Cutcliffe: Fulmer's worst move as HC?

#51
#51
Fulmer's biggest mistake, in my opinion, was promoting Sanders to OC. He may have been a logical choice at the time, but in hind sight, it was the beginning of the slide. When Fulmer realized that the offense was dying a slow death he removed Randy. It was too late though - the damage had been done.

Then he brought in Cut, whom he was very comfortable with. Fulmer realized the discipline was gone and knew Cut could bring stability. Not a flashy offense, not a spread, not a flavor of the month trick play - Cut would bring discipine and stability.

For the most part that's what we have now. This is year two of a rebuilding project. And now, all of the sudden, the freaking defense is laying an egg. And to top it off, we've given up 4 touchdowns without the defense being on the field.

If we don't get the ppg allowed down to 20, this will be Fulmer's last year. No doubt.

And it would be easy to see the Cut return as a bad decision, especially considering there was a big relief when he left. Believe or not kiddos - for all the praise placed on Cut and his return, he was basically ushered out of town down to Oxford. Then the Randy experiment began and all of the sudden Cut didn't seem nearly as boring - because we won.

So, Cut was not the worst decision. Because Cut has brought to the offense what was expected - discipline. I imagine we lead the league in fewest offensive penalties - even after playing two tough road games. If they can get the defense to hold up their end of the bargain, they will be fine the next 9 scheduled games.
 
#52
#52
I think the hiring of Jimmy Ray Stephens was one of his biggest mistakes. Florida could never run the ball effectively when he was O-line coach there, and he turned a fabulous rushing Tennessee team into a putrid one in only 1-2 years. It set our O-line back over half a decade. And while better coaches could work around this mishap, Fulmer is still trying to pound the rock with a line that can't run block. :banghead2:
 
#53
#53
I think another big mistake is keeping Slade as long as he has. Nothing against Slade personally, but our DB play has been mediocre for the better part of 10 years, even with the amount we have in the NFL.
 
#54
#54
I was listening to Ron Higgens on the Sportspage, and he brought one thing that made Bear such a good coach was how much he changed with the times. He mentoned how Bear ran several different offenses during his career.

We have all heard about CPF's loyalty to coaches and heard him say "we've won this way in the past, we can do it again."

That being said was rehiring Cut the worst move CPF made in his career? Possibly, after the '05 season he had a chance to reinvent the program and himself. He chose not to, and I think it will end up costing him his job.What if he had of gone out and hired Petersen, then OC at Boise? Maybe telling him CPF would only coach another 5 years, letting Petersen learn about UT and settle in then hand him the reigns.

I'm not saying that is THE answer just pointing out CPF had a chance reinvent himself and change the second half of his career. Instead he reached to someone he was comfortable with and now has likely cost him his job and the support of the fans.
Yeah being stubborn is going to probably cost him in the end. Fulmer=Bill battle
 
#57
#57
As I read all of the various posts, I have one question.....How do you go from National Championship to getting your %$s whipped by Florida regularly within a ten year period and you have effectively not changed coaching staffs....I am not a numbers guy, however, I believe that Tennessee is basically the same program now that it was throughout the 90's....I believe that the offensive and defensive philosophies are the same and the talent level is the same....Why are we not winning now.....It ultimately has nothing to do with Cutcliff or Chavis....It has to do with Fulmer.....For some reason, what he is teaching is not working.....I posted on another thread that his offensive system was archaic and that he should be replaced....I read some compelling arguments on this thread that that same offensive philosophy is being used to great success by the Colts.....We (UT Football Team) seems totally flumoxed by the spread offense yet other programs defend it quite well.....We get top recruits and yet Florida seems to get value out of their recruits, we get unfulfilled potential....Bear Bryant kept Alabama football at the top of the pyramid until right before he died...Fulmer has taken UT Football to new heights and is in danger of taking it to new lows....So what has happened with Fulmer......
 
#60
#60

I felt that with the offensive weapons that he had at his disposal, our offenses should have been much more explosive. There were times when our offenses looked flat and predictable.

In my mind he was an extension of the "Johnny Ball" that people had been complaining about before Majors was let go.

I wanted a youthful, explosive OC to come in and do some innovative things with our offense. Randy Sanders was not necessarily what I had in mind.
 
#61
#61
Many people on here talk about how the game has passed CPF well part of that is Cut too. He's done a great job with Ainge no doubt.

However we needed to do a 180 after '05 and CPF didn't do that. Our offense is the exact same as it was with Sanders, Cut take 1, Phil before that and so on.

I really don't think we got to see Sanders run the type of offense he wanted to run. The saddest thing about 2005 was watching people come down on Sanders when in fact, it may have been a case of sanders falling on the sword for Fulmer and doing the honorable thing in resigning.

I would be very surprised to see Fulmer resign...
 
#62
#62
I was listening to Ron Higgens on the Sportspage, and he brought one thing that made Bear such a good coach was how much he changed with the times. He mentoned how Bear ran several different offenses during his career.

We have all heard about CPF's loyalty to coaches and heard him say "we've won this way in the past, we can do it again."

That being said was rehiring Cut the worst move CPF made in his career? Possibly, after the '05 season he had a chance to reinvent the program and himself. He chose not to, and I think it will end up costing him his job.

What if he had of gone out and hired Petersen, then OC at Boise? Maybe telling him CPF would only coach another 5 years, letting Petersen learn about UT and settle in then hand him the reigns.

I'm not saying that is THE answer just pointing out CPF had a chance reinvent himself and change the second half of his career. Instead he reached to someone he was comfortable with and now has likely cost him his job and the support of the fans.


The type of offence is not the issue my god they are
running a version of the colts offence!!!!.i have no issues
with the type of offence.
 
#63
#63
The type of offence is not the issue my god they are
running a version of the colts offence!!!!.i have no issues
with the type of offence.

The only thing I see that looks anything like the Colts is that No Huddle crap. Which hasn't paid those huge dividends everyone was talking about in the preseason. Those tired defenses and good matchups.
 
#65
#65
I was listening to Ron Higgens on the Sportspage, and he brought one thing that made Bear such a good coach was how much he changed with the times. He mentoned how Bear ran several different offenses during his career.

We have all heard about CPF's loyalty to coaches and heard him say "we've won this way in the past, we can do it again."

That being said was rehiring Cut the worst move CPF made in his career? Possibly, after the '05 season he had a chance to reinvent the program and himself. He chose not to, and I think it will end up costing him his job.

What if he had of gone out and hired Petersen, then OC at Boise? Maybe telling him CPF would only coach another 5 years, letting Petersen learn about UT and settle in then hand him the reigns.

I'm not saying that is THE answer just pointing out CPF had a chance reinvent himself and change the second half of his career. Instead he reached to someone he was comfortable with and now has likely cost him his job and the support of the fans.

I think you did just say that, or implied it. CUT is not THE problem....not so sure the offense is what our problem is and will be, but I think I understand your intent here. Even If CPF would've pulled the trigger on someone else to run the offense, do you think CPF could keep his hands off them and let them run free with it, let him just oversee instead of management?
 
#68
#68
I think you did just say that, or implied it. CUT is not THE problem....not so sure the offense is what our problem is and will be, but I think I understand your intent here. Even If CPF would've pulled the trigger on someone else to run the offense, do you think CPF could keep his hands off them and let them run free with it, let him just oversee instead of management?

You are right it's not about the type of offense. He had a chance to totally alter the direction of the program. I see that moment (after the '05 season) as a moment he failed.
 
#69
#69
I was listening to Ron Higgens on the Sportspage, and he brought one thing that made Bear such a good coach was how much he changed with the times. He mentoned how Bear ran several different offenses during his career.

We have all heard about CPF's loyalty to coaches and heard him say "we've won this way in the past, we can do it again."

That being said was rehiring Cut the worst move CPF made in his career? Possibly, after the '05 season he had a chance to reinvent the program and himself. He chose not to, and I think it will end up costing him his job.

What if he had of gone out and hired Petersen, then OC at Boise? Maybe telling him CPF would only coach another 5 years, letting Petersen learn about UT and settle in then hand him the reigns.

I'm not saying that is THE answer just pointing out CPF had a chance reinvent himself and change the second half of his career. Instead he reached to someone he was comfortable with and now has likely cost him his job and the support of the fans.

personally look at the offensive line over the last 5 years. it has continually gotten worse so therefore we cannot run the ball effectively like in years past..and like a couple of others have said defense is non existant this year.. ryan karl has to be worst linebacker in tn history.. he could not even start at tennessee chattanooga!
 
#70
#70
Fulmer needs to find an offensive coordinator that can put in the spread offense---which is difficult to stop. Florida's offensive coordinator would be a good choice. He'll leave UF for the right money.
 
#71
#71
The 06 offense couldn't put more than 10 points on Penn St. and the 07 offense couldn't put 14 on Florida's supposedly young and inexperienced defense.

Cutcliffe is hardly the panacea that everyone said he was going to be.

Yes, but the 06 and 07 versions move the ball a hell of alot more than the pathetic 05 offense. Just watching the difference is obvious and the stats back it up.
 
#73
#73
I think Cut was a GREAT hire just ask Meach. He has turned Ainge into a 1st rounder also.

The only thing that needs improvement on our offense is run game and run blocking Our line takes care of the QB but they cant runblock to save their lives.

He should go down the field more though. The dink and dunk thing isnt working.

The D is what has ruined us this year. This has to be the first Vol D I have seen since I've been a fan, and I started watching the Vols in 88.
 
#74
#74
Dont worry guys we will watch the tapes and work like heck to get things better.. :shakehead:
 
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