BigOrangeTrain
Morior Invictus
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- Jan 30, 2013
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I mean my goodness. I will be the first to admit that I didn’t expect anything close to this when he was hired. I didn’t think something like this was possible given what we have went through for so long. But we all need to appreciate the absolutely rock star hire Heupel has been.
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I didn’t know much at all about him and was pretty disappointed when I heard we had hired someone without SEC coaching experience. Now, I couldn’t be happier with the choice. If anyone had told me how well we would do in his first year, and the position we would be in now, with realistic opportunities to have a double digit season I would’ve been pretty skeptical and probably would have asked for some of what they were having.
The Pruitt debacle was a real low point. I remember when we had 5 win seasons, and that was as bad as we had ever done. I didn’t think it could get worse, and then historic lows with 4 wins with Jones and later with Pruitt 3 wins. We had never had worse results. To have the expectations that we do now and to have the opportunities that we do now so quickly is amazing.
I started at UT in 2003, not having followed football before that and I remember what we expected our football team to do in those days. Tickets for students were free, and I quickly learned how important football was around here. I remember after we lost I believe the Georgia game seeing grown men cry they were so disappointed. Pretty soon I was a huge fan. From that to getting to where everything felt hopeless and we had so many disappointments has been challenging.
To see the progress made since hiring Heupel has me as excited as I’ve been in a long time. Much still has to be done, and nothing is certain, do things could still go south, but I can’t think of many other program turnarounds that were in a better position at this point in a new coaches tenure.
To be totally fair on Pruitt’s 3 wins, that’s not quite the same as 3 wins in a “real” season. We didn’t have the benefit of 3 scrubs that year. It would stand to reason that was probably a 6-6 team.
I was glad we hired someone with real head coaching experience instead of the last 3 coaches that were complete stretches. I was flabbergasted when Pruitt was hired, I just hoped he could bring world class defense to the team.
Who was the stud super senior QB that was here when he came in?I'm glad we have him and think he will be a long term good hire. But with that said, I expect a real regression next year. He got somewhat lucky with a lot of senior starters on the offensive side and a stud super senior QB. Lots of guys graduating this year.
Butch was a complete failure at the end, but (unpopular opinion going to get slaughtered for)......... at the time he was hired he wasn't that bad a hire, honestly.
After the TaxSlayer Bowl win and w/all the talent we had returning, we all thought we had the next great thing. What an absolute trainwreck to follow. Major disappointment and dumpster fire.
- Six years of head coaching experience
- His teams finished 1st in 4 of those years, 2nd in another.
Hendon Hooker came here under Jeremy Pruitt, but I feel pretty confident HH isn't the same QB under Pruitt that he is today.
HH seems to follow the demeanor of CJH more so than CJP.
Yup he was just in over his head and failed to develop and grow himself. And his players.
We have an elite offense without a dominant running game or offensive line. Amazing.I mean my goodness. I will be the first to admit that I didn’t expect anything close to this when he was hired. I didn’t think something like this was possible given what we have went through for so long. But we all need to appreciate the absolutely rock star hire Heupel has been.
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