Better times are coming, here's how you can tell.

[Rudy123]

I hope better times are coming.

Could you imagine waiting another five years and having to start over again? It's already been a decade since we fielded winning teams.

Didn't Butch take us to 3 bowl games and winning seasons? I consider that winning or I at least consider it not losing

 

[arkyvol]

That logic says the majority of 4 and 5 star players we have recruited are actually less than 3 star players and the majority of 2 and 3 star players recruited by Vandy are actually 4 star players or higher. You might be right but that would be the boondoggle of the century.

That is something that has bugged me over the last ten years: how can these highly ranked U.T. classes routinely turn out to be busts? I hope someday somebody gets the bright idea to reevaluate recruiting rankings four or five years after the players are signed.

 

[Bucket18]

Wrong, wrong, wrong. You people living in a dream world where Tennessee has better players than Vandy need to wake up to reality. Vandy owns us 5 of the last 7 and currently 3 wins in a row. Vandy has better players than us. Everyone in the SEC has better players than us. There are Division II teams with superior attitude and talent. We're the absolue worst in the SEC for 2 years running now. We are what Vandy used to be. That's what Pruitt has to try and sort out, that's reality.

I agree. Also Tennessee recruiting in the past has been based on stars and not
Fit and development.

 

[james_govols]

Didn't Butch take us to 3 bowl games and winning seasons? I consider that winning or I at least consider it not losing

Yeah he did. However, we basically had to start over after he was fired. He won 4 games his final season and we only won 5 this year. So Butch basically left us as worse off as when he was originally hired.

 

[butchna]

Always the little troll Butchna unable to resist his urge to spend his day taking his little troll stabs at other posters. Bye queenie.

Took barely a second...why are you still here? Miss the train?

 

[LibertyVolance]

Took barely a second...why are you still here? Miss the train?

No, my train is on time and ready to leave. Just wanted to pause and see if Butchna was still sniffing around trying to find someone to sit on his face. And, of course, he is. What many posters don't consider when posting with you is that there is a possibility they are wasting their time and thoughts on a child molester serving time at Brushy Mountain. But most don't waste their time sharing a thought with you. You simply wedge your way into their conversation uninvited and unwanted. My deepest sympathy to those folks.

 

[butchna]

No, my train is on time and ready to leave. Just wanted to pause and see if Butchna was still sniffing around trying to find someone to sit on his face. And, of course, he is. What many posters don't consider when posting with you is that there is a possibility they are wasting their time and thoughts on a child molester serving time at Brushy Mountain. But most don't waste their time sharing a thought with you. You simply wedge your way into their conversation uninvited and unwanted. My deepest sympathy to those folks.

You’re overthinking...disturbingly so with the child molestation angle. I comment on goofy, pious posts and let you spazzes do the heavy lifting. What “conversation” were you having...and with whom? Your imaginary friends? Sympathy to your caseworker.

 

[DD4ME]

Umm I skimmed it and can tell you no one can be certain at this juncture if we are headed towards better days.
Scott

 

[TGFHeupel16]

I didn't say we won't win but our path back to being a contender in the East is more than likely going to be the path that UK and Mark Stoops took. He's in his 6th season and finally having some success. This program is closer to where UK was in 2013 than where UGA was in 2016 when Kirby took over UGA. I know that's a huge bitter horse pill to swallow but it is what it is. I think Fulmer is well aware of that. No one is turning this thing around in anything less than 4 years.

Disagree. We recruit way better just as a University then KY. On top of that, I believe Pruitt is an elite recruiter and coach.(go ahead and give me hell) We will win 7-9 games next year. Year 3 we should be going for the east, and believe we’ll be competitive by then, at least. Might be close to Ga by then. I do Believe this kit hire could definitely help make my prediction come true. Pruitts got this D.

 

[LibertyVolance]

Took barely a second...why are you still here? Miss the train?

54,361 posts since you joined in 2013. Holy cow! I would wager that 98% or better of those posts had zero to add to the FB conversation and were simply those little chippy chides you make trolling other posters criticizing their actual contributions to the conversations.

There are some well meaning, knowledgeable fans here, of which you are not one.

 

[butchna]

54,361 posts since you joined in 2013. Holy cow! I would wager that 98% or better of those posts had zero to add to the FB conversation and were simply those little chippy chides you make trolling other posters criticizing their actual contributions to the conversations.

There are some well meaning, knowledgeable fans here, of which you are not one.

You broke new ground! I post too much! Take a lap! Good to see that you’re one of those contrived percentages devotees...98% proficiency . Look at you with the “contributions”. Not coming back til they win? So you contributed by declaring yourself fair weather? No flak for that...plenty of you out there! Why do we need to know your screenname? So we can pretend to be excited at your return when you post “yay Vols!” someday. I know enough to compensate for your sabbatical. Chop chop!

 

[LibertyVolance]

You broke new ground! I post too much! Take a lap! Good to see that you’re one of those contrived percentages devotees...98% proficiency . Look at you with the “contributions”. Not coming back til they win? So you contributed by declaring yourself fair weather? No flak for that...plenty of you out there! Why do we need to know your screenname? So we can pretend to be excited at your return when you post “yay Vols!” someday. I know enough to compensate for your sabbatical. Chop chop!

There is your prisoner mentality again. You sit in your cell with nothing but time. Mad at the world for your situation, you are obsessed with someone's degree of fandom or what you can find to criticize about their posts or their outlook. When I responded to this post, I wasn't finding disagreement with the OP. I rarely do disagree with most OPs. When I read posts I disagree with, as a rule, I just don't comment. On the other hand, I always see you taking potshots at other posters every single time you get a chance. Not to offer a differing opinion, but simply to be disagreeable and unsocial. That is what defines you and your almost incredulous post count. You snipe at people like a worrisome gnat, trolling posts to see if you can snipe at their posts or their responses to a post. Literally, thousands of unwanted, meaningless potshots expanding your post count to unfathomable heights.

What kind of fan I am, or my degree of fandom, should be nothing to you nor any of your business. Your approval is not what I nor anyone else needs. You need to worry about the warden's approval and the prison psychiatrist's evaluation on your progress, which indicates to me that you may never qualify for release based on your anti-social obsessions and inability to get along with the outside world.

 

[CR-vol]

That logic says the majority of 4 and 5 star players we have recruited are actually less than 3 star players and the majority of 2 and 3 star players recruited by Vandy are actually 4 star players or higher. You might be right but that would be the boondoggle of the century.

No, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is there's been some poor evaluating going on which isn't really a news flash or anything. I'm not a recruiter I'm just armchairing it here. Many of these players may have been superstars in HS but for whatever reason there sure is a poisonous atmosphere and mindset among them in that locker room. That's part of evaluating figuring out who has the mental toughness right? And that poisonous atmosphere didn't leave when Jones was fired. Dobbs was most certainly a great leader on that team. So leadership I guess? Team or coaches? I dunno, I just want to see my team get back to relevancy. It's not fun criticizing them. Probably time to stop and just wait until next September to see what happens.

 

[IPleadInsanity]

No, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is there's been some poor evaluating going on which isn't really a news flash or anything. I'm not a recruiter I'm just armchairing it here. Many of these players may have been superstars in HS but for whatever reason there sure is a poisonous atmosphere and mindset among them in that locker room. That's part of evaluating figuring out who has the mental toughness right? And that poisonous atmosphere didn't leave when Jones was fired. Dobbs was most certainly a great leader on that team. So leadership I guess? Team or coaches? I dunno, I just want to see my team get back to relevancy. It's not fun criticizing them. Probably time to stop and just wait until next September to see what happens.

I think that is true. I guess I just can't wrap my head around UT losing to Vanderbilt in football once, let alone 3 times in a row. Now you throw in getting run off the field and I am forced to go to Youtube and watch old Peyton Manning videos!

 

[AshG]

That logic says the majority of 4 and 5 star players we have recruited are actually less than 3 star players and the majority of 2 and 3 star players recruited by Vandy are actually 4 star players or higher. You might be right but that would be the boondoggle of the century.

Were it only that simple.

The problem begins with the star rating system being horribly misunderstood by many people. A 4 or 5 star rating pertains to the on-field performance but says nothing to the off-the-field issues that make up a significant portion of the player's persistence and grit at the collegiate level. Go watch the Last Chance U: Season 2 follow-up episode and you'll see what I mean. Players who are prone to off-the-field shenanigans have to be reigned in, and hard. Not every kid is coachable, but some coaches feel the risk/reward ratio is stable enough to give the kid a chance.

I'd like to see a better metric for talent scouting that takes the total package into consideration. A 5 star talent who is difficult to coach due to ego and has a sub-1.5 GPA should be rated lower than a 4 star talent who listens to his coaches and adapts based on instruction while also making solid academic progress without need for constant intervention.

 

[JohnD13]

I'll try to keep this to an approachable length. My attention span is likely as far gone as many of yours are at this point. But please, save the tl;dr schtick for the kiddie pool.

The tl;dr is "we're going to be alright." There, now you can go.

Without going into all the boring details, my dissertation work is on transition, transaction, persistence, and grit in performance-related fields. Observing the team from a distance limits my accuracy tremendously, but I believe these four items are at play right in front of us. How I see the staff handling them is what keeps me positive.

1. Transition. There are three stages to transition, and the older players look like they are stuck in the first stage (starting to transition). This is usually marked by extreme difficulty adjusting to new environments or expectations. Many of these older kids didn't transition for CBJ either; the ones stuck in transition tend to be those who weren't used to sharing the spotlight with anyone else at the high school level. Primadonnas tend to want to maintain their primadonna identities. Teams built around them often falter when the player moves on because the entire team has to transition to fit the next big recruiting catch rather than the other way around. Expect to see less of this and more completed transitions (aka buy-in) as Pruitt and staff evaluate talent on ability to integrate as well as just raw talent. Completed transitions by a greater number of players lead to more efficient...

2. Transaction. Athletics are built around transactional relationships. A coaching staff and their team exists in a symbiotic relationship. The coaching staff provides training and exposure to the players, who are then supposed to put on display what they've been taught. When they display what they were taught at a high enough level, the coaching staff is able to move to next-level skills. The performance of the players also helps to bring notoriety to the coaches, who can then recruit a higher echelon of players. When Pruitt kicked the board on the sideline early in the season, it was out of frustration that the unit was failing to perform what they'd been taught; the transactional relationship had broken down. Personnel who are stuck in transition are notorious for contributing to a breakdown of the transactional process and make it more difficult for those who are committed to overcome the mess that's been created. Like a cog in a watch or clock, one broken cog tooth is all it takes to throw the whole thing out of whack. Traditionally, it's up to the players / personnel to fit into the transactional expectations of the coach / CEO / director. Primadonnas and go-it-alone players are especially dangerous. Pruitt has been brought up in effective systems that removed or mitigated the effects of aberrant participants, and we can see some signs of that happening here.

3. Persistence and grit. These are two sides of the same coin but are still markedly different. Persistence is related to how an individual handles external issues to get where they want to go, while grit is largely an internal dialogue and reaction. Players who have been handed everything in the past and not expected to earn their place on the squad outside of their raw ability often have low persistence metrics because they have't had to push through external difficulties. Bad press, pressure from another player nipping at their heels in the depth chart, and struggles with life away from the field put players in the position to demonstrate their ability to persist in the face of adversity. Grit is the inner dialogue; pushing through doubts, staying focused on the end result instead of being trapped by what ifs and why did Is, Grit can be taught; good coaches do it all the time. Persistence has to be learned the hard way of actually dealing with the issues at hand.

This year's Vols had plenty opportunities to demonstrate persistence, but when it came down to it they were lacking the wherewithal to push through to the other side. A lack of grit by many players was evident on the field tonight, but there is more and more being demonstrated by the younger members of the team. Assuming Pruitt can continue to lock down players who are willing to transition fully into the team's group identity and the incoming players feel they are receiving a quality product from Pruitt and staff and reciprocate with high-quality gameplay, we should see marked improvements next year and beyond.

It's easy to look at Mullen and Florida and be pissed off that we don't have that level of success this year. I wanted it, too. Florida didn't have the pernicious, program-sapping personnel issues because they had a stable of players who were more willing to transition into a new team ethos than we did. As CBJ's players matriculate out, we'll likely see greater buy-in, better play, and less of the team giving up in tough situations. We're going to be alright.

That's what you consider short?

Oh and tldr:

 

[AshG]

That's what you consider short?

To be fair, I left out about 99% of the content I have prepared on the subject. I didn't include the flowcharts, lit review, or references either. Not everything can be boiled down to "hurr durr" level.

 

[butchna]

There is your prisoner mentality again. You sit in your cell with nothing but time. Mad at the world for your situation, you are obsessed with someone's degree of fandom or what you can find to criticize about their posts or their outlook. When I responded to this post, I wasn't finding disagreement with the OP. I rarely do disagree with most OPs. When I read posts I disagree with, as a rule, I just don't comment. On the other hand, I always see you taking potshots at other posters every single time you get a chance. Not to offer a differing opinion, but simply to be disagreeable and unsocial. That is what defines you and your almost incredulous post count. You snipe at people like a worrisome gnat, trolling posts to see if you can snipe at their posts or their responses to a post. Literally, thousands of unwanted, meaningless potshots expanding your post count to unfathomable heights.

What kind of fan I am, or my degree of fandom, should be nothing to you nor any of your business. Your approval is not what I nor anyone else needs. You need to worry about the warden's approval and the prison psychiatrist's evaluation on your progress, which indicates to me that you may never qualify for release based on your anti-social obsessions and inability to get along with the outside world.

Lot of words when “I haven’t left as promised because I don’t really have anywhere to go.” Would have sufficed. Now you’re going to lie and insinuate that you parsed through my VAST THOUSANDS of posts to come up with that pretentious 98%. Without a modicum of interest in researching your posts I’ll safely surmise that’s weak...as much so as this weak psychiatric skit. I have plenty of buddies on here and we talk football in between trying to kick each other in the nuts. I poked you and you’re fragile so you can’t do what you promised...you being still here and all. Pull your thesaurus out and throw some more Mr. Unfathomable.

 

[VFL_JB]

Not much. He's just not the man. Just my opinion.

Bc he couldn't turn a team that one year prior had reached an all time low into a championship contender in one year? I just cant fathom what you base this "opinion" on.

 

[RiverVol]

I'm not off the Pruitt bandwagon by any means but is it that unrealistic to not get your ass beat by Vandy? Yesterday was on him, it's his job to motivate what he has and work with it. No one was asking him to go 8-4 or 9-3 but I did expect the team to at least show up and act like they had a pulse yesterday. In terms of the way some of the players acted yesterday that was totally unacceptable and I hope they find new homes at D2 schools, I'm looking at you Drew Richmond.

Nope. I've said it before in another thread. He was not hired to motivate a few terminal players to perform in any one game.

He was hired to: 1) Stop the decline of the program 2) Change the DNA of the program 3) Feed the new UT-DNA-Football-Baby the correct food so that it elevates to a championship level of play in the SEC and NCAA Div-I.

In this case, tolerating, coddling, coelescing, and pandering to get terminal players to perform in one game - at the expense of Steps 1 & 2 is not in the best interest of his mandate.

There is a good chance he is doing all the right things. There is a decent chance the Vandy game (and his attitude toward it) - as painful as it was, was more beneficial to the long term health of the program than we want to believe.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

Saying a better future is coming is simply a guess.

Just like in 2010. Just like in 2013. People who keep asserting Pruitt will get it done just need to stop. We've all heard this song before. It doesn't mean he won't, but repeating that he will over and over is like you said....a guess.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

Bc he couldn't turn a team that one year prior had reached an all time low into a championship contender in one year? I just cant fathom what you base this "opinion" on.

Probably the same reason Jones didn't seem like the "the man" in 2013 to some, and Dooley didn't seem like "the guy" in 2010 to some. It's not like this is our fanbase's first rodeo with this type of thing.

 

[GBOVFL88]

If Pruitt is here to win Championships it will be because we show fight in games that we lose. The W's are almost blindly accepted. In other words, people don't care why we won as long as we won. The way that we play in losses determines CJP's future. If we play well against quality opponents and lose that is a sign of things to come and he is allowed to stick around and continue to grow the program. Blowouts look like he has lost the team and he gets replaced. We don't need to go 12-0 to be a good team. We need to stay competitive year in and year out. If we make it to the SEC Championship once every 3rd year and get into the playoff conversation we have a good team. I want a dynasty like Alabama or Clemson, but that is not a realistic expectation.

 

[LibertyVolance]

Lot of words when “I haven’t left as promised because I don’t really have anywhere to go.” Would have sufficed. Now you’re going to lie and insinuate that you parsed through my VAST THOUSANDS of posts to come up with that pretentious 98%. Without a modicum of interest in researching your posts I’ll safely surmise that’s weak...as much so as this weak psychiatric skit. I have plenty of buddies on here and we talk football in between trying to kick each other in the nuts. I poked you and you’re fragile so you can’t do what you promised...you being still here and all. Pull your thesaurus out and throw some more Mr. Unfathomable.

Ol Butchna just can't sit in his cell without stewing about what I said about him. I figured that. Here's an example on this very post, page 1. The OP took considerable time expressing his thoughts going forward. But Ol Butchna didn't find it worthy of his time, but he couldn't let it pass without one of his brief 2-word troll jobs, in which he snottily posted "Try harder" to the OP. A completely worthless and unnecessary troll job that only served to exacerbate his already hideous post count of quick hit-and-run snipes at other posters.

And, in typical cowardly fashion of a troll, you want to brace your backbone with a reference to having buddies in the backroom. I have watched your schtick for years. I didn't insinuate I parsed through your posts. Anyone who reads this board can't miss your mega-1000s of posts. How could anyone miss a poster with 54,000 posts sneaking around trolling every conversation he can possibly horn in on while he's sitting alone in his cell dreaming of the last time he attacked some innocent victim on the street?

Why are you concerned about where I'm going? Planning to have some buddies on the outside assault me? I said I was moving on to BBall, which is just down the hall.

 

[butchna]

Ol Butchna just can't sit in his cell without stewing about what I said about him. I figured that. Here's an example on this very post, page 1. The OP took considerable time expressing his thoughts going forward. But Ol Butchna didn't find it worthy of his time, but he couldn't let it pass without one of his brief 2-word troll jobs, in which he snottily posted "Try harder" to the OP. A completely worthless and unnecessary troll job that only served to exacerbate his already hideous post count of quick hit-and-run snipes at other posters.

And, in typical cowardly fashion of a troll, you want to brace your backbone with a reference to having buddies in the backroom. I have watched your schtick for years. I didn't insinuate I parsed through your posts. Anyone who reads this board can't miss your mega-1000s of posts. How could anyone miss a poster with 54,000 posts sneaking around trolling every conversation he can possibly horn in on while he's sitting alone in his cell dreaming of the last time he attacked some innocent victim on the street?

Why are you concerned about where I'm going? Planning to have some buddies on the outside assault me? I said I was moving on to BBall, which is just down the hall.

If you think bravery has anything to do with posting on here it’s no wonder you’ve cracked. You have a lot of these details of criminally insane incarcerations down pat...research or personal experience? Doesn’t matter happy pill’s on the way. Yeah you did say you were MOVING ON. Guess I manipulated you into staying...happens. Can’t miss thousands of my posts but you’re able to memorize them...right. Be honest. You did the lazy thing and read the last four which had two of our exchanges amirite? It’s ok...we know the answer. Now you were talking about trading ramen for a safe butt night?