82_VOL_83
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I don't think Butch has lost the whole team (he seems to still have guys like Dobbs, Barnett, etc.), but I do think he has lost a significant portion of it.
It is obvious that most of these players are not responding to the coaching. And they haven't all season. This SC game is not some new phenomenon. This team has underperformed since the opening kick against App State.
I suspect that there is something really rotten on the inside of this program right now.
This is definitely a witch hunt for Butch, but before you completely blame him ponder this... if take away the 3 turn overs and MULTIPLE bounced passes from our sub-par quarterback then we probably win by 17. Dobbs has played his heart out in his career and I am thankful for him... but he can't be a liability week in and week out.
You don't play for this team so you have no idea what the players are thinking. Ask 1 before you typeI thought I saw it in the 3rd quarter. I'm pretty sure of it now. Butch has lost his team in Year Four.
I think everybody likes Butch, including the players. He's a better man than Stooley and he does a hell of a lot more right than Stooley -- at least Monday to Friday.
But right now, the players know his offensive scheme will never work in the SEC. They also know that Butch is too stubborn to work with his player's strengths - he's always going to make his players fit his system. Instead of embracing the Dobbs dual threat, they coached him not to run this year. What they have done with Jalen Hurd should be a crime. Same could probably be said for Kamara and every wide out who has committed to Tennessee. If you were unsure about the BSiA Saturday coaching before - this is the game that links all the rest together. Can't blame talent and youth anymore.
It's Year Four. Every player on the roster is his. It's his team and they have lost faith in the Butch-fense.
I fear this is the game that sends us on the inexorable spiral. Butch has led us out of darkness but he can take us no further.
Buckle up Vols and let's hope the new AD has the vision and the guts to make the tough decisions.
Hard to say, but you can just look at Justin Martin's body language and see he is one of the malcontents.
Young people tend to tune out authority figures when:
1. They see them as a fraud.
2. They don't believe the message.
3. They perceive favoritism.
I doubt it is #1, because I do think Butch is a decent human being. But, I can see it being # 2 or 3 very easily. And maybe deserved, maybe not.
I have watched football at different levels enough to know that you can't judge whether a coach has lost the team without asking the team. Just because a team plays bad doesn't imply that. This team obviously feels beat up - the adversity they have faced losing player after player after player has taken a toll. That does eventually catch up with a team.
While we focus on the injuries impacting the offense and defense, the injuries also imply those playing on special teams are lost as well.
If this group of young men ever needed the support of their fans, it is now.
They've played like crap all year long.. You would have thought they'd at least clean some of it up. Never happened. Maybe they're tired of playing in that crappy offensive system.
I don't think Butch has lost the whole team (he seems to still have guys like Dobbs, Barnett, etc.), but I do think he has lost a significant portion of it.
It is obvious that most of these players are not responding to the coaching. And they haven't all season. This SC game is not some new phenomenon. This team has underperformed since the opening kick against App State.
I suspect that there is something really rotten on the inside of this program right now.