Clemson proves Tennessee football isn't dead

#1
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#1
Let me start by saying Dabo Swinney is an amazing coach who I respect for how humble he is. What he said post-game after dismantling Alabama gave me hope for Tennessee football. He said something along the lines that "anyone" can do it, you just have to buy in. Tennessee was once a giant in the college football world, Clemson never was. With that being said, they found the right coach and now are an elite program. I am not sold on Pruitt yet, but I am optimistic that Tennessee football will return to glory one day because of our resources. We have the resources it takes to compete at the highest level:
-Elite Facilities
-Elite fan base
-Elite Tradition
-SEC recruiting

Not saying we will be back within the next 2 or 3 years, but to say "Tennessee football is dead and will never be back" is just premature and ignorant. We hired some incompetent coaches that set us back, and we are paying the price for that. All Tennessee needs is a coach that knows what he is doing and they will win at a high level with the resources Tennessee offers. I don't know if Pruitt is that guy, but I really hope he is because I can't wait to have nights like Clemson had last night. Go Vols
 
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#3
#3
One problem...Clemson has an elite administration that is committed to winning. We have a dumpster fire of an administration that includes the coach that pointed this ship towards the abyss in the first place and cant seem to quit meddling.
 
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#8
#8
Volfan76 said:
One problem...Clemson has an elite administration that is committed to winning. We have a dumpster fire of an administration that includes the coach that pointed this ship towards the abyss in the first place and cant seem to quit meddling.
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No Clemson fan in their right mind thought that after promoting their WR coach to HC. And any that did surely had doubts after his first season, in which he won 4 games....So maybe there’s hope?
 
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#9
#9
Another major problem is...as long as Clemson is elite that will make it hard for UT. Clemson burned Bama with players that should of easily been Vols. But we did win our latest big time recruiting battle vs Clemson so let’s Pruitt can keep doing that.
 
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#13
#13
GTBATV said:
Dabo has also been coaching Clemson for almost a decade. I remember not to long ago the fan base wanted to fire him. They kept on Clemsoning....
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Proof that luck is part of the equation. They are lucky they were patient and didn't fire Dabo and get setback rather than be where they are.
 
#15
#15
UTK said:
Another major problem is...as long as Clemson is elite that will make it hard for UT. Clemson burned Bama with players that should of easily been Vols. But we did win our latest big time recruiting battle vs Clemson so let’s Pruitt can keep doing that.
Click to expand...
The reason those players aren't Vols is because of Butch Jones.
 
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#16
#16
The uprising of Clemson is a primary driver of why Tennessee football is dead.

People believe the fallacy that Tennessee is at a recruiting disadvantage because of the number of elite recruits that the state produces. The truth is, the state isn’t UT’s recruiting area; Tennessee’s recruiting area is really a 300 mile radius around Knoxville which produces more elite talent than any other region in America. That’s why we’ve historically been a top program. However, that same area is Clemson’s recruiting ground and they are winning the battles.

As long as Clemson and Gerorgia keep doing what they’re doing, we will have a very difficult time recovering regardless of our coach.
 
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#18
#18
Grudenhaslanded said:
The uprising of Clemson is a primary driver of why Tennessee football is dead.

People believe the fallacy that Tennessee is at a recruiting disadvantage because of the number of elite recruits that the state produces. The truth is, the state isn’t UT’s recruiting area; Tennessee’s recruiting area is really a 300 mile radius around Knoxville which produces more elite talent than any other region in America. That’s why we’ve historically been a top program. However, that same area is Clemson’s recruiting ground and they are winning the battles.

As long as Clemson and Gerorgia keep doing what they’re doing, we will have a very difficult time recovering regardless of our coach.
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I agree with this. However, we can still recruit at a high level which you currently see us potentially cracking the top 10 for this years class after 2 of the worst seasons in program history. If we start winning a little bit, we will start getting those elite prospects back.
 
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#19
#19
Volfan76 said:
One problem...Clemson has an elite administration that is committed to winning. We have a dumpster fire of an administration that includes the coach that pointed this ship towards the abyss in the first place and cant seem to quit meddling.
Click to expand...

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing here, just curious what you mean by that. I mean, what do you see they've done that we haven't that shows they are that much more committed than we are?
 
#20
#20
VFLCodyGBO said:
No Clemson fan in their right mind thought that after promoting their WR coach to HC. And any that did surely had doubts after his first season, in which he won 4 games....So maybe there’s hope?
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He won 4 games out of 7 in which he was the coach (interim after Bowden was fired). Dabo came within a fair of being fired himself after the 2016 season when they went 6-6 and lost the bowl game. He didn't have much equity built up because as you said he was Bowden's WR coach and had never been a HC or even coordinator before, although they did win the ACC Atlantic the year before and almost won the ACCCG.

Dabo didn't start to truly turn the corner until he got good assistant coaches, starting with Chad Morris as OC in 2011 and then Venables as DC in 2012. He may or may not have been strongly encouraged/forced into that by the admin. Regardless, Clemson started to turn the corner at that time and once they stopped Clemsoning, that was the final hump and they started winning titles.
 
#22
#22
Behr said:
I'm not agreeing or disagreeing here, just curious what you mean by that. I mean, what do you see they've done that we haven't that shows they are that much more committed than we are?
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They opened the checkbook for top assistant coaches, I know that. I think the "committed admin" angle when speaking about Clemson is a little overplayed. As others have pointed out, they kind of made the lazy, easy hire once Bowden left by just removing the interim tag off of Dabo, and a lot of their fans threw a fit. But I don't think it is a coincidence that Clemson started to turn the corner as a program when Dabo hired Morris then Venables. What's funny is that Venables was viewed (I think correctly) as overrated at Oklahoma and a bunch of Sooner fans weren't exactly sad to see him go, but he's been phenomenal at Clemson.
 
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#24
#24
Volfan76 said:
One problem...Clemson has an elite administration that is committed to winning. We have a dumpster fire of an administration that includes the coach that pointed this ship towards the abyss in the first place and cant seem to quit meddling.
Click to expand...
Said coach also had more wins than just about anyone in college football and a National Championship. Did he become complacent and lazy the last couple of years, yes. I believe the time away has reignited the fire he once had in his belly.
 
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