save himself if he goes 8-4, but what are you saving? If youre Mike Hamilton and youre looking at a stadium that seats 107,000 people, how much longer are those people willing to pay what they pay now if 8-4 seasons are satisfactory? It wouldnt be satisfactory at Florida, Georgia, LSU, Auburn, Alabama and others. If you keep putting up 8-4 records, what does it prove?
There has been a dropoff in talent. Do you see a John Henderson or Albert Haynesworth in the defensive line? Do you see a running back in the mold of Travis Henry? Do you see a Robert Meachem at wide receiver? Do you see an Al Wilson at linebacker? The offensive line cant move anybody, they cant run a lick.
Tennessee might be recruiting good players, but those players arent being developed.
Hes had his day
National recruiting expert and radio host Bill King, based in Nashville, hosts a daily Rivals Radio show on Sirius satellite radio from 5-8 a.m. on Channel 123.
I dont think Fulmer will get the program back to where it was. Hes had his day. His big moment has come and gone. The league is better than it was in the mid 90s, and Tennessee isnt as good.
Hes not going to get it back, and I dont think hes the person to get it back. If they want to get it back, they need to bring in a new, fresh outside way of thinking. Whoever comes in will have a chance to work with a good, not great roster.
Fulmer is an outstanding head coach/recruiter, maybe the best Ive ever seen. But hes lost his sales pitch. If you look at what they put on the field at the skilled positions, theres not a player out there that scares an SEC opponent, whether its at receiver or running back. Couple that with the fact they havent gotten anybody blocked in the running game, since, heck, maybe a little bit in 2001.
Youve got to have athletes who are playmakers who are superior in space. I dont see Tennessee recruiting as well as Florida or Georgia or LSU. Georgia is having a monstrous recruiting year. All Florida has to do is paddle the boat out to the middle of the lake, and recruits are jumping in. Alabama is about to cycle up big-time. Tennessee no longer gets the special player.
There has been this lethargic cloud that has hung over the Tennessee program for five or six years. There just seems to be a lack of energy, theres no excitement around the program. I dont think you can take a coach and his entire program that has been there that long and inject it all with enthusiasm.
They need new energy. They have a choice. They can remain in the eight- to nine-win area, and decide thats OK. Or they can decide its not OK, make a move and bring somebody in to move it forward again.
