Kiffin article about UT; front page ESPN

#101
#101
zjcvols said:
That 2009 team was the last team to overachieve. Dude got screwed at USC too, thinking he had 55 (might have been 65) scholarship players his last year there.

I’d take him back right now.
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2015 team overachieved big time. 17 points (maybe 19?) from being 12-0 in the regular season. That was not expected. We were expected to compete with some teams, but not play like that in Butch's 3rd year.
 
#102
#102
05_never_again said:
He took that job knowing (or he should have known) that significant NCAA penalties were coming. He might not have known the exact number of scholarships he was getting docked, but he knew he was walking into a not great situation.
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No one expected how bad the penalties were actually going to be. With that said, he did well there, 28-15, given the penalties.

Hell, USC fans were quick to call for his firing, but would gladly have kept him knowing how the Sark years went.
 
#103
#103
JMSqb11 said:
2015 team overachieved big time. 17 points (maybe 19?) from being 12-0 in the regular season. That was not expected. We were expected to compete with some teams, but not play like that in Butch's 3rd year.
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You could make an argument, but I’d argue blowing the Oklahoma/Florida games and they should have easily beaten Arkansas renders that point moot.

That team still went 8-4 in the regular season. Felt like that was expected. 8 wins. Despite the close losses.

I guess you could say Dooley overachieved in year 1 getting 6 wins. Most people thought that team would be terrible.
 
#105
#105
JMSqb11 said:
No one expected how bad the penalties were actually going to be. With that said, he did well there, 28-15, given the penalties.

Hell, USC fans were quick to call for his firing, but would gladly have kept him knowing how the Sark years went.
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It was conjecture, but every college football fan strongly suspected they'd be pretty serious. I know we're talking USC, which is a big program you'd think the NCAA would like to take it easy on, but given the nature of what was alleged and that Carroll had already bolted for the NFL, people expected it to be bad.
 
#106
#106
05_never_again said:
It was conjecture, but every college football fan strongly suspected they'd be pretty serious. I know we're talking USC, which is a big program you'd think the NCAA would like to take it easy on, but given the nature of what was alleged and that Carroll had already bolted for the NFL, people expected it to be bad.
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I remember differently actually. Most people at the time figured since it’d been almost five years people were saying USC wouldn’t get punished and the NCAA never punished the big programs. Most people thought Carroll left because he finally got front office control.
 
#108
#108
a few points

1. If this is front page for half of Friday....slow slow slow newsday
2. Drumming up UT interest to tune to the game on Saturday
3. Despite most people here, ESPN does not hate UT. Just get over it.
 
#109
#109
boomvol said:
I can't believe this was 10 years ago... The excitement around the program when Kiffin was here was something I haven't seen since. He made Tennessee believe in itself, from the players to the fans. That 2009 team had more fire than any of Butch, Dooley, or Pruitt's teams combined. We had an edge and I would do anything to see this years team play with that edge. Part of what is so hard to take about our recent teams and struggles is that we have seemed defeated as a fanbase and culture before we step on the field. The Kiffin year showed me a spark on and off the field that I have been craving since. I remember eating supper with ESPN on in the background and seeing Lane's face show up on the screen with the USC announcement and my heart dropped. And I genuinely feel like since then, there hasn't been any heart in the program. You can say what you want about Hamilton, Currie, Butch, Schiano, Pruitt, whoever... but I blame Kiffin more than anyone for the current state of our beloved Vols. And I'd do anything to get back to the mentality that the 2009 team had.
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I think we were still very much a legit program that just needed a little spark at that time. Say what you want about Fulmer, but we had just been to the SEC championship, so of course we still had that belief as a fan base... I agree Lane is a HUGE reason we're where we are right now as a program. It absolutely baffles me that we have a contingency of spineless fans that want him back. It's like your wife leaving you, getting passed around by a bunch of dudes, and then coming back to you after those dudes get done with her. People must've forgot how that set us back and how those sleazeballs tried to steal our recruits that were already on campus.

I can handle a loss to Georgia State and still keep my fan card, I can handle all of the Butchisms and bad publicity he gave us and still keep my fan card, I can even handle an 1-11 finish this year and keep my fan card, I can handle a LOT of stuff, but if UT ever hires Kiffin, I'll be done with this program.
 
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#110
#110
TNVOLFN said:
I think we were still very much a legit program that just needed a little spark at that time. Say what you want about Fulmer, but we had just been to the SEC championship, so of course we still had that belief as a fan base... I agree Lane is a HUGE reason we're where we are right now as a program. It absolutely baffles me that we have a contingency of spineless fans that want him back. It's like your wife leaving you, getting passed around by a bunch of dudes, and then coming back to you after those dudes get done with her. People must've forgot how that set us back and how those sleazeballs tried to steal our recruits that were already on campus.

I can handle a loss to Georgia State and still keep my fan card, I can handle all of the Butchisms and bad publicity he gave us and still keep my fan card, I can even handle an 1-11 finish this year and keep my fan card, I can handle a LOT of stuff, but if UT ever hires Kiffin, I'll be done with this program.
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If Phil Fulmer is still the AD, Kiffin will not be coach here.
 
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#111
#111
zjcvols said:
You could make an argument, but I’d argue blowing the Oklahoma/Florida games and they should have easily beaten Arkansas renders that point moot.

That team still went 8-4 in the regular season. Felt like that was expected. 8 wins. Despite the close losses.

I guess you could say Dooley overachieved in year 1 getting 6 wins. Most people thought that team would be terrible.
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Everyone thought 2016 based on Butch's 2nd and 3rd class would be the year to challenge for the SEC East and possible long shot SEC Title bid.

The expectation in year 3 was to compete and knock off a team or two. Regardless of the games being blown or given away, being 17-19 points from 12-0 made 2016 a season that we had expectations to win the SEC East, really only have 1 game that could be considered a definite loss, but not really in Bama since we got UF/Bama at home, and be a 1-2 loss team minimum.

Tennessee in 2015 was arguably the best team in the country.
 
#112
#112
boomvol said:
I can't believe this was 10 years ago... The excitement around the program when Kiffin was here was something I haven't seen since. He made Tennessee believe in itself, from the players to the fans. That 2009 team had more fire than any of Butch, Dooley, or Pruitt's teams combined. We had an edge and I would do anything to see this years team play with that edge. Part of what is so hard to take about our recent teams and struggles is that we have seemed defeated as a fanbase and culture before we step on the field. The Kiffin year showed me a spark on and off the field that I have been craving since. I remember eating supper with ESPN on in the background and seeing Lane's face show up on the screen with the USC announcement and my heart dropped. And I genuinely feel like since then, there hasn't been any heart in the program. You can say what you want about Hamilton, Currie, Butch, Schiano, Pruitt, whoever... but I blame Kiffin more than anyone for the current state of our beloved Vols. And I'd do anything to get back to the mentality that the 2009 team had.
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I always wondered how long it would take before Kiffin had us on probation negating all he'd accomplished. I'm still amazed that Orgeron doesn't have LSU on probation ... never doubted his coaching just his ethics. Too bad Kiffin & Co didn't work out; it would have saved years of heartache.
 
#114
#114
njvols said:
I think it shows that even in a dysfunctional state, we're a big brand. This is reason I think if we can start scraping off the bottom and get some momentum, we'll elevate pretty fast. That being said, we can't seem to get out of pit row to get in the race.
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Yup and even when we thought we were going to in 15/16, womp-womp...we're the most unlucky bastards of fb.
 
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#115
#115
05_never_again said:
Kiffin firmly fits into the "great coordinator, poor head coach" category. At a big time program, he needs strict adult supervision conducted by someone whose authority is unquestionable. That's the setup he had at USC under Carroll and Alabama under Saban.

The thing with Kiffin is that I don't think he's much of a leader, an executive, or a manager. He needs to have his head buried in the offensive playbook, watching film, and drawing up plays. When you give him managerial or oversight functions, especially at a big program, he's a proven disaster.
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You're describing that disaster named Spurrier?
 
#117
#117
Doberman said:
I broke my right leg in 18 places that day.

I remember being on a gurney and asking hospital staff for scoring updates. They didn’t want to make my really bad day worse.

I’ve never been the same since that injury, and neither have my Vols.
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Yikes! What happened?
 
#118
#118
I have always theorized we did get penalized by the NCAA for Kiffins transgressions. I always found it strange that UT had decided to go all in backing Bruce Pearl, suspension bad press the whole deal, then almost at the end suddenly fired him for an insignificant bump (not rehashing this issue). I also found it strange Dooley and our admins came out of the NCAA football inquiry 2 months later with zero penalties after all the things Kiffin pulled in recruiting, 12 potential violations I think. How did we get so lucky?
 
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#122
#122
05_never_again said:
I wish I could agree with you. IMO, the low point in the history of the program was 8/31/19. It's gotten worse since Kiffin was hired/fired, or even since Dooley was hired/fired for that matter.
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Kiffin was the seed that sowed everything bad that's happened since. He was NEVER going to work out -- anymore than he's worked out anywhere else he's been. Had he stayed, he would have run a dirty program and still ultimately failed. In leaving after one season, he administered the coup de grace to a once-great battleship that was already taking on water.

You can count to a lot of low points since Fulmer's firing, but IMO the hiring of Kiffin is the original sin.
 
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#123
#123
What I'd like to know is: What does Fulmer and Doug Mathews have against Pruitt. Mathews has called Pruitt "a punk" on the air, and said that he would never be rehired at U.T. I'd like to know why, ... other than he left Tennessee for his home state?
 
#124
#124
TheDeeble said:
IIRC, we had a few linebackers/d-linemen out with injury and were playing several backups. Ole Miss gameplanned around that and ran the ball as they wished that day.

I went with a couple friends. First Vol loss I'd ever seen in person.
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That was the week of the failed stick-em-up at Pilot on the strip!
 
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