Vols4ever
I bleed ORANGE !!!
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2007
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Has butch already peaked? The 11 game streak that we had against the weaklings of last year and the beginning of this year, is that the best that Butch can do?
Lets look at some of the things:
The hire:
When Butch was hired, the biggest question was he can coach but can he recruit? In all his previous stays, he won lot of games with inferior talent, but that was also against inferior talent. SEC is a whole different animal. The first couple of years, Butch showed that he can recruit but how misguided were we on his coaching abilities?
Recruiting:
Butch was a great salesman, but what is left to sell at Tennessee. Butch, when he got here, sold
Tennessee tradition
Facilities
Playing time
His coaching at previous place
What is left? Tradition is no longer sellable. In this era of instant gratification, the last time Tennessee was significant was more than a decade back. The new recruits were not even sperms when UT last won its NC.
Facilities are there but a lot of schools are catching up.
Play time is there, but most schools are going to point out to lack of player development. None of his recruits have significantly contributed save a few. A lot of them have regressed.
His coaching has taken a big hit. He improved his Ws every year in all his previous stops and until now with Tennessee. This year might be a reverse trend.
Current players? QB situation? A lot of SEC teams have showed they have a freshman QB who is playing well. USA, Scar etc. We have a new QB next year and we don't know how that is going to turn out.
Can he sell injuries to his down year? May be, but a lot of schools are going to point that out and say you can go to Tennessee and get injured or come here and play / win games. I know that is far fetched but the unusual number of injuries can scare a lot of recruits.
If Butch doesn't recruit, I don't think he can do anything with his game day coaching skills. He can let go of Deboard and say we will get a new exciting OC, but will he still be a puppet OC running Butch's system that is not cutting out in SEC?
Where do we go from here?
Lets look at some of the things:
The hire:
When Butch was hired, the biggest question was he can coach but can he recruit? In all his previous stays, he won lot of games with inferior talent, but that was also against inferior talent. SEC is a whole different animal. The first couple of years, Butch showed that he can recruit but how misguided were we on his coaching abilities?
Recruiting:
Butch was a great salesman, but what is left to sell at Tennessee. Butch, when he got here, sold
Tennessee tradition
Facilities
Playing time
His coaching at previous place
What is left? Tradition is no longer sellable. In this era of instant gratification, the last time Tennessee was significant was more than a decade back. The new recruits were not even sperms when UT last won its NC.
Facilities are there but a lot of schools are catching up.
Play time is there, but most schools are going to point out to lack of player development. None of his recruits have significantly contributed save a few. A lot of them have regressed.
His coaching has taken a big hit. He improved his Ws every year in all his previous stops and until now with Tennessee. This year might be a reverse trend.
Current players? QB situation? A lot of SEC teams have showed they have a freshman QB who is playing well. USA, Scar etc. We have a new QB next year and we don't know how that is going to turn out.
Can he sell injuries to his down year? May be, but a lot of schools are going to point that out and say you can go to Tennessee and get injured or come here and play / win games. I know that is far fetched but the unusual number of injuries can scare a lot of recruits.
If Butch doesn't recruit, I don't think he can do anything with his game day coaching skills. He can let go of Deboard and say we will get a new exciting OC, but will he still be a puppet OC running Butch's system that is not cutting out in SEC?
Where do we go from here?
