Expectations for Tennessee-Delusions of Grandeur?

#52
#52
My expectations are to consistently be a 10 win, top 25 program.

I expect to play in the seccg 3 to 4 times in a decade, and to win it at least half of the time

I expect a .500 record against Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and our rotating west opponent

I expect to dominate South Carolina, vandy, Kentucky, and Missouri, and our ooc opponents
 
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#54
#54
MyBloodRunnethOrange said:
My expectations are to consistently be a 10 win, top 25 program.

I expect to play in the seccg 3 to 4 times in a decade, and to win it at least half of the time

I expect a .500 record against Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and our rotating west opponent

I expect to dominate South Carolina, vandy, Kentucky, and Missouri, and our ooc opponents
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I would require a consistent record of all those things to return to being a donor/ticket holder, so I think I expect all of them as well. However, I can't rationally predict that any of them will happen at the current time, so I assume a less committed role as a fan. It's been a while since one could tick any of those boxes.
 
#55
#55
OnlyGodForgives said:
I would require a consistent record of all those things to return to being a donor/ticket holder, so I think I expect all of them as well. However, I can't rationally predict that any of them will happen at the current time, so I assume a less committed role as a fan. It's been a while since one could tick any of those boxes.
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Agree. I thought after the two 9 win seasons that Butch had us going in that direction. Boy was I wrong.
 
#56
#56
I am disappointed whenever the Vols are not competing for the title, which means I am usually not very happy come the post season. But if they aren't in it, I consider it successful if they make the New Years day games.

But my big expectation is to perform better than they are projected. And if they play a team I have to google to know what city their campus is located and other selected info, I expect them to smack them silly and start resting the starters before halftime. Struggling to beat UMass or Troy is not maintaining the standard.

Edit: I almost forgot. I don't care how bad we are or how good they get. It is never, *%#&* EVER acceptable to lose to those nasty smelling hacks in Nashville.
 
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#57
#57
Truism or not, "Defend Neyland" is the on-field lynchpin for success. Teams have got to stop appreciating the environment at Knoxville and start dreading the "at Tennessee" dates on their schedules.
 
#58
#58
Reality this is a grab-bag roster with a rookie coaching staff. I expect a lot of energy with about a 5 - 7 record similar to Major's first season.

Anything beyond that - getting bowl eligible will be a big step forward and should be applauded.

Long term time will tell whether top level SEC athletes can be signed and developed. I am optimistic Pruitt can do the job now that we have a big time AD for the first time - Hart was really not that bad but Hamilton was the penultimate disaster. Even interviewing Lane Kiffin to follow Fulmer was borderline insane; much less hiring the clown.
 
#59
#59
99gator said:
Well, it's not just that.

I'm not going to give all of the numbers that you all know so well, but the record vs. opponents within the SEC is way, way beyond anything Alabama suffered through.

I consider the post Tebow performance at Florida to be dreadful and it's not close to what Tennessee has experienced either.

Post Fulmer, Tennessee has a winning record against Vandy and Ky and that's it (in conference). And the record against Vandy is 5-4.

Alabama didn't go through something like that.
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Having been a Vol football fan for as long as I can remember and attending games for over 60 years, I have a longer prospective than many on here. The last 10 years (at least 8 of them ) of Vol football have been the worst in my lifetime. Even in the lowest years after Bill Battle left and Majors took over the Vols didn't lose to Vandy and Kentucky on a consistent basis. For the amount of investment put into this program - and measure that by any metric you want - money, facilities, fan engagement and interest - they have gotten the least in terms of on the field results of any program in the country; and its not even close. Right now Tennessee is the worst football team in the SEC and we're two touchdowns worse than the 13th best team in Vanderbilt. It hurts to even type that but unfortunately its true. I have no answers but I'm sure hoping CPF and CJP do because I'm getting too old to watch this s#&t! :)
 
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#60
#60
1974Vol said:
Having been a Vol football fan for as long as I can remember and attending games for over 60 years, I have a longer prospective than many on here. The last 10 years (at least 8 of them ) of Vol football have been the worst in my lifetime. Even in the lowest years after Bill Battle left and Majors took over the Vols didn't lose to Vandy and Kentucky on a consistent basis. For the amount of investment put into this program - and measure that by any metric you want - money, facilities, fan engagement and interest - they have gotten the least in terms of on the field results of any program in the country; and its not even close. Right now Tennessee is the worst football team in the SEC and we're two touchdowns worse than the 13th best team in Vanderbilt. It hurts to even type that but unfortunately its true. I have no answers but I'm sure hoping CPF and CJP do because I'm getting too old to watch this s#&t! :)
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I feel your pain. Started going to Neyland myself in the 60s as a concessions vendor, but lately it got to where one had to be part masochist to root for the Vols. However, I believe the worm has turned and we'll gradually get good again, with Fulmer and Pruitt leading the way out of the wilderness.
 
#61
#61
knox73 said:
Reality this is a grab-bag roster with a rookie coaching staff. I expect a lot of energy with about a 5 - 7 record similar to Major's first season.

Anything beyond that - getting bowl eligible will be a big step forward and should be applauded.

Long term time will tell whether top level SEC athletes can be signed and developed. I am optimistic Pruitt can do the job now that we have a big time AD for the first time - Hart was really not that bad but Hamilton was the penultimate disaster. Even interviewing Lane Kiffin to follow Fulmer was borderline insane; much less hiring the clown.
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Wouldn't call this a rookie coaching staff, outside of Pruitt being a first time HC. There is tons of coaching experience among the assistant Coach's and the quality control coach's. Also lots of SEC experience as well. I'm glad we hired Fulmer, but it's hard to call a first time AD a big time AD hire. But as far as hiring an AD that loves TN and wants nothing more than to help get us back to winning again, Fulmer was a great hire. Just hope he's not another Barry Alvarez and still think's he's the decision maker when it's football related. His next duty as AD needs to be upgrading the Lady Vols Basketball HC. Holly has had long enough and isn't getting it done. We are getting passed by S.Carol, Miss St, Tex A'M, Baylor, Oregon and others. We should be 1 & 2 with UConn most years, yet we can't even win the SEC and losing to Ala, Oregon St, LSU and Mizzou. Hopefully CPF already has that in the works. Pat has to be shaking her head at the decline of what she worked so hard to build.
 
#62
#62
1974Vol said:
Having been a Vol football fan for as long as I can remember and attending games for over 60 years, I have a longer prospective than many on here. The last 10 years (at least 8 of them ) of Vol football have been the worst in my lifetime. Even in the lowest years after Bill Battle left and Majors took over the Vols didn't lose to Vandy and Kentucky on a consistent basis. For the amount of investment put into this program - and measure that by any metric you want - money, facilities, fan engagement and interest - they have gotten the least in terms of on the field results of any program in the country; and its not even close. Right now Tennessee is the worst football team in the SEC and we're two touchdowns worse than the 13th best team in Vanderbilt. It hurts to even type that but unfortunately its true. I have no answers but I'm sure hoping CPF and CJP do because I'm getting too old to watch this s#&t! :)
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I don't think we're anywhere near the worst football team in the SEC. I will say that Butch and his staff's coaching certainly made it look that way at times, but it's more the horrid coaching and not having a clue how coach at an elite SEC Football school. He was way out of his league and should have taken the Colorado job instead of trying to sell himself as a great HC to Dave Hart. Hiring Hart as AD and getting the privilege to make the most important hire anyone could make at UT was the worst possible scenario. As bad as the decisions Hamilton made were ( Firing Fulmer, Hiring Kiffin,H iring Dooley, firing Delmonico, hiring and then firing Raleigh, hiring Pearl, although it was a great hire outside of the lying to investigators) he was a great fundraiser and more importantly he didn't have the reputation that Hart did. Hart had just as many horrible decisions but also had the reputation of being Shady with what happened under his watch at Fla St and his deep ties to Ala, who wouldn't even hire him for their AD. Hart pushed out our VFL legend Pat Summitt then hired Holly Warlock even if it was recommended,p used to have Lady Vols removed from the TN brand, several bad Men's Hoops hires, but did luck up getting Coach Barnes, another bad hire in Butch Jones, numerous extensions that helped add to Butch's buyout,had Butch put up on the jumbotron and constantly defending the negative stuff that continuously popped up about Butch. Throw in Curry and hiring Fulmer was much needed to help restore order and unite Volnation. But the horrible coaching, drama in the AD Department, weekly rumors about bullying and abusive behavior by Butch made things look much worse than they really are. Talent wise ( based off recruiting classes) we are only behind Ala, GA, LSU and Auburn. That puts us 5th and 2nd in the East.Combine the negative rumors, the horrible AD and higher up leadership hires, the lack of respect and not playing for their HC( Butch), the hatred and lack of continuity among the Coach's and the(Worst) #14 Coaching staff in the SEC it killed us in games and made us look like the worst team in our conference. But a new,energized and proven group of Coach's along with a mindset change can make a huge difference. We have 43+ *4 and *5 players who were ranked that by atleast one service, ncluding the incoming class so the potential is there for a sizable improvement. 7-8 wins, 2nd in the East and a bowl game is well within reach. Sorry for the length and not broken down into paragraphs but just voicing a different perspective on things. Depth will be the biggest stumbling block but when you really step back and dive into it we aren't near as bad as some fans think. Some of it's probably being optimistic but recruiting numbers and our coach's overall history doesn't lie and tells a much different story than the 3-4 win group tells.
 
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#64
#64
Glocker_Alum_2005 said:
So would you be disappointed with going to SECCG every 4 yr with a couple 8-9 win season in between?
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Yes, I would be disappointed.

Going to the SECCG at least every four years is about right. But anything less than 9 wins should be viewed as a failure. We should expect to beat at least one of the big three on our schedule every year, and ALWAYS be disappointed with losing to any of the dwarfs.

Putting 8 wins in the acceptable category is a no no.
 
#65
#65
Glocker_Alum_2005 said:
So would you be disappointed with going to SECCG every 4 yr with a couple 8-9 win season in between?
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Not really. The problem is that once you do that for a period of time, the expectations get ratcheted up another notch.

I think a reasonable expectation for Tennessee football is make the SECCG once every 3-4 years, and in the years that you don't make it be in contention and end up in a decent bowl game. A 7-win season is realistically about as bad as it should get. I think it is reasonable to expect an SEC title once every 5-8 years. A program like Tennessee shouldn't be going 20 years without an SEC title, or 11 years without a division title. That's just too long for a program with our resources.
 
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