Film Guy’s message to some of you

#102
#102
UTFranklinVol said:
if you look at our history as fans and a program, we hold on to football coaches until they completely run us into the ground without any hope of rebuilding within a year or two.

like it or not, it is COMPLETELY possible that this team loses to Florida and Vanderbilt and then loses a bowl game and finishes WITH THE EXACT SAME RECORD as Huepel's first year when the program (by all accounts) was in a complete shambles.

to me it's beginning to smell exactly like 2016 all over again.

I'll leave you with two thoughts.

1. LSU just paid a coach with a .700 record, two back-to-back 10 win seasons and a trip to the SECCG to walk away. Apparently this was so unacceptable that the F#CKING GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA stepped in and said enough is enough and had the AD fired for hiring Kelly to begin with. So pardon me but who TF on this message board is going to come at me saying Tennessee fans are petulant children?? who can say that without losing all credibility? nobody, that's who. the fans of winning programs like Bama and LSU will cry and whine way worse than Tennessee and they will win as a result.

2. Now for the "oh yeah well who would you replace Heupel with" crowd. well I would politely point out that I'm not the one being paid millions of dollars to decide who that is. But I can say that Jimbo Fisher was paid a record amount of money to walk away from TAMU and who did they replace him with? A guy who went 7-5 at Duke and had only 2 years of head coaching experience. And guess who is 8-0 and going to the CFP???

Need a second example? How about Vanderbilt, a team that has for 100 years been in rebuilding mode and has never had a recruiting class anywhere near the worst class UT has ever had, hired a nobody head coach with 0 years of head coaching experience and who will be going to the CFP if they manage to beat UT.

and both of those coaches are doing it in the mighty SEC, not the weak B10 or ACC.
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To answer you directly, and accurately, I am. And I said it was the vocal minority, not all Tennessee fans, for clarity.

To point #1. Kelly was fired because he was not engaged and a selfish person who lost the team. He did not embrace the LA culture and made it all about him. If he had any self-awareness he would likely still be their coach but was a bad fit from day one. Second, he was supposed to win it all this year or be in the hunt. The team quite on him so there is a stark contrast to our situation and is an apples to oranges comparison.

2. aTm is having a great year, no doubt. Elko lost some winnable games last year and we will see where they finish this year. Arkansas nearly got them (sounds familiar), struggle win against Auburn so we will see. They don't play Alabama or Georgia either so hard to see where they are at. I hope they do run the table and win tbh, but if we play that schedule we likely lose to ND and have one loss.

3. Vandy? This is a flash in the pan and were destroyed for three quarters by a bad Texas team. Credit they came back and made it a game but they are not as good as the media is making them out to be, just better than Vandy typically is and we love a good underdog story. When Pavia moves on Candy going to Candy. Credit where credit is due though, they are making the most of it.

If this team quits on the coaches, the coaches disengage from the community and legacy then I will eat my crow and stand with you. There are a lot of false equivalencies in your arguments. You are 100% entitled to have any opinion you want, but we will have to agree to disagree These situations are the same and that there is anyone out there who would be better than CJH.

You want to talk assistants? I would argue that there are changes that should be evaluated after the season.
 
#103
#103
I have always thought a lot of VolNation posters have a lot better realistic take on things going on with the Vols than these wanna make a living off of YouTubing.
 
#104
#104
The Original Fade said:
No one doubts Heupel’s ability to move the football but coach’s are ultimately judged on wins and losses. Nothing else.
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I agree, we are in good shape!

Overall Career: Heupel's career winning percentage is approximately 73.8% (65-23) across seven seasons as an FBS head coach at UCF and Tennessee.
-National Ranking: He is often ranked among the top 10-15 active FBS coaches based on winning percentage, depending on the source and the criteria used for ranking (e.g., a minimum number of seasons coached).
-Tennessee Performance: His winning percentage at Tennessee (.712) is the second-highest for a UT coach in the past 50 years.
-UCF Performance: He had a winning percentage of .778 at UCF (28-8).
 
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#105
#105
We don't need to watch film to see this team is lacking. Past win percentages doesn't mean squat when you are failing in the present.
 
#106
#106
I will never take advice from someone who says Tennessee is a 7-5 program. Like I get that we were stupid stupid stupid, for two decades with coach hiring...but this fanbase is elite. Our resources are also top shelf. In the NIL era, the geography disadvantage is even smaller. The idea that we should be happy with gruel is ignorant.
 
#107
#107
Volfan8282 said:
So we should have kept Butch? Is that what you’re saying? We have an actual AD now… he’s improved everything across the board. I’m much more confident in our ability to make a hiring upgrade with Danny White than I was with the Schiano/Pruitt/Fulmer/Currie fiasco. Is it a guarantee? No, nothing is a guarantee, ever. But you have to take some chances in life to improve. I’m not saying we’re there yet with Heupel, but he’s going to need to change dramatically in some different areas and few people are able to do that in their mid 40s in any career. I personally think the writing is on the wall, but I would give him another year at the very least. Either way, we can’t be afraid to make a change when/if that time comes… yeah we might go back to 7-5 or 6-6 type seasons … or we may hire the next “dude” in college football. UT is a top 10 job in the sport, and we need to act like it.
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Not dramatically at all.. At the pace Heupel is at, the only thing that would send this program back to 7-5 and 6-6 is our fans trying to prematurely get rid of a young football coach who is adapting by the year. For gods sake just have a little patience. The guy JUST got us out of 25 years of chaos and our fanbase just wants it back again like that. Before him we were in Nebraska territory. Meanwhile the guy STILL has recruiting restrictions from our past horrific coach that our fanbase insisted to hire. Be mad we lost the game, be mad we didn’t execute a game plan that dominated the game, and be mad at whatever else you want. But “taking a risk” and firing a coach that’s AHEAD of schedule coming from where he found us is just idiotic. Like brain dead. Truly.
 
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#108
#108
GoVols64 said:
To answer you directly, and accurately, I am. And I said it was the vocal minority, not all Tennessee fans, for clarity.

To point #1. Kelly was fired because he was not engaged and a selfish person who lost the team. He did not embrace the LA culture and made it all about him. If he had any self-awareness he would likely still be their coach but was a bad fit from day one. Second, he was supposed to win it all this year or be in the hunt. The team quite on him so there is a stark contrast to our situation and is an apples to oranges comparison.

3. Vandy? This is a flash in the pan and were destroyed for three quarters by a bad Texas team.
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1. you say Kelly "lost the team" but you clearly step right over all the players that have bolted from UT in the portal including most of our WR corps and our top rated QB last year. Tennessee is only in the position they are in because they were astronomically lucky that Aguilar fell right in our laps. if we had to start Merklinger this year it would have been a disaster and a totally different narrative.

2. will you still call Vandy a flash in the pan if they beat Tennessee?

3. and I'll reiterate my original point in the post I made. Tennessee's fatal flaw with their last 3 coaches is precisely the idea that we let it get to the point where the coach lost the team and the wheels came completely off the bus. The entire point is that we should never let that happen again.
 
#110
#110
I'm not at fire Heupel yet, but that loss was absolutely unacceptable. That Oklahoma team coming into Neyland and winning should never ever happen.
 
#111
#111
UTFranklinVol said:
people keep shaming our defense but by God our offense has lost us 2 games now by being completely inept. you can't blame Banks.

first it's all the dropped passes, my god all the dropped passes right on the hands.

if it's not the dropped passes then our QB throws the ball right to the defense.

if it's not the interceptions then it's missed assignments on the line causing catastrophic fumbles.

if it's not all that then it's our kicker failing to execute in the greatest time of need.

that's all entirely on Heupel's side of the ball.

at least Banks has the excuse that he has had so many good players injured this year.
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Banks aint off the Hook, its year 5 and his Safeties look more lost now than ever.
 
#112
#112
UTFranklinVol said:
1. you say Kelly "lost the team" but you clearly step right over all the players that have bolted from UT in the portal including most of our WR corps and our top rated QB last year. Tennessee is only in the position they are in because they were astronomically lucky that Aguilar fell right in our laps. if we had to start Merklinger this year it would have been a disaster and a totally different narrative.

2. will you still call Vandy a flash in the pan if they beat Tennessee?

3. and I'll reiterate my original point in the post I made. Tennessee's fatal flaw with their last 3 coaches is precisely the idea that we let it get to the point where the coach lost the team and the wheels came completely off the bus. The entire point is that we should never let that happen again.
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1. My take is players who left did so for more NIL $ and were not going to get the PT they felt they deserved. Kelly was on the beach during prime recruiting season, no one is defending him and he was toxic for that program. Today's game is simply different and if a kid is going to get more $ and that is his priority he is leaving. It isn't just UT either, plenty of schools are dealing with the same thing. The team plays hard and makes mistakes. Agree if JA doens't come in we would be looking at another couple of losses but if you think Nico being dismissed was on CJH I'd ask you go back and really dig in. The kids dad was a problem and, candidly, even if he stayed we are are in the same boat record wise; he simply wasn't as good as his billing.

2. Yes. It will be a tough game and, while I think we win, Vandy next year will not be this competitive. If they start dumping NIL $s in maybe, through the portal, but one year isn't swaying me they are a new SEC power.

3. We are in complete agreement about the last three coaches. I simply don't see CJH as that guy. We need to clean up defensively, no doubt. There are some turnovers against OK that killed us and JA did not play a great game in the first half. I simply don't see the similarities in the other coaches and CJH. We are upgrading talent, we are within a few plays of being a one-loss team, and the team fights hard!

Again, completely respect you my friend, I am simply not seeing catastrophic flaws like we saw in Dooley, Jones and Pruitt. I see fixable mistakes that are part of football and a program that is fun to watch which makes it infuriating because our hopes are up again. Logically, we would be foolish to chase him away at this point. Go Vols!
 
#113
#113
Film Guy is pretty on target. He didn’t call TN a laughingstock but stated we were a 7-win team for two decades. Actually it was closer to 6.5 win team. TN finished unranked in the AP 14 times with a win percentage of .577, 139 against 102 losses. Finished below .500 nine seasons. That period was enough to knock TN out of the top 10 winningest programs, after playing since 1891.

Heupel has made the program respectable again and that is showing up in the 2025 and projected 2026 class. After overcoming a number of sanctions, administration at least as bad as the coaches installed, and one of the worst decades in Vol history. From 2011 - 2020, TN was a .500 team.

He could stand to square himself away and look more professional while he’s not winning championships. Also, you send a disjointed message to your team, especially the defense, when you clip your starting QBs for similar conduct you tolerate in Boo Carter; who knows how that has impacted D play aside from injuries and transfers. Overall, this was a better game from the D than we’ve seen in a while.

Either way, drive killing penalties for our offense and drive extending penalties for the opponent are still too frequent. Too many guys out of position and blowing assignments compound things, but then we are playing a lost of young guys and perhaps this pays off in 2026. Only coaches see the locker-room and Heupel will have to evaluated staff and player performance, making whatever changes are needed. Including his game time management.

And, this simply is new era due to NIL, profit-sharing, and portal, without comparison to even 5 years ago. TN is still no recruiting hot-bed despite not being the talent desert it was for so long. All three teams we’ve lost to have a higher 247 talent composite rating that TN; we rank 16, OU 14, and GA and AL are at 1 and 2. We have Mississippi level talent, not CA, FL, TX, GA, AL, LA level talent, so it’s a good thing we’ve not had to contend with multiple in-states schools for most. If Heupel can start stacking top 10 classes, we could be in for better things.

Plenty of valid criticisms but a plethora of plain, crazy-azz stuff from a handful who don’t seem to see the progress, or express impatience with it. The next level for Heupel is not a huge step but is at the incremental gains stage, where small improvements are purchased with discipline and fundamentals (assuming recruiting continues upward trend).
 
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#114
#114
Jimmyandjoes said:
Unfortunately, In today's society,shame and ignorance seem to be a badge of honor. It's seen as a flex when it used to be ridiculed and derided for the utter stupidity.
We,as a society, have lost the ability to tell stupid people they are stupid.
We're living in the age of dunning kruger
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Love the Dunning Kruger reference. It's spot on!
 
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#116
#116
NCFisher said:
Film Guy is pretty on target. He didn’t call TN a laughingstock but stated we were a 7-win team for two decades. Actually it was closer to 6.5 win team. TN finished unranked in the AP 14 times with a win percentage of .577, 139 against 102 losses. Finished below .500 nine seasons. That period was enough to knock TN out of the top 10 winningest programs, after playing since 1891.

Heupel has made the program respectable again and that is showing up in the 2025 and projected 2026 class. After overcoming a number of sanctions, administration at least as bad as the coaches installed, and one of the worst decades in Vol history. From 2011 - 2020, TN was a .500 team.

He could stand to square himself away and look more professional while he’s not winning championships. Also, you send a disjointed message to your team, especially the defense, when you clip your starting QBs for similar conduct you tolerate in Boo Carter; who knows how that has impacted D play aside from injuries and transfers. Overall, this was a better game from the D than we’ve seen in a while.

Either way, drive killing penalties for our offense and drive extending penalties for the opponent are still too frequent. Too many guys out of position and blowing assignments compound things, but then we are playing a lost of young guys and perhaps this pays off in 2026. Only coaches see the locker-room and Heupel will have to evaluated staff and player performance, making whatever changes are needed. Including his game time management.

And, this simply is new era due to NIL, profit-sharing, and portal, without comparison to even 5 years ago. TN is still no recruiting hot-bed despite not being the talent desert it was for so long. All three teams we’ve lost to have a higher 247 talent composite rating that TN; we rank 16, OU 14, and GA and AL are at 1 and 2. We have Mississippi level talent, not CA, FL, TX, GA, AL, LA level talent, so it’s a good thing we’ve not had to contend with multiple in-states schools for most. If Heupel can start stacking top 10 classes, we could be in for better things.

Plenty of valid criticisms but a plethora of plain, crazy-azz stuff from a handful who don’t seem to see the progress, or express impatience with it. The next level for Heupel is not a huge step but is at the incremental gains stage, where small improvements are purchased with discipline and fundamentals (assuming recruiting continues upward trend).
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You cant expect to win big time football games if all 3 phases are not playing winning complementary football.

Offense: Are we going to be an up-tempo team or not? This year we have not ran the ball effectively like we have in years past. The play calling has been atrocious at times. Sometimes in critical situations. CLEAN UP THE DAMN FALSE STARTS!
Defense: Clean house except our DL coach. Go hire a proven DC that knows what hes doing. You cant sit here and blame this year on "Injuries". The defensive line coach Rodney Gardner is as good as anyone. But the LBers and Secondary are as lost as you can get. We see flashes of great plays from some of them. But the consistency isnt no where near where it should be. Tackling is as horrid as i have seen it. Banks isnt a good DC. Dude gets cooked in big time games.
Special Teams: Go hire a Special Teams coach and go find a damn FG Kicker.

Money shouldnt be a problem considering how much Danny Dimes is charging for seats. I am not in the "Fire Heupel" crowd. But i am getting tired of watching this team show signs of being elite only to digress into mediocrity in the same damn game.
 
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#117
#117
To all of the ones that keep saying that it's year five, we ARE STILL ON PROBATION! I'm just as disappointed as anyone else but, we all just have to take a breath. Improvements have to be made. Hype doesn't coach kids to not block the guy in front of them. Nor does he coach them to catch the ball with their face mask.

Our qb is a gutsy feel good story. Truthfully though, he is a reclamation project. He is solid but not great. I'm glad to have him but he has reached his ceiling.

The defense is undisciplined. There is very little gap integrity in the run game and our LB group doesn't cover well.

Bottom line we are still a few quality players short of the playoff caliber teams.

Ride or die. GBO!
 
#118
#118
Teezy said:
Not dramatically at all.. At the pace Heupel is at, the only thing that would send this program back to 7-5 and 6-6 is our fans trying to prematurely get rid of a young football coach who is adapting by the year. For gods sake just have a little patience. The guy JUST got us out of 25 years of chaos and our fanbase just wants it back again like that. Before him we were in Nebraska territory. Meanwhile the guy STILL has recruiting restrictions from our past horrific coach that our fanbase insisted to hire. Be mad we lost the game, be mad we didn’t execute a game plan that dominated the game, and be mad at whatever else you want. But “taking a risk” and firing a coach that’s AHEAD of schedule coming from where he found us is just idiotic. Like brain dead. Truly.
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He’s 47. Coached nearly 100 games. He’s not really a young coach. The Oklahoma game on its own is frustrating… this isn’t about just the Oklahoma game. And I’m not saying that we need to fire him right now… in fact, I said the exact opposite if you actually read my post. I think we’re delaying the inevitable but I’m good with giving him another year. Next year will just be another slew of excuses though… tough schedule, potentially playing a freshman QB, etc., etc.

He brought us out of the darkest time in our program’s history. He will always have my respect for that. But, I don’t think he’s that guy… the guy to take us to the upper echelon of college football. Could he figure it out? I guess. Anything is possible but it’s going to take him making some changes. Dramatic ones for him… like firing some of his buddies. He’s never done that to my knowledge as a HC.
 
#120
#120
UTFranklinVol said:
I used to feel this way but now I suspect all these great passing numbers are due entirely to our extraordinarily weak schedule.

the pressure was turned up on this team 3 times this year and all four tires on the bus blew out in each of those attempts at facing down tougher teams.

being able to run up the score against cupcake OOC and bottom feeder SEC teams put a false narrative on the quality of the team which has now been completely exposed.

I don't like it but it's true and the thing is this opportunity to run up numbers is going away in the new SEC next year.

but I'm sure next year people will parrot " we are young and we have a new starting QB" etc etc. it's the same old thing here on Volnation. there's always conveniently an excuse for failure. just pick a new excuse out of the hat on your way through the door
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He threw for almost 400yrds and 3 TD against OU, a top D in the SEC.
The guy can throw the ball
 
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#121
#121
There is absolutely nothing I can say or do that will have any impact whatsoever on any coach’s job status. Nothing! What I think is just my opinion and will never even make it to DW’s desk. I hope it doesn’t get to the point that Heupel is let go and we have to gamble on another head coach after next year or beyond. That being said, my opinion is that we have seen Heupel’s best and his inability to change will end his tenure within the next couple of seasons. And if/when it happens, it won’t be my fault or any other person on this forum.
 
#122
#122
CHJ is light years better than Dooley/Jones/Pruitt. Although this off season he is going to have to make some legit changes to the staff. Sorry but overall this defense has been somewhat of a liability the entire time. Even last year as good as they were they still had their own issues at times. I would love to see the statistics on how many 3rd and 5 yard plus that have been given up over the past few years. I would be willing to bet it is close to 50%. There is not a team in the country who is on the plus side of the field that worries about making a first down when they have less than 5 yards and 2 downs against us.
 
#124
#124
Behr said:
That's not what he said.

Whether hes a Georgia Homer or not hes right.

These boneheads in this forum that are done with Heupel just want to cry and moan. Some have been asked who they'd hire to replace him and all Ive seen is "Me". Same BS with Butch. "My grandma could coach better, anyone would be better". What happened?

My point? They don't want to discuss it they just want to complain. Find one making a good case for a realistic replacement and Ill listen.

Some good programs out there looking for the next Saban. How many Sabans are there? Im not saying you cant fire Heupel, I wouldn't, but Im saying if you're gonna do it you better have a damn good plan and it seems nobody on this forum has one. Just fire him and throw a dart. Great plan.
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Look. Here's my thing, I want Heupel to be the guy. I really do. In some ways we've seen him grow as a coach during his time here. He figured out how to win low scoring rock fight type games and has managed to knock off Florida and Bama. But at the same time, it's year 5 and it feels like we've hit our ceiling and we're just out of reach of where we want to be the way things are now. This off season will tell everything. If he rolls out next season with the exact same staff his days will be numbered. It's clear we could take that next step if Heupel is willing to shake up the staff, but the big question is will he be willing to make those changes. As for a replacement, I think they should get a CEO type head coach who can be a good leader and face of the program and will hire elite coordinators and assistant coaches to take care of the X's and O's. That's my opinion. We've been through both offensive and defensive guys and with both the opposite side of the ball suffers. Athletic directors and search committees make big bucks to find coaches. They should be able to find candidates who would fit the criteria I laid out. If it comes to replacing Heupel, we need a CEO head coach who will get elite coordinators and let them coach
 
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