Rebuilding year

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

Thank you for your question. I think the reason @volroadwarrior and I were using the "loosen the purse strings" dialogue in reference to Danny White, is because we had a record earnings year putting only 2 schools ahead of us. In fact we're about $20 million+ from school #4 and double most schools. In fact this is an excerpt from Know News Sentinel:

University of Tennessee athletics reached an eye-opening $304 million in revenue in the 2024-25 fiscal year and posted its largest surplus in recent memory, records show. ~ Adam Sparks, 01/15/2026

Danny has come out in several press conferences and said "We're on probation (don't forget it)" and "We're playing by the rules of a $20.5 million cap. My point was LSU ($40.5 million roster per Brian Kelly), Texas, Texas Tech, Miami (with their $10 million Duke QB), and Indiana (Mark Cuban $$$) ARE NOT playing by the rules and they're wiping out other teams. My point was if we have the $$$ just spend it. "Loosen the purse strings Danny, and let Heup, Barnes, Lady Vols, and Baseball get who they need." Clearly the $$$ is there raised by tickets, talent fees (from patrons), donations (from patrons), etc and we deserve an A++++ product. We've done our part and given our $$$.

The schools can only contribute $20.6M or near that to player compensation and that's true for all of them.

The outside NIL is where we're #15.

Our AD makes money but you cannot use that money beyond the $20.6M to pay players.

LSU Big money and Cuban money is coming from outside the school???? I'm not sure why you think Danny can funnel AD funds beyond the $20.6M to players? He can't.

 

[jwilliams]

Probably an unpopular take, but coach Cig just crapped on everyone's narrative... everyone. He removed all excuse for not winning.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

Probably an unpopular take, but coach Cig just crapped on everyone's narrative... everyone. He removed all excuse for not winning.

Not really. Mark Cuban put Indiana among the big spenders for NIL and got results with a good coach.

If someone would throw $20M on top of our usual NIL pool, we'd probably do really well too.

 

[TheVolsFrog]

The problem is that teams used to be able to know where the holes were going to be: Okay, Peyton is gone after this year, Tee needs to be ready, etc.

Now it's: Wait? G-Mac is leaving after this year? Well, Faizon is here and I hope he's..... Wait, he's leaving too? That can't happen??? Wait, no. Both cannot..... what do you mean Indiana offered Faizon $7M a year? G-Mac is getting $7M too from LSU? What????

Pretty much. I know when it used to get posted here we got a recruit like for instance a '27 people would say Boom, now it's like wait until they're actually in uniform and on the sideline.

Like you said, you don't know what your team is going to look like until the last minute. It's crazy times. Look at how many guys that were starters at other teams or would be the starter the next season bail.

My philosophy is buy the best team you can from the portal every year and hope you have some diamonds that you recruited that's able to step up for the season.

 

[GUNTERSVOL]

One of my felllow collegues suggested that this upcoming season was a rebuilding year for us in 2026. I disagree yes we got a new DC and a new QB but a coach going into his sixth season especially coming off a disappointing five loss season last year shouldn’t have anymore rebuilding and wasted seasons at this point in his coaching career. Thoughts?

Too many folks consider anything except overachieving is rebuilding. Except of course for themselves. There is a middle ground.

 

[brockytop]

One of my felllow collegues suggested that this upcoming season was a rebuilding year for us in 2026. I disagree yes we got a new DC and a new QB but a coach going into his sixth season especially coming off a disappointing five loss season last year shouldn’t have anymore rebuilding and wasted seasons at this point in his coaching career. Thoughts?

What are we rebuilding from? Not beating a decent team on the 2025 schedule?

If 2026 is a rebuilding year then Heupel won’t be here for 2027.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

Pretty much. I know when it used to get posted here we got a recruit like for instance a '27 people would say Boom, now it's like wait until they're actually in uniform and on the sideline.

Like you said, you don't know what your team is going to look like until the last minute. It's crazy times. Look at how many guys that were starters at other teams or would be the starter the next season bail.

My philosophy is buy the best team you can from the portal every year and hope you have some diamonds that you recruited that's able to step up for the season.

To be successful now, you have to not only buy and recruit but retain talent you bought.

Duke was able to buy and try to legally retain Mensah but Miami doesn't care. We need to pay Duke $4M and pay Mensah $4M to play? No problem. Legal issues? We don't care. We got our QB.

If that can happen, and it just did, there's nothing to do but stack more and more money in your outside NIL like a school like Ohio State has obviously done.

Imagine the offers coming at a guy like Ohio State's WR Jeremiah Smith. It has to get ridiculous at some point to say no if TX or LSU or whoever is contacting his agent with huge money deals. Ohio State has to be able to fend that off with money for QBs to hit him, linemen to protect the QB, other targets so he can't be doubled all the time, etc, etc and obviously his own big bag.

It's going to take a lot of money to compete from now on.

 

[HeavenUniversity]

We are always rebuilding for one reason or another. It happens so often that my friends actually make fun of us. They’re always asking me if it’s gonna be another rebuilding year. I have university of Tennessee plates in Virginia and I almost put rebild on the plate.

Tell them to count up all the National Football Championships Virginia and Virginia Tech have and then get back to you.

 

[jwilliams]

Not really. Mark Cuban put Indiana among the big spenders for NIL and got results with a good coach.

If someone would throw $20M on top of our usual NIL pool, we'd probably do really well too.

Now you're just making things up. They had a blue-chip ratio of 8%. They started 9 former 2-star players. They won because of good coaching, not because of Mark Cuban.

 

[volmandu]

At no point in Y6 with our budget should there be a rebuilding year. It's a crutch.

This is the 4th "rebuilding" year since 2021 (2021, 2023, 2025, and now 2026).

Either Heup is the guy to navigate this new landscape long-term or he's not. Continously offering up a crutch does nobody any favors...

2021 was only 'true' rebuild year ..
2023 was not a rebuild, it was a disappointment at 8-4. Anytime you are disappointed to be 8-4, it is not a rebuild, rebuilds are happy about 8-4
2025: was not a rebuild by any means. Yes, we had QB leave last min but rest of the team of was 'stacked' on paper. A defensive failure led us to 8-4 disappointment, not a rebuild year.
2026: will not be a rebuild .. great WR class, experienced OL, RB and LB group .. decent DL and TE class, re-tooled DB group.... high potential QB .. not a rebuild and 8-4 would be a disappointment to me

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

Now you're just making things up. They had a blue-chip ratio of 8%. They started 9 former 2-star players. They won because of good coaching, not because of Mark Cuban.

They recruited much much better because of Mark Cuban and that's just a fact. They are above us in outside NIL.

It's not at all about "blue chip" recruits but about getting, which Cignetti did, and retaining, which he also did, good talent.

Certainly having a good coach is also part of the deal and Cignetti is now one of the highest paid in the country, that is.... a blue chip coach.

All of this is done with money. It continues to be money.

 

[BigOrangeMojo]

2021 was only 'true' rebuild year ..
2023 was not a rebuild, it was a disappointment at 8-4. Anytime you are disappointed to be 8-4, it is not a rebuild, rebuilds are happy about 8-4
2025: was not a rebuild by any means. Yes, we had QB leave last min but rest of the team of was 'stacked' on paper. A defensive failure led us to 8-4 disappointment, not a rebuild year.
2026: will not be a rebuild .. great WR class, experienced OL, RB and LB group .. decent DL and TE class, re-tooled DB group.... high potential QB .. not a rebuild and 8-4 would be a disappointment to me

2021 was the only rebuild year. My point was many people on here have claimed 2023, 2025, and 2026 are rebuilds....

2/3 of the seasons cant be "rebuilds". That's my point.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

2021 was the only rebuild year. My point was many people on here have claimed 2023, 2025, and 2026 are rebuilds....

2/3 of the seasons cant be "rebuilds". That's my point.

Given the portal, I think they can if key pieces keep transferring out.

What would you call it if your QB transfers out in the Spring and you have just a couple of months to get another QB up to speed?

What do you call it if your secondary and O Line have holes you didn't predict at the start of the year?

Perhaps they aren't rebuilding years but certainly "hard luck" years.

 

[BigOrangeMojo]

Given the portal, I think they can if key pieces keep transferring out.

What would you call it if your QB transfers out in the Spring and you have just a couple of months to get another QB up to speed?

What do you call it if your secondary and O Line have holes you didn't predict at the start of the year?

Perhaps they aren't rebuilding years but certainly "hard luck" years.

At some point, we have to own it. We came into 2025 with 4 question marks along the OL. Moe answered one of those. Sanders and Perry answered another and eventually was able to push Shams into a reserve role for the other hole. Still had 2 holes most of the season and Shams/Pendleton were the weak links all year.

Same thing at DT. Our internal candidates didnt cut it.

We were short 1 rotation safety/STAR heading into Spring Practice in 2025. Lost Thomas. Banked on a known malcontent (Boo) keeping his head straight. Internal candidates werent ready. Didnt address need in portal.

Same thing at LB. Had some talented young guys but they weren't ready at beginning of season. Ran Telander out there into a much more highly leveraged role than he was ready for.

Again, none of these items came as a shock. We successfully made the right call at WR with the roster but made grave mistakes pretty much everywhere else on D And the OL.

Yeah, we had bad luck at QB and CB but we had some blown observations with what was in our building...

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

At some point, we have to own it. We came into 2025 with 4 question marks along the OL. Moe answered one of those. Sanders and Perry answered another and eventually was able to push Shams into a reserve role for the other hole. Still had 2 holes most of the season and Shams/Pendleton were the weak links all year.

Same thing at DT. Our internal candidates didnt cut it.

We were short 1 rotation safety/STAR heading into Spring Practice in 2025. Lost Thomas. Banked on a known malcontent (Boo) keeping his head straight. Internal candidates werent ready. Didnt address need in portal.

Same thing at LB. Had some talented young guys but they weren't ready at beginning of season. Ran Telander out there into a much more highly leveraged role than he was ready for.

Again, none of these items came as a shock. We successfully made the right call at WR with the roster but made grave mistakes pretty much everywhere else on D And the OL.

Yeah, we had bad luck at QB and CB but we had some blown observations with what was in our building...

We did own the D shortcomings and replaced the DC which leads to...... rebuilding with a new DC.

We obviously were rebuilding after Nico.

We've had situations with Pili, a leader, being sidelined and no one really to step up to a hole like that.

The Mays injury and lack of leadership hurt us.

I'm less about calling it rebuilds always but more about calling it "how much can you expect when you have holes?"

People like to say "next man up" like that guy wasn't sitting at #2 for a reason. There's a reason why your second team is second team.

 

[BigOrangeMojo]

We did own the D shortcomings and replaced the DC which leads to...... rebuilding with a new DC.

We obviously were rebuilding after Nico.

We've had situations with Pili, a leader, being sidelined and no one really to step up to a hole like that.

The Mays injury and lack of leadership hurt us.

I'm less about calling it rebuilds always but more about calling it "how much can you expect when you have holes?"

People like to say "next man up" like that guy wasn't sitting at #2 for a reason. There's a reason why your second team is second team.

Again, why did we have holes at safety, OL, and DT. In 2025, if you have a hole, you go to the portal and fill it or you better be damn sure your development and observation is spot on. At WR, our analysis was correct. At those other 3 spots, we woefully missed with our development/analysis. That's why Vandy beat our ass at home.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

Again, why did we have holes at safety, OL, and DT. In 2025, if you have a hole, you go to the portal and fill it or you better be damn sure your development and observation is spot on. At WR, our analysis was correct. At those other 3 spots, we woefully missed with our development/analysis. That's why Vandy beat our ass at home.

There's no doubt about development and analysis mistakes but nobody always gets those correct.

Replacing the DC was the result of missing too many of those DESPITE it being the defense which led us to playoffs previously. So our D was okay, until it wasn't because of losses and graduation. It's going to happen and when it happens too much, you replace some coaches.

That means, however, the new coach is going to have to rebuild, retrain guys to his D, get his assistants hired, etc. That's where we are on D this year.

We can NOT call it a rebuild on defense, I suppose, but Knowles is installing his D, which is similar to our old D but with quite a bit more complexity when fully implemented I believe, so where we are in Sept? I dunno.

 

[MarkHodge]

One of my felllow collegues suggested that this upcoming season was a rebuilding year for us in 2026. I disagree yes we got a new DC and a new QB but a coach going into his sixth season especially coming off a disappointing five loss season last year shouldn’t have anymore rebuilding and wasted seasons at this point in his coaching career. Thoughts?

Heupel is on the clock and better not go 6-6 this year, or 27 his seat will be on fire.

 

[MarkHodge]

In keeping with the theme of "state of college football" I'm not sure how to feel this year. I think CH has played his poker hand very well, he just keeps losing to better hands on the flop.

I think the Miami, LSU, Texas, and Tech $$$ and disregard for rules is absolutely messing with everyone badly.........especially SEC/BIG XXXIIL teams who are used to splitting all the blue chips. Danny White is going to have to loosen the purse strings. Who would have thought it'd have been this way even just 3 or 4 years ago?

As far as personnel, ON PAPER, Nico should be a Jr. this year. ON PAPER/ 4 years ago, we thought we had the proper specialists with adequate backups in the wings.

So, I'm not sure how to feel about this season with all that is going on in CFB and with unforeseen changes in personnel (which are a catalyst from the state of CFB ultimately). I'm hoping for a good showing and a playoff berth, but I'm realistic. Unless there is a complete meltdown, I'll give CH a pass if we don't make the playoffs this year, still think he's what we need right now and I'm tired of playing n the carousel.

I agree to a certain point, however if he goes 6-6 this year, his seat will be on fire in 27'. White may have to get his coaches short list ready.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

I agree to a certain point, however if he goes 6-6 this year, his seat will be on fire in 27'. White may have to get his coaches short list ready.

Right. We'll just call up Cignetti or Day or Sark or Kirby. Absolutely. They'll be right here to interview. Not.

Ridiculous talk. We're not going to get a coach you want if we fire Heupel after 27.

It won't be that good of a job if Heupel gets fired after what he's done since he got here. Seriously, there are no names you'd want that would take the job.

 

[orangemadam]

If Heuple goes 7-5 next season, he will definitely be on the hot seat.
It will mean our defense is not what was expected and our qb situation was
more dire than expected. The Vols floor should always be no worse than 8-4 in conference.

 

[NATHAN05]

I agree to a certain point, however if he goes 6-6 this year, his seat will be on fire in 27'. White may have to get his coaches short list ready.

Oh 100% agree if we fall to 6-6 he should be. I was more remarking if he just misses the playoffs but has a good showing in all games and teams that don't quit all season, ill give him that pass. I still want to see the progression as the year goes on and competitiveness.

I was more saying if we lose to a $40 million LSU or $30 million Texas roster but stay in the fight, ill give him that playoff pass.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

Oh 100% agree if we fall to 6-6 he should be. I was more remarking if he just misses the playoffs but has a good showing in all games and teams that don't quit all season, ill give him that pass. I still want to see the progression as the year goes on and competitiveness.

I was more saying if we lose to a $40 million LSU or $30 million Texas roster but stay in the fight, ill give him that playoff pass.

There's really nowhere to go from Heupel currently.

We're not going to "move up" to snatch a coach who gets more NIL money and support at his program and taking an "up and comer" like Golesh if he starts a run at Auburn is a pretty big risk.

I believe the job is Heupel's even if we stagnate at an 8-4 average, having years as low 6-6 balanced by years as high as 10-2, which we've had.

If he's an 8-4 coach playing a 9 SEC game schedule and our NIL money doesn't rise to meet TX, aTm, Bama, and GA.... and possibly OU, what can we really expect in this era where the money really does matter a whole lot.

 

[NATHAN05]

There's really nowhere to go from Heupel currently.

We're not going to "move up" to snatch a coach who gets more NIL money and support at his program and taking an "up and comer" like Golesh if he starts a run at Auburn is a pretty big risk.

I believe the job is Heupel's even if we stagnate at an 8-4 average, having years as low 6-6 balanced by years as high as 10-2, which we've had.

If he's an 8-4 coach playing a 9 SEC game schedule and our NIL money doesn't rise to meet TX, aTm, Bama, and GA.... and possibly OU, what can we really expect in this era where the money really does matter a whole lot.

Ok......ty

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

Ok......ty

It's true. Gone are the days when we can say "We're UT. We're a historic and blue chip team."

These days coaches ask how much money are you going to give the program so I can recruit and hire my staff? LSU got Kiffin by promising a ton of money for NIL and facilities and coaches.

If we aren't going to pay big boy NIL money for players, we can't expect big boy coaches to want to come here only to get fired because they can't win with lesser talent.