Let's be honest

[VolFan..But]

It's ironic that Les is going to end up at Kansas. Fulmer almost took that job as well after he "resigned".

Fulmer was also offered by Syracuse, Washington, Clemson, Kansas and 3 other schools. Why would he move anywhere? He had plenty of money, his kids where in school, this is his home and he is a Hall of Famer. The only job he would have taken was Clemson. Clemson was broke at the time and could only pay $750K which is what they paid Dabo when Fulmer told them his number was $3 mill. Fulmer was in demand but saw no reason to go anywhere else.

 

[VolRoger]

VOL fans are "resilient". How about it, Jack?

I think Jack is resilient. He did mention Auburn and Kentucky which I also believe were program building wins. I think a win this Saturday would further our stature as a program moving forward. I dont blame fans, especially those of us on the other side of that hill for growing tired of yet another rebuild. We need the younger fans (<50) to step it up with a little optimism for the near future.

 

[LibertyVolance]

I neither like or dislike him. I will be pleased with him if he turns this program into a winner again with solid recruiting and development of personnel who play with spirit and attitude. Must be willing to give him a fair chance (time). I sure would not grant an extension after year one, which has been all too typical for the ADs since Dickey departed. CJP had one abbreviated recruiting class. He needs at least the oncoming one and another to follow. No more Butch type classes where he didn't try to recruit against our top foes. No more recruiting Canadian or German high school players who didn't really begin playing until their senior year and then had knee surgery just prior to arriving on campus. We are too thin for any experiments for the time being. If we want to compete against Ga, Bama, Fla, then we have to recruit the same types of athlete they are recruiting head to head. We used to do that. Just not since the Majors/Fulmer era.

 

[ru4real-really?]

let's identify the problem.

It's not the coach and it's not the won lost record!

A lot of us just want to see the game.

Can you see the game better in person--or can you see the game better sitting in front of a 60" HD tv?

You know the answer and that is why attendance is down!

 

[beachmaster]

I'm going to post even though I haven't finished reading the thread. No, I don't particularly like CJP's demeanor, or attitude. Like VolAllen said, he has a job to do. Coaching is only part of it. He keeps say that he is playing the guys that "do things right", why doesn't he do his job right?

Anyway, I think he is the right coach to turn the program around. He knows what he wants and knows how to coach. I will still be a Vol fan as I have been for more than 50 years. Me not liking his attitude, has nothing to do with his coaching ability. Besides, if it gets too bad, I think Phil knows how to adjust attitudes.

 

[NEO]

Church I go to has a fill in preacher named Nasser who occasionally stops by. He was at our church yesterday. He is a huge Bama fan and always makes mention of how lucky we are that we don’t hsve to worry about paying for tickets to the national championship game every year. Guy is a real homer.

I just want a coach who shuts him up and all the others like him.

 

[Volfan2012]

I really don't dislike or like Coach Pruitt. If he can't win here he want be coach. I would want winning to come sooner than later meaning at least by year three. I think when it comes to football coaches you like them when you win and grow to dislike them when they lose. Really not about having a personality because Saban doesn't have one yet as a winner he is well liked by Bama even loved. So that is where we hope to be with Pruitt and if we don't get there suspect there will be plenty of fans eager to push him out the door.

 

[rickyyrs]

I know a lot of you are internet tough guys and actual conversation is far less likely than getting flamed. I don't hold it against you, it's just the East Tennessean fighter blood that flows through your veins. And no, this isn't a "knee jerk" reaction after a loss thread. This is a legitimate question/concern/conversation/get the gears in your head turning thread.

Do any of you guys actually like our coach? I know winning cures all. But I mean do you actually like the dude? Dig deep. Actually think about the question. Are you proud to call Jeremy Pruitt the coach of our beloved Vols? Or did Fulmer and our university totally just whiff the hell out of this thing the way they always do?

It would be fair to wait until the end of the season to judge, and even then seems a bit premature. But I'm not necessarily talking about his win/loss record. I'm talking about him as a representative of our program. Forget the 5-6 start. I can look beyond that.

Most of you are going to throw hateful things in my direction and tell me to go back to my momma's basement, but some numbers tell me that others may feel the same.

2009, Lane Kiffin's first and only season. 7-6 record. We averaged 100,000 fans in the seats.

2010, Dools first season. 6-7 record. We averaged 100,000.

2013, Butch Jones first season. 5-7 record. We averaged 96,000.

2016, Butch Jones best season. 9-4 record. 101,000 average attendance.

2018, Jeremy Pruitt's first season. 5-6 record. 92,869 average attendance. 3 games didn't even hit 90k.

There should be a spike in enthusiasm for a coach's first season, so why such a large drop in attendance? Lane obviously got fans excited. I remember it vividly. He was the first coaching change I had experienced and it was a feeling of new blood and a new era. Dooley received far less enthusiasm from the fans, but it was expected given the sudden and strange departure of Kiffin. Butch came in and really had the fan support. He said all the right things, knocked recruiting out of the park, beat Steve Spurrier in his first season. Hell, he crushed it.

Pruitt. It irked the hell out of me the way he answered Bob's question in the 2nd episode of The JP Show regarding running through the T for the first time. I stated that it bothered me right after it happened in the JP Show thread and caught some heat for it. Guess what? It still bothers me. Even more so now that we're 5-6. "It was uhhh....different", was the line. Mind you, this episode was following a win. It wasn't after getting straight whipped by West Virginia. No. It was after beating lowly ETSU, Pruitt's first win as the Tennessee head coach. His attitude sucks, and it's not good for business.

Do I like Pruitt more than Schiano? You're damn right I do. Do I like him more than Mike Leach? Not even close. Les Miles? Nope. Dan Mullen? Hard to say. Butch Jones? I don't think so. Dooley? I'm not sure.

Win, and of course, I'll shut up. But Coach Pruitt, you're making $4,000,000 a year to coach football. Ideally, you're supposed to win the games. If you don't, however, at least give us the impression that you're a good dude and that you're happy to be in Knoxville. Because at the end of the day, you're still going to be rich, and we're still going to be sitting on cold, hard, metal bleachers hoping that things change.

I'll go on record right now and say I have doubts that this experiment is going to work out. I think Mike Leach, Les Miles, or Dan Mullen would have been a better choice. And I'm not saying fire the guy. That's not going to accomplish anything. But win or lose, I don't really like this dude, and I'm feeling super disconnected from Tennessee football because of it.

Flame away.

Tennessee was not going to spend big money. They been hiring guys who would take the job. Dooley and Butch Jones. Really. Both of them were in way over their heads. So are you happy with what Butch Jones says about running through the T for the first time? He goes 0-8 in the SEC and says the right things and that's not ok with me. You people will get to like Pruitt. Lets say this. You wonder why no elite coach would take the Tennessee job. It's because they would have to rebuild the whole football team from the ground up. Pruitt catches all kind of crap from you so called fans. Jones left him a sorry football team. It starts in the weight room. This team for the last 8 years has been soft. Bama, Florida, Georgia and Carolina just lines up and smashes us in the month. This team has no depth either. The one thing we can't afford to lose was O-lineman. We lost 2 for the year. We have not had a big time QB in for how long. None was comming here because of that stupid offense Butch Jones ran. And no big time WRs were comming here either. You see a big time WR in Higgins went to Clemson. And another big O-lineman Mayes he went to Georgia. The kids seen what was going on here. Pruitt is going to change all that.

 

[Rudy123]

Think we are all just tired of the 10 year perpetual rebuild, and we are all being more skeptical. Whats the point in throwing good money after bad. Do I like or dislike him well I don't really know him.

The reality is that I wanted a better coach from day one, however; no really good, experienced coach wanted to come here.
So, I would say that this is a better hire than the others that we know of that were interested in the job.

We at the point now, that if we don't get this straight with this coach, then the fans at the games will be less and less each year. We will get less prime time t. v. coverage. At some point, with us losing a lot, the top recruits will lose all interest in this program. No good recruits coming in, then we continue to lose.

This is either make or break

 

[Brave Volunteer]

Church I go to has a fill in preacher named Nasser who occasionally stops by. He was at our church yesterday. He is a huge Bama fan and always makes mention of how lucky we are that we don’t hsve to worry about paying for tickets to the national championship game every year. Guy is a real homer.

I just want a coach who shuts him up and all the others like him.

Anybody who willingly pulls for that team, I'd question the validity of their faith in the first place.

 

[RollerVol]

it's really not as bad as last year is it...no, it isn't...I believe it will get better...I have too...so do we all...we have a game against Vandy this Saturday...that's what is important right now...

GO VOLS...BEAT VANDY!

 

[MAUSERWERKE]

Whether Pruitt is likable on a personal level is hard to assess without actually meeting him. I can see where his deadpan TV persona, while a welcome change from Butch, could leave some fans cold. But, if he starts winning, no one will care if he is not Mr. Congeniality. If he doesn't start winning, its just one more reason not to like him, I guess.

 

[MAUSERWERKE]

I don’t think anyone can help that school have a successful football program.

Agree. My son graduated a couple of years ago from KU. It's a really tough place to win in football. Now basketball....

 

[lifeisdeep]

From day one with both Dooley and Jones I felt they were bad hires, and I would cringe whenever posters on here adamantly defended them, said they needed time, etc. because nothing I ever saw from the play on the field gave me the impression either one knew much about coaching football. I never cared how they sounded in press conferences, although comments from both were, to me, pretty telling early on in how often they made excuses.

As much as I cringed and was taken aback when people thought either of those coaches was a good coach, I'm a little flabbergasted that someone could even compare either of them, with no apparent irony, to Pruitt. He may or may not be the coach to bring us back; but anyone who can't see he is night and day better at coaching football than either of the two previous clowns just isn't paying attention, in my humble opinion.

It concerns me that he hired someone without experience to be the OC, and thus far that decision is not proving to be a great one; it concerns me that he hired an OL coach that, to put it mildly, has not earned his salary this year. It concerns me that at the moment we have a lower-ranked recruiting class than we did, if memory serves, at this point with the second class of either of the previous two coaches, although it is encouraging to see more emphasis on the OL and DL. (I don't buy into the notion, trumpeted annually for the last ten-plus years, that we don't necessarily have to have a bunch of four- and five-stars to compete with Bama, UF, UGA, etc., just need three-stars we can coach up - that philosophy has not aged well.) All that said, anyone who can't see that a fair number of the players on this team have improved substantially over the course of the season, in a way we haven't seen since the last competent coach we had ten years ago, isn't watching.

 

[VolNavy01]

I'm going to post even though I haven't finished reading the thread. No, I don't particularly like CJP's demeanor, or attitude. Like VolAllen said, he has a job to do. Coaching is only part of it. He keeps say that he is playing the guys that "do things right", why doesn't he do his job right?

Anyway, I think he is the right coach to turn the program around. He knows what he wants and knows how to coach. I will still be a Vol fan as I have been for more than 50 years. Me not liking his attitude, has nothing to do with his coaching ability. Besides, if it gets too bad, I think Phil knows how to adjust attitudes.

In what way is he not doing his job correctly? As far as I’ve seen, he fulfills his contractual duties. Are you basing this on his stoic display of affection on his show or during press conferences? Have you listened to some of the ridiculous questions he gets ask every week? Do any of you who do not like him, or like him for that matter, really know the guy? Do you hang out with him? I just hope the players and recruits like him, because that is what really matters. Based on his previous jobs, that sounds like one thing he does have going for him. I’ll wait and see on the rest. If he was 11-0 right now, this wouldn’t even be a discussion.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

[ lot of complaining, almost none of it about the game of football ]

Never used to go to the football game to find someone we liked. It used to not be a popularity/personality contest.

Used to be, we went to the game to see some football, and then left the coaches and players alone during the week and through the entire off-season.

Used to be, the coach could be the Grinch to outsiders, as long as he coached the lads up well, served as a good role model they could look up to, and won a lot of games.

Allen, if you want to nail down the source of your discontent, don't look at Pruitt. Find the event or person who turned football into reality TV in your mind. That's where it all went wrong for you.

 

[MAUSERWERKE]

We don't deserve the coach we want. Post after post after negative, mind-numbing post on here proves that our most engaged fans (determined by amount and intensity of social media participation) are largely fickle and entitled.

I'm not saying that we deserve 0-11 and to be coached by Greg Schiano. Not by any stretch of the imagination is that what I'm implying. History and tradition only go so far in bringing interest to professionals. Kiffin, Dooley, and Jones turned that history and tradition into a wall-hanging in a trophy room. Rebuilding a program such as ours requires and individual who understands winning, is rooted in fundamentals, and gets the fact that history and tradition are paid for with blood and sweat over the course of time. He's not wasting his time jumping around with his shirt off yelling odd mottos; he's not likening our program to historical figures; he's not building a house out of sticks and putting a facade of paper bricks on it.

Players have said that he has had to teach them how to practice. If you watch video from the beginning of the year to now, you will see a progression of fundamentals that are still being absorbed and implemented in place of the sloppy work that was there before.

I'm sorry if watching CJP suffer through sharing a room with Kessling makes you feel down about our hire. That says more about you than him. If you need someone to blow smoke up your backside and make you want to run through a wall every time they're on TV, you either need therapy or medication (or both).

Fundamentals come first. Everything else will follow.

Good post. We have way too many fans who are living in the past. Because TN was HISTORICALLY a very good program, we are somehow entitled for that to always be the case, and take knee-jerk positions about coaches, players, play-calling (etc.). In the investment arena, sometimes a new bull market cannot emerge until there is "total capitulation." Everybody who wants to sell has sold out. It may be that TN football has to suffer total capitulation before the rebuild can truly begin. I hope not, but I wouldn't be shocked.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

Fulmer was also offered by Syracuse, Washington, Clemson, Kansas and 3 other schools. Why would he move anywhere? He had plenty of money, his kids where in school, this is his home and he is a Hall of Famer. The only job he would have taken was Clemson. Clemson was broke at the time and could only pay $750K which is what they paid Dabo when Fulmer told them his number was $3 mill. Fulmer was in demand but saw no reason to go anywhere else.

Offered or interviewed? I've never heard he was offered the job at Washington or Clemson.

 

[jarnol32]

He doesnt need to be likable if he wins- do you think Saban is ? If he loses, it really wont matter bc he will be fired like Botch. To address yr question- he speaks like some redneck you would find in a dive pool hall- his grammar is cringe-worthy and his abrupt manner borders on rudeness. One wonders if people around the country assume he is a typical UT graduate ( I know he went to Bama where English is taught as a foreign language , but they may not) IE, he is not a person I would pick to represent the school.

You guys are over analyzing the situation. Pruitt is paid to win football games, not to be someone you would like to hang out with. Who cares how he talks? He will either turn the program around and get Tennessee football back on top or he won’t, and he will get fired. His personality, his grasp of the English language, or his like ability have nothing to do with his ability to perform his job. Nick Saban, and Bill Belichick are two of the most miserable looking human beings you will ever see in front of a camera, but they win so no one complains. Give Pruitt sometime before you form opinions on his personality, it’s possible he just isn’t going to settle for losing.

 

[Gatornator]

Attendance is a widespread issue. Not an issue isolated to UT football. Our season at UF has been decent, for a first year HC compared to last year and yet we struggle with attendance significantly in the Swamp. Our attendence against Missou was horrendous. Absolutely no energy.

I would not blame Pruitt for that.

 

[beachmaster]

VolNavy01......…...Good point. To me, he's condescending to a fault. Yes, I am basing this on what I have personally seen from him, after all, it's my opinion, you are certainly welcome to yours. Yes, I have listened to those stupid questions he tries to answer. He can answer them without his demeanor. No, I don't personally know CJP. Since you obviously do, please tell us some great stories that you have personal knowledge. How long have you known CJP? No, I don't hang out with him, do you? The players probably do need to like him...…….or maybe the word should be respect. If he was 11-0 right now, my opinions wouldn't change. Sorry you wasted your time trying to set me straight.

 

[VolAllen]

Attendance is a widespread issue. Not an issue isolated to UT football. Our season at UF has been decent, for a first year HC compared to last year and yet we struggle with attendance significantly in the Swamp. Our attendence against Missou was horrendous. Absolutely no energy.

I would not blame Pruitt for that.

I’m not necessarily blaming Pruitt for poor attendance, he’s just not helping it. Lane Kiffin had the stands full, and that wasn’t too long ago. Butch Jones also had them full, and that was just 3 years ago. Obviously winning is a major issue. I had season tickets for 2 of the 5 Butch years, but traveling 6 hours each way just got old. Especially when we were losing.

 

[VOL_Lyfe]

Id like the guy a lot more if he'd bench JG!

/blue font

 

[BloomuVol]

I’m not necessarily blaming Pruitt for poor attendance, he’s just not helping it. Lane Kiffin had the stands full, and that wasn’t too long ago. Butch Jones also had them full, and that was just 3 years ago. Obviously winning is a major issue. I had season tickets for 2 of the 5 Butch years, but traveling 6 hours each way just got old. Especially when we were losing.

Lane Kiffin was literally 10 seasons ago, totally different world since then.

 

[82_VOL_83]

Never used to go to the football game to find someone we liked. It used to not be a popularity/personality contest.

Used to be, we went to the game to see some football, and then left the coaches and players alone during the week and through the entire off-season.

Used to be, the coach could be the Grinch to outsiders, as long as he coached the lads up well, served as a good role model they could look up to, and won a lot of games.

Allen, if you want to nail down the source of your discontent, don't look at Pruitt. Find the event or person who turned football into reality TV in your mind. That's where it all went wrong for you.

You got a like for the post you quoted. Hilarious!