FIRST POST......and it's all about Coach Banks.
I know it's always fun to sit incognito on message boards and hurl vitriol all over the chosen target for the day, month, season or year.
Coach Banks has been CHOSEN. The coach that had the GUTS to step in and take over when others turned us down. Do you know why others turned us down? Because COACHES do not want to tarnish or ruin their reputation, nor do they want to deal with the public scrutiny and backlash of taking over and running an OFFENSE or DEFENSE that's BAD!! They don't want to deal with the RISK of being associated with a DUMPSTER FIRE! And on top of that, coaches know, even though fans don't, that being a DC of a team that runs an offense like the one Coach Heupel runs, can be coaching suicide. The offense puts a strain on the defense, so you need speed, depth and play-makers, NONE of which TENNESSEE had at the time Coach Heupel took over.
TENNESSEE was a DUMPSTER FIRE before Coach Heupel took the job......remember that? Other Head Coaches wanted no parts of this job, we kept getting turned down. These (HC) were ESTABLISHED Brands and they were not willing to risk ruining their reputation as a HC to take over a program that was in COMPLETE shambles!! NO ESTABLISHED HC wanted any parts of the SANCTIONS, TRANSFER PORTAL EXODUS or the TARNISHED name of UT football attached to them. Coach Heupel had the GUTS to accept the challenge head on!!
He had his OC, but offered the DC job to lots of "named" coaches.......coaches that everyone was excited about. What happened? They ALL used us to get raises, but NO ONE was willing to take the chance......NO GUTS!!
Coach Heupel "SETTLES" for Coach Tim Banks as DC.....a "NO NAMER" in the eyes of the fan base, but a well respected coach in the profession known for improving defenses, getting the most out of "no name players" and sending them to the NFL (as he did at CENTRAL MICHIGAN, CINCINNATI, ILLINOIS and PENN STATE), as well as finding a way to WIN when rosters don't have the caliber of kids that are play makers on game day.....all of which we NEEDED at TENNESSEE!!
When Coach Banks took over the DEFENSE, he and his staff had NO one to work with, which is why everyone believed we'd only win 3-4 games in year one. He played with walk-ons, he moved players to different positions, he tried different schemes. He basically found a way to get the most out of what we had left on the roster, and it wasn't always pretty, what happened? We won more games than expected! I don't care how you slice it, the defense helped to stop another team from scoring more than us on 7 occasions last year!!
Fast forward to this season. Who's our PLAY-MAKERS on DEFENSE? I'm talking legitimate PLAY-MAKERS that are difference makers......like we have on OFFENSE. If I asked that same question about the offense, we could all rattle off SEVERAL names and even a few 2 deep playmakers.
Coach Banks and the defensive staff have done a great job of FINDING a way to help WIN games, even though they have a limited roster......but because it DOESN'T LOOK right to the arm chair coaches, every WEEKEND, even when we WIN, we NEED to FIRE COACH Banks!! We need to find an experienced DC that's called plays before! We need to find a DC that can help us WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS!! We need to find a DC that can improve the PASS DEFENSE which sucks (even though there are 100s of statistical metrics that are more important)!!
We've won 9 games already this season and yes, I believe we should have wooped SC.....
That game still stings as much today as it did on Saturday. But the fact that we have SEVERAL THREADS about getting RID of Coach Banks at the end of the season makes my BLOOD BOIL!!
Are there better DC's than Coach Banks?......absolutely! But are they better for what we need right now? I don't know. But why in the WORLD would you get rid of a Coach when we are WAY ahead of schedule in our rebuild and HE is a part of the pieces of the puzzle that has made that happen. What sense does it make to GAMBLE on bringing in another DC in the middle of a REBUILD that's almost REBUILT??!!!
Coach Heupel is a smart guy. He didn't just SETTLE for BANKS or ANY other coach on this staff. He was strategic in his hires and it's the reason we are WAY AHEAD of schedule today!!
If you think we need to get RID of Coach Banks, you're entitled to your opinion. THIS is MY OPINION based on what I KNOW about Coach Banks body of work as a DC. He has won Conference Championships at 2 out of 3 places where he was the PLAY-CALLING DC and 1 where he was the Co-DC. He said when he came to TENNESSEE that he wanted to be a part of a team that WON the National Championship.......and because he had the GUTS to come here and had the confidence to BELIEVE that we could WIN a National Championship.........I'm TEAM Coach Banks.......I'm TEAM current coaching staff......all day!!
I will ride or die with this STAFF! While the SC game was awful to watch, I refuse to jump on the national bandwagon of spewing HATE towards our FOOTBALL PROGRAM or ANY person on this STAFF!! We want to be RESPECTED nationally, yet our own fan base has little RESPECT for what's really been accomplished in with our Football Program.
GBO!!!!
FACTS about Coach BANKS (which can all be found in his BIO) for all of those who said he NO experience calling plays before he came to TENNESSEE:
- PLAY-CALLER at Central Michigan for 3 seasons and 2 of those seasons, they were MAC CHAMPIONS. Defense dominated!
- PLAY-CALLER at University of Cincinnati for 2 years. One season they were ACC CHAMPIONS. Coach Banks for the first time, was NOMINATED for the BROYLES AWARD because he had one of the youngest, but most improved and dominant defenses in college football. Defense dominated!
-PLAY-CALLER at ILLINOIS for 4 seasons. The team struggled....didn't win much, but defense continued to improve and by Coach Banks last season, it was considered one of most STATISTICALLY improved defenses in college football.
-NOT the PLAY-CALLER, but Co-DC at Penn State for 5 seasons. TOP 35 recruiter there and instrumental in developing several "no name players" into draft picks and free agents that are still currently playing in the NFL. During his time there, Penn State had three 11 win seasons, Played in 4 NY6 bowls and was BIG TEN CHAMPIONS his first year (2016)[/QUOTE
Ever watch spoiled kids open Christmas Presents. They will tear one open then run to the next one. Well some of these kids are older now and they have found VN.
