I never shared the hate for Butch Jones as the other UT fans

Here was his record:

5-7
7-6
9-4
9-4
4-8

He actually beat Florida, Georgia 2x, South Carolina, and finished in the top 25 for two seasons. Granted Josh Dobbs was a HUGE part of that success but that 0-8 SEC finished was horrible. He definitely ended his career with a surprising thud. (I never expected Butch Jones to be fired until that 0-8 finished derailed everything).

However, Pruitt is making me wish we had retained Butch.

I feel that the turning point in Butch's career (and his biggest mistake) was the second 9-4 when we played South Carolina. Josh Dobbs was sick and he played him anyways. This ended up costing us the game and likely the SEC East. We didn't have enough depth to finish that season (we basically had the SEC East wrapped up at that point).
We're about to see another 0-8 sec season I'm afraid
 
Sure I'd take Kamara over Hurd in the NFL.

However, you can't point and say that playing Hurd more over Kamara caused us to lose games.....

Hurd was going to obliterate the all time rushing record. It wasn't like Kamara was sitting so we could play a chump over him.

Kamara is in his second season on a very good team in the league. Hurd is in his first on a, until proven otherwise, lesser team. And though Kamara is doing extremely well, I can't say I agree with that until Hurd has a full season in.
 
I loved Butch Jones up until the South Carolina game in 2016. Honestly, I have been MIA from this forum and Tennessee Football largely because of what happened in 2016 (now this year is just adding to it). I loved what Butch did up until that moment.

-He took UGA to the end in Neyland in 2013 and beat a ranked South Carolina game. We were literally inches away from bowl eligibility after losing to Vanderbilt. I was at all three of those games.
-In 2014 he built on the success of the year before and we had soooo much momentum going into the next year. We lost to UGA by three, Florida by one, and Missouri by nine, and still blew out Iowa in the bowl game.
-The talent and the legacies that he was bringing in were awesome-Dobbs, Hurd, North, Todd Kelly Jr., Vic Wharton, Derek Barnett, Dewayne Hendrix, Josh Malone, Shy Tuttle, Kamara, the Wolfs, Reeves-Maybin, Darrin Kirkland, Khalil McKenzie, Jack Jones, Cam Sutton, the Berry twins, It's horrible and perplexing how we were not better with so much talent, that just shows how untalented Butch ultimately was.
-2015 was even better. We were in literally every game that we lost. I remember standing in Bryant-Denny after the 19-14 loss and Alabama fans coming up to me and shaking my hand and telling me that we were going to beat them next year. We lost to Florida, Arkansas, and Oklahoma in close games as well and finished the season with another blowout win.
-2016 was the year. We had nearly everyone back-most of the aforementioned players. We had Bama and Florida at home and were going to play in what turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life-The Battle at Bristol. We started out 5-0 and after that hail mary from Jauan Jennings, how could you not believe we weren't the team of destiny? Then of course we had the double OT loss to A&M, the blowout by Alabama, and the upset from South Carolina. I was present at the latter of the two games and I've never felt so defeated (until this season) as I did following the USC loss. Though we ended the season with another big bowl win, I was done. The blowout by Vandy had me through with Butch.
-2017 was bizarre, despite the red flags from Butch. The win against GT to open the season had me believing again for a week, but I was done again by the UGA game. Ever since then its been a precarious climb back.

I, like you, didn't hate Butch like others, I think he just disappointed me. I believed in him and saw what we could be, and still think about what Tennessee Football could have been.
 
I loved Butch Jones up until the South Carolina game in 2016. Honestly, I have been MIA from this forum and Tennessee Football largely because of what happened in 2016 (now this year is just adding to it). I loved what Butch did up until that moment.

-He took UGA to the end in Neyland in 2013 and beat a ranked South Carolina game. We were literally inches away from bowl eligibility after losing to Vanderbilt. I was at all three of those games.
-In 2014 he built on the success of the year before and we had soooo much momentum going into the next year. We lost to UGA by three, Florida by one, and Missouri by nine, and still blew out Iowa in the bowl game.
-The talent and the legacies that he was bringing in were awesome-Dobbs, Hurd, North, Todd Kelly Jr., Vic Wharton, Derek Barnett, Dewayne Hendrix, Josh Malone, Shy Tuttle, Kamara, the Wolfs, Reeves-Maybin, Darrin Kirkland, Khalil McKenzie, Jack Jones, Cam Sutton, the Berry twins, It's horrible and perplexing how we were not better with so much talent, that just shows how untalented Butch ultimately was.
-2015 was even better. We were in literally every game that we lost. I remember standing in Bryant-Denny after the 19-14 loss and Alabama fans coming up to me and shaking my hand and telling me that we were going to beat them next year. We lost to Florida, Arkansas, and Oklahoma in close games as well and finished the season with another blowout win.
-2016 was the year. We had nearly everyone back-most of the aforementioned players. We had Bama and Florida at home and were going to play in what turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life-The Battle at Bristol. We started out 5-0 and after that hail mary from Jauan Jennings, how could you not believe we weren't the team of destiny? Then of course we had the double OT loss to A&M, the blowout by Alabama, and the upset from South Carolina. I was present at the latter of the two games and I've never felt so defeated (until this season) as I did following the USC loss. Though we ended the season with another big bowl win, I was done. The blowout by Vandy had me through with Butch.
-2017 was bizarre, despite the red flags from Butch. The win against GT to open the season had me believing again for a week, but I was done again by the UGA game. Ever since then its been a precarious climb back.

I, like you, didn't hate Butch like others, I think he just disappointed me. I believed in him and saw what we could be, and still think about what Tennessee Football could have been.

I forgot to add, I really felt like Butch declined when Bajakian and Jancek left. He was never the same. They were his guys who knew his system.
 
Here was his record:

5-7
7-6
9-4
9-4
4-8

He actually beat Florida, Georgia 2x, South Carolina, and finished in the top 25 for two seasons. Granted Josh Dobbs was a HUGE part of that success but that 0-8 SEC finished was horrible. He definitely ended his career with a surprising thud. (I never expected Butch Jones to be fired until that 0-8 finished derailed everything).

However, Pruitt is making me wish we had retained Butch.

I feel that the turning point in Butch's career (and his biggest mistake) was the second 9-4 when we played South Carolina. Josh Dobbs was sick and he played him anyways. This ended up costing us the game and likely the SEC East. We didn't have enough depth to finish that season (we basically had the SEC East wrapped up at that point).
Two blown games against Oklahoma and Florida did him in IMO. Also I believe he got a bad rap personally because he didn’t succeed on the field. From everyone I’ve talked to who knew him in Knoxville he was a good guy unlike Derek Dooley who was a horses ass.
 
Butch may turn out to be better than Pruitt still doesn't make him a coach needed to win in the SEC. He couldn't do it don't think Pruitt will either. He is already into Butch Jones coach speak and if we end up with more than four wins will be a total surprise. Winning less than his first season means he isn't getting the job done. A lot of returning players this season none are any better than they were last season.
 
Butch was a snake oil salesman. he Had an amazing athletic qb, that got him wins over UF and UGA and still couldn’t win the East. After that collapse it became clear to everyone, even the team he was too stuck in “his way” instead of doing what it took to win and that’s exactly why his last year went the way it did.

That’s also why we are where we are. We have another “system” coach when we need a coach that can take what he has and build a system around that. Tennessee isn’t gonna get the players Pruitt was used to at Bama UGA and FSU until he can win like they do and we can’t win by running a system that relies on top Talent when we have a roster full of mediocre talent and a few top talents.

I really like this point. The system coaches don't work. I agree 100%. That was Butch Jones' weakness and is probably Pruitt's weakness.
 
He was a snake oil salesman.

If he was such a great HC, he'd have another HC position right now.
He will coach again somewhere - his little stint as Saban's errand boy for $30k per year is just to allow him to receive the majority of his buyout money at UTs expense. It's a win win for Saban and Butch.
 
I loved Butch Jones up until the South Carolina game in 2016. Honestly, I have been MIA from this forum and Tennessee Football largely because of what happened in 2016 (now this year is just adding to it). I loved what Butch did up until that moment.

-He took UGA to the end in Neyland in 2013 and beat a ranked South Carolina game. We were literally inches away from bowl eligibility after losing to Vanderbilt. I was at all three of those games.
-In 2014 he built on the success of the year before and we had soooo much momentum going into the next year. We lost to UGA by three, Florida by one, and Missouri by nine, and still blew out Iowa in the bowl game.
-The talent and the legacies that he was bringing in were awesome-Dobbs, Hurd, North, Todd Kelly Jr., Vic Wharton, Derek Barnett, Dewayne Hendrix, Josh Malone, Shy Tuttle, Kamara, the Wolfs, Reeves-Maybin, Darrin Kirkland, Khalil McKenzie, Jack Jones, Cam Sutton, the Berry twins, It's horrible and perplexing how we were not better with so much talent, that just shows how untalented Butch ultimately was.
-2015 was even better. We were in literally every game that we lost. I remember standing in Bryant-Denny after the 19-14 loss and Alabama fans coming up to me and shaking my hand and telling me that we were going to beat them next year. We lost to Florida, Arkansas, and Oklahoma in close games as well and finished the season with another blowout win.
-2016 was the year. We had nearly everyone back-most of the aforementioned players. We had Bama and Florida at home and were going to play in what turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life-The Battle at Bristol. We started out 5-0 and after that hail mary from Jauan Jennings, how could you not believe we weren't the team of destiny? Then of course we had the double OT loss to A&M, the blowout by Alabama, and the upset from South Carolina. I was present at the latter of the two games and I've never felt so defeated (until this season) as I did following the USC loss. Though we ended the season with another big bowl win, I was done. The blowout by Vandy had me through with Butch.
-2017 was bizarre, despite the red flags from Butch. The win against GT to open the season had me believing again for a week, but I was done again by the UGA game. Ever since then its been a precarious climb back.

I, like you, didn't hate Butch like others, I think he just disappointed me. I believed in him and saw what we could be, and still think about what Tennessee Football could have been.

You fit me to the bill. By the middle of the 2017 season, I wanted him gone. The 2016 South Carolina loss hurt. The issue was that Butch relied on Josh Dobbs when he wasn't healthy enough to play the game. (Josh had the flu). He should have had the backup game and benched Dobbs until he got better.

I also somewhat agree that Josh Dobbs was a HUGE part of the success but Butch recruited Dobbs and these players. He improved on his record each year and he finally beat Florida who we couldn't beat for some reason. Butch constantly improved the program until halfway through the 2016 season when the train suddenly went off the tracks.
 
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Lyle was a loser that followed Brian Kelly from good situation to good situation until he cashed in here. The guy is a platitude spewing bum that squandered good talent with his horrible offensive system and lackluster recruiting(the guy deserves a neverending kick in the nuts for what he did to the OL). Dobbs is 100% to thank for anything that can remotely be construed as good during the Jones era.
 
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I think ^^^^ is pretty accurate. He was a alot better recruiter than developer of talent. Not starting Kamara was a head scratcher. IMO I would rate him a level above Pruitt.
Cannot rate him above or below Pruitt just yet. Butch inherited a better program than Pruitt with that said his resume was only decent those years Dobbs started, JD worked magic! Also, it is because of Butch the cupboard was pretty bare when JP took the reigns. Like Pruitt, Lyle went 5-7 his first year with only SEC wins being SC and KY, whereas Pruitt beat ranked Auburn and KY. The two decent years we had were because of Dobbs and Kamara. Pruitt just started his second year and people need to just be patient before passing judgment. It is still too early to say if he is good or bad for TN. People need to be patient and see how it plays out.
 

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