Most Over/Underrated Vol Coach

#76
#76
jacksonvol24 said:
I humbly disagree. Why do you think it’s the staff’s job to carry a head coach. Nick Saban carried his staff and taught his players. He lost 4-6 coaches a year and never missed a beat. CFP couldn’t coach his fair/good players to greatness and held back his assistants. He could recruit but he was afraid of letting his assistants look better than him. That was his downfall. He also took advantage of CJM when he was ill. I can’t give him a pass for that. Go Vols.
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Saban had Kirby Smart, Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkesian, Curt Signetti and Jimbo Fisher.

Love Johnny, but Majors did himself in, it wasn't Fulmer. He was on thin ice before his hospitalization. Fulmer's success when Majors was sidelined, with the players rallying around Fulmer, made the decision to move Majors out easy for the powers that be. They didn't want to lose Fulmer, who would have undoubtedly gotten multiple offers had they not acted. As it turned out, you'd have to admit it was the right move.
 
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#77
#77
LAVol1 said:
Saban had Kirby Smart, Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkesian, Curt Signetti and Jimbo Fisher.

Love Johnny, but Majors did himself in, it wasn't Fulmer. He was on thin ice before his hospitalization. Fulmer's success when Majors was sidelined, with the players rallying around Fulmer, made the decision to move Majors out easy for the powers that be. They didn't want to lose Fulmer, who would have undoubtedly gotten multiple offers had they not acted. As it turned out, you'd have to admit it was the right move.
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I think most, if not all, thought the same at the time. I did especially after the Bama game. Then, after the Bama tie the next year, I wondered if we had exchanged a two dollar bill for two ones. However, 10 consecutive wins against them and a NC later, we were proven correct.
 
#78
#78
Good discussion.

One guy I always thought had the potential to be a good coach but never really materialized as a legitimate guy and has seemed to fizzle of recent years was Mike Bajakian. He was here under Bitch Jones. Left to go coach QBs at Tampa Bay and really hasn't been heard of since. I always thought he did a good job with QBs though.
 
#79
#79
Overrated - Bill Battle (meaning he was clearly overrated by those that hired him)

Underrated - Ray Bussard (well you didn't specify football but he always said he was a football coach at heart - he was the Tony Vitello of the 1960s and 1970s as he took a program that didn't exist and transformed it to a national power with a NCAA championship in 1978 - my favorite tradition of his was taking a gallon of Big Orange water from Tennessee's pool and dumping it into the away pool they were getting ready to swim in - genius)
 
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#80
#80
ZZ13 said:
Overrated - Bill Battle (meaning he was clearly overrated by those that hired him)

Underrated - Ray Bussard (well you didn't specify football but he always said he was a football coach at heart - he was the Tony Vitello of the 1960s and 1970s as he took a program that didn't exist and transformed it to a national power with a NCAA championship in 1978 - my favorite tradition of his was taking a gallon of Big Orange water from Tennessee's pool and dumping it into the away pool they were getting ready to swim in - genius)
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The swim team? Didn’t the guy who was a star of the 78 team later coach the team in the 90s and early 00s? Trembly?
 
#81
#81
Also. I remember as a kid in the 70s being on swim teams and when we had meets at UT I was in awe of the size of the aquatic center and the facilities at the time. Maybe this coach was responsible for getting upgrades to our facilities.
 
#82
#82
Volizona said:
Also. I remember as a kid in the 70s being on swim teams and when we had meets at UT I was in awe of the size of the aquatic center and the facilities at the time. Maybe this coach was responsible for getting upgrades to our facilities.
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He was.
 
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#83
#83
Volizona said:
The swim team? Didn’t the guy who was a star of the 78 team later coach the team in the 90s and early 00s? Trembly?
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Yes and yes. John Trembley won three individual events and two relays at the 1973 NCAA championships. He was the talk of the swimming world at the time. I was an age group swimmer then, thus the interest.
 
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#84
#84
Volizona said:
The swim team? Didn’t the guy who was a star of the 78 team later coach the team in the 90s and early 00s? Trembly?
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Andy Coan was the big name on the 1978 championship team. His wrists got messed up in a car accident after the NCAA championship and it was a big story in the swimming world at the time, that he came back from that and won an NCAA individual event after that. He passed away a few years ago.
 
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#85
#85
#86
#86
SpookyAction said:
I thought Shoop would be good enough to make our defense better. I wonder why he thudded here. I've never heard a definitive reason.
Jancek was better than I thought at the time. I never believed his dismissal would matter. It did.

Wilcox had very good defenses here. I thought losing him would hurt. It did. As slim as those two offenses were, an average offense playing with those two defenses would have won 8-9 games.
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Just learned that Bob Shoop has been hired at vandie as a defensive analyst. If you know my feelings about the commode-doors, then you understand my utter disdain. :cool:
 
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#89
#89
The few people I have ever known with inside the program information over the years have all said John Majors was fired for losing 7 straight to BAMA. The heart surgery and Fulmer's success as replacement HC was just the opening needed to cashier him.

It is really funny to me that I thought Coach Majors was ancient when he was fired. He was 57-58.
 
#90
#90
jacksonvol24 said:
Can’t disagree with you but I still feel like Majors got hosed. PF for whatever reason……got a pass. Have a great day. Go Vols.
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I don't necessarily disagree. Maybe it's because I was ready for Majors to go.
 
#91
#91
Overrated: the current coach at any given time. When Dooley was here he was overrated, when Butch was here he was overrated, when Pruitt was here he was overrated, and Heupel, while the first coach to actually be good out of that bunch, is overrated.

Underrated: Fulmer. He won the only national championship we will ever see. We might not even see another SEC championship, and he won two of those. Yet people act like the guy sucked. He’s the second best coach in our history, and our history is pretty good.
 
#92
#92
Most overrated: Johnny Majors -- 116-68-8 (.645) but 57-40-3 (.585) in SEC play in an era where they only played 6 SEC games and the Vols closed every year with Ole Miss, KY, and Vandy. Underachieved at Tennessee by being too conservative in big games and losing too many games to big underdogs.

Most underrated: Doug Dickey. If Dickey had not left Tennessee when he did, the Vols were poised to rule the 70s and push Alabama for being the top program.
 
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#93
#93
SpookyAction said:
The few people I have ever known with inside the program information over the years have all said John Majors was fired for losing 7 straight to BAMA. The heart surgery and Fulmer's success as replacement HC was just the opening needed to cashier him.

It is really funny to me that I thought Coach Majors was ancient when he was fired. He was 57-58.
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Ha! I was young then, too!

I think most of us saw what Fulmer did with the first three games and thought he should be the new coach.
 
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