Really? Did some of you expect.......

[Pooods]

I'm not a moral victory or sunshine fan these days. But I am a realist. All we have heard on this forum and from any person of knowledge in the TN football world for the past 9 months is that this team would most likely be weaker than last season's. A worse record was likely too. But what we got was a getter team with more heart. One that gave us moments of hope and times to scream and be proud of TN again. Yes, we lost 2 games we should have possibly won but please remember we were not expected to win from the get go. You negavols have to understand how absurd it is for you all to be screaming fire coaches don't you? Look at our last several years and the coaching fiasco surrounding it. It's time to settle in and keep what we have for a while and get a little stability. Young talent is here and getting older every game. Good classes are ahead. First step is recruiting and this man can do that.
The season isn't over. We might just pull out a win or two over someone not expecting it. If we don't then we did exactly what experts said we would. We have lost for several years now. It's not easy but we still have to deal with it a little longer to build back up. Deaf ears I'm sure! I am an Vol fan and have been since I was a little kid wearing orange. I have spent many thousands of dollars on tickets and items in my life. I still wear the clothes and drive a truck with the T on the front. They have given me much joy over the years and will again in the future. GO VOLS!!!

 

[RollerVol]

I'm not a moral victory or sunshine fan these days. But I am a realist. All we have heard on this forum and from any person of knowledge in the TN football world for the past 9 months is that this team would most likely be weaker than last season's. A worse record was likely too. But what we got was a getter team with more heart. One that gave us moments of hope and times to scream and be proud of TN again. Yes, we lost 2 games we should have possibly won but please remember we were not expected to win from the get go. You negavols have to understand how absurd it is for you all to be screaming fire coaches don't you? Look at our last several years and the coaching fiasco surrounding it. It's time to settle in and keep what we have for a while and get a little stability. Young talent is here and getting older every game. Good classes are ahead. First step is recruiting and this man can do that.
The season isn't over. We might just pull out a win or two over someone not expecting it. If we don't then we did exactly what experts said we would. We have lost for several years now. It's not easy but we still have to deal with it a little longer to build back up. Deaf ears I'm sure! I am an Vol fan and have been since I was a little kid wearing orange. I have spent many thousands of dollars on tickets and items in my life. I still wear the clothes and drive a truck with the T on the front. They have given me much joy over the years and will again in the future. GO VOLS!!!

Be safe out there and let the good times roll!

GO VOLS!

 

[madbamahater]

I'm with you. I like Butch. He just needs an new offensive coordinator

 

[lovavol]

no doubt , if its not instant gratification, fire all of them. wish DA fans would just shut up

 

[Bigorangedad3528]

The entire culture has already changed over there. Just in the little time Butch has been there. Good times are on the way again! GO BIG ORANGE!!!!!!!

 

[fade route]

Just when I thought we were done with the "stop crying" threads....

 

[give_him 6]

I used to listen to a radio show where the host had over the road truck drivers call in and it was called "Where You At and Whacha Haulin?"

 

[Boca Vol]

I think most fans came out of the UGA game very encouraged because the team was able to score points...something we haven't seen in a while.

So being gift-wrapped field position like UT was given against UF and only scoring 9 points left many frustrated.

And this wasn't the 1990's or 2000's Gators. This was a very bad team by UF standards. A UF team that UT was supposed to beat. This was the game to get the monkey off the back. You had a packed house that checkerboarded the stadium, and THUD!

Had this loss been to Mizzou or Auburn it wouldn't have solicited nearly the reaction. But this was the Gators.

 

[ALLVOL24/7/365]

Nice post OP. Very well put. I too have been a VOLS fan since a kid. I was a kid when the dinasaurs roamed the earth so I have lived through the highs and lows before. They are never easy but we do need to believe in this staff because they are putting the recruiting classes together to get it done. For all the fire this coach or that coach notreallytruevol fans remember this thought first. This will really be CBJ's 2nd true recruiting class of his own. The first class he came in as a new hire and in short order of just a few weeks had to pick up and make the most of the mess doofus left us recruiting wise. So give the staff time to get some kids in here that could start for bama, fl, ga, lsu or any other team in the country and then "we gonna whip they azz". VOL FOR LIFE HERE; BEFORE IT WAS A COOL PHRASE EVEN.

 

[VolFootballlover]

no doubt , if its not instant gratification, fire all of them. wish DA fans would just shut up

what's mind blowing is making things up thread after thread .so please list every poster that said they should fire so and so.

 

[InVOLuntary]

Dang! I thought that "deja vu" thing was a bunch of hog wash.

 

[orangeluvr]

It's our way or the highway! :gone: :birgits_giggle:

 

[VonVol]

Just when I thought we were done with the "stop crying" threads....

We will never be done with those, Fade. I think we should start one more thread about UK and Ole Miss being better than us just to restore order.

 

[CAVPUT]

Thank you. Well said.

 

[Volfan4life_5]

I'm 110% in... I believe in Butch and the players.. They need to just keep there heads up and keep grinding and I promise the dam will break..

GBO!

 

[T_man]

I think most fans came out of the UGA game very encouraged because the team was able to score points...something we haven't seen in a while.

So being gift-wrapped field position like UT was given against UF and only scoring 9 points left many frustrated.

And this wasn't the 1990's or 2000's Gators. This was a very bad team by UF standards. A UF team that UT was supposed to beat. This was the game to get the monkey off the back. You had a packed house that checkerboarded the stadium, and THUD!

Had this loss been to Mizzou or Auburn it wouldn't have solicited nearly the reaction. But this was the Gators.

You know we may have brought a lot of the failure on ourselves last week. That checkered stadium just threw down the gauntlet to an extremely talented team that had been playing mediocre ball. We should have expected to get the best game they are capable of playing. In fact that may be why we played as well as we did at Oklahoma.

 

[TAF]

Multiple years of only winning "cupcake games" gets old...and doesn't create a proud Program. At some point...you must win real games...Deal with it...

 

[bhouston79]

I'm not a moral victory or sunshine fan these days. But I am a realist. All we have heard on this forum and from any person of knowledge in the TN football world for the past 9 months is that this team would most likely be weaker than last season's. A worse record was likely too. But what we got was a getter team with more heart. One that gave us moments of hope and times to scream and be proud of TN again. Yes, we lost 2 games we should have possibly won but please remember we were not expected to win from the get go. You negavols have to understand how absurd it is for you all to be screaming fire coaches don't you? Look at our last several years and the coaching fiasco surrounding it. It's time to settle in and keep what we have for a while and get a little stability. Young talent is here and getting older every game. Good classes are ahead. First step is recruiting and this man can do that.
The season isn't over. We might just pull out a win or two over someone not expecting it. If we don't then we did exactly what experts said we would. We have lost for several years now. It's not easy but we still have to deal with it a little longer to build back up. Deaf ears I'm sure! I am an Vol fan and have been since I was a little kid wearing orange. I have spent many thousands of dollars on tickets and items in my life. I still wear the clothes and drive a truck with the T on the front. They have given me much joy over the years and will again in the future. GO VOLS!!!

If we keep doing "exactly what experts said we would" we'll continue to be a subpar to mediocre SEC program at best. We will not start competing for championships again until we start winning games that we are not supposed to win. Coach Butch Jones is getting paid $ 3 million a year. It is perfectly OK for us fans, who purchase the tickets, purchase the merchandise, give contributions to the athletic scholarship fund, pay his salary, ect. ect. to demand excellence. Other coaches at less storied SEC schools like UK, Mississippi, Auburn, ect. can turn around their programs much more quickly, but if we demand that of our coaches here we're lampooned, and reminded that it's going to take 10 years. Nevermind that Ole Miss was 4-8 the year before Hugh Freeze got there. Nevermind that Auburn was a pathetic 3-9 the year before Gus Malzahn arrived. Nevermind that UK was 2-10 the year prior to Mark Stoops arriving.

 

[orangeluvr]

We get screwed every time we hire a cheap coach .

 

[Cartervol]

The guy is going to get his time here. I remember people preaching patience when Dooley was hired. I remember hearing things like "Process" Butch likes that one too. Bamboo=bricks.. I'm not saying Butch is Dooley but we've heard all this before. All we can hope is in 2 years we're not starting over again. That hurts worse than anything. If we do the next guy will at least have some talent to work with. Dooley left Butch very little to work with.

 

[VolDomination]

I'm not a moral victory or sunshine fan these days. But I am a realist. All we have heard on this forum and from any person of knowledge in the TN football world for the past 9 months is that this team would most likely be weaker than last season's. A worse record was likely too. But what we got was a getter team with more heart. One that gave us moments of hope and times to scream and be proud of TN again. Yes, we lost 2 games we should have possibly won but please remember we were not expected to win from the get go. You negavols have to understand how absurd it is for you all to be screaming fire coaches don't you? Look at our last several years and the coaching fiasco surrounding it. It's time to settle in and keep what we have for a while and get a little stability. Young talent is here and getting older every game. Good classes are ahead. First step is recruiting and this man can do that.
The season isn't over. We might just pull out a win or two over someone not expecting it. If we don't then we did exactly what experts said we would. We have lost for several years now. It's not easy but we still have to deal with it a little longer to build back up. Deaf ears I'm sure! I am an Vol fan and have been since I was a little kid wearing orange. I have spent many thousands of dollars on tickets and items in my life. I still wear the clothes and drive a truck with the T on the front. They have given me much joy over the years and will again in the future. GO VOLS!!!

I hear ya, but that could be the worst Florida team we will see for some time and up 9-0 going into the 4th and still can't win. This staff/team has got to start getting W's against SEC teams. That is the measuring stick, nothing else.

 

[sjt18]

I'm not a moral victory or sunshine fan these days. But I am a realist. All we have heard on this forum and from any person of knowledge in the TN football world for the past 9 months is that this team would most likely be weaker than last season's.

Poison the well much? No. There were knowledgeable people and lots of them that said this team should make a bowl game. MANY pointed out that Jones' teams typically get better in year 2.

Yes, we lost 2 games we should have possibly won but please remember we were not expected to win from the get go.

It wasn't that they lost. It was actually what you point to. UT is getting plays and effort from its players that are good enough to win games... and they're not winning them. Some of that is roster deficiencies... but some is coaching shortcomings and decisions.

You negavols have to understand how absurd it is for you all to be screaming fire coaches don't you?

Well, can you point to someone saying Jones should be fired now? I see a few saying Bajakian should be fired but some of us supposed "negavols" have pointed out that this is Jones' system and Jake is his guy... You can't blame one without the other.

Look at our last several years and the coaching fiasco surrounding it. It's time to settle in and keep what we have for a while and get a little stability. Young talent is here and getting older every game. Good classes are ahead. First step is recruiting and this man can do that.

That's the first step. It isn't the only step. Coaches still have to coach. Jones is EXCELLENT in player development. He's good at team discipline. He seems to be good at game week prep.

The missing piece so far is demonstrating that he's a top notch game day coach. He hasn't shown that yet.

As far as settling in, I'll ask you. Look at any program you think is "successful" right now having put together a program that is competing and winning at a high level for at least 2 or 3 years. Then look back through their coaches previous to the one that turned it around and find any school that avg's more than 3.5 years per coach.

In this era of CFB, you cannot afford to give a coach indefinite time if they aren't making at least some improvement in W/L's. Continuing to lose like your predecessor who was fired is a momentum killer. It hurts recruiting. It hurts everything.

You may not like it. But Jones needs meaningful wins... and not just next year or sometime in the future. He needs them NOW. Frankly... his reaction to some things suggests that he knows that too.

The season isn't over. We might just pull out a win or two over someone not expecting it. If we don't then we did exactly what experts said we would. We have lost for several years now. It's not easy but we still have to deal with it a little longer to build back up.

That's the thing. UT doesn't need a "meets expectations" coach. UT needs an "exceeds expectations" coach. It isn't whether more losing is easy for me or other fans to take... it is what that losing does to the prospects of seeing a turn around any time soon. If you want to "build back up" one of the things that MUST change MUCH sooner rather than later is the perception that the program has "lost for several years now" and is several years from not losing. It is important to fans, boosters, and players... but is it critical to continued recruiting success.

The promises and dreams that Jones has done a magnificent job of selling to this point... become less marketable with each loss.

Deaf ears I'm sure! I am an Vol fan and have been since I was a little kid wearing orange. I have spent many thousands of dollars on tickets and items in my life. I still wear the clothes and drive a truck with the T on the front. They have given me much joy over the years and will again in the future. GO VOLS!!!

Yes they will. But I would ask you to step back and remember who you are a fan of... is it Jones or any particular coach or is it UT? A coach must EARN that trust and allegiance in Jones' vernacular. It should NEVER be just given. It is VERY easy for fans to betray their loyalty to the program by giving too much loyalty to the "wrong" coach.

It is Jones' job to prove he's "Mr Right" for UT football... and that ONLY through winning meaningful games and eventually championships.

 

[ButchPlz]

Did everyone not predict 5-7 to 7-5 this year?

That's exactly where we're headed. Why is everyone so bent out of shape over what most people expected would happen?

If I ever abandon being a Tennessee fan it won't be because of the school or the team, it will be because I'm sick of associating with Tennessee fans.

 

[Volz4lif3]

The guy is going to get his time here. I remember people preaching patience when Dooley was hired. I remember hearing things like "Process" Butch likes that one too. Bamboo=bricks.. I'm not saying Butch is Dooley but we've heard all this before. All we can hope is in 2 years we're not starting over again. That hurts worse than anything. If we do the next guy will at least have some talent to work with. Dooley left Butch very little to work with.

Agree I've said this also in the Butch raise thread.. He doesn't get one or needs one, let him finish out the one he has now then reevaluate him. We got to have some of the best fans in college football, this program will make ya old before your time.

 

[holtridge]

If somebody had told me before the season started that we would only lose to Florida by one point I would have laughed at them. I think we are making progress. I went to games in 2012 and 2013 and I can see big improvement in 2014.