Comments by Seniors on Butch Jones and the Direction of the Program

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Volosaurus rex

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"Following Saturday's game against Vanderbilt, senior Daniel Hood spoke passionately about head coach Butch Jones and the foundation that he is building at Tennessee. . . . Hood recounted his experiences Saturday night, including tough last-second losses like the one that had just taken place. He said things were changing, though, because Tennessee "finally" had the right coach in place. [Elsewhere, Hood was quoted as stating that “Every person in that locker room believes that 100 percent" (Tennessee Vols playing to avoid historic loss | The Tennessean | tennessean.com)]. "I believe the culture is finally starting to change," Hood said. "We are finally working the way a Tennessee program is supposed to work. We are starting to build the right foundation. Sometimes good things you have to wait for, right now is one of those times. We have to push through."

. . . . The work that Jones has done has also left an impression on Hood's fellow senior Ja'Wuan James. "The program is going to be great, it is way different than what I had in the past," James said. "He has done so much in this little period of time. The underclassmen have now built that relationship and trust with him. They can now do everything the right way, which is Coach Jones' way, in order to be successful."

James admitted last week that his dedication in the weight room had not been where it needed to be earlier in his career. Jones said James has been able to use the lessons he learned from that to make sure the underclassmen know what it takes to be successful in the SEC. "This football team means everything to him," Jones said about James. "He holds court at the training table and lectures everyone on the mistakes that he made early in his career from the weight room to that standard of performance. Your body is your weapon. When the younger players hear that, it helps everyone."

Punter/kicker Michael Palardy, who has experienced his best season in the orange and white, feels that Jones and his staff have been a big factor in the strides he made this season and he's anxious to see how they help the rest of the Volunteers grow beyond this year. "I have so much confidence in this coaching staff and the young guys on this team," Palardy said. "I know we lose a lot of seniors, but the fact that we have so many young guys that have experience in games; they get to show the new guys coming in during the spring or fall how things should be done. Coach Jones is implementing a system where situations like this never happen again. I have the utmost confidence in this coaching staff". . . . Now that Team 117 is down to its final act, James and Palardy said the team is focused on getting one more win, another piece of the foundation for Team 118.

"We are focused on this game, it starts a win streak," said Palardy. "We don't want to give up on ourselves or on this team because we want to end strong, positive, and 1-0 to start a winning streak for teams to come" ( Looking For One More Brick - UTSPORTS.COM - University of Tennessee Athletics).
 
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#2
#2
Volosaurus rex said:
"Following Saturday's game against Vanderbilt, senior Daniel Hood spoke passionately about head coach Butch Jones and the foundation that he is building at Tennessee. . . . Hood recounted his experiences Saturday night, including tough last-second losses like the one that had just taken place. He said things were changing, though, because Tennessee "finally" had the right coach in place. [Elsewhere, Hood was quoted as stating that “Every person in that locker room believes that 100 percent" (Tennessee Vols playing to avoid historic loss | The Tennessean | tennessean.com). "I believe the culture is finally starting to change," Hood said. "We are finally working the way a Tennessee program is supposed to work. We are starting to build the right foundation. Sometimes good things you have to wait for, right now is one of those times. We have to push through."

. . . . The work that Jones has done has also left an impression on Hood's fellow senior Ja'Wuan James. "The program is going to be great, it is way different than what I had in the past," James said. "He has done so much in this little period of time. The underclassmen have now built that relationship and trust with him. They can now do everything the right way, which is Coach Jones' way, in order to be successful."

James admitted last week that his dedication in the weight room had not been where it needed to be earlier in his career. Jones said James has been able to use the lessons he learned from that to make sure the underclassmen know what it takes to be successful in the SEC. "This football team means everything to him," Jones said about James. "He holds court at the training table and lectures everyone on the mistakes that he made early in his career from the weight room to that standard of performance. Your body is your weapon. When the younger players hear that, it helps everyone."

Punter/kicker Michael Palardy, who has experienced his best season in the orange and white, feels that Jones and his staff have been a big factor in the strides he made this season and he's anxious to see how they help the rest of the Volunteers grow beyond this year. "I have so much confidence in this coaching staff and the young guys on this team," Palardy said. "I know we lose a lot of seniors, but the fact that we have so many young guys that have experience in games; they get to show the new guys coming in during the spring or fall how things should be done. Coach Jones is implementing a system where situations like this never happen again. I have the utmost confidence in this coaching staff. . . . Now that Team 117 is down to its final act, James and Palardy said the team is focused on getting one more win, another piece of the foundation for Team 118.

"We are focused on this game, it starts a win streak," said Palardy. "We don't want to give up on ourselves or on this team because we want to end strong, positive, and 1-0 to start a winning streak for teams to come" ( Looking For One More Brick - UTSPORTS.COM - University of Tennessee Athletics).
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#3
#3
Good Stuff..... Hopefully this is truly how the players feel, especially the younger ones so we can get a fresh start next season. FYI- still pissy about Saturday though... just saying. We had two weeks to prepare.....
 
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#6
#6
Sad to know even the few seniors and juniors we have aren't as prepared as they should have been. UT FB has spent millions going no where.
 
#9
#9
Effort starts at the top and Tennessee had a lazy coach. It rubbed off on the players. I'm not surprised about lack of work ethic. It tells on the field. No question now why Saban said Precious was doing a good job
 
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#11
#11
Spartacavolus said:
Good to know that some young men have better perspective than people on message boards.
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They have better attitudes, their perspective has still yet to play out. I really hope it does. I hope Butch is the man. They certainly believe in him, and that's the first step. But until the changes are reflected on the field all perspective is a matter of opinion. I still think Butch can do it, but he coached a bad game against Vandy.

And before we argue the definition of perspective, Butch Jones is a football coach. Wins and losses are a perspective he must be concerned with.
 
#12
#12
wmcovol said:
Effort starts at the top and Tennessee had a lazy coach. It rubbed off on the players. I'm not surprised about lack of work ethic. It tells on the field. No question now why Saban said Precious was doing a good job
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Yep and the coach sets the mindset of the team! When the coach is taking off, the players are taking off. If he isn't demanding their best effort, why would they give it. How many times have we heard Butch say this year this is a prideful bunch, resilient bunch, and they are learning championship habits? It's because they had no real leaders. It showed the last 2 years. For years the seniors (who are supposed to be the leaders) didn't do their workouts. That shows up in effort, hustle and is why this team was gassed in the 3rd and 4th quarters.

When Bray said they didn't want to be in a bowl game and gave up against Kentucky that was a major warning sign to me. He would have been benched from that point on for me. I don't care how much talent you have if you are going to give a game away like that, you shouldn't be playing. Dooley excused bad behaviour and wondered why he got more of it.
 
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#13
#13
I can remember players... maybe including Hood... say there was no staff they'd rather play for... than the last one.

Being "different" is expected... being different is not necessarily being "better".
 
#20
#20
Funny, these guys all have such nice things to say about Butch. You know what a really nice thing they could have done in return? Played like they had half a brain and a little heart. Jus a bunch of talkers who only know I thing. How to lose...
 
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#21
#21
Hearing the quotes from these guys, you can tell that they're starting to realize how badly the program had been neglected under Dooley. From the sounds of this and other interviews, it sounds like under Dooley the offseason really was a season off for the team.

This team has been through so much that a culture change won't be easy. But I think it's important that these guys said the team believes in Jones. Butch has said that he will work himself to death trying to make this team great again and it sounds like the players love him for it and are willing to out in the same work.

It may take a while for the improvement to show in a way that satiates all the fans, but it will come.

My hopes for next year aren't too high, but year 3 and 4 could be special.

I hope we're patient with Butch. I never felt that way about Dooley.
 
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#22
#22
CA_Vol said:
Funny, these guys all have such nice things to say about Butch. You know what a really nice thing they could have done in return? Played like they had half a brain and a little heart. Jus a bunch of talkers who only know I thing. How to lose...
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I'm with you CA Vol, from the group of seniors I'd say only Hood, Palardy, and Sapp played equal to or in excess of their talent level. IMO this is the measurement of playing with heart. I know they have not been given the best of circumstances after committing to play for the University of Tennessee, I am thankful for these guys sticking with the program. From the first game of the season, I've not felt that the seniors stepped up as the leaders they should have been. Maybe some of that rests on the shoulders of the coaches and their ability to motivate.

I hate feeling the way I do. I love the Vols and will continue to wear my orange publicly with pride. Making it to a bowl game was my expectation, and we fell short....again.
 
#24
#24
CA_Vol said:
Funny, these guys all have such nice things to say about Butch. You know what a really nice thing they could have done in return? Played like they had half a brain and a little heart. Jus a bunch of talkers who only know I thing. How to lose...
Click to expand...

I saw Hood and Palardy, quoted in that story, play their hearts out and have the best seasons of their careers under Jones this year. I guess you missed that in your rush to bash them.
 
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#25
#25
What were they going to say.. Yeah this staff had us unprepared n unmotivated against a candy team that vn thinks is bama n OK to lose to because all the current players sux when the lose n cbj is great when they win.

Its called being politically correct when they were ask about this staff.. See coach speak for ref.

We lost to candy n people r acting like its OK to lose to kent..omg people its OK to expect 6 wins from a 4m yr coach..

Now let the excuses begin.
 
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