See, this is were reality and fantasy meet, this is the SEC, ANYTHING can happen, UT has just as good a chance of going undefeated as they are to lose 2-4 games.......you just don't know until its played on the field, and there are the unknowns.....injuries......remember those? they plagued many a team last year, including UT......WRs......remember those? Off field issues........remember those? If you want to keep you head in the sand and believe what you want, but this will be the best team UT has fielded in a long time, optimism is HIGH, but don't forget what league we play in.......anything can happen. I guess if Alabama, Florida, GA, aTm have critical injuries, and we win those games, everyone will crown CBJ a genius....but the cards and dice of this game are hard to play.eace2:
Let's be honest. There will be tons calling for his head if we lose all four of Florida, Alabama, Texas AM, and UGA. That would be completely unacceptable.
2013 Total Offense against SEC Teams - TN ranked #11 (AL ranked #2/FL ranked #13)
2014 Total Offense against SEC Teams - TN ranked # 8 (AL ranked #4/FL ranked #12)
2015 Total Offense against SEC Teams - TN ranked # 4 (AL ranked #5/FL ranked #12)
2013 Total Defense against SEC Teams - TN ranked # 9 (AL Ranked #1/FL ranked #2)
2014 Total Defense against SEC Teams - TN ranked # 8 (AL ranked #2/FL ranked #5)
2015 Total Defense against SEC Teams - TN ranked # 6 (AL ranked #1/FL ranked #2)
It looks like we've been consistently moving in the right direction on the field with Butch (not including APR, Recruiting, etc.). The Shoop hire may turn out to be just what we need to get our defense the rest of the way to a championship level and it's been said that defense is often the more important in winning championships.
Who cares about the talent level he has brought in if they can't win. He is being paid close to $5,000,000 a year to win games over our rivals. Tom Herman will be paid around that when he leaves Houston and he is the hottest name in coaching right now. If Butch doesn't surpass 9 wins with this schedule and returning talent then the question needs to be asked "why are we paying so much for so little?"
If the General were coaching in today's world there would be people that would not be happy with him...
Caleb Calhoun published an article today on allfortennessee.com titled, "How Tennessee Vols Head Coach Butch Jones Could Get Fired After 2016 Season" []Page not found - All for Tennessee
I mean, haven't we learned our lesson? Look at what the quick-twitch firing of Coach Fulmer got us. Much more patience should have been shown there considering what he had done for Tennessee football up to that point. Given another year or two, there is a good chance he would have made the big splash hires he needed to make to get things back on track.
Yeah but a 9-4 record and losses to those teams might get a moving van parked in front of his house. Jus sayin...
SEC East Champions or #epicfail -- at a minimum.
Caleb Calhoun published an article today on allfortennessee.com titled, "How Tennessee Vols Head Coach Butch Jones Could Get Fired After 2016 Season" []Page not found - All for Tennessee
The gist is that a 9-4 showing, with the Vols losing to Florida, Alabama and Georgia, would put Coach Jones on the hot seat, and a 7-5 or 6-6 showing would be enough to get him fired right away.
But, imo, the only conceivable thing that could get Coach Jones fired this year is a losing record. But if we are talking about him being on the hot seat for a 9-4, or 8-5 showing, sorry, but that's just ridiculous.
I mean, haven't we learned our lesson? Look at what the quick-twitch firing of Coach Fulmer got us. Much more patience should have been shown there considering what he had done for Tennessee football up to that point. Given another year or two, there is a good chance he would have made the big splash hires he needed to make to get things back on track.
Besides, as Mr. Calhoun points out, anybody can see the quality of the athletes CBJ has put on the field for us since he was hired. And I actually agree that it is now up to him to make use of that talent by proving he can be a great motivator, strategist and field general and giving the players the best chance of getting us some championships -- something that didn't happen last year, though the talent seemed to be there.
But let's say the team does under-perform this year, and even the next. We still need to be patient to see if CBJ is willing to learn from that and to do what it takes to improve in those on-field areas, or whether he will let his ego rule and try to pass the blame on down the line like our last coach did. I believe he is the type of guy who is able to do the former if that happens, and barring a complete break down (5-7, 6-6 type records over the next two years) we need to be patient and give him at least three more years if championships are not immediately forthcoming.
But what am I saying? I think we are going to win big, so this is all probably a pointless discussion :dance2: