"I need to see Josh Heupel accomplish...

#104
#104
LAVol1 said:
You've got to be kidding. Vitello took a program that was near the bottom of the SEC, won a NC and propelled them to the #1 baseball program in the country in less than 7 seasons. Vitello is probably the greatest coach the Vols have had in any sport since The General.
Click to expand...
The statement was “during their first 4 years.” Go back and look up TV first 4 years & compare the results to Heupel’s. Compare Barnes first 4 years while you’re at it.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Volinnooga
#105
#105
LAVol1 said:
You've got to be kidding. Vitello took a program that was near the bottom of the SEC, won a NC and propelled them to the #1 baseball program in the country in less than 7 seasons. Vitello is probably the greatest coach the Vols have had in any sport since The General.
Click to expand...

That’s a reasonable opinion if you use the word men’s in front of the word coach.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MemphisVol77 and YankeeVol
#106
#106
wmcovol said:
I like all of the coaches at Tennessee but Josh has accomplished more in his first 4 years than Barnes or Vitello did. And he’s done it under scholarship reductions & NCAA probation.

This isn’t a knock on Barnes or Vitello but simply a compliment to the job Heupel has done here.
Click to expand...
This is false. Vitello’s first 4 years include a Covid season that had fewer than 20 games, so it’s hard to count that one. If you go with his first four full seasons, he had a SEC Championship, SEC Tournament championship, 3 NCAA Tournament appearances, 2 Super Regionals, a World Series appearance, and the team with the best record in school history, while taking over arguably the worst program both historically and at that moment in time in a conference that is even tougher than SEC football. Vitello worked actual miracles with the baseball program and is already the best baseball coach in school history. He is leading the team of the decade.

Barnes had a SEC Championship and a team with the best record in school history after 4 years.

Heupel has done a fine job and has real accomplishments to point to, but he just hasn’t reached the level those guys had reached after four full seasons. No hardware, no banners.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CAVPUT
#107
#107
LegionnaireOfTheMiserable said:
This is false. Vitello’s first 4 years include a Covid season that had fewer than 20 games, so it’s hard to count that one. If you go with his first four full seasons, he had a SEC Championship, SEC Tournament championship, 3 NCAA Tournament appearances, 2 Super Regionals, a World Series appearance, and the team with the best record in school history, while taking over arguably the worst program both historically and at that moment in time in a conference that is even tougher than SEC football. Vitello worked actual miracles with the baseball program and is already the best baseball coach in school history. He is leading the team of the decade.

Barnes had a SEC Championship and a team with the best record in school history after 4 years.

Heupel has done a fine job and has real accomplishments to point to, but he just hasn’t reached the level those guys had reached after four full seasons. No hardware, no banners.
Click to expand...
Really good points.

I think the comparison of sports is one that has to be made carefully, though. Recruiting one or two really good players to a basketball team can take a team from the cellar to the top with a solid supporting cast. Ditto baseball and every other sport, IMO.

Football requires putting 11 guys on the field at all times and no one or two players can take a team from the cellar to greatness. They can make a huge impact, but the other 20+ that play with them have to be solid too.

In some cases, the parts are mostly there and just need those handful of guys to complete the puzzle. Bob Stoops, Urban Meyer and a few others have come in and won a NC in their first couple of years. That set an expectation in many fans' minds that their school/coach should do the same.

Those are the extreme outliers, not normal. And with the way the game has changed in the past 5 or so years, not on the field but the NIL/transfer stuff, I don't know that either of them would be able to replicate it now.

Regardless, JH has Tennessee in a much better place than before he got here. The expectation now is to win and win big. Prior, the hope was just to win, but the expectation was probably/maybe not.

Great things are still to come with JH, IMO.
 
#108
#108
K-town Vol Fan said:
By what standards? We have enough for 8 or 9 wins but we won't be a top 10 team at probably any point this season. It would be nice to take the next step and be up there with UGA, tOSU, Oregon etc. Not gonna happen until we recruit at an elite level like those schools.
Click to expand...
Is the current roster not better than the 2022 roster, the team that went 11-2, was at one time ranked #1, and barely missed making the playoffs? I would argue the only position that's not better is QB.
 
#110
#110
zjcvols said:
Vitello yes. Vitello is one of the greatest college baseball coaches of all-time. Not quite fair to compare him to those two.

Barnes & Heupel are probably on the same tier. Not top 5 in their sport but comfortably in the 6-15 range.
Click to expand...
Heupel is no where near Rick Barnes. Barnes is a HOF coach with a long tenure at Texas and UT. Heupel will be lucky to last another 2-3 years at UT.
 
#111
#111
OffTackleVol said:
Is the current roster not better than the 2022 roster, the team that went 11-2, was at one time ranked #1, and barely missed making the playoffs? I would argue the only position that's not better is QB.
Click to expand...

Hooker and Hyatt were the straw that stirred that season. We’re missing that. I do think we’re better at DL/ Linebacker and definitely at OL.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sarms58
#112
#112
OffTackleVol said:
Is the current roster not better than the 2022 roster, the team that went 11-2, was at one time ranked #1, and barely missed making the playoffs? I would argue the only position that's not better is QB.
Click to expand...
Not sure we have the equivalent of Hyatt at WR…he could get behind anybody and just didn’t drop the ball.
And the QB issue is huge - Hooker was such a perfect match for the offense. Not sure we can expect that but sure would love to see it.

Probably a bigger issue is that every Defensive Coordinator has seen Heupels’s offensive several times now and made some adjustment. The 2022 game against Bama was sweet - our quick tempo in conjunction with the receivers swapping slots created confusion and mismatches, Georgia was the first team to solve that puzzle and by now most others have as well. Of course since we lost Hooker we haven’t had a QB whole could go at hypersonic speed. So Heupel needs some new wrinkles in the O to again get the defenses confused and capitalize on that confusion.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MemphisVol77 and sonofUT62
#113
#113
Okie said:
Really good points.

I think the comparison of sports is one that has to be made carefully, though. Recruiting one or two really good players to a basketball team can take a team from the cellar to the top with a solid supporting cast. Ditto baseball and every other sport, IMO.

Football requires putting 11 guys on the field at all times and no one or two players can take a team from the cellar to greatness. They can make a huge impact, but the other 20+ that play with them have to be solid too.

In some cases, the parts are mostly there and just need those handful of guys to complete the puzzle. Bob Stoops, Urban Meyer and a few others have come in and won a NC in their first couple of years. That set an expectation in many fans' minds that their school/coach should do the same.

Those are the extreme outliers, not normal. And with the way the game has changed in the past 5 or so years, not on the field but the NIL/transfer stuff, I don't know that either of them would be able to replicate it now.

Regardless, JH has Tennessee in a much better place than before he got here. The expectation now is to win and win big. Prior, the hope was just to win, but the expectation was probably/maybe not.

Great things are still to come with JH, IMO.
Click to expand...
Heupel...gimmick offense. Flash in the pan while benefitting from the previous coaches recruiting. His clock is ticking down now.
 
#114
#114
sonofUT62 said:
Hooker and Hyatt were the straw that stirred that season. We’re missing that. I do think we’re better at DL/ Linebacker and definitely at OL.
Click to expand...
Refresh my memory. Who was responsible for Hooker and Hyatt being at UT?
 
#116
#116
TN Volunteers. said:
Heupel hasn’t lost vs Vandy and has actually beaten bama instead of just coming close.
Click to expand...
Losing to Vandy on the reg and Kentucky to cap off the 8 loss season was the lowest I’ve seen the program in my lifetime. May not be all roses, but upward trajectory for sure. What might have been if Hendon didn’t get hurt.
 
#117
#117
CAVPUT said:
Refresh my memory. Who was responsible for Hooker and Hyatt being at UT?
Click to expand...
Pruitt. The comment that was made was that we were better at every position except for QB than the 2022 team. Not sure that has much to do with who recruited them. I think Heupels taken a ton of heat for initially preferring Milton and lucking into HH. I’m not sure what new history we’re writing here.
 
#118
#118
CAVPUT said:
Heupel...gimmick offense. Flash in the pan while benefitting from the previous coaches recruiting. His clock is ticking down now.
Click to expand...

Lol. He just went to the CFP with his guys while still being spanked for the “previous coaches recruiting “. Is this one of those tricks where you like Heupel and are conning us into supporting him? Hes frustrating at times for sure but that right there ^^^ is not accurate.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HeuperDrive and MemphisVol77
#119
#119
sonofUT62 said:
Pruitt. The comment that was made was that we were better at every position except for QB than the 2022 team. Not sure that has much to do with who recruited them. I think Heupels taken a ton of heat for initially preferring Milton and lucking into HH. I’m not sure what new history we’re writing here.
Click to expand...
No new history. Guess I'm beating a dead horse and questioning Heupel and co evals and development. Seeing a lot of similarities to his time at UCF and benefitting from Frosts recruiting.
 
#120
#120
LAVol1 said:
You've got to be kidding. Vitello took a program that was near the bottom of the SEC, won a NC and propelled them to the #1 baseball program in the country in less than 7 seasons. Vitello is probably the greatest coach the Vols have had in any sport since The General.
Click to expand...
Pat?
 
  • Like
Reactions: LAVol1
#121
#121
sonofUT62 said:
Lol. He just went to the CFP with his guys while still being spanked for the “previous coaches recruiting “. Is this one of those tricks where you like Heupel and are conning us into supporting him? Hes frustrating at times for sure but that right there ^^^ is not accurate.
Click to expand...
 
  • Like
Reactions: sonofUT62
#123
#123
Can't struggle to put points on the board against SEC competition if you want any of that to happen this year. Heupel is kind of in a tough spot here. His offense needs to be better than the last two years. He'll have to do it with a new QB, kind of thin and unproven at receiver, no Dylan Sampson at RB. I don't know. Seems like a tall order really.. Year has 8-4 -7-5 written all over it unless they surprise everyone with a better offense. Defense can't fall off much either.
 
#124
#124
CAVPUT said:
No new history. Guess I'm beating a dead horse and questioning Heupel and co evals and development. Seeing a lot of similarities to his time at UCF and benefitting from Frosts recruiting.
Click to expand...

I see a lot of similarities to what UCF fans said on the day of the hire. Particularly in regards to clock management at the end of half’s? Halves? Whatever the word is. They were dead on about it. I think his recruiting is better because he’s starting to realize that he just flat out can’t out scheme Kirby. Hes lost ONE game at Neyland in 3 full seasons and it was to UGA. Thats not screaming “his time is winding down”.
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top