Self-Imposed Death Penalty

#26
#26
DiderotsGhost said:
I was against firing Pruitt this year, but I agree ... if you're going to fire him ... just fire him! Instead we found the absolute dumbest way to fire a coach possible; dragging it out for over a month, getting sanctions put on ourselves, and then firing him in late January. It was better to pay the $12 million than deal with this.
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It just goes to show the level of infighting going on behind the scenes coupled with the amateur level of leadership that's been in place over that same time.

I just don't see UT fixing any of this anytime soon. The disfunction runs too deep.
 
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#27
#27
Also... aside from the fact that we’re losing guys from a 3 win team, not a single one of these guys transferring out have ever played in a competitive game against Florida.

Not a single one.

Let that sink in before you melt down.
 
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#28
#28
DiderotsGhost said:
Rucker tweet is spot on:



Terrifying to think it, but this whole chain of events looks even dumber than the Derek Dooley hire.

There was no reason to fire Pruitt. We could've just kept him thru the end of the 2021 season and made a decision then. No reason he couldn't be fired for cause in December 2021 if he could've in January 2021.

Now, we're stuck in limbo for possibly the entire 2021 season. We have to hire an AD which could take awhile. By the time we do that, it's February or March. Not a lot of coaches are going to want to take the UT job at that time of year. So either we make a terrible hire or we wait till December.

Meanwhile, all of our best players are entering the transfer portal. We're losing Gray, To'o To'o, Crouch, and probably a lot of others.

We can't effectively recruit, so we probably have a lost 2022 class, in spite of it being one of the best years for talent in Tennessee in the entire state's history.

What did we gain by firing Pruitt right now? Why not can Fulmer first, hire a replacement AD in Feb / Mar, then figure things out in November or December?

And does any competent AD really want to walk into this situation? Maybe, since there's a lot more to the job, but everyone knows they'll be judged based on football and little else.

I feel sorry for Kevin Steele. They gave him the interim job to prove himself, but they gave him no cards to play with. He's just a sacrificial lamb; it's a Matt Luke situation, where there's no way to win.

I really hope there's a light at the end of the tunnel and we somehow hire an amazing AD and an amazing HC, but right now, this looks like one of the dumbest maneuvers in college football history. A self-imposed death penalty.

Hate being this pessimistic, but even wearing orange-colored glasses, this looks ugly.
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According to many on this board, though, Pruitt AND Fulmer had to be fired NOW. They did not care about the aftermath, they just had to be gotten rid of immediately.
 
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#30
#30
DiderotsGhost said:
I was against firing Pruitt this year, but I agree ... if you're going to fire him ... just fire him! Instead we found the absolute dumbest way to fire a coach possible; dragging it out for over a month, getting sanctions put on ourselves, and then firing him in late January. It was better to pay the $12 million than deal with this.
Click to expand...

Should have fired Pruitt after the UK disaster. Let the interim take over and figure things out. But no, typical TN fashion they let money derail everything. What’s happened has made me seriously consider abandoning the university I graduated from and the team I have loved since I was 10.
 
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#31
#31
This final defense of Pruitt is the most ludicrous of them all. He should have been fired months ago. Keeping him while knowing he's committed NCAA violations would have gotten us closer to the actual death penalty. The jig was up in November when the whistleblower exposed the corruption. UT could have fired him then and invoked cause later. That's the biggest mistake in all this. At least all of it post raise/extension.
 
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#34
#34
VolArmy74 said:
This final defense of Pruitt is the most ludicrous of them all. He should have been fired months ago. Keeping him while knowing he's committed NCAA violations would have gotten us closer to the actual death penalty. The jig was up in November when the whistleblower exposed the corruption. UT could have fired him then and invoked cause later. That's the biggest mistake in all this. At least all of it post raise/extension.
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In your honest opinion, can we recover? If so how? And how long will it take? I don’t think we can. If for some miracle we can I believe it’s 7-10 years minimum.
 
#37
#37
DiderotsGhost said:
I was against firing Pruitt this year, but I agree ... if you're going to fire him ... just fire him! Instead we found the absolute dumbest way to fire a coach possible; dragging it out for over a month, getting sanctions put on ourselves, and then firing him in late January. It was better to pay the $12 million than deal with this.
Click to expand...

This is your thread man. We are all just here taking part.
 
#38
#38
YankeeVol said:
Getting out in front of the NCAA may actually end up slightly better in the long run. Time will tell.

No reason to feel sorry for Steele. Tennessee will be paying him after he's fired I'm sure.

The players transferring probably took money.
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It's a Tennessee Tradition, right up there with checker boards and Woooo, which, ironically is what our fired coaches always say when they're cashing checks while being interns.
 
#39
#39
DiderotsGhost said:
Rucker tweet is spot on:



Terrifying to think it, but this whole chain of events looks even dumber than the Derek Dooley hire.

There was no reason to fire Pruitt. We could've just kept him thru the end of the 2021 season and made a decision then. No reason he couldn't be fired for cause in December 2021 if he could've in January 2021.

Now, we're stuck in limbo for possibly the entire 2021 season. We have to hire an AD which could take awhile. By the time we do that, it's February or March. Not a lot of coaches are going to want to take the UT job at that time of year. So either we make a terrible hire or we wait till December.

Meanwhile, all of our best players are entering the transfer portal. We're losing Gray, To'o To'o, Crouch, and probably a lot of others.

We can't effectively recruit, so we probably have a lost 2022 class, in spite of it being one of the best years for talent in Tennessee in the entire state's history.

What did we gain by firing Pruitt right now? Why not can Fulmer first, hire a replacement AD in Feb / Mar, then figure things out in November or December?

And does any competent AD really want to walk into this situation? Maybe, since there's a lot more to the job, but everyone knows they'll be judged based on football and little else.

I feel sorry for Kevin Steele. They gave him the interim job to prove himself, but they gave him no cards to play with. He's just a sacrificial lamb; it's a Matt Luke situation, where there's no way to win.

I really hope there's a light at the end of the tunnel and we somehow hire an amazing AD and an amazing HC, but right now, this looks like one of the dumbest maneuvers in college football history. A self-imposed death penalty.

Hate being this pessimistic, but even wearing orange-colored glasses, this looks ugly.
Click to expand...


I disagree with you a lot, but this is spot on.

It’s why Steele will be the guy. Signing day is in two weeks. Spring football starts in just over a month.

This is a flaming pile
 
#41
#41
So you are saying "we know he has us in a lot of trouble so lets keep him another year and see if he can get us in more trouble"

Yes people will take the job. These coaches have egos bigger than their bank accounts.
 
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#42
#42
DiderotsGhost said:
I was against firing Pruitt this year, but I agree ... if you're going to fire him ... just fire him! Instead we found the absolute dumbest way to fire a coach possible; dragging it out for over a month, getting sanctions put on ourselves, and then firing him in late January. It was better to pay the $12 million than deal with this.
Click to expand...

Yup I said this in the RF. The coaching fraternity is going to take notice of what Tennessee did and won’t touch us with a 12 foot pole. “Oh so if I don’t get the results,not only are they going to throw me to the wolves and ruin my career,but I won’t get a buyout? No thanks”
 
#43
#43
DiderotsGhost said:
Rucker tweet is spot on:



Terrifying to think it, but this whole chain of events looks even dumber than the Derek Dooley hire.

There was no reason to fire Pruitt. We could've just kept him thru the end of the 2021 season and made a decision then. No reason he couldn't be fired for cause in December 2021 if he could've in January 2021.

Now, we're stuck in limbo for possibly the entire 2021 season. We have to hire an AD which could take awhile. By the time we do that, it's February or March. Not a lot of coaches are going to want to take the UT job at that time of year. So either we make a terrible hire or we wait till December.

Meanwhile, all of our best players are entering the transfer portal. We're losing Gray, To'o To'o, Crouch, and probably a lot of others.

We can't effectively recruit, so we probably have a lost 2022 class, in spite of it being one of the best years for talent in Tennessee in the entire state's history.

What did we gain by firing Pruitt right now? Why not can Fulmer first, hire a replacement AD in Feb / Mar, then figure things out in November or December?

And does any competent AD really want to walk into this situation? Maybe, since there's a lot more to the job, but everyone knows they'll be judged based on football and little else.

I feel sorry for Kevin Steele. They gave him the interim job to prove himself, but they gave him no cards to play with. He's just a sacrificial lamb; it's a Matt Luke situation, where there's no way to win.

I really hope there's a light at the end of the tunnel and we somehow hire an amazing AD and an amazing HC, but right now, this looks like one of the dumbest maneuvers in college football history. A self-imposed death penalty.

Hate being this pessimistic, but even wearing orange-colored glasses, this looks ugly.
Click to expand...


Are you serious? If you have the results of the investigation and let him coach the 2021 season then you’re really screwed. You probably get your ass kicked in court in a civil suit, and the NCAA HAMMERS you for using a coach you had known was dirty for 13 months. The only way to mitigate the penalties was to come clean as quickly as possible and bounce the guilty parties.
 
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#44
#44
Hbg said:
If we lost 7 out of 10 games with Pruitt and all the players that are transferring all while cheating then I say the €[]#*& with them.
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Yep, if you're gonna leave, be done with it. AD, Coach, players, whatever. We will still have more talent than when Butch came on board. Get the right QB rolling and we'll all be amazed at how things look better alot quicker, and at this point, I'd say we've got a couple good ones.
 
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#46
#46
All I know is we better be scheduling Tennessee Tech and South Alabama every year.
 
#49
#49
BigOrangeTrain said:
In your honest opinion, can we recover? If so how? And how long will it take? I don’t think we can. If for some miracle we can I believe it’s 7-10 years minimum.
Click to expand...

We can, and will. Timeframe, 3-5 years with the right coach. Longer without the right coach. Butch got us to 9 wins in year 3 and he was not good at all.

Alabama was nailed and lost 21 scholarships in 2002. They won 10 games by 2005 after starting 9-0 with Mike Shula in place. Granted they were also cheating then and had to vacate those 10 wins. But teams bounce back from things like this all the time. It will take what it would have taken regardless of probation or not, and that's a competent coach. Fortunately this year has a great pool of coaches if we are willing to actually hire one of them. You rarely see coaches like Herman available and had Urban not flirted with Texas there's no way they move on from him after he went 7-3 this year and finished in the top 25 this year.
 
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