Best & Worst Of Every Tennessee Head Coach

#78
#78
LadyVolette said:
That was a crazy, crazy time.. I wonder what would have happened if (was it Hamilton?) could have seen what lay ahead, would they have handled it all much differently?
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Firing Fulmer at the end of the season would’ve been better but hiring Kiffin was the issue. If we had hired Patterson or someone like him we would’ve been fine
 
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#79
#79
Rickyvol77 said:
Firing Fulmer at the end of the season would’ve been better but hiring Kiffin was the issue. If we had hired Patterson or someone like him we would’ve been fine
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Agreed.. they could have let Phil go with more class, and as far as I’m concerned, Kiffin just disrespected the program and set it back about 15 years, probably causing the most damage out of all of them.. some people still harbor a man crush on him, but I think he is a tacky hobo grifter 😂
 
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#80
#80
At that time Kiffin was a spoiled rich kid with the maturity of a 12 yr old. Just coming off being the youngest NFL coach in history. No matter how much he screws up, he has always fallen up. It amazing.
 
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#82
#82
Jeff Clark said:
General Neyland Best: 1939 Orange Bowl 17-0 win over Oklahoma
General Neyland Worst: 1947 Loss to Ole Miss 43-13

Bowden Wyatt: Best 1956 6-0 win over Georgia Tech
Bowden Wyatt: Worst 1958 14-6 loss to Chattanooga

Doug Dickey: Best 1967 24-13 win over Alabama
Doug Dickey: Worst 1964 7-0 loss to Vanderbilt

Bill Battle: Best 1970 24-0 win over Alabama
Bill Battle Worst: 1976 38-28 loss to 3-8 Auburn

Johnny Majors: Best 1986 Sugar Bowl 35-7 win over Miami
Johnny Majors: Worst 1986 25-21 loss to 5-6 Army

Phil Fulmer: Best 1999 Fiesta Bowl 23-16 win over FSU
Phil Fulmer: Worst 2008 13-8 loss to Wyoming

Lane Kiffin: Best 45-19 win over Georgia
Lane Kiffin: Worst 37-14 loss to Virginia Tech 2009 Peach Bowl

Derek Dooley: Best 2011 45-23 win over Cincinnati
Derek Dooley: Worst 2011 10-7 loss to Kentucky

Butch Jones: Best 2016 38-28 win over Florida
Butch Jones: Worst: 2017 42-24 loss to Vanderbilt

Jeremy Pruitt: Best 2018 24-7 win over Kentucky
Jeremy Pruitt: Worst 2019 38-30 loss to Georgia State
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Wyatt's win over #1 LSU would have to get my vote
 
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#84
#84
ThreatLevelOrange said:
Majors bottomed out in 88. Pick any game during the 0-6 start.
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A lot of good teams in those losses

9-3 Georgia
7-3-1 Duke(Coached by Steve Spurrier)
9-3 Washington State
10-2 Auburn(SEC Co-Champions)
8-4 LSU(SEC Co-Champions)
9-3 Alabama
 
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#87
#87
Other_Guy said:
Wyoming was Hamiltons fault. You will not convince me otherwise.
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Always thought it was hilarious that instead of rallying around their coach and ensuring he got to a bowl game, they instead folded and quit on him. Proving the point that he needed to be fired.
 
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#88
#88
GetYouSomeofThat said:
The team quit when Fulmer was fired a reaction that should have been anticipated by the administration and the fans. Fulmer for all his faults was well liked by most players. Which in the mind of some ignorant fans was a bad thing.

The Wyoming loss rests solely onnthe shoulders of the administration and the Legions of the Miserable.
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You would think a team that loved its coach would, I don’t know, try and rally around him and get him to a bowl. Instead they quit on him.
 
#89
#89
zjcvols said:
Always thought it was hilarious that instead of rallying around their coach and ensuring he got to a bowl game, they instead folded and quit on him. Proving the point that he needed to be fired.
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Yeah 6-6 Tennessee would have played Boston College in the 2008 Music City Bowl. I wonder who would have been the Interim head coach for Tennessee?
 
#90
#90
Rickyvol77 said:
Firing Fulmer at the end of the season would’ve been better but hiring Kiffin was the issue. If we had hired Patterson or someone like him we would’ve been fine
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Hiring Dooley after Kiffin was the issue. If they had hired Cutcliffe or Sumlin instead the program wouldn’t have thrived but been perfectly okay. Instead we hired Dooley and set the program back 10 years (which is true. After Dooley the program was never looked at the same until this year with Heupel).
 
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#91
#91
Jeff Clark said:
Yeah 6-6 Tennessee would have played Boston College in the 2008 Music City Bowl. I wonder who would have been the Interim head coach for Tennessee?
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I’m pretty confident that Hamilton said Fulmer would have but don’t hold me too that
 
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#92
#92
zjcvols said:
You would think a team that loved its coach would, I don’t know, try and rally around him and get him to a bowl. Instead they quit on him.
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You really think that is how most people woild react when a coach they love and respect has been fired? Especially when the fans they were there to enterrain had turned on said coach?

Its highly likely morale in that locker room has never been lower. Those players knew that every coach they played for had just gotten canned and reacted as most humans would in a similar situation.
 
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#93
#93
utvols74 said:
I lived in Memphis at the time. The Memphis loss - with Peyton Manning as QB - was a disaster. It contributed to the talk of Peyton not being Heisman winner the next year. The truth is....the Memphis team in '96 had NFL defensive talent in lots of places with so many landing there from JUCO. The talent level was unexpected by UT. Aside from that, the punt return for a TD by Memphis would have been overturned in the modern era with instant replay.
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It would have, no doubt about it. Al `Wilson getting hurt in that game was also a blow. I was sitting behind Al's Mother that game and she was very upset. However, I think the loss to Wyoming was his worst loss.
 
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#96
#96
Fulmer
High Point:I would say overall the 1998 season with either the win over Florida or the 1999 Fiesta Bowl being the highest point.
Low Point:Either Vanderbilt 2005 or Wyoming 2008

Kiffin:
High Point:I honestly was not paying much attention to Tennesee football at the time so I can not come up with a high point
Low Point:Bailing on the team

Dooley:
High Point:North Carolina State 2012
Low Point:Only one? You had the two overtime win over UAB, the LSU debacle, but honestly the worst was the loss to Kentucky.

Jones:
High Point:I am going to say the 2016 Florida win
Low Point:Florida 2017. Florida had a lot of players suspended and hadn't practiced in several weeks and still was able to win. The next week against UMass it was obvious that Jones lost the team. Jones losing the team set up for all the bad things that happened in 2017 such as the decimation at the hands of Georgia and ending the year winless in the SEC and having the worst season in Tennessee history. I think if Tennessee wins Florida that year I do think that they get another win and make a bowl game of some sorts.

Pruitt:
High Point:Auburn 2018
Low Point:Georgia State 2019
 
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#97
#97
Orange12 said:
Wyatt's win over #1 LSU would have to get my vote
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It was, unquestionably, a very significant win, one of, I believe, only two wins over number-one ranked teams in Tennessee football history. However, that Big Orange team only finished 5-4-1 on the season. The '56 Georgia Tech game, however was an absolute classic and a battle of unbeaten titans: "No. 2 Georgia Tech vs. No. 3 Tennessee with a trip to the Sugar Bowl on the line. Future Vols' coach Johnny Majors led Tennessee to a 6-0 victory that propelled them to No. 1 in the AP poll, though the Vols ended up losing in the Sugar Bowl." Historical Analysis: Georgia Tech vs. Tennessee
 
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#98
#98
Pruitt High: First half of the Bama game year two. I know we beat Auburn, but that first half was fun and we believed.
Low: after the third Kentucky INT and it was clear we were about to routed at home to those guys so early in the season.

Butch High: JJ Hail Mary catch.
Low: Vandy kicking our ass and costing us a 10 win season and a NY6 bowl. Really set the tone for what was to come the next year.

Dooley High: being hired.
Low: that stupid picture of him being wheeled out in a chair after getting his ass handed to him by Vandy.

Kiffin High: getting the onside kick against Bama. Again, we believed.
Low: that UCLA loss was just uglyyyy.

Fulmer High: the NC obviously.
Low: this is tough. I want to say Wyoming but that LSU SECC loss really was the slow beginning of the end for him.
 
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#99
#99
PA Vol said:
Pruitt High: First half of the Bama game year two. I know we beat Auburn, but that first half was fun and we believed.
Low: after the third Kentucky INT and it was clear we were about to routed at home to those guys so early in the season.

Butch High: JJ Hail Mary catch.
Low: Vandy kicking our ass and costing us a 10 win season and a NY6 bowl. Really set the tone for what was to come the next year.

Dooley High: being hired.
Low: that stupid picture of him being wheeled out in a chair after getting his ass handed to him by Vandy.

Kiffin High: getting the onside kick against Bama. Again, we believed.
Low: that UCLA loss was just uglyyyy.

Fulmer High: the NC obviously.
Low: this is tough. I want to say Wyoming but that LSU SECC loss really was the slow beginning of the end for him.
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Could probably also be the loss to Memphis in 1996. I know a couple of people that still get legit fighting mad over that one lol
 
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