Let's be honest

Most of us just have reset fatigue. This is what apathy feels like. It’s difficult to get excited after all of the crap we’ve had for a decade. All there is to do is nitpick or seek out moral victories.

At least we beat Auburn and UK. Those were a big deal.
 
No rebuttals for him only having coached for 10months and the coordinators and position coaches for less then 10months?

Or you just don’t have an answer for that because it doesn’t fit your agenda for this thread?


The response is in my post. He should have hired some experienced coordinators to help him out instead of just a few friends.
 
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The results speak for themselves. Retarded? Is that all you have? 5th grade response to facts.
Ok, I'll break it down, have we been competing at the top of college football? No, because we havent had the correct players to do so, so your great idea is to get a coach that is designed to coach less talented teams? How about we just build into one of the top teams. You seriously went into an absolutely retarded realm of thinking with your comment, sorry not sorry. to the mods I'm not calling him retarded, just his way of thinking, which is the proper usage of the word.
 
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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?

Yes, I like him. He seems like a great guy to me. I'd love to knock down a couple of brewskys with him. I don't care how much you pay the man, you aren't going to turn him into something he isn't. He has a stoic personality by nature, and there's no need in trying to turn him into some Butch Jones carnival clown. All we want him to do is recruit and win. The verdict is way still out on that. The man hasn't even been given a chance yet.
 
The response is in my post. He should have hired some experienced coordinators to help him out instead of just a few friends.
You obviously don’t realize who our coordinators are then.

They have recruiting ties all over the nation. They weren’t only picked too coordinate. They may be inexperienced but they aren’t the reason we have been losing.

Pruitt basically coaches the defense and he had guys in position to make plays against Missouri and the guys missed tackles etc.

That is on the players not the coaches you can only have the guys in position to make plays it is on the players to actually make the plays.

As for the offense, it’s the same offensive line that got our QBs killed last year. With position coaches who had roughly 8 months to get them ready to play their first game. The line has improved but not to where it needs to be. Expect bigger improvements next year.
 
I don't personally "like" Fulmer. The one time I saw him interact with the public without being in the spotlight, he was a dick. I was proud of our team for the most part while he was coach. Whether or not I (or anyone on this board) likes CJP makes not one bit of difference. I think you are trying way too hard to get out in front and be the fahr CJP bandleader. The drop in attendance has been linear based on Coach....100k, 96k, 92k. The drop from 96k to 92k is understandable. Winning will fix the issue but I'm sure another coaching change and a zillion dollar buyout is what you think we need right now.
 
Well said.
Not really.

I don't really care what anyone "would have done", we Fired a HC. We hired a HC. We fired our AD and told his hire to go kick rocks. Many other schools were either looking or already hired their HC and those HC's were already talking to and hiring their guys.

Meanwhile, several experienced HC's had already told the fired AD no. Oh yea, we needed to hire a new AD so we could hire a new HC so he could hire new assistant coaches.

Wait, you guys already know all of this. So, why is it you don't like Jeremy Pruitt?

Lol. Yea, we should all hate on him for fawking everything up.
 
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.
When they quit charging gold dollar prices for a wooden nickel product people can afford to come back, when the product gets better people will fill better about selling everything they got to bring their family of 5 or 6 back to a game
 
Most of us just have reset fatigue. This is what apathy feels like. It’s difficult to get excited after all of the crap we’ve had for a decade. All there is to do is nitpick or seek out moral victories.

At least we beat Auburn and UK. Those were a big deal.

I think you need to join that "some of us" group, cause I don't see "most of us" the way you do, just some of us.
 
A portion of our fan base seems intent on finding negatives about anything and everything. Please stop whining and step away from the keyboard.

I've been a fan since the sixties and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE OUR COACH! He inherited a mess with players quitting, poor evaluation of talent and little to no strength program. I've watched steady improvement throughout the year, even with some uneven performances. He's a coach not a miracle worker. We didn't get in this condition overnight and we won't get out of it overnight either.

He is loved by players and recruits. Former players adore him, which is the complete opposite of our past two coaches. He is aggressive in games, and makes sound decisions, which don't always work out. That's football.

I will be cheering like crazy to whip the commode dores, but win or lose, he's my guy. I don't care where he went to school. He picked us to coach and I've seen nothing to suggest he's interested in any job but this one. I even love his jargon, which is straight out of football coach 101. Go Big Orange!
 
Ok, I'll break it down, have we been competing at the top of college football? No, because we havent had the correct players to do so, so your great idea is to get a coach that is designed to coach less talented teams? How about we just build into one of the top teams. You seriously went into an absolutely retarded realm of thinking with your comment, sorry not sorry. to the mods I'm not calling him retarded, just his way of thinking, which is the proper usage of the word.
Realism, what a concept!
 
I really think that if Fulmer knew anything about being an AD he would have assessed the kind of talent that we had on this team before making a decision on a head coach. Pruitt was not a fit for the talent we had. I am one who very much welcomes the change back to smash mouth football but we needed more of a finesse coach to have any success this year.

In essence, I am saying that we have a rookie AD, hiring a rookie coach, hiring rookie coordinators. That is a recipe for disaster.
So we fire Butch for bringing in mix matched talent and never being able to develop them for his system, causing them to not be able to compete with elite teams. And your answer is to bring in another sub par coach that trys to scheme his way past SEC defenses? The logic behind this is just absolutely faulty and honestly quite puzzling considering that's exactly what the previous Athletic Directors thought. Are you sure you havent worked in the Athletic department in the past ten years?
 
Most of us just have reset fatigue. This is what apathy feels like. It’s difficult to get excited after all of the crap we’ve had for a decade. All there is to do is nitpick or seek out moral victories.

At least we beat Auburn and UK. Those were a big deal.
VOL fans are "resilient". How about it, Jack?
 
A portion of our fan base seems intent on finding negatives about anything and everything. Please stop whining and step away from the keyboard.

I've been a fan since the sixties and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE OUR COACH! He inherited a mess with players quitting, poor evaluation of talent and little to no strength program. I've watched steady improvement throughout the year, even with some uneven performances. He's a coach not a miracle worker. We didn't get in this condition overnight and we won't get out of it overnight either.

He is loved by players and recruits. Former players adore him, which is the complete opposite of our past two coaches. He is aggressive in games, and makes sound decisions, which don't always work out. That's football.

I will be cheering like crazy to whip the commode dores, but win or lose, he's my guy. I don't care where he went to school. He picked us to coach and I've seen nothing to suggest he's interested in any job but this one. I even love his jargon, which is straight out of football coach 101. Go Big Orange!
That touches my heart.
 

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I don't see the attendance numbers as any kind of referendum on Pruitt. I think it is far more likely related to factors already mentioned. "Reset fatigue" (interesting descriptor) and the fact that live sports is becoming a more difficult choice for a lot of people in light of the modern television experience.
Many have reached the point where they are not going to give anyone the benefit of the doubt. The team is going to have to win first before the house is packed for every game.

Further, you can't dismiss the fact that the history of huge, loud crowds at Neyland supporting a QUALITY football team in MEANINGFUL games is getting smaller and smaller in the rear view mirror. It's an experience that the youngsters don't even understand. Why would they seek it out?

In terms of "liking" Pruitt, I actually do like him quite a lot as a coach. I like his style of coaching, and I like the personality of the football team he is attempting to build.
 
There were a couple of ti.es during the missouri game that you could see coach Pruitt with chalkboard in hand,drawing up schematics and formations to players during the game.He continues to teach even when so.e of the wheels are falling off.Thos is what he does and it will pay off handsomely next year.Please try to recall last hear when the players "mailed"it in the final few games.No teaching was going on.Only coaches.bitching,and players wondering where to go after the game.Jeremy Pruitt is the right coach for this team and this school.He cares about football and his players,not his image.That is a coach we have needed for ten years.If you want to look at examples,Sabin and Belicheck(spelling)are two perfect examples.
 
Look, CJP took over a program with players that were not coached well, if at all, and no drive to excel at a high level - see 2017 results as I fully believe that the entire team QUIT. Take that in the perspective that Pruitt does not like quitters, nor do I for that matter, and has not faced that type of attitude in his collegiate coaching career. Add in the fact that the current roaster is filled with personnel that he didn't sign and many cases his former institutions didn't even recruit, which speaks volumes as to what he has to contend with on a daily basis.

CJP appears to be a no-nonsense coach with little patience for anything outside of football, to include news conferences, the JP Show, and public appearances in general - it's just not his personality.

So my question would be - do you want a football coach or a cheerleader?

I prefer the football coach, if you want cheerleaders look on the side lines, we have about a dozen at every game!

Support CJP, it is going to take 3 years to build this program with a complete roaster turn over!!

GBO - BEAT VANDY'S CANDIES!!
 
From an outsider looking in, I think you all have a pretty good coach. It just appears to me that the Vols are playing, for the most part, with more passion than I saw last year. But there aren't enough horses yet and a lot of missing pieces. A few of your games have gone sour this year, but a few have been very well played...esp against the Wildcats. The potential is there, and if you give him time I believe he will build the program back up. It is very difficult to do that against so many good SEC opponents, but imo TN looks like a much improved product over last year. A couple top recruiting classes and who knows where it might go. Sometimes you have to climb the ladder one rung at a time.

I agree 100%. CJP is doing everything he can to win ball games. He has brought in a great coaching staff, which he doesn't seem to micromanage, other than Maybe DB's, put together a pretty solid first recruiting class and working on a very good class for 2019. We just have to give the man time to get his own players here and Coach them up. I believe he can and will do that. Our team has showed a tremendous amount of improvement in effort alone, which translated to us upsetting 2 top 25 teams when we weren't even expected to win more than 4 games again this year.
 
Here is where im at and I admit im exhibiting double standards. Had John Currie hired Jeremy Pruitt Id have been upset but back him. On the other hand because Coach Fulmer made the hire I totally trust he did his homework and made a football decision instead of a business decision. I certainly am behind Phillips choice. And magnify all that crap Fulmer had to clean up. I dont know that he could have hired this kind of coach with such a high upside at that point of the search.

As for your question do I like Jeremy Pruitt. I despise he loves Alabama but as long as he aint throwing games. I like him just fine. I won't ever agree with everything every coach ever does. No one does. Heck coaches who have been fired multiple times find themselves on these tv shows crituiquing what they deem mistakes by Saban and Belichick. However if they were hired at any team in their leauges their fanbase would like them after years of hating them.

Here are the things I expect from any coach.

Dont allow us to be involved in anything egregious like Penn St covered up for sake of football or James Franklin while at Vandy with that cellphone footage and the players involved. Dont have our apr crazy low like it was in the Dooley era where even if we had a winning record Butch may not have been able to participate in a bowl. Coach football with physicality. Honor the Tennessee traditions. Pruitt so far hasnt given us a black eye. I definitely like that.
 

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