Let's Just Face It

#26
#26
So a decade of failed hires means we can’t turn it around, despite the fact schools do it all the time?

Failed hires because we don’t and won’t hire a great coach. Always trying to find the next great bargain we can pay half the price of good coaches. UT doesn’t have to compete with pro teams and has too many boosters who all want their ego rubbed. We can be mediocre and still make moneynhand over fist. I only have the my entire lifetime as evidence while you have nothing but hopes and pipe dreams.
 
#28
#28
Second only to Texas in program wealth.

Top 5 facilities in the country.

Stadium improvements coming which demonstrate a long term commitment to the program.

But the biggest factor is that UT has more instate talent and with intelligent recruiting... is situated in a place to effectively recruit Ohio, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL, MS, and AL.

I like Nebraska. I especially like Nebraskans. They're great people. But most recruits don't want to play that far away from family and friends. The closest significant recruiting areas to Lincoln are Texas and Chicago. In their heyday, they had juiced up farm boys coupled with skill players from CA, FL, and TX.


The comparison you are trying to make fails. UT is a place where the right coach can win big. In this era of CFB, Nebraska is not.

This. The only thing Nebraska has to sell is it's name and (I'm assuming) top tier facilities. Location-wise, they may as well be in Montana.
 
#29
#29
...that we are the Nebraska of the SEC. We had a really good run in the 80's and 90's but now, Tennessee is not a top tier program. We're not even the best team in our state.

TBH, I don't know how good of a job Tennessee is anymore. Fortunately, there is a deep enough coaching pool for John Currie to really have to screw up in order to make a bad hire. However, if we have to compete against Florida for a particular candidate, we will lose that battle. Every. Time.

I'm not saying we can't ever be good again, but I feel too many TN fans have a false sense of just how good of a job TN actually is.

The argument of "is the glass half empty or half full". From your perspective the glass is half empty. I could not disagree more. The glass is more than half full. We have talent facilities and apparently an administration that is finally willing to pay the money to win. Only thing lacking is the coaching.
 
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#32
#32
Alabama had their 10-15 years slide, all things run in cycles we just happen to be at the base of our curve right now. The Apex will be next. Stay positive my friends.
 
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#33
#33
...that we are the Nebraska of the SEC. We had a really good run in the 80's and 90's but now, Tennessee is not a top tier program. We're not even the best team in our state.

TBH, I don't know how good of a job Tennessee is anymore. Fortunately, there is a deep enough coaching pool for John Currie to really have to screw up in order to make a bad hire. However, if we have to compete against Florida for a particular candidate, we will lose that battle. Every. Time.

I'm not saying we can't ever be good again, but I feel too many TN fans have a false sense of just how good of a job TN actually is.

:bow2:
This program in what 121 seasons, has one legit National Title. Won 66% of it's games. In spite of what some may think, one of the worst recruiting states in the South. Take out Fulmer and Neyland (32 of the 121) and you are down to 5 SEC titles, zero SEC East Titles, zero National Titles and a 55% winning clip. Expectations are not based in reality. Oh but what it can be. OK, maybe. But the way those expectations are and the history of treating Legends, good luck on getting a coach that can do that for you.

Fact is, the Fulmer era level of success will never happen again for decades if not ever. The 90's run is the best in school history and one of the best in College Football History. His 2000's run is still better then the majority of the school's history.

Set your expectations. Enjoy the pre game, tailgates, Vol Navy and corn hole games and relax. You will have a much better time.
 
#34
#34
Tennessee is a job that can pay in the top five if they want to and historically have paid top ten pay. They have the facilities and support to compete for a national title year in and out with the right coach. Also have recruited with the top teams in the country year in and out. IDK wtf you're smoking OP but this is an elite job, it might not be Florida, USC, or Texas but it's a top ten job or at least right on the fringe.

Just because we've had a string of dumbass ADs hiring a string of dumbass coaches doesn't mean Tennessee can't be a traditional powerhouse. Other than our leadership what is worse than it was in the Fulmer days? In state talent and surrounding talent is leaps and bounds better than in those days.
 
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#35
#35
Alabama had their 10-15 years slide, all things run in cycles we just happen to be at the base of our curve right now. The Apex will be next. Stay positive my friends.

Alabama has about 15 National Titles. What double the SEC Titles of anyone. A very fertile recruiting state. Tenn is not Alabama and never will. Not with any consistency.
 
#36
#36
:bow2:
This program in what 121 seasons, has one legit National Title. Won 66% of it's games. In spite of what some may think, one of the worst recruiting states in the South. Take out Fulmer and Neyland (32 of the 121) and you are down to 5 SEC titles, zero SEC East Titles, zero National Titles and a 55% winning clip. Expectations are not based in reality. Oh but what it can be. OK, maybe. But the way those expectations are and the history of treating Legends, good luck on getting a coach that can do that for you.

Fact is, the Fulmer era level of success will never happen again for decades if not ever. The 90's run is the best in school history and one of the best in College Football History. His 2000's run is still better then the majority of the school's history.

Set your expectations. Enjoy the pre game, tailgates, Vol Navy and corn hole games and relax. You will have a much better time.

Problem is you can't take the titles or wins away. 13 SEC titles, 2 nattys, and top ten in all time wins. Deal with it.
 
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#37
#37
Tennessee is a job that can pay in the top five if they want to and historically have paid top ten pay. They have the facilities and support to compete for a national title year in and out with the right coach. Also have recruited with the top teams in the country year in and out. IDK wtf you're smoking OP but this is an elite job, it might not be Florida, USC, or Texas but it's a top ten job or at least right on the fringe.

Just because we've had a string of dumbass ADs hiring a string of dumbass coaches doesn't mean Tennessee can't be a traditional powerhouse. Other than our leadership what is worse than it was in the Fulmer days? In state talent and surrounding talent is leaps and bounds better than in those days.

AD's do not hire or fire a football or basketball coach at this level without the permission of the money man.

In state talent might have improved but it is still not enough by far to support a team at this level. Fulmer made something very hard look very easy. That is winning at UT big. Very rare at UT historically and will not happen again for decades.
 
#38
#38
AD's do not hire or fire a football or basketball coach at this level without the permission of the money man.

In state talent might have improved but it is still not enough by far to support a team at this level. Fulmer made something very hard look very easy. That is winning at UT big. Very rare at UT historically and will not happen again for decades.

The right coach can win big. Tennessee doesn't have to rely on in-state talent as we can, have, and will again recruit top-tier players across state lines with the right coach. I'm not so sure what is difficult about this to understand? Everyone is so quick to say "Tennessee isn't Florida, but..." Florida wasn't jack-diddly **** before Spurrier.
 
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#39
#39
:bow2:
This program in what 121 seasons, has one legit National Title. Won 66% of it's games. In spite of what some may think, one of the worst recruiting states in the South. Take out Fulmer and Neyland (32 of the 121) and you are down to 5 SEC titles, zero SEC East Titles, zero National Titles and a 55% winning clip. Expectations are not based in reality. Oh but what it can be. OK, maybe. But the way those expectations are and the history of treating Legends, good luck on getting a coach that can do that for you.

Fact is, the Fulmer era level of success will never happen again for decades if not ever. The 90's run is the best in school history and one of the best in College Football History. His 2000's run is still better then the majority of the school's history.

Set your expectations. Enjoy the pre game, tailgates, Vol Navy and corn hole games and relax. You will have a much better time.

This post isn't based in reality and takes cherry picking to a whole other level.

We had an idiot AD that torpedoed our program with the two worst hires in program history. Then we had a bargain basement hire because our roster was depleted and our adminstration's reputation was tarnished. Tennessee is in a much better position to hire a great football coach than it has been in years.
 
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#40
#40
UT Football has a long, storied history as a top tier program. We did not just start playing in the 80s.

Others have posted the historical stats but saying we were just a good program in the 80s and 90s is just plain dumb.
 
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#41
#41
AD's do not hire or fire a football or basketball coach at this level without the permission of the money man.

In state talent might have improved but it is still not enough by far to support a team at this level. Fulmer made something very hard look very easy. That is winning at UT big. Very rare at UT historically and will not happen again for decades.

The AD is the person that sells their candidate to the boosters or in our case Haslam. Middle Tennessee is one of the fastest growing areas in the country not just the region.
 
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#42
#42
I think you're giving the 80's too much credit. Problem with alot of VN is they only know the Vols of the 90's and early 2000's. Post Neyland and pre-Fulmer, we only had the occasional short run. Battle and Neyland were essentially equal in win % at approx .800. Fulmer is 3rd at .745. Then Dickey at .697, Majors at .624, and Wyatt at .620. No other UT coach in their history since 1891 broke the .600 mark. All-time win % for UT football is .659. So, only 5 coaches in the entirety of UT football ever broke above .600. We have 6 NC (Neyland 4, Dickey 1, Fulmer 1), 7 Conference (Neyland 1, Wyatt 1, Dickey 1, Majors 3, Fulmer 1), and in 126 years have attended only 36 Bowls. Technically, Bowls only existed for maybe 91 of those years, so we average a bowl roughly every 3 years. Still though we have only attended roughly 1/3 of the bowls since their inception. Those are the facts. GBO.

Having said all that, maintaining a win percentage of .659 over 126 years qualifies as a top tier program in my book.

If you throw out the ties, depending on how you calculate win%, we jump to .681 all time and rank 12th among all colleges historically in wins and win%. Not too shabby, especially considering the last 10 years.
 
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#43
#43
...that we are the Nebraska of the SEC. We had a really good run in the 80's and 90's but now, Tennessee is not a top tier program. We're not even the best team in our state.

TBH, I don't know how good of a job Tennessee is anymore. Fortunately, there is a deep enough coaching pool for John Currie to really have to screw up in order to make a bad hire. However, if we have to compete against Florida for a particular candidate, we will lose that battle. Every. Time.

I'm not saying we can't ever be good again, but I feel too many TN fans have a false sense of just how good of a job TN actually is.

You have a case of CKTF syndrome. Chip Kelly to Florida. This syndrome leads to depression and feelings of despair and uneasiness.

The only known cure is John Gruden.
 
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#45
#45
...that we are the nebraska of the sec. We had a really good run in the 80's and 90's but now, tennessee is not a top tier program. We're not even the best team in our state.

Tbh, i don't know how good of a job tennessee is anymore. Fortunately, there is a deep enough coaching pool for john currie to really have to screw up in order to make a bad hire. However, if we have to compete against florida for a particular candidate, we will lose that battle. Every. Time.

I'm not saying we can't ever be good again, but i feel too many tn fans have a false sense of just how good of a job tn actually is.

sthu.
 
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#46
#46
...that we are the Nebraska of the SEC. We had a really good run in the 80's and 90's but now, Tennessee is not a top tier program. We're not even the best team in our state.

TBH, I don't know how good of a job Tennessee is anymore. Fortunately, there is a deep enough coaching pool for John Currie to really have to screw up in order to make a bad hire. However, if we have to compete against Florida for a particular candidate, we will lose that battle. Every. Time.

I'm not saying we can't ever be good again, but I feel too many TN fans have a false sense of just how good of a job TN actually is.


Why don't you face this: :shaking2:


Yeah, we have been down. Yeah, it has been awhile. But we were there starting in the 60s and it took about 30 years to climb back up. So quit being a wussy.


Get the right coach, he does it the right way, and we get back. And if our AD will have people keeping a close eye on the staff to make sure stupid stuff isn't allowed to happen, we can stay there. Just a matter of making sure nobody gets dumbassitis.
 
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#47
#47
There are soo many variables in past records that you cannot just say we have won this many games, or this decade was great. College football is way different now than our 121 year history. Even 20 years ago things were different. Fulmer basically only competed against Spurrier. Now at least half the conference istrying to win big. Saban made $4M per year just 10 years ago, and people couldn't believe it. History means nothing. Yale and Army used to be considered great programs. Fewer programs cared about football. Now is what matters. What can the next coach expect from administration, how can the next coach relate to boosters, how can he recruit and sell the program. Can he work the X & Os better than coaches he goes against. Ala had a down decade, Ok had a down decade, USCw had a down decade and I can go on.
 
#48
#48
What?? We have some of the best facilities, an incredible recruiting budget, primed right in the middle of football land for recruits, rich tradition, die hard fans, and a soon enough renovated state of the art Neyland Stadium. So I completely disagree with you. That's ridiculous

Don't forget Dollywood
 
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#49
#49
Some of our "fans" I have to wonder if they're really fans of this program. Tennessee sucks to them, they'll continue to suck and they want them to suck where they can be right. "Oh I love Tennessee, but I'll kick dirt on my team anytime it suits me."

Why don't some of you fair weather, sad sacks find another team to support? You won't be missed.
 
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#50
#50
No reason Tennessee can't be a great program again. We need to realize you need top notch coaching to win in the SEC. You are not going to get it done with MAC or Louisiana Tech guys and maybe finally that has been realized.
 
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