Death of a program

How close is UT to becoming a dead football program?

This is a serious question.

There have been football programs in the past like Army, Navy, Minnesota, SMU that we’re at the very top.

Minnesota claims 7 national championships. We can debate the 7 but the fact is they use to be very good. Now, they are honestly nothing.

So how many more years of this can happen before the stadium gets empty, the fans stop caring, and suddenly 7 or 6 wins becomes the acceptable norm?

The 7 or 6 win norm part I think is very close to happening, I fear.

What are you honest thoughts on how much more time TN has to turn this around?

Close? We are a dead program. Ppl are just in denial (myself included). We have been dead, fans just have refused to accept it. It has become a psychological issue. Not our fault, they caused it in us. I was done until Butch was gone, I was done until Dooley was gone. I like Pruitt but it doesn't matter, us being "back"? Wake me up in about two years I guess, cause I'm not watching this garbage. I went to the game tailgated all day. Gave my all. We are basically just as close to losing the program as we were the last season of butch already. It's not that we lost to FL, but I mean come on. I walked out in 3rd quarter. This was a giant pile of steaming crap floating in dumpster juice, and they want us to come back for more? GTFO
 
We have an administration wanting to spend 300 Million Dollars remodeling Neyland Stadium. If they continue playing the way they are they will be able to borrow Alcoa's stadium in a few years. There won't be anyone there to watch them lose. We can't afford a capable coaching staff but we have 300 million to unnecessarily spend on a stadium that is going to become a vacant building at the rate we are going.

I've looked forward to football season since Condredge Holloway was playing. These days I can't hardly justify watching it?
 
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Many of these programs where down for 10, 20 and in the case of USC, closer to 30 years. After destroying the program in 2008, we are in the midst. It will be back. Back is relative. It never was elite except for the Hall of Famer's reign.

Interesting. We were NC contenders in every single decade since Neyland except for the past 10yrs. We won sec title in every single decade except the past 10yrs. Top 10 all time in wins. But that isn't elite? What is elite then? I am quite curious to what your definition is.
 
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Boy you are full of it. You actually think CJP is going to put up with Haslam meddling? Hamilton, Hart , and Currie let him dawg them around but those days are over. Thunder will take care of little Jimmy if he has to and him and Phil appear to be pretty tight. You were watching when that clique went down weren't you?

Thunder Thornton has been MIA from the UT football program for quite a while and doesn’t have near the money the Haslams do
 
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We have an administration wanting to spend 300 Million Dollars remodeling Neyland Stadium. If they continue playing the way they are they will be able to borrow Alcoa's stadium in a few years. There won't be anyone there to watch them lose. We can't afford a capable coaching staff but we have 300 million to unnecessarily spend on a stadium that is going to become a vacant building at the rate we are going.

I've looked forward to football season since Condredge Holloway was playing. These days I can't hardly justify watching it?
That type of logic doesn't make much sense does it. That's what you're dealing with up there though. Dare i say it's liberal maybe? Hmm..
 
We have an administration wanting to spend 300 Million Dollars remodeling Neyland Stadium. If they continue playing the way they are they will be able to borrow Alcoa's stadium in a few years. There won't be anyone there to watch them lose. We can't afford a capable coaching staff but we have 300 million to unnecessarily spend on a stadium that is going to become a vacant building at the rate we are going.

I've looked forward to football season since Condredge Holloway was playing. These days I can't hardly justify watching it?
You've touched on the most baffling part of all of this. We won't drive up a dump truck full of money to name your coach, until Pruitt we squabble over the cost of assistants, yet we will spend $300 million on something that makes no impact on attendance and give mediocre coaches huge buyouts with ridiculous terms.
 
I used to always be in front of the TV at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning just to watch Big & Rich sing "Gimme that Rocky Top Tennessee." Then one year they changed the song, but there were still some clips in the sequence of white helmets with orange T's. And then there was not. And then when the Tennessee game comes up for comment it takes only a few seconds and they commentators are on to Alabama, or Georgia for long minutes.
I told my wife for my personal well being I cannot become emotionally involved this season as I have in the past. I hope the trend turns soon--as we are getting close to the point that the only way we can look is up.
 
This was just the wrong time for Pruitt. We desperately needed a big named proven winner to get us back. This job may be too big for him and Phil may have laid us in the ground with the hire.

I believe Les Miles wanted the job, and I can’t understand how Pruitt was the better option in any way. It almost makes me resent UT.
If Les really did want it and we didn’t pursue, then shame on us.
 
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Not maybe - just go look up the historical stats.

It's basically a statement of fact that Tennessee is the 2nd most successful school in the history of the SEC. We are not even close to just average. Wins are wins and championships are championships. Georgia is really the only school that could make an argument they are 2nd best, but they'd have to make that argument having fewer all-time wins, a lower all-time winning percentage, fewer national titles, and fewer national titles than Tennessee.
I think you forgot one statistic The Vols play at Neyland Stadium, where Tennessee has an all-time winning record of 464 games, the highest home-field total in college football history for any school in the nation at its current home venue
 
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First post here. Lived in Johnson City for 6 years, home of the greatest Florida coach Spurrier, but I'm UF alum.

Now about the topic at hand, I don't think you guys have a dead program, after all Florida is at the brink too, despite the last weekend win. Sorry, but defeating the Vols unfortunately does not significantly improve our chances the rest of our SEC season. Most games we have left are toss ups.

Don't forget, you still have the 13th ranked team roster by talent nationally. You also have a recruiting class for 2019 ranked 12. We still can't break top 20. I don't know if Pruitt is the guy, I have my doubts. But I think you will always be able to bounce back with the right coaching staff.

2018 College Football Team Talent Composite
 
If you are a fan with the long view, you know that everything goes in cycles. Some of us lived through the Bill Battle years and we got better after that. This is an SEC program with many decades of tradition and we have too many interested parties who will always love UT football, coupled with decent recruiting grounds not so very far away. We'll get back.
 
I don't buy this. The funding was there for all of our recent coaching hires, and we've continually brought on third-rate 'learn on the job', 'let them get their croots' types. The money being there is part of the equation, but we're literally led by the thieving morons that run the Browns, and they don't want to spend. So we're much closer to dead than not.
We can come back, get some wins, get some momentum, and we can come back. We are at a strategic disadvantage to our two main division rivals, GA and FL though because of recruiting demographics but there is no reason we can't at least challenge for the division and win it at least a couple of times per decade. I do think firing Fulmer was more harmful to our reputation than most will admit, he won A LOT of ballgames, a championship, and was one of our own. I think a lot of people figured if we couldn't be satisfied with what he did here they wouldn't come here either if they had any good alternative. Add to that the fact that Kiffin basically wiped his butt with us, we suffered even more. Many outside our circle saw it as our just desserts, like a guy who leaves his loyal wife of 25 years for a young fluzie and young fluzie takes all his money, drugs him, and steals his kidney. The last two searches haven't really drawn much serious interest from the persons who were considered to be the top availabilities. The Currie documents that were made public proved that.
 
We have the money, facilities, fans, and proximity to recruits. What we need is stability and patience.

If people expect a quick rebuild then they will be disappointed. 3 wins this year, 6 or 7 wins next year, and year three should be even better.

Look for incremental improvements and don’t watch any October games.

Since when is 10 years a quick rebuild??? We’ve BEEN waiting and hoping and being disappointed. Make the right hire, show some desire to get the best....if we would have done that years ago, we would have already been back. But this UT admin just won’t care u til it hits their pocketbook.
 
I have been a fan my entire life but it is getting to a point where it no longer controls my weekend. I look forward to the start every year and by week 4 I am dead inside as a vol fan. To see Bama at the level they are and to see us at the level where we are currently at I just can't make my self care that much for the rest of the year

Just wait until it’s Bama AND Georgia rolling over us every year for the foreseeable future. FML
 
How close is UT to becoming a dead football program?

This is a serious question.

There have been football programs in the past like Army, Navy, Minnesota, SMU that we’re at the very top.

Minnesota claims 7 national championships. We can debate the 7 but the fact is they use to be very good. Now, they are honestly nothing.

So how many more years of this can happen before the stadium gets empty, the fans stop caring, and suddenly 7 or 6 wins becomes the acceptable norm?

The 7 or 6 win norm part I think is very close to happening, I fear.

What are you honest thoughts on how much more time TN has to turn this around?
But we can count on you being here til everything is mercifully dead? Something to add to my Thanksgiving Things I’m Grateful For list. 😏
 
How close is UT to becoming a dead football program?

This is a serious question.

There have been football programs in the past like Army, Navy, Minnesota, SMU that we’re at the very top.

Minnesota claims 7 national championships. We can debate the 7 but the fact is they use to be very good. Now, they are honestly nothing.

So how many more years of this can happen before the stadium gets empty, the fans stop caring, and suddenly 7 or 6 wins becomes the acceptable norm?

The 7 or 6 win norm part I think is very close to happening, I fear.

What are you honest thoughts on how much more time TN has to turn this around?

It just takes a Coach here. Many forget we have top notch facilities and a metric ****ton of money. The schools you listed did not have this.
 
You do realize the uproar against Schiano started within the athletic department and not the fanbase?

Those that pulled the plug were getting an ear full before the public ever wind of it.

Big fan of Phil's but he was on cruise control until he passed Gen Neyland in wins while Bama and UF were leaving us in the past and our roster was headed toward the ditch. He needs to look no further than the mirror and Mike Hamilton for the why and when. The first family of UT could have stopped it but they let Hamilton go because he had sold Kiffin so well.
 
I have been a Vol fan for many years and I will be till my dying day. In my life I have saw some ruff times and some great ones as well.
Tennessee football will never die.
Go Vols!
 
In REALITY... it died after the 2001 SECCG. We've NEVER been THAT level of good since.
BTW... IF irrelevant means dead. We're already bones by now.
 
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