Future of SEC East

#26
#26
KCMOTIGERS said:
Kirby has never been a head coach, he has no head coaching experience. Anointing Georgia as the new Alabama is laughable
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And what is just as laughable are the numerous people that are already predicting Smart to fail and to not be a good head coach. Too many people attribute his success to "Well he coached with Saban. It's all thanks to Saban."

That is such a lazy cop out when it comes to debating a coaches merits. Dabo was a Saban disciple and he turned out to be pretty successful if I might say. I mean, hell, he has kicked our ass in recruiting our own state this year.
 
#27
#27
VFL-82-JP said:
Amen, brother.

Making the transition from coordinator to head coach is by far the biggest and most disruptive promotion in a football coach's career. It can derail even very good coaches. Let me explain.

You .....
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Thank you, I enjoyed that read.
 
#29
#29
Catbone said:
Vols are at a huge cross road this year. We will either be the next big thing or decline to irrelevancy IMO.

Not sold on Florida.

I think UGA in particular could soon become the next Bama. They have huge hype like Butch had in his early years.

If Georgia wins the East this year it would be devastating to everyone else. We have been fortunate that Mark Richt was such a failure (even though we couldn't capitalize on it)

The rest suck.
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Mark Richt such a failure, just how bad was his record at Georgia?
 
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#31
#31
VersaceButch said:
Stuff like this bothers me. It feels like there are a large amount of people on this board that believe already that Smart is just going to be a failure because he hasn't coached a game as a HC yet.

This mindset amazes me. Smart may have been a Saban protege but too many people are discounting his ability. He is an exceptional DC and, as already proven in his short time as HC, an exceptional recruiter as well.

Too many people try to explain away successes under Saban as Saban doing all the work. "Oh he was only good because of Saban. He will suck on his own." This is just dumb. Saban is a great coach, but he also has to have a great supporting cast to win.

If you want to go ahead and crown Smart as the next UGA failure, then go ahead. But I don't think he is going to just rollover for us like many believe. He's raking in the talent. UGA is going to give us all the trouble we can handle. Butch better hope he beats Smart in at least year 1 while we have the superior talent. The last thing I want to see is UGA having some momentum against us already while they are "rebuilding".
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The truth is that nobody knows how Smart will be as a head coach. The Saban coaching trees has had about the same amount of successes and failures. For every Fischer and Dantonio there is a Muschamp or a Dooley. Smart could fall into one of these two categories or he could be somewhere in between. He is an unknown commodity as a head coach at this point.
 
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#32
#32
The Artful Dodger said:
The truth is that nobody knows how Smart will be as a head coach. The Saban coaching trees has had about the same amount of successes and failures. For every Fischer and Dantonio there is a Muschamp or a Dooley. Smart could fall into one of these two categories or he could be somewhere in between. He is an unknown commodity as a head coach at this point.
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But that is really my point though. People aren't acting like he is an unknown, a lot are spouting that he will be a failure because he has never had to be a HC before. Then, they go on to talk about how they aren't worried about UGA at all this year. It just seems dumb. They are loaded with talent and he is recruiting well.
 
#36
#36
The Artful Dodger said:
The truth is that nobody knows how Smart will be as a head coach. The Saban coaching trees has had about the same amount of successes and failures. For every Fischer and Dantonio there is a Muschamp or a Dooley. Smart could fall into one of these two categories or he could be somewhere in between. He is an unknown commodity as a head coach at this point.
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Agree 100%
 
#37
#37
to the point of the future of the East....having a staff in Knoxville that can recruit has swung the balance back to GA, FL and TN being at the top.

GA and FL should be able to field 8 win teams no matter what, and as long as TN can keep recruiting like we have the last 3 years, we'll be int he mix more times than not.

the wild cards will be how well can USC and MO rebound from what looks like could be a couple of really down years. can they add depth to the EAst and be bowl elligible or better on a consistent basis?

i think we're closer now to getting back to having an standard expectation of 9+ wins a year. and that's sooooo much better than it's been the last 7-8 years.:thumbsup:
 
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#39
#39
LittleVol said:
UK- Nice uniforms, they just can't seem to build. Theres no reason they shouldn't be able win. They have the same recruiting areas as we do. They put players in the league. But they just can't build...
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Always will be an uphill battle in Lexington.

Except we are sandwiched in a terrible recruiting state, we have a coach on his first job, we play a very difficult schedule every year, and we are directly competing against UGA, UT, UF, and the rest of the sec. Stoops als had to build a program that was neglected by the AD for decades and was stuck in the Joker Phillips mire.
 
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#40
#40
LittleCat said:
Always will be an uphill battle in Lexington.

Except we are sandwiched in a terrible recruiting state, we have a coach on his first job, we play a very difficult schedule every year, and we are directly competing against UGA, UT, UF, and the rest of the sec. Stoops als had to build a program that was neglected by the AD for decades and was stuck in the Joker Phillips mire.
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....and stoopes is gonna get fired at the end of this season. just more setbacks for 'ol Kentucky.
 
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#42
#42
Nashville, Atlanta, and North Carolina have imo, been responsible for our turnaround.

Atlanta belongs to UGA, Auburn and UT.
Nashville area lately has beem great to us and the talent there is growing tremendously.
Carolina always has talent... and the kids there seem to like playing on the other side of the mountain.

We have an outstanding recruiting base.

Imo...its gonna come down to gameday coaching. We should win the East every three years...
 
#43
#43
LittleCat said:
Always will be an uphill battle in Lexington.

Except we are sandwiched in a terrible recruiting state, we have a coach on his first job, we play a very difficult schedule every year, and we are directly competing against UGA, UT, UF, and the rest of the sec. Stoops als had to build a program that was neglected by the AD for decades and was stuck in the Joker Phillips mire.
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Rich Brooks proved you could win in Lexington. He beat LSU and a down FSU program in the same season and won 8 games.

The state of Kentucky is below average in talent, but you have Louisville, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, to the North. Nashville area to the south.

Keep getting JUCOs. JUCOs have been good to UK.

But yall have had good players.
Anthony White
Wesley Woodyard
Keenan Burton
Craig Yeast
Derek Abney
Tim Couch
Rafeal Little
Chris Matthews
And some good linemen.


You just have to hold on to guys like
Justin Miller
Shawn Alexander
Damien Harris
Bernard Jackson
Etc. a little more often

Nebraska also had crap for instate talent. No reason UK cant compete imo...
 
#44
#44
VersaceButch said:
And what is just as laughable are the numerous people that are already predicting Smart to fail and to not be a good head coach. Too many people attribute his success to "Well he coached with Saban. It's all thanks to Saban."

That is such a lazy cop out when it comes to debating a coaches merits. Dabo was a Saban disciple and he turned out to be pretty successful if I might say. I mean, hell, he has kicked our ass in recruiting our own state this year.
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It still took Dabo a few years to be successful, and don't forget how many weak teams there are in the ACC. Wins in the ACC and SEC can't be measured on the same scale. Further, factor in the ups and downs of FSU, Miami, and Ga Tech in the last few seasons, and you probably conclude that Clemson had a little help getting to the top. That's not minimizing that Clemson has been really good - it's just easier to get there and stay there when the team isn't getting beat to death weekly.
 
#45
#45
VersaceButch said:
But that is really my point though. People aren't acting like he is an unknown, a lot are spouting that he will be a failure because he has never had to be a HC before. Then, they go on to talk about how they aren't worried about UGA at all this year. It just seems dumb. They are loaded with talent and he is recruiting well.
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And a lot of people - including much of the media - seem to be thinking Smart will be the reincarnation of Saban - the AL of the East. That seems just as dumb. New head coaching records are all over the place, sometimes first year successes appear to be more like beginner's luck, and some of the overnight successes were years in the making.
 
#47
#47
LittleVol said:
Nashville, Atlanta, and North Carolina have imo, been responsible for our turnaround.

Atlanta belongs to UGA, Auburn and UT.
Nashville area lately has beem great to us and the talent there is growing tremendously.
Carolina always has talent... and the kids there seem to like playing on the other side of the mountain.

We have an outstanding recruiting base.

Imo...its gonna come down to gameday coaching. We should win the East every three years...
Click to expand...

No, we have an improving recruiting base because of the growth in the metro - Nashville area but it's still not enough to sustain us. Our in-state losses (at least so far) are really not that many in numbers but they are magnified because there still aren't enough players to go around. UGA would not bat an eye at losing an in-state WR like Higgins (they lost Kyle Davis last year) but for us it's a big deal.
 
#48
#48
LittleVol said:
Rich Brooks proved you could win in Lexington. He beat LSU and a down FSU program in the same season and won 8 games.

The state of Kentucky is below average in talent, but you have Louisville, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, to the North. Nashville area to the south.

Keep getting JUCOs. JUCOs have been good to UK.

But yall have had good players.
Anthony White
Wesley Woodyard
Keenan Burton
Craig Yeast
Derek Abney
Tim Couch
Rafeal Little
Chris Matthews
And some good linemen.


You just have to hold on to guys like
Justin Miller
Shawn Alexander
Damien Harris
Bernard Jackson
Etc. a little more often

Nebraska also had crap for instate talent. No reason UK cant compete imo...
Click to expand...

No dispute that we have talent around. But it's not like we can always fall back on the instate kids, because in past years they simply aren't good enough. Stoops is lucky to see better talent.Brooks' success was based more off his skill at finding underrated talent and making them play at a higher level together, rather than getting high profile recruits. Cobb, arguably the biggest star in the post Morris era, was a 2* recruit from TN.

My point was that if we will have a hard time nabbing guys from Ohio from the Ohio schools. We will have a hard time going South and taking guys from the Floridas, Bamas, Tennessees, etc. At this point we have to get the leftovers, and hope we find some gems (which I truly think we do). That's not the ideal way and it's not the way I want to compete in the SEC by where it can work for a little while (Missouri). That's not to say I'm unhappy with the roster (guys like Westry, Williams, Johnson, Barker, Kash, Drake, etc are great gets for us), but some guys like Damien Harris, the Dowell twins, Mac Jones (and all the other high profile decommits) could have changed this team a ton. Four years in nearly, and I don't see the team leader developed yet among Stoops' recruits.

And side note, I loveeeeeeed me some Derek Abney back in the day.
 
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