Jerry Green Question? Just Curious.

#26
#26
Rednecks got mad at him. He was a good coach with a fun system. Should have kept him.
Again, he narrowly made the NCAAT and finished 22-11 (8-8) with this team, losing to Charlotte in the 1st Round...
And that team had V. Yarbrough, R. Slay, Tony Harris, I. Victor, J. Higgins, M. Haislip, C. Hathaway, Harris Walker, and Terrence Woods. That might be the most talented 9-deep lineup in school history. Three McDonald's All-Americans (VY, Harris, Hathaway) another who was an SEC All-Freshman player (Victor), another who was All -SEC and a 1st rd draft pick (Haislip), and an SEC POY and 2x All-SEC player (Slay).
Pretty disingenuous to suggest he was fired because "some rednecks got mad". That's silly.
 
#28
#28
And that team had V. Yarbrough, R. Slay, Tony Harris, I. Victor, J. Higgins, M. Haislip, C. Hathaway, Harris Walker, and Terrence Woods. That might be the most talented 9-deep lineup in school history. Three McDonald's All-Americans (VY, Harris, Hathaway) another who was an SEC All-Freshman player (Victor), another who was All -SEC and a 1st rd draft pick (Haislip), and an SEC POY and 2x All-SEC player (Slay).

Seeing all those names together makes it even worse. That's a FF team with a good coach.

Again, he narrowly made the NCAAT and finished 22-11 (8-8) with this team, losing to Charlotte in the 1st Round...

Pretty disingenuous to suggest he was fired because "some rednecks got mad". That's silly.

According to Green, it wasn't "some rednecks". It was Jim Haslam.

Green: Vols may not be committed
 
#31
#31
And that team had V. Yarbrough, R. Slay, Tony Harris, I. Victor, J. Higgins, M. Haislip, C. Hathaway, Harris Walker, and Terrence Woods. That might be the most talented 9-deep lineup in school history. Three McDonald's All-Americans (VY, Harris, Hathaway) another who was an SEC All-Freshman player (Victor), another who was All -SEC and a 1st rd draft pick (Haislip), and an SEC POY and 2x All-SEC player (Slay).

Loaded his last 2 years. We should’ve boat raced UNC in sweet 16 in 2000, but were out coached...

Discipline and defense were issues..
 
#32
#32
"Rednecks" wasn't the only reason he left. It was a big factor. He did underachieve a few years in the postseason.

He was still a fun coach and a winner.
 
#33
#33
Kevin O'Neill left a pretty nice cupboard of talent for him... Brandon Wharton, Tony Harris, Isiah Victor, CJ Black, Rashard Lee, Charles Hathaway, DaShay Jones, Aaron Green. So he took over a much better job than what Tennessee basketball had been in about 15 years. There wasn't any NBA talent, but it was enough talent for just about any coach to make the NCAA Tournament with... and Jerry did.

The games I most fondly remember were finally winning in Rupp Arena in 1999, our two great wins over Florida in 2000 (especially the one at home), the Gators made the NCAA Tournament Championship Game that year.... and I remember the big win over UConn in the 2000 NCAA Tournament 2nd round.

The games that left me shaking my head were the very embarrassing loss to Missouri State in the 1999 NCAA Tournament, the 2nd half choke to North Carolina just after the UConn win and the 2nd half of the 2001 season where the team basically quit after a great start.

Off topic, but O'Neill leaving Tennessee for Northwestern in 1997 is the strangest career move I have ever seen from a college basketball coach. Even 23 years later, that still defies any logic.
 
Last edited:
#34
#34
I agree that Green rode on the shoulders of O'Neal's recruiting. He must have been a decent in-game coach, but his players must not have believed in him in crunch time. I have forgotten a lot, but I still remember the game against North Carolina. We were just playing not to lose, but it was unreal how the other team couldn't miss. So, it was stunning, but I thought North Carolina was just in a zone such that it didn't seem to matter what we did.

I don't recall being sad that Green left.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ArdentVol
#41
#41
All 3 of those NCAA losses (Purdue, Ohio St. and UNC) were extremely painful. But, that Mich. St. loss still gives me, nightmares. I effing hate Draymond Green
 
  • Like
Reactions: StarRaider
#44
#44
That one was rough. At halftime I was already so excited about how awesome it was to finally get to the Elite 8. On the bright side, it was OSU who we got revenge on to make our first and only Elite 8 so far. So it sorta worked in the end.
Yea a little, but I think we could have made the F4 had we beat OSU
 
  • Like
Reactions: Volfan1000
#49
#49
Kevin O'Neill left a pretty nice cupboard of talent for him... Brandon Wharton, Tony Harris, Isiah Victor, CJ Black, Rashard Lee, Charles Hathaway, DaShay Jones, Aaron Green. So he took over a much better job than what Tennessee basketball had been in about 15 years. There wasn't any NBA talent, but it was enough talent for just about any coach to make the NCAA Tournament with... and Jerry did.

He also did all the groundwork in getting Vincent Yarbrough by recruiting and signing his older brother Del Baker. Jerry Green basically rolled the ball out there and they just played. Jerry Green’s success is similar to Holly Warlick’s early success at UT. It was more of a reflection of PatSummitt. The farther we got from from her footprint the worse we got. A couple of his players got kicked off the team when Peterson took over due to drugs (Walker&Woods) or never played (Ikeakor).
Tennessee was good under Jerry Green, but could’ve been special under a good coach with the talent and team O’Neil assembled.
 

VN Store



Back
Top