Fred White sees progress, purpose, hope for Vols

[Type Orange+]

I'm afraid we still have a long, arduous journey ahead of us. But I truly believe we have the right man to lead us out of the valley of desolation that his recent predecessors have left us in.

Dave: What did you like from UT’s coaching staff?

Fred: “I saw a coach, Jeremy Pruitt, do something I haven’t seen done (at Tennessee) in a long time. The defensive backs get beat on the play (and) he didn’t berate them on the sideline or on the field. He brings them to him. I’m looking at him coaching and he’s coaching the three or four guys in the secondary. You can tell that he’s telling them ‘Hey, that was your route.’
“Now, we have the coaching. The players have to come up to the level of what the coaching is at the moment. I think that will start to happen in a few games. You’ll start to see guys make less mistakes. That’s what I’m hoping for and I think that will be the case.”

Dave: Why didn’t former UT coach Butch Jones do the same sort of teaching?

Fred: “He didn’t know a whole lot about football in the first place. He really didn’t. I’m being honest. I’m not trying to berate him or belittle him or anything but, honestly, you could see that on film. You could see that when you asked him questions about technique and personnel. He could not answer those questions. He could not teach his guys …. He could not do that. That’s just something he could not do. To see that now, is a promising thing.”

Dave: What did you like about UT’s offense?

Fred: “We found another running back. One guy went down (starter Ty Chandler), this guy (Tim Jordan) steps up. We let a quarterback (Jarrett Guarantano) come into his own in my opinion. We didn’t win the game and I’m not excited about a loss. A loss is a loss. I still want to win. However, in this case, with a football coach that it’s the first time he has ever coached a team and as been the leader, there were things that I saw that were positive.

https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/t...ed-white-sees-progress-purpose-hope-for-vols/

 

[KeyVol14]

Cue the negavols “I’ve seen this article before”...good story man. It’s refreshing to here someone actually spreading optimism

 

[BlackCreekVol]

LOL about Butch not knowing how to coach!!! Good article

 

[HoptownVol]

“He didn’t know a whole lot about football in the first place. He really didn’t."

Amen Fred, Amen!

 

[Type Orange+]

“We were a very mature team that came into this game,” he said. “Where Coach Pruitt’s at, he is very sound and a tough defense and caught us off-guard in the first half.

“If they keep playing complimentary football, it’s going to be a tough team to beat because they minimized our possessions at the beginning. Once that happens, they can run away with a lot of games.”

West Virginia OC Jake Spavital: 'You can see Pruitt is going to turn that program around'

-Jake Spavital WVU OC

 

[screenthis]

“He didn’t know a whole lot about football in the first place. He really didn’t."

Amen Fred, Amen!

I hate that Butch didn't have coaching chops. If he had only let the other coaches coach with him focusing on recruiting and personal relations, how far could a few of those teams gone with Dobbs, et al? I can think of at least a few game we would have won (two against Florida).

 

[tbones0711]

I'm by no means taking up for Jones and I do not know the reason Mike Debord left for Indiana. However rumor was Jones needed $650K to land a top-notch OC and I think he was referencing Matt Canada who had been at LSU and making $1ml a year,the same as we are paying Helton now. Jones said the admin wouldn't give him the money and thus set him up for failure. He felt forced to have to promote Scott. I pray the ship is righted now with Fulmer at the helm and we don't run into administrative problems in the future. Jones needed shown the door after the 2016 season. That one year set UT back even more.

 

[Pepe]

I'm by no means taking up for Jones and I do not know the reason Mike Debord left for Indiana. However rumor was Jones needed $650K to land a top-notch OC and I think he was referencing Matt Canada who had been at LSU and making $1ml a year,the same as we are paying Helton now. Jones said the admin wouldn't give him the money and thus set him up for failure. He felt forced to have to promote Scott. I pray the ship is righted now with Fulmer at the helm and we don't run into administrative problems in the future. Jones needed shown the door after the 2016 season. That one year set UT back even more.

Butch would have messed up Canada just like he messed up Shoop

 

[ATLVols]

“He didn’t know a whole lot about football in the first place. He really didn’t."

Amen Fred, Amen!

If you have a coach who has never been a coordinator, he’s going to be weaker at schemes and techniques. Pruitt is a great coordinator and coach who knows schemes and technique. Hopefully he will be a great head coach.

 

[HoptownVol]

Butch would have messed up Canada just like he messed up Shoop

LOL Shoop had top defenses at Vandy and a down Penn State, comes to Knoxville and our Yale grad DC is an instant idiot. Its just too much to believe. Common denominator.... Jones.

 

[tnvols72]

LOL Shoop had top defenses at Vandy and a down Penn State, comes to Knoxville and our Yale grad DC is an instant idiot. Its just too much to believe. Common denominator.... Jones.

Watch Miss St have a strong D this year. Shoop did not wake up one morning and become a inept coach. Butch is the reason Shoop failed.

 

[DiderotsGhost]

I'm by no means taking up for Jones and I do not know the reason Mike Debord left for Indiana. However rumor was Jones needed $650K to land a top-notch OC and I think he was referencing Matt Canada who had been at LSU and making $1ml a year,the same as we are paying Helton now. Jones said the admin wouldn't give him the money and thus set him up for failure. He felt forced to have to promote Scott. I pray the ship is righted now with Fulmer at the helm and we don't run into administrative problems in the future. Jones needed shown the door after the 2016 season. That one year set UT back even more.

This wouldn't shock me and as easy as it is to beat up on Butch Jones now, our dysfunctional Athletic Department was arguably an even bigger problem.

That said, if you're a football coach and your cardinal weakness is 'coaching football', that's not a very good weakness to have. Recruiting can only go so far. Matt Canada would've solved offensive strategy problems, but he wouldn't have fixed a lot of Butch's big picture issues. (player development, game management, insanely high injury numbers, etc).

It's crazy looking back to realize that Butch Jones had a roster with Josh Dobbs, Alvin Kamara, John Kelly, Jauan Jennings, Derek Barnett, Josh Malone, Preston Williams, Trevor Daniel, Evan Berry, and Cam Sutton all at the same time, and still only went 9-4.

 

[Jack Burton]

Fred White wouldn’t be able to play today he’d get flagged for tackling too hard in our era of flag football rules. White could really lay out the ball carriers. He had that “dog” in him that we need more of if we’re to rebuild this mess.

 

[Iam4utalways]

It seems to me out DBs were expecting quick routes by WV due to the stunts we were running to make their QB throw it early. When the pressure didn’t get there and he had time that when we the longer developing routes would work. He made some quick throws on some down the field routes that were on the money too.

 

[greazy1722]

Butch deserves alot of credit..Butch wasnt bad as everybody thinks..Do yall realize how many coaches never played football..Its all about ur staff..Scott would never had a OC job nowhere else..The administration set Jones up to fell..Maybe if Jones had Fulmer for a AD and a new board who knows what Butch Jones could have done..

 

[VolsnRavens]

Watch Miss St have a strong D this year. Shoop did not wake up one morning and become a inept coach. Butch is the reason Shoop failed.

I am really interested at what Shoop does this year. If he is successful, then it will be the proof of ultimate ineptitude on the entire previous administration and coach. I sure as heck hope that Fulmer and Pruitt can get us back to the top where we belong. It's a painful process sometimes. But I have faith that we may have finally hit on the right time for both the admin and coaching to be in tune again. And that will show in the success of our team. Go Vols

 

[Behr]

Great, more excuses. Just win.

 

[BigOrangeFanatic]

Liked his comments about Butch.

 

[Russdaddy2027]

It's crazy looking back to realize that Butch Jones had a roster with Josh Dobbs, Alvin Kamara, John Kelly, Jauan Jennings, Derek Barnett, Josh Malone, Preston Williams, Trevor Daniel, Evan Berry, and Cam Sutton all at the same time, and still only went 9-4.

I think about this often, gotta throw Hurd in there too, it was an unprecedented squandering of talent....

 

[BlackCreekVol]

I think about this often, gotta throw Hurd in there too, it was an unprecedented squandering of talent....

Speaking of Hurd....he had 4 for 58 and a TD in his first game as a bear

 

[BeecherVol]

Butch deserves alot of credit..Butch wasnt bad as everybody thinks..Do yall realize how many coaches never played football..Its all about ur staff..Scott would never had a OC job nowhere else..The administration set Jones up to fell..Maybe if Jones had Fulmer for a AD and a new board who knows what Butch Jones could have done..

UT have him plenty to succeed with. He failed because hes not very good. He cemented that idea on his way out.

 

[LakeMaryFLVol]

I'm afraid we still have a long, arduous journey ahead of us. But I truly believe we have the right man to lead us out of the valley of desolation that his recent predecessors have left us in.

" “He didn’t know a whole lot about football in the first place. He really didn’t. I’m being honest" I mentioned this in the Pruitt TV show thread but this explains why there were so many fluff fill pieces in his Sunday TV Show.

https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/t...ed-white-sees-progress-purpose-hope-for-vols/

 

[Gandalf]

That rings true. Butch seems to be the guy who, when a player missed the assignment and busted the play, would shout at the player and then cajole them to put out "maximum effort" in the future. CJP, on the other hand, would shout hay, you missed that and then say, THIS is how you do it, place your hands, twist your waist, etc. CJP actually KNOWS what he is doing and focuses on the granular details of how to succeed, not platitudes. I think that is why, in spite of him being more "no nonsense", that they players really like playing for him - they know they are getting great training.

 

[jakez4ut]

Butch deserves alot of credit..Butch wasnt bad as everybody thinks..Do yall realize how many coaches never played football..Its all about ur staff..Scott would never had a OC job nowhere else..The administration set Jones up to fell..Maybe if Jones had Fulmer for a AD and a new board who knows what Butch Jones could have done..

lol.
he had an AD that was a Butch Jones superfan in Dave Hart.

who knows what he could have done?

i can beat that.

i know what he did in 5 years....

 

[Gandalf]

THIS also stood out as why I believe it is not just the lack of talent but its the loser mentality that CJP has to overcome. Fortunately, a 5 time NC winner is just the right guy to get our guys over that.

Fred: “Another thing that happened in the game that was a confidence builder for later on in the season. I don’t even know if they realize that it was a motivational thing for them in the first game of the season but going for it on fourth down. … You see them running off the field. Pruitt and all the coaches are screaming for them to get back on the field. They call a timeout. They go for it and they get the first down.

“That’s telling you guys, ‘We believe in you. But you’ve got to believe in you too.’ You should have been saying, ‘Coach, go for it!’ instead of just jogging off the football field. Those are lingering effects from losing, One of the hardest things to overcome is a losing mentality. One of the hardest things to coach out of a player is a losing mentality.”