My 2¢ regarding this staff/team

[DL916]

I would say I'm a Dooley supporter, but I wouldn't call myself a sunshine pumper by any means. Yes Dooley did come into a very difficult situation. Yes he took a job nobody would take. But I hear people say "well we're Tennessee we should be winning championships." And I agree to an extent.

We are a traditional powerhouse. We're not a current powerhouse on the field. We are in other regards ex: facilities, equipment, funds, fan base etc.

Now I will say this Dooley has done a great job from the administrative aspect. He's improved our off field issues, character issues, and probation stuff. He has recruited pretty well based on the guys who are contributing and based on NFL draft projections.

The one thing that I can't say he's done, even as a Dooley supporter, is coached the team up. Something just seems to be missing. Last year I blamed the 2nd half collapses on lack of depth. This year we have more of it, I understand it's young depth but still depth that's talented.

We have been in every game except the 'bama game, which is understandable since nobody has been able to do much against them. But we're just missing that "it" factor that teams need to win games.

Now people are screaming for his head, and understandably so. People want Gruden, and I can't say I wouldn't be excited about it. My first choice would be Chris Petersen because no matter who he recruits, how many seniors he loses, or which opponent he plays his teams are always well prepared.

The issue with another coaching change would be that we would probably have a 3rd different defensive coordinator in the last 3 years. We would have guys transfer, decommit, or just quit. Our schedule next year is even tougher than this one.

I think you let Dooley try to make a bowl game or win 7 games this season with a possible 8th in the bowl game. You let him coach next year and bring in another solid recruiting class. If he doesn't get it done next year with his seniors and juniors then it's time to look around. And it would save us a lot of money with the buyouts and such.

 

[WhitewaterVol]

My 2 cents is this staff is worth about 2 cents.

The sooner we have a real coach the sooner we will return to real TN football.

 

[VolMax]

Dude, slowly walk away from the keyboard, make sure your doors are locked and draw the shades. You have no idea what you have just done...

 

[W.TN.Orange Blood]

cool story bro.

 

[VolFootballlover]

I see everyone talking about the talent Dooley has brought in. I don't see it. I see he has a full squad but not really anything other schools would fear. Everyone talks about Chaney and his play calling , Dooley calls so many stupid plays and over rides Chaney just like the 3rD 1 against Bama, Dooley admitted tonight he called it. He has never been a winner and provided evidence he could win. He's not a great recruiter just a recruiter. If he is head coach next season it will set us back even more, as Vandy has already shown they can out recruit Dooley head to head. He just lost another 4 star who's leaving going back to florida...so where did this class rank with the departures?

 

[vols-1]

I think you let Dooley try to make a bowl game or win 7 games this season with a possible 8th in the bowl game. You let him coach next year and bring in another solid recruiting class. If he doesn't get it done next year with his seniors and juniors then it's time to look around. And it would save us a lot of money with the buyouts and such.

Where does TN turn if next year is a 4-8 disaster?

 

[Daloth]

I see everyone talking about the talent Dooley has brought in. I don't see it. I see he has a full squad but not really anything other schools would fear. Everyone talks about Chaney and his play calling , Dooley calls so many stupid plays and over rides Chaney just like the 3rD 1 against Bama, Dooley admitted tonight he called it. He has never been a winner and provided evidence he could win. He's not a great recruiter just a recruiter. If he is head coach next season it will set us back even more, as Vandy has already shown they can out recruit Dooley head to head. He just lost another 4 star who's leaving going back to florida...so where did this class rank with the departures?

Bray
Hunter
Patterson
Neal
Rivera

and virtually our entire O line as of right now are all future NFL players in some capacity. And that's not counting defense even.

If you don't see the talent it's because you are blind.

 

[VolMax]

Bray
Hunter
Patterson
Neal
Rivera

and virtually our entire O line as of right now are all future NFL players in some capacity. And that's not counting defense even.

If you don't see the talent it's because you are blind.

McCullers, Sentimore, AJ, CM?

 

[VolFootballlover]

Bray
Hunter
Patterson
Neal
Rivera

and virtually our entire O line as of right now are all future NFL players in some capacity. And that's not counting defense even.

If you don't see the talent it's because you are blind.

Dooley didn't recruit all those guys , and yes he convinced a few to stay . But I still don't see 2 years worth of great talent there. Every Team we have played this season has had great Freshman WR's, QB'S and RB's I'm sorry we are not that great if Hunter / Bray / Neal is what u call great talent. gifted yeah,but against good competition only one has stood out. Patterson

 

[VolFootballlover]

Guys,, how many of these your naming would start for SC,Georgia,Florida,Bama would be hard to find more than 2 , and yes your naming juniors.

 

[MY3*VOLS]

We have talent just need to Coach them up. You can't expect to hire a whole new coaching staff and win right away on talent alone. Most our talent comes from the Juco route. I am giving the benefit of the doubt to let Dooley finish the season he started because it is his to lose or win.

 

[VolFootballlover]

We have talent just need to Coach them up. You can't expect to hire a whole new coaching staff and win right away on talent alone. Most our talent comes from the Juco route. I am giving the benefit of the doubt to let Dooley finish the season he started because it is his to lose or win.

Thats true, and I understand that but realize the longer he is here the more talent we see under achieving .loosing breaks your will power. we need a coach that can coach guys up to play above there level not below

 

[Volniac]

Let Dools finish out the season and then bring in someone else. DO NOT give him another season, or it will be another year of moral victories and no results on the field.

 

[MY3*VOLS]

Thats true, and I understand that but realize the longer he is here the more talent we see under achieving .loosing breaks your will power. we need a coach that can coach guys up to play above there level not below

I agree with that. Not trying to support Dooley but saying Gruden won't sign a contract with us or any other respectable coach before Dooley is fired. This weekend will be a big test for Hart, Dooley, and Tennessee. He still is going to have to finish our season unless we give Sal or Chaney the reins.

 

[Volniac]

I agree with that. Not trying to support Dooley but saying Gruden won't sign a contract with us or any other respectable coach before Dooley is fired. This weekend will be a big test for Hart, Dooley, and Tennessee. He still is going to have to finish our season unless we give Sal or Chaney the reins.

*shudders* Scary thought

Though I don't suppose we could do much worse than we already are..

 

[SalsBakedZiti]

I would say I'm a Dooley supporter, but I wouldn't call myself a sunshine pumper by any means. Yes Dooley did come into a very difficult situation. Yes he took a job nobody would take. But I hear people say "well we're Tennessee we should be winning championships." And I agree to an extent.

We are a traditional powerhouse. We're not a current powerhouse on the field. We are in other regards ex: facilities, equipment, funds, fan base etc.

Now I will say this Dooley has done a great job from the administrative aspect. He's improved our off field issues, character issues, and probation stuff. He has recruited pretty well based on the guys who are contributing and based on NFL draft projections.

The one thing that I can't say he's done, even as a Dooley supporter, is coached the team up. Something just seems to be missing. Last year I blamed the 2nd half collapses on lack of depth. This year we have more of it, I understand it's young depth but still depth that's talented.

We have been in every game except the 'bama game, which is understandable since nobody has been able to do much against them. But we're just missing that "it" factor that teams need to win games.

Now people are screaming for his head, and understandably so. People want Gruden, and I can't say I wouldn't be excited about it. My first choice would be Chris Petersen because no matter who he recruits, how many seniors he loses, or which opponent he plays his teams are always well prepared.

The issue with another coaching change would be that we would probably have a 3rd different defensive coordinator in the last 3 years. We would have guys transfer, decommit, or just quit. Our schedule next year is even tougher than this one.

I think you let Dooley try to make a bowl game or win 7 games this season with a possible 8th in the bowl game. You let him coach next year and bring in another solid recruiting class. If he doesn't get it done next year with his seniors and juniors then it's time to look around. And it would save us a lot of money with the buyouts and such.

 

[ELMAGNIFICO]

There are 5 main reasons why I'm still a Dooley guy that I don't think have been merely stressed enough by the instant gratification side of our fanbase. This mess took 10+ years to make, we won't recover from it in 3.

1. Recruiting cycles: If you take into account that a class will avg. ~22 players and that 1 recruiting cycle is theoretically 2 deep on both sides. With the way TN has had and will continue having to recruit because of a lack of base and increased competition we have a 1 in 3 margin of error, simply 33% of these kids will wash out or never get past special teams. That puts 1 recruiting cycle at 3 years. If you factor in that the 2007-2009 classes were almost complete busts and that Dooley's first 3 provide you only with a base, we're still 1 recruiting cycle away (3 years) from having a 2 deep roster on both sides comparable with Alabama, Florida, Georgia, LSU.

2. Dooley's Attitude: I think Dooley had 4 base challenges when he came in here, recruiting (#1), endear himself to fanbase and media, earn respect of staff and players, do whatever was necessary to keep and develop star talent he had from the beginning. Being a type-A person and a Sabanite, #3 and #4 have been the hardest. For one, he's trying to get his head coaching legs under him at a job that would quickly have a contingent of people demanding instant gratification. Fortunately he is a good administrator and has earned the respect of his players (you don't dramatically reduce discipline issues if people don't respect you).

As for players "goofing off" or "not taking it seriously", welcome to college athletics in the 21st century, it happens everywhere win or lose. Also, realize that people handle situations differently, some people need to stay loose mentally even if they're getting their brains beat out. Playing tight mentally is never good, my hs coach ruined us with that uber-intensity crap. Discipline and 24/7 intensity are not the same thing, one can elevate your game, the other will burn you out fast. If you lose their's no point in walking around pissed off, you can only have a reason to be pissed if you personally didn't put in your work. People expect Woody Hayes, but you only get a limited response when your constantly berating etc. (he doesn't behind the scenes either, he seems cold because he just expects people to get it right. As a former Vol athlete I know many admin people who seem to really like the guy). He is different in that when you make a mistake he won't yell or scream at you the first few times, he expects them to be grown up enough to know they made a mistake and handle it. I was this kind of athlete and hated the coaches who yelled, but for some they need that constant fire and Dooley needs to find that balance or have assistants who can handle it. This also explains lack of Fulmer like locker-room speeches, he just expects players to handle their business. I suspect he will get better at this as time goes on.

As for my last point in this section, imagine having to hang your hat on TB and DR your first years as a head coach. Your star players are head cases with classroom problems, disciplinary problems, and not willing to put in the work. Do you continually jump on these guys or do you coddle, hoping they'll do enough not to get you fired. First option you risk losing them early on and never recovering. Second you risk eventually losing them but you let them hang themselves so you don't fully look like the bad guy, it's a hard battle and one that he didn't deserve on top of everything else.

3. Competition: Simple, the current SEC is the most nationally dominant conference at any point in modern college football and being 10th in the country in recruiting or rankings puts you 5th in the conference. Hard to climb that mountain in 3 years no matter who you are. We simply got caught out in the rain at the worst possible time.

4. Un-reasonable Expectations: No matter who is the coach this isn't a team contending for 10 wins until 2014 at the earliest, probably 2015 as that gives you 2 full recruiting cycles. East Tennessee is the meth capital of the world and it shows sometimes in our fanbase, 2010 wasn't 1993 it wasn't even 1977. It was Alabama ~1999, after the start of their problems it took Alabama 6-7 years to get back to 10 win season (2 recruiting cycles) and even with an inherited stocked cupboard Saban went 7-6. Tennessee needs the pieces before they can start playing chess, and right now they are having to play Moneyball in recruiting due to the dominance of the rest of the SEC.

5. We're knocking on the door. We are playing sound football for the most part, at some point the guys on the field have to execute. On defense we simply don't have the people yet to athletically match up. Our front 7 are playing pretty good for a group of JUCO guys and a banged up linebacking core. On offense we can score 40 against anyone with a little bit of ball control, Chaney being the one person on staff I'm not a fan of. You may be able to get man coverage on CP or JH up top on 3rd & 1, but that sideline route has killed our momentum at crucial points in the past two games, good ball control decisions are not being made. USC had 3 Heisman winners in 4 years running ball control offense, just be smart and get the ball into the hands of your playmakers with high % plays, then pop it open at the right time. TB is a headcase with a big arm, sadly we have needed to rely on him, but at what point does he become a liability, I think we've been there for a while. Overall our staff is putting our players, schematically, in positions to go out and win the majority of their battles on both sides of the ball. Eventually guys have to execute, we're almost there in this league with our still lack of starter not to mention 2 deep talent at some crucial positions.

Fight will come when these guys realize they can win, you saw it at Georgia (minus TB), and 2nd half of Miss. State. They're almost there, don't give up just yet.

 

[photovol]

Where does TN turn if next year is a 4-8 disaster?

3-9 or 2-10 or 1-11 or now this hard 0-12

 

[MY3*VOLS]

There are 5 main reasons why I'm still a Dooley guy that I don't think have been merely stressed enough by the instant gratification side of our fanbase. This mess took 10+ years to make, we won't recover from it in 3.

1. Recruiting cycles: If you take into account that a class will avg. ~22 players and that 1 recruiting cycle is theoretically 2 deep on both sides. With the way TN has had and will continue having to recruit because of a lack of base and increased competition we have a 1 in 3 margin of error, simply 33% of these kids will wash out or never get past special teams. That puts 1 recruiting cycle at 3 years. If you factor in that the 2007-2009 classes were almost complete busts and that Dooley's first 3 provide you only with a base, we're still 1 recruiting cycle away (3 years) from having a 2 deep roster on both sides comparable with Alabama, Florida, Georgia, LSU.

2. Dooley's Attitude: I think Dooley had 4 base challenges when he came in here, recruiting (#1), endear himself to fanbase and media, earn respect of staff and players, do whatever was necessary to keep and develop star talent he had from the beginning. Being a type-A person and a Sabanite, #3 and #4 have been the hardest. For one, he's trying to get his head coaching legs under him at a job that would quickly have a contingent of people demanding instant gratification. Fortunately he is a good administrator and has earned the respect of his players (you don't dramatically reduce discipline issues if people don't respect you).

As for players "goofing off" or "not taking it seriously", welcome to college athletics in the 21st century, it happens everywhere win or lose. Also, realize that people handle situations differently, some people need to stay loose mentally even if they're getting their brains beat out. Playing tight mentally is never good, my hs coach ruined us with that uber-intensity crap. Discipline and 24/7 intensity are not the same thing, one can elevate your game, the other will burn you out fast. If you lose their's no point in walking around pissed off, you can only have a reason to be pissed if you personally didn't put in your work. People expect Woody Hayes, but you only get a limited response when your constantly berating etc. (he doesn't behind the scenes either, he seems cold because he just expects people to get it right. As a former Vol athlete I know many admin people who seem to really like the guy). He is different in that when you make a mistake he won't yell or scream at you the first few times, he expects them to be grown up enough to know they made a mistake and handle it. I was this kind of athlete and hated the coaches who yelled, but for some they need that constant fire and Dooley needs to find that balance or have assistants who can handle it. This also explains lack of Fulmer like locker-room speeches, he just expects players to handle their business. I suspect he will get better at this as time goes on.

As for my last point in this section, imagine having to hang your hat on TB and DR your first years as a head coach. Your star players are head cases with classroom problems, disciplinary problems, and not willing to put in the work. Do you continually jump on these guys or do you coddle, hoping they'll do enough not to get you fired. First option you risk losing them early on and never recovering. Second you risk eventually losing them but you let them hang themselves so you don't fully look like the bad guy, it's a hard battle and one that he didn't deserve on top of everything else.

3. Competition: Simple, the current SEC is the most nationally dominant conference at any point in modern college football and being 10th in the country in recruiting or rankings puts you 5th in the conference. Hard to climb that mountain in 3 years no matter who you are. We simply got caught out in the rain at the worst possible time.

4. Un-reasonable Expectations: No matter who is the coach this isn't a team contending for 10 wins until 2014 at the earliest, probably 2015 as that gives you 2 full recruiting cycles. East Tennessee is the meth capital of the world and it shows sometimes in our fanbase, 2010 wasn't 1993 it wasn't even 1977. It was Alabama ~1999, after the start of their problems it took Alabama 6-7 years to get back to 10 win season (2 recruiting cycles) and even with an inherited stocked cupboard Saban went 7-6. Tennessee needs the pieces before they can start playing chess, and right now they are having to play Moneyball in recruiting due to the dominance of the rest of the SEC.

5. We're knocking on the door. We are playing sound football for the most part, at some point the guys on the field have to execute. On defense we simply don't have the people yet to athletically match up. Our front 7 are playing pretty good for a group of JUCO guys and a banged up linebacking core. On offense we can score 40 against anyone with a little bit of ball control, Chaney being the one person on staff I'm not a fan of. You may be able to get man coverage on CP or JH up top on 3rd & 1, but that sideline route has killed our momentum at crucial points in the past two games, good ball control decisions are not being made. USC had 3 Heisman winners in 4 years running ball control offense, just be smart and get the ball into the hands of your playmakers with high % plays, then pop it open at the right time. TB is a headcase with a big arm, sadly we have needed to rely on him, but at what point does he become a liability, I think we've been there for a while. Overall our staff is putting our players, schematically, in positions to go out and win the majority of their battles on both sides of the ball. Eventually guys have to execute, we're almost there in this league with our still lack of starter not to mention 2 deep talent at some crucial positions.

Fight will come when these guys realize they can win, you saw it at Georgia (minus TB), and 2nd half of Miss. State. They're almost there, don't give up just yet.

Damn...Good post. I have been Pro Dooley till last week. Some coaching decisions late in games have been his achilles heel and I am fed up with it. Would love for him to have sucess and win out but it looks unlikely. He deserves the credit for all the rest in your statement. Dooley just isn't got the Head coach mentality figured out that you alluded too.

 

[DL916]

There are 5 main reasons why I'm still a Dooley guy that I don't think have been merely stressed enough by the instant gratification side of our fanbase. This mess took 10+ years to make, we won't recover from it in 3.

1. Recruiting cycles: If you take into account that a class will avg. ~22 players and that 1 recruiting cycle is theoretically 2 deep on both sides. With the way TN has had and will continue having to recruit because of a lack of base and increased competition we have a 1 in 3 margin of error, simply 33% of these kids will wash out or never get past special teams. That puts 1 recruiting cycle at 3 years. If you factor in that the 2007-2009 classes were almost complete busts and that Dooley's first 3 provide you only with a base, we're still 1 recruiting cycle away (3 years) from having a 2 deep roster on both sides comparable with Alabama, Florida, Georgia, LSU.

2. Dooley's Attitude: I think Dooley had 4 base challenges when he came in here, recruiting (#1), endear himself to fanbase and media, earn respect of staff and players, do whatever was necessary to keep and develop star talent he had from the beginning. Being a type-A person and a Sabanite, #3 and #4 have been the hardest. For one, he's trying to get his head coaching legs under him at a job that would quickly have a contingent of people demanding instant gratification. Fortunately he is a good administrator and has earned the respect of his players (you don't dramatically reduce discipline issues if people don't respect you).

As for players "goofing off" or "not taking it seriously", welcome to college athletics in the 21st century, it happens everywhere win or lose. Also, realize that people handle situations differently, some people need to stay loose mentally even if they're getting their brains beat out. Playing tight mentally is never good, my hs coach ruined us with that uber-intensity crap. Discipline and 24/7 intensity are not the same thing, one can elevate your game, the other will burn you out fast. If you lose their's no point in walking around pissed off, you can only have a reason to be pissed if you personally didn't put in your work. People expect Woody Hayes, but you only get a limited response when your constantly berating etc. (he doesn't behind the scenes either, he seems cold because he just expects people to get it right. As a former Vol athlete I know many admin people who seem to really like the guy). He is different in that when you make a mistake he won't yell or scream at you the first few times, he expects them to be grown up enough to know they made a mistake and handle it. I was this kind of athlete and hated the coaches who yelled, but for some they need that constant fire and Dooley needs to find that balance or have assistants who can handle it. This also explains lack of Fulmer like locker-room speeches, he just expects players to handle their business. I suspect he will get better at this as time goes on.

As for my last point in this section, imagine having to hang your hat on TB and DR your first years as a head coach. Your star players are head cases with classroom problems, disciplinary problems, and not willing to put in the work. Do you continually jump on these guys or do you coddle, hoping they'll do enough not to get you fired. First option you risk losing them early on and never recovering. Second you risk eventually losing them but you let them hang themselves so you don't fully look like the bad guy, it's a hard battle and one that he didn't deserve on top of everything else.

3. Competition: Simple, the current SEC is the most nationally dominant conference at any point in modern college football and being 10th in the country in recruiting or rankings puts you 5th in the conference. Hard to climb that mountain in 3 years no matter who you are. We simply got caught out in the rain at the worst possible time.

4. Un-reasonable Expectations: No matter who is the coach this isn't a team contending for 10 wins until 2014 at the earliest, probably 2015 as that gives you 2 full recruiting cycles. East Tennessee is the meth capital of the world and it shows sometimes in our fanbase, 2010 wasn't 1993 it wasn't even 1977. It was Alabama ~1999, after the start of their problems it took Alabama 6-7 years to get back to 10 win season (2 recruiting cycles) and even with an inherited stocked cupboard Saban went 7-6. Tennessee needs the pieces before they can start playing chess, and right now they are having to play Moneyball in recruiting due to the dominance of the rest of the SEC.

5. We're knocking on the door. We are playing sound football for the most part, at some point the guys on the field have to execute. On defense we simply don't have the people yet to athletically match up. Our front 7 are playing pretty good for a group of JUCO guys and a banged up linebacking core. On offense we can score 40 against anyone with a little bit of ball control, Chaney being the one person on staff I'm not a fan of. You may be able to get man coverage on CP or JH up top on 3rd & 1, but that sideline route has killed our momentum at crucial points in the past two games, good ball control decisions are not being made. USC had 3 Heisman winners in 4 years running ball control offense, just be smart and get the ball into the hands of your playmakers with high % plays, then pop it open at the right time. TB is a headcase with a big arm, sadly we have needed to rely on him, but at what point does he become a liability, I think we've been there for a while. Overall our staff is putting our players, schematically, in positions to go out and win the majority of their battles on both sides of the ball. Eventually guys have to execute, we're almost there in this league with our still lack of starter not to mention 2 deep talent at some crucial positions.

Fight will come when these guys realize they can win, you saw it at Georgia (minus TB), and 2nd half of Miss. State. They're almost there, don't give up just yet.

Derek Dooley is that you? Great post by the way coach. Seriously it's a great post with great points.

It's hard to get a fanbase to understand a lot of these things since passion is involved.

 

[thebjd]

There are 5 main reasons why I'm still a Dooley guy that I don't think have been merely stressed enough by the instant gratification side of our fanbase. This mess took 10+ years to make, we won't recover from it in 3.

1. Recruiting cycles: If you take into account that a class will avg. ~22 players and that 1 recruiting cycle is theoretically 2 deep on both sides. With the way TN has had and will continue having to recruit because of a lack of base and increased competition we have a 1 in 3 margin of error, simply 33% of these kids will wash out or never get past special teams. That puts 1 recruiting cycle at 3 years. If you factor in that the 2007-2009 classes were almost complete busts and that Dooley's first 3 provide you only with a base, we're still 1 recruiting cycle away (3 years) from having a 2 deep roster on both sides comparable with Alabama, Florida, Georgia, LSU.

2. Dooley's Attitude: I think Dooley had 4 base challenges when he came in here, recruiting (#1), endear himself to fanbase and media, earn respect of staff and players, do whatever was necessary to keep and develop star talent he had from the beginning. Being a type-A person and a Sabanite, #3 and #4 have been the hardest. For one, he's trying to get his head coaching legs under him at a job that would quickly have a contingent of people demanding instant gratification. Fortunately he is a good administrator and has earned the respect of his players (you don't dramatically reduce discipline issues if people don't respect you).

As for players "goofing off" or "not taking it seriously", welcome to college athletics in the 21st century, it happens everywhere win or lose. Also, realize that people handle situations differently, some people need to stay loose mentally even if they're getting their brains beat out. Playing tight mentally is never good, my hs coach ruined us with that uber-intensity crap. Discipline and 24/7 intensity are not the same thing, one can elevate your game, the other will burn you out fast. If you lose their's no point in walking around pissed off, you can only have a reason to be pissed if you personally didn't put in your work. People expect Woody Hayes, but you only get a limited response when your constantly berating etc. (he doesn't behind the scenes either, he seems cold because he just expects people to get it right. As a former Vol athlete I know many admin people who seem to really like the guy). He is different in that when you make a mistake he won't yell or scream at you the first few times, he expects them to be grown up enough to know they made a mistake and handle it. I was this kind of athlete and hated the coaches who yelled, but for some they need that constant fire and Dooley needs to find that balance or have assistants who can handle it. This also explains lack of Fulmer like locker-room speeches, he just expects players to handle their business. I suspect he will get better at this as time goes on.

As for my last point in this section, imagine having to hang your hat on TB and DR your first years as a head coach. Your star players are head cases with classroom problems, disciplinary problems, and not willing to put in the work. Do you continually jump on these guys or do you coddle, hoping they'll do enough not to get you fired. First option you risk losing them early on and never recovering. Second you risk eventually losing them but you let them hang themselves so you don't fully look like the bad guy, it's a hard battle and one that he didn't deserve on top of everything else.

3. Competition: Simple, the current SEC is the most nationally dominant conference at any point in modern college football and being 10th in the country in recruiting or rankings puts you 5th in the conference. Hard to climb that mountain in 3 years no matter who you are. We simply got caught out in the rain at the worst possible time.

4. Un-reasonable Expectations: No matter who is the coach this isn't a team contending for 10 wins until 2014 at the earliest, probably 2015 as that gives you 2 full recruiting cycles. East Tennessee is the meth capital of the world and it shows sometimes in our fanbase, 2010 wasn't 1993 it wasn't even 1977. It was Alabama ~1999, after the start of their problems it took Alabama 6-7 years to get back to 10 win season (2 recruiting cycles) and even with an inherited stocked cupboard Saban went 7-6. Tennessee needs the pieces before they can start playing chess, and right now they are having to play Moneyball in recruiting due to the dominance of the rest of the SEC.

5. We're knocking on the door. We are playing sound football for the most part, at some point the guys on the field have to execute. On defense we simply don't have the people yet to athletically match up. Our front 7 are playing pretty good for a group of JUCO guys and a banged up linebacking core. On offense we can score 40 against anyone with a little bit of ball control, Chaney being the one person on staff I'm not a fan of. You may be able to get man coverage on CP or JH up top on 3rd & 1, but that sideline route has killed our momentum at crucial points in the past two games, good ball control decisions are not being made. USC had 3 Heisman winners in 4 years running ball control offense, just be smart and get the ball into the hands of your playmakers with high % plays, then pop it open at the right time. TB is a headcase with a big arm, sadly we have needed to rely on him, but at what point does he become a liability, I think we've been there for a while. Overall our staff is putting our players, schematically, in positions to go out and win the majority of their battles on both sides of the ball. Eventually guys have to execute, we're almost there in this league with our still lack of starter not to mention 2 deep talent at some crucial positions.

Fight will come when these guys realize they can win, you saw it at Georgia (minus TB), and 2nd half of Miss. State. They're almost there, don't give up just yet.

1. 1/3 was pulled from Uranus
2. Dooleys attitude is part of his problem. Makes excuses and is not personally accountable
3. Competition We have not been competitive and that is the gig. We have to beat these teams.
4, Unreasonable expectations. It is unreasonable to expect to beat MSU and UK and at least beat one of our significant rivals
5. Knocking on the door of another losing record in the SEC with the easiest schedule we could ever hope for.

Dooley is done.

 

[Vols4ever]

The reason for people wanting Dooley gone this year is that its going to be tougher to win next year.

1, Tougher schedule
2, TB, CP, JH could all be gone
3, most playmakers in competition are either freshman or sophomore and they will get stronger (UF, UGA, UA et. al.)
4, Higher expectations than this year as it will be Dooleys full class (4 years)

Considering the possibility that next year is going to be a down year, might as well get the next HC in and give him that year

 

[thebjd]

The reason for people wanting Dooley gone this year is that its going to be tougher to win next year.

1, Tougher schedule
2, TB, CP, JH could all be gone
3, most playmakers in competition are either freshman or sophomore and they will get stronger (UF, UGA, UA et. al.)
4, Higher expectations than this year as it will be Dooleys full class (4 years)

Considering the possibility that next year is going to be a down year, might as well get the next HC in and give him that year

On the road in Eugene, Gainesville and Tuscaloosa would be unbearable with our current staff.

 

[BERRYINT4TD]

At what point do they pull the plug on bray? Seems a lot of issues discussed revolve around him.

 

[Ned Ray McWorkher]

On the road in Eugene, Gainesville and Tuscaloosa would be unbearable with the level of dedication and committment our "NFL" players have shown thus far.

:yes: , you are correct.