But what made them elite? Selling programs that were already big winners and sold themselves?
Is that a chicken or egg discussion?
it's situations.
Bama was down for like 6 or 7 years there during the run of the Mikes, Shula's 10 win season not withstanding, and they were an average at best program there in the very late 90's thru the early aughts.
not quite as bad a shape as we were in at the end of Jones' tenure, but certainly not close to elite.
but...they fell in to the saban hire. remember, they were set on hiring RR, and he got cold feet at the last minute. Saban wasn't their first choice. but he goes there, he has instant credibilty as a HC given his time at LSU and coming out of the NFL. it didn't take much to sell. there was no vision. he had a product already.
GA fired Richt after a 9 win season, and the roster that Kirby inherited was loads better than what Pruitt inherited. Kirby also benfited from the fact that the lions' share of that defense stayed in school for his 2nd year. and we know what happened there....so relatively instant success, product to sell. at that point, they really weren't that far away. heck, they were there.
those two programs were just in a better situation.
so you see those two, and their year 2, and you wonder what kind of year 2 does pruitt have to have? understanding it's not going to be like either of those two's.
it's all relative, and i think pruitt and company have been pretty honest last year and this year regarding what prospects should expect from TN.
so when you hear "we need to win" in order to recruit better, it's not that we have to go win the division and beat FL and GA right now.....but we do need to show that we look completely different than we have the past two years. we do need to get back to the post season. we need to look like we belong on the same field as the rest of the conf teams.
avoid the debacles, be competitive, and win as many games as you have the opportunity to do so....especially if you find yourself in position to win a game against any of the big 3. don't lose games you should win. sounds easy, but given our record against the SEC in general the past 2 years, hard to take anything for granted in that regard.
the last staff missed on several opportunities to do that. early and late, and ultimately it cost them and the program. coulda/woulda beat FL in 13, 14, 15, or 16....and didn't. coulda/woulda beat GA in 13...OU 15...aTm 15...USCe (pick a year) Bama 15...Vandy, MO, USCe 16....
you get the idea. 7-5 would show pretty good progress, so long as the 5 L's aren't lopsided blow outs where we look as bad as we've seen lately. 8-4 would be great.
LSS, we don't have to be world beaters to have a successful year 2, in the eyes of fans or prospects. we just need to avoid looking like we still suck out loud.
