Lack of stability.

[sethavellie]

1 recruiting cycle. We haven’t had coaching stability in years. The team wasn’t good last year, and are extremely young. Each time we fire a coach, we set the program back another 3-4 years. At the very minimum he needs 3-4 years to get a foundation of depth in there. If it’s not improving after year 3-4 move on. I want everyone to go look at Miami’s program before/after Butch Davis took over. As a fan base, we can’t throw a temper tantrum every time we don’t get our way. I’m in it for the long haul. Big improvement from week 1. Teams have to be built and young/older players on this team have never won. They have to LEARN how to win these games. It only takes one to change momentum.

I hope I have these right. In the last 14 years we have had 5 head coaches, 9 offensive coordinators, 8 defensive coordinators, no telling how many strength and conditioning coaches. Not to mention any assistants other than OC/DC that have left or been fired. A new coach and staff isn’t the answer. We have a loaded coaching staff. I know everyone hates hearing, “we are still building”, but until we keep someone long enough to put Tennessee in a good light again, it won’t matter. i forgot to mention athletic directors.

 

[BigOrangeArsenal]

We have no choice. We have to see this through--for better or for worse. Besides, I don't think we have the means or could land a coach that we would actually want right now. As bad as things are, I still have faith in this coaching staff. Maybe things have to get worse before they get better? I don't know. but I hope.

 

[volbound1700]

It didn't stop other SEC programs. Look at Alabama, they fire Mike Shula after going 10-2 and then 6-7/ They bring in Saban and the rest is history.

Auburn fired Gene Chizik 2 years after winning the national title and IMPROVED situation.
Georgia fired Mark Richt after going 9-3 and IMPROVED coaching situation.
LSU fired Les Miles and has perhaps IMPROVED their coaching situation.

The fact is the other SEC Programs are firing coaches for even having winning seasons but underachieving and then going out their and landing all-star coaches. If they don't land an all-star, they fire and try again.

 

[KB5252]

If he continues this course he won't be able to recruit the talent needed to win. The point is moot.

 

[XknoxvolsX]

1 recruiting cycle. We haven’t had coaching stability in years. The team wasn’t good last year, and are extremely young. Each time we fire a coach, we set the program back another 3-4 years. At the very minimum he needs 3-4 years to get a foundation of depth in there. If it’s not improving after year 3-4 move on. I want everyone to go look at Miami’s program before/after Butch Davis took over. As a fan base, we can’t throw a temper tantrum every time we don’t get our way. I’m in it for the long haul. Big improvement from week 1. Teams have to be built and young/older players on this team have never won. They have to LEARN how to win these games. It only takes one to change momentum.

I hope I have these right. In the last 14 years we have had 5 head coaches, 9 offensive coordinators, 8 defensive coordinators, no telling how many strength and conditioning coaches. Not to mention any assistants other than OC/DC that have left or been fired. A new coach and staff isn’t the answer. We have a loaded coaching staff. I know everyone hates hearing, “we are still building”, but until we keep someone long enough to put Tennessee in a good light again, it won’t matter. i forgot to mention athletic directors.

I purchased the 30 for 30 a couple of weeks ago detailing the U part two. It interviewed Davis and he commented about the plane that flew over calling for his firing and going from Champs to Chumps. But, he did turn that program around and it wasn't easy. Think it was five years or could have been six.

So many behind the scene things that people didn't realize. Just as with Kiffin and USC, there were sanctions that hampered the scholarship players. So, may be something going on here that us fans don't realize.

 

[TNHopeful505]

It didn't stop other SEC programs. Look at Alabama, they fire Mike Shula after going 10-2 and then 6-7/ They bring in Saban and the rest is history.

Auburn fired Gene Chizik 2 years after winning the national title and IMPROVED situation.
Georgia fired Mark Richt after going 9-3 and IMPROVED coaching situation.
LSU fired Les Miles and has perhaps IMPROVED their coaching situation.

The fact is the other SEC Programs are firing coaches for even having winning seasons but underachieving and then going out their and landing all-star coaches. If they don't land an all-star, they fire and try again.

Well, after we fired Fulmer, we brought in Kiffin, who brought in a great class and then all of them left the school, so that set us back. Then we hired Dooley who basically was set behind by Kiffins class, and he through lackadaisical recruiting, widened the talent gap further, and then Butch recruited at a high level, but left that talent undeveloped. When Kirby took over at UGA, the talent that went 9-3 was still there. When Saban took over at Bama, it wasn't bad then. Those programs maybe had one bad year. Pruitt took over after we have had a decade of bad years. The situations arent comparable. It is truly starting from ground zero with guys who dont know how to win, and who have had a loser mentality for several years. Its gonna take a total culture change, and it can't be done overnight or even in a year or two. Not when you've been used to losing like we have been.

 

[GVol1966]

It didn't stop other SEC programs. Look at Alabama, they fire Mike Shula after going 10-2 and then 6-7/ They bring in Saban and the rest is history.

Auburn fired Gene Chizik 2 years after winning the national title and IMPROVED situation.
Georgia fired Mark Richt after going 9-3 and IMPROVED coaching situation.
LSU fired Les Miles and has perhaps IMPROVED their coaching situation.

The fact is the other SEC Programs are firing coaches for even having winning seasons but underachieving and then going out their and landing all-star coaches. If they don't land an all-star, they fire and try again.

OP is obviously a very high UT administration employee, only they believe if you fire a bozo that you set the program back 3-4 years.

 

[BadgerVol!]

One of the false conceptions is that IF you give a coach a full 4-5 years, then if you have to fire him your team has four good classes and a solid nucleus.

Not necessarily true at all.
If we go 2-10 or something and Pruitt signs and average class, then next year goes 5-7 again and signs a slightly below average, he’ll get the fourth year then potentially get fired AND sign a bad class then the top guys That are frosh now go pro because they don’t have their coach and we have mediocre talent again and the next coach needs “a total rebuild.”

See how that works? You should because we are on our fourth try.

 

[zjcvols]

Glad we kept Dooley and Butch that extra year for the purpose of “stability”. Not like that nuked the program or anything.

 

[OrangeByBirth]

In fairness, Pruitt inherited a pile of fuming feces. Top players were run off. Others were ignored. The self-anointed great recruiter loaded up with DBs that have not risen to the challenge. The lines were ignored. At least there is some beef coming aboard. I will be patient but unforgiving.

 

[GBOTango]

I’m not on the Fire Pruitt brigade, but no matter the talent a team must be taught to execute its plays. Yep, JP is over his head. He will either sink or swim. It’s the harsh reality, and there’s not much we can do about it. As in all of athletics, the cream will rise to the top. Will JP? Only time will tell. We must suffer and watch.

 

[VolArmy74]

Firing is never a problem and is a fact of life in football. Stability arrives quickly with competent coaches. Butch got 5 years, 0 stability because he was incompetent. Things look even worse now because Pruitt is less competent than Butch so far. Dooley was a walking disaster. As was pointed out, other schools run through coaches and aren't nearly this bad. Mainly because they don't constantly hire completely incompetent boobs to coach their team. We do. Go cheap, give a crazy buyout based on what that coach should have and repeat the process. If you back up to Dooley/Butch/Pruitt and consider the total we've paid those three, plus their buyouts, we could have offered someone 8 million a season and still came out ahead.

 

[Chilmonty]

 

[VolunteerHillbilly]

We need to hire someone who knows what in the heck he is doing and give that man 4-5 years. Pruitt is clueless and needs to go now.

 

[orangerush]

The only way to obtain and keep stability is by winning, period.

 

[Checker_the_Shire]

The major problem, plain and simple, is that we hired a defensive coordinator with ZERO experience as a head coach to be our head coach. I started as a Jones fan but obviously, like most TN fans, that went away and it was truly time to move on. Jones came in and, for what it’s worth, left us enough depth to build upon. So logic tells you, fire the old guy and get someone who’s proven, not someone who’d be an experiment. We went out and hired the latter. Which brings me to my final two points. First, in relation to stability, there is no stability here because we literally have a guy learning on the job. You can’t get to big time wins in college football with that happening. Second, why people keep saying “fire Pruitt and trust in Fulmer” is beyond me. Fulmer is the one who botched this hire in the first place when he took over the job. So it’s obvious to me we have an incompetent HC and an incompetent AD, both of which are learning on the job. So get used to no stability and be prepared for, at best, another 4 win season.

 

[JMSqb11]

It didn't stop other SEC programs. Look at Alabama, they fire Mike Shula after going 10-2 and then 6-7/ They bring in Saban and the rest is history.

Auburn fired Gene Chizik 2 years after winning the national title and IMPROVED situation.
Georgia fired Mark Richt after going 9-3 and IMPROVED coaching situation.
LSU fired Les Miles and has perhaps IMPROVED their coaching situation.

The fact is the other SEC Programs are firing coaches for even having winning seasons but underachieving and then going out their and landing all-star coaches. If they don't land an all-star, they fire and try again.

Those programs didn’t have a hostile takeover in the AD, which resulted in a crappy long time management being kicked out.

They also have people willing to shell out money.

 

[AdoptedVOL]

I saw improvement last night and for the most part a team playing with desire. The defense was fired up. The OL was creating opportunity for the RBs.

However, there were some glaring mistakes that cost dearly. The JG interception. The long reception over the D late in the game. These are on the players and not the coaching staff.

You want to make a quick change? I wish we had an alternate QB.

 

[volbound1700]

Those programs didn’t have a hostile takeover in the AD, which resulted in a crappy long time management being kicked out.

They also have people willing to shell out money.

Most of our problems have been poor coaching. Let's be honest about it. Everyone argues recruiting and talent and yes that is needed to beat Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. We have been recruiting decently but we are losing to teams like Missouri and Vandy regularly who supposedly have less talent than us. That is coaching. We are not developing talent, we don't win games that we shouldn't win, and we lose often games that we SHOULD win.

Tennessee just needs a good football coach. This is something we haven't had. The best coach we have hired to date was probably Butch Jones. Butch Jones' problem was that we wanted to run Cincy's offense even when he didn't have the players to run it. We need a good coach that runs a creative offense and an offense that fits our players. We need improvement on defense. We haven't had an elite SEC defense since the Phil Fulmer era.

I agree that our biggest mistake was hiring Lane Kiffin who sold his dad's defense to get the job. We should have probably took a chance on John Chavis but the administration was too scared to not make a full change.

2 years ago, we should have went after Rick Stockstill at MTSU. I know he is old but he plays a system that fits us well and he is a Tennessee guy. If not Rick Stockstill, another great option was Les Miles.

 

[YankeeVol]

It didn't stop other SEC programs. Look at Alabama, they fire Mike Shula after going 10-2 and then 6-7/ They bring in Saban and the rest is history.

Auburn fired Gene Chizik 2 years after winning the national title and IMPROVED situation.
Georgia fired Mark Richt after going 9-3 and IMPROVED coaching situation.
LSU fired Les Miles and has perhaps IMPROVED their coaching situation.

The fact is the other SEC Programs are firing coaches for even having winning seasons but underachieving and then going out their and landing all-star coaches. If they don't land an all-star, they fire and try again.

Those administrations actually care. That helps

 

[sethavellie]

OP is obviously a very high UT administration employee, only they believe if you fire a bozo that you set the program back 3-4 years.

Haha! I wish I was an employee of the University of Tennessee! How has that bozo firing gone so far? Has it helped or caught us up yet?

 

[sethavellie]

It didn't stop other SEC programs. Look at Alabama, they fire Mike Shula after going 10-2 and then 6-7/ They bring in Saban and the rest is history.

Auburn fired Gene Chizik 2 years after winning the national title and IMPROVED situation.
Georgia fired Mark Richt after going 9-3 and IMPROVED coaching situation.
LSU fired Les Miles and has perhaps IMPROVED their coaching situation.

The fact is the other SEC Programs are firing coaches for even having winning seasons but underachieving and then going out their and landing all-star coaches. If they don't land an all-star, they fire and try again.

Was there established talent on those teams? Were their coaching staffs turned over at a rapid pace, year after year?

 

[Johncarter53]

So when does Pruitt sign the extension?

 

[GVol1966]

Haha! I wish I was an employee of the University of Tennessee! How has that bozo firing gone so far? Has it helped or caught us up yet?

The misconception on here is its the firings that have set us back. Not true, it’s the hiring that has. Every one could have put us back in contention in the SEC but they are a proven 0-3 in hires and looking more and more like o-4 every game.