Honest Opinion

[marvin616]

UT has to get back to how it was in the early 90s, for me at least.

Back in the Kelly/Schuler days, UT wasn't dominant but they sure were competitive and had some fun teams to watch. Each season gave real reasons to be positive for the next. Those years added up to Peyton wanting to come to the hill and Peyton coming led to a NC.

How many seasons that takes, I want to say just one more but I don't have that early 90s positivity just yet.

 

[TNnative]

Folks, it'll take Pruitt five years. And in five years he'll be competing on the level of Florida, Georgia, LSU, and eventually Bama. Let the man work--it will happen, but he needs five years.

If it takes 5 years, he won't be here. I am not saying we can beat Florida, Georgia, Bama or other teams like those right now, but they do need to walk off the field making those teams feel lucky the game ended. But with the schedule set the way it is, they need to win 8 games. The 4 OOC games are as light of a lineup as we have ever had. Miss State rotates in perhaps a little weaker than they have been. And if our players are improved and properly developed, there are 3 more wins from South Carolina, Missouri Kentucky, and Candybilt. If Pruitt wants five years to build us into a national powerhouse again, that is what he needs to do THIS YEAR to ensure he gets it.

 

[Volgrad98]

Head to head aside, as much as it pains me to type it, they had the better year last year.

Ban this guy

 

[WoodsmanVol]

You guys are worrying too much. Just sit back and wait and watch the upcoming edge of your seat season of strange sights and implausible wonders. It's coming, it's coming, yes indeed, it's coming.

 

[photovol]

Folks, it'll take Pruitt five years. And in five years he'll be competing on the level of Florida, Georgia, LSU, and eventually Bama. Let the man work--it will happen, but he needs five years.

In reality, you just never know, fate can always rear it's ugly head with injuries, transfers and unforsean circumstances.
Pruitt may need 6 or 8 years, you just never know

 

[Boca Vol]

Barring a catastrophe, he has to get four. No one wants to start over... AGAIN.

You know deep down inside it's good for business. How many yachts can you waterski behind?

 

[Tallman]

Agreed! We don’t have to “catch up” to Ky, vandy, or sc. Why did the op say we might even catch us to usc? As if that’s questionable. Good lord. Our roster is significantly better than all 3 of those (including usc). They’ve all had better coaching than us and more stability recently but we do have more talent on our roster. Op couldve thrown mizzou in there as well. We done need to catch up to them. We just need to put a well coached team out on the field this fall. We do need to catch up to uga and Florida in the east. And Florida’s roster isn’t significantly better than ours.
Will Pruitt be the guy to put a well coached team out in the field? Who knows. He wasn’t very impressive last season. We tried to impose our will as opposed to taking what the defense was giving us. And good example of that would’ve been the wv game. They had very small/inexperienced dbacks covering our wrs. But we continued to try to run the ball and impose our will even though they were loading the box. We finally aired it out on a few possessions (once we were way brings) and were really effective. He also chose to continually throw the players under the bus in the media.
He does seem to have turned over a new leaf in admitted that he looked in he mirror and evaluated himself and his commitment to his players. He also brought in an expierenced and proven oc that will hopefully have the green light to run the offense as he sees fit. So I’m cautiously optimistic. Time will tell. But to the original point...we don’t need to “catch up” to vandy and ky

You seem to have overlooked the fact that Vandy has owned Tennessee since Mason has been their coach. That has to end this year.

 

[RollerVol]

patience is a hard skill to master...

GO BIG ORANGE!

 

[cbatey1]

If he wins 90-100 games in 10 years with just 1 or no SEC titles will you be happy?

If he averages 9-10 wins over 10 years, you dang right i'm satisfied. That means he is beating some of the teams on a yearly basis that we need to beat to be relevant!! Everything else will fall into place if that's the case. GO VOLS

 

[BigOrangeMojo]

By the 2021 season, a reasonable minimum expectation is competing for division title and playing in a NY6 Bowl game.

If Butch was at the doorstep of those 2 goals by year 4, a competent HC should meet at least 1 of those goals..

 

[volmoon]

...The players do look bigger and that was stated by Pruitt. He has put together a highly skilled staff and that is proven by their histories of former jobs.He has recruited some highly rated players other top programs wanted. But in reality, most of the SEC has great S&C programs, excellent coaching staffs, and recruits some top players. While I think Pruitt has / will improve the team, will eventually catch up with the Kentuckys, Vandys, and even USCe, what will it require to want Pruitt to stay around for many many years?...

While I think I understand the central point you attempt to make, the above quote seems a bit ironic. With bigger players, skilled staff and highly rated recruits you are wondering if we will actually be better?

It seems to me you answered your own question and then questioned it.

 

[GlockVol]

patience is a hard skill to master...

GO BIG ORANGE!

Patience. Wasn't he that guy who got banned from VN for being too complacent?

 

[Pride85]

Agree or disagree with part or all of my post, what will Pruitt honestly have to win to keeps fans satisfied? If he wins 90-100 games in 10 years with just 1 or no SEC titles will you be happy? if he averages 8 wins a season (historic average for TENN) will you be satisified?

I have a couple of points;

1) The historic average is a bit misleading. There are seasons with only 8 and 10 regular season games max included. The actual weighted average would be slightly higher, so 9 wins would be a closer average win.
2) How many current active coaches can boast a 10 win per season average over a decade? (Outside of one in the SEC west)

 

[chattavol420]

You seem to have overlooked the fact that Vandy has owned Tennessee since Mason has been their coach. That has to end this year.

The point is we don’t have to “catch up”. Our roster is better than theirs. Our facility is better than theirs. Our tradition/history is way better than theirs. There’s no catching up necessary. We just have to put a well coached team out in the field.

 

[savannahfan]

I would personally take a 6-7 win season ever 3-4 years if it meant a natty that 5th season. Those 8-9 win seasons are consistent and nice but eventually got to take that next step or we might as well be a Georgia lol

"NAttys" think about how many different teams have won the "Natty" over the last fifteen years. Winning a "Natty" for most really good programs comes once every 10-15 years. To do it in 5? really?

 

[TennesseeTarheel]

patience is a hard skill to master...

GO BIG ORANGE!

So is sincerity. But, once you learn to fake that, the rest is easy.
(Apologies to all the originators of that saying!)

 

[jerrync]

Head to head aside, as much as it pains me to type it, they had the better year last year.

Not against the VOLS!

 

[a vol n tears]

While I think I understand the central point you attempt to make, the above quote seems a bit ironic. With bigger players, skilled staff and highly rated recruits you are wondering if we will actually be better?

It seems to me you answered your own question and then questioned it.

Sorry I was not clear with my actual point. I think we will be better because of the reasons I stated, but I also think all of the teams we play should be getting better. My actual question has to do with what Pruitt has to do to keep you satisfied. A lot of fans will currently answer 8, 9, 10 wins. Win the East consistently. However honestly, I think fans will be discontented if he improves some and then levels off. Fans are fickle. They think a certain result will be good, but if that result is met consistently, they will want more.
For me, in today’s game, I will try to stay happy with averaging 9 wins a season. That will mean some 8 win seasons and some 10 and 11 win seasons. That may seem low to many fans but Mich, FSU, Texas, USCw, Penn State, etc would love to see consistent 10+ win seasons but in today’s game, it is hard to do. Especially the SEC. Don’t let the recent Ala anomaly cloud reasonable expectations for Tenn and Pruitt.

 

[KBVol]

Why 5?
Why 7 or 3 for that matter?

Just say give him time...

From what I can see, year 4 ( 2021) He will either win the SEC EAST or SEC Title.
We'll take a step back in 2020 because the loss at WR. We needed some good talent there in 2019. But in 2021 veteran line, veteran RBs, WRs and loaded defense.

He's not only recruiting high caliber players, he's coaching up guys who he didn't even recruit. Last year was Darrell Taylor's first real year at LB...dude would have been drafted had he left. Not very high, but ONE year and become draftable...

Alontae Taylor and Bryce Thompson never played CB. BOTH end up starters as freshman in the SEC.

Team has gotten bigger, stronger and faster.
And MORE TALENTED.

Spoke to a physician yesterday who’s a huge booster, has been for years. When asked by him “how’s the team looking this year?”, said Pruitt said “gonna be much improved this year, next year we’ll compete with any team in the country”. Tifwiw

So I would agree with you, arbitrary time periods of 3, 5 or 7 years mean nothing and throwing out 5 years is nonsensical. According to what this doctor/super booster says Pruitt told him personally, next year is when Tennessee gets back to being Tennessee, which, by the way, is traditionally the time period by when the good to great coaches build their programs to compete for titles.

 

[Backwards K]

With Fall practice starting and all the posts talking about the excitement and higher expectations I am trying to look at reality. The players do look bigger and that was stated by Pruitt. He has put together a highly skilled staff and that is proven by their histories of former jobs.He has recruited some highly rated players other top programs wanted. But in reality, most of the SEC has great S&C programs, excellent coaching staffs, and recruits some top players. While I think Pruitt has / will improve the team, will eventually catch up with the Kentuckys, Vandys, and even USCe, what will it require to want Pruitt to stay around for many many years? Keep in mind how much college football has changed in 30 years. Think about how much the SEC has changed. Remember for all of Fulmer's wins he only won the SEC 2 times. In today's times there are only 4 teams at the end of the season people talk about. Wins are harder to get. Times past a high rated bowl was enough to keep fans excited and content. Now after Jones won 9 games back to back he was still maligned (for pretty good reasons). Since the program has been so down for the past 15 years, everyone say a winning season or bowl game will suffuce. How long will that be enough? What are your win expectations to keep Pruitt long term and be satisfied after 5 -6 years?

Paragraph breaks. Google it.

 

[KBVol]

Not against the VOLS!

They won 10 games, beat Florida, went to and won a bowl game. So yeah, I get that we beat the hell out of them and that was great. But Freak said they had a better SEASON than we did, 10 wins for them vs 5 wins for us and a win vs Florida.....because they did.

 

[sjt18]

Folks, it'll take Pruitt five years. And in five years he'll be competing on the level of Florida, Georgia, LSU, and eventually Bama. Let the man work--it will happen, but he needs five years.

If he's not winning in 3 two things will happen. Recruiting will dry up as questions swirl about his ability and future. And... fans, probably including you, will see every mistake he's made and start talking about who should replace him.

Because of recruiting and especially UT's unique recruiting situation... a coach is going to have to show significant success within 3 years to survive. You can keep him 5 years... but you won't be getting the players needed to take the next steps up the ladder.

 

[sjt18]

Spoke to a physician yesterday who’s a huge booster, has been for years. When asked by him “how’s the team looking this year?”, said Pruitt said “gonna be much improved this year, next year we’ll compete with any team in the country”. Tifwiw

So I would agree with you, arbitrary time periods of 3, 5 or 7 years mean nothing and throwing out 5 years is nonsensical. According to what this doctor/super booster says Pruitt told him personally, next year is when Tennessee gets back to being Tennessee, which, by the way, is traditionally the time period by when the good to great coaches build their programs to compete for titles.

I honestly don't understand why this concept is so hard for some people. Patience and talk of 5 years sounds noble and all right now... but after you get to and past that third year with stumbles and bumbles and a drop off in recruiting... people seem to come around.

 

[Remy]

I doubt anyone is happy with perennial eight-win teams. I’m not.

Agreed. You cannot stick around Tennessee as HC of football year in and year out with 8 or 9 wins per year. Just cannot happen. And a HC can hang longer than 4 to 5 years with 9 or 10 wins but we aren't UGA that let's a coach hang around over ten years without playing for NCs. Just does not happen at UT IMO.

 

[BigOrangeAl 1979]

I don’t think the run of success in the 90’s is ever coming back unfortunately. I hope by year 4 Pruitt can at least have us winning 8 or 9 in the regular season and beating South Carolina and Mizzou and Candy again we should be in the top 3 in the East not rock bottom.