Some Perspective on "Rebuilds"

#1

GoBigOrangeVols

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#1
In 1999, Lou Holtz took over a South Carolina program that was in shambles. They went 1-10 in 1998, and in his first year on the job in 1999 they went 0-11, only scoring more than 14 points once the entire season. Guess what happened in 2000 (year 2)? they went 8-4, 5-3 in the SEC and had wins over a ranked Georgia team and then over a ranked Ohio State team in their bowl game.

Also in 1999, Kirk Ferentz took over an Iowa program that had fallen on hard times. He inherited a 3-8 team, and went just 1-10 in his first season. The second season they 'improved' to 3-9. By year 3, they were 7-5 and won the Alamo bowl. Year 4 they won the BIG TEN going 11-1 in the regular season before losing the Orange Bowl. His only HC experience prior to Iowa was in the early '90's at Maine.

We all know Nick Saban went 6-6 his first year at Alabama, with a bad loss at home to Louisiana-Monroe. Did you also know through his first four years at Michigan State he was a combined 25-22-1? In Year 5 (his final year before taking the LSU gig), they went 9-2.

The point is that rebuilds take time. Usually they take a lot of time. There are going to be many 'downs' and few 'ups.'

The entire culture of the program is slowly going to change under Coach Pruitt. It's going to take a lot of time. Come along for the ride.
 
#3
#3
Pruitt isnt Lou Holtz. He isnt even Skip Holtz yet.

Im afraid this will take Pruitt alot longer than it took Lou Holtz.

Oh that SC team lost to #4 Tennessee by 23 in Knoxville that year and by 17 the following week to #4 Florida. While they didnt win a game, they did appear to play with spirit and purpose. Something we havent seen much of with the Vols in several years.
 
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#4
#4
Rebuilds take time. Hard fact.

Another fact is this : the "Tennessee Rebuild" has arguably been going on since 2005/06. We were in rebuild mode even before the 07 title game appearance, a year where Florida & Alabama blew the doors off of us and we were fortunate to sneak in via a tie breaker. 13 years. 5 different head coaches. It's been going on so long we begged one of them to come back and be our AD after an ugly divorce.

I think most Tennessee fans realize the current status of the program. It's a rebuild. The new coach needs 2-3 recruiting cycles. He needs "his guys" ect ect ect.

The problem is Pruitt really needs 2-3 full years to correct this mess, but we've been down for so long already folks will grow irritable, impatient.. or worst of all .. totally uninterested.
 
#6
#6
It may initially be a painful couple of years, but hopefully once CJP has his own systems in place and the recruits that fit those systems, it will greatly improve. Nebraska is going through much of the same right now and Frost was a successful head coach, so not ready to give up on CJP until we see what the next couple of years bring.
 
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#8
#8
Rebuilds take time. Hard fact.

Another fact is this : the "Tennessee Rebuild" has arguably been going on since 2005/06. We were in rebuild mode even before the 07 title game appearance, a year where Florida & Alabama blew the doors off of us and we were fortunate to sneak in via a tie breaker. 13 years. 5 different head coaches. It's been going on so long we begged one of them to come back and be our AD after an ugly divorce.

I think most Tennessee fans realize the current status of the program. It's a rebuild. The new coach needs 2-3 recruiting cycles. He needs "his guys" ect ect ect.

The problem is Pruitt really needs 2-3 full years to correct this mess, but we've been down for so long already folks will grow irritable, impatient.. or worst of all .. totally uninterested.
yep.
 
#14
#14
fans had to wait 46 years between championships last time. (I don't count the two loss 1967 season's championship)

I'm afraid there are a lot of us who won't be around for the next!
 
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#15
#15
Pretty soon the old adage of Rome wasnt built in a day will officially change to Tennessee football.

Didnt holtz have hc experience? I know sabam did, not sure about lf either
 
#18
#18
With any successful rebuild, there is progress made by season 3. Even in failed rebuilds, there is sometimes progress made by season 3 (see Butch Jones in 2015 - we had improved). We need to be patient but that should not extend beyond 2020. You know what you have by season 3 - good or bad.
 
#19
#19
I get it, but the SEC was a very different conference back then. These days you have Bama that is invincible, UGA not far behind, AU/LSU playing well now, and teams like Vandy and KY playing at historic highs. Plus, none of those teams had to play the two best teams in the conference (if not the nation) every year going forward.

We are also recruiting the same region as AU/Bama/UGA, which makes it even more difficult.

I get these comparison threads, I really do. But it simply isn't an apples to apples comparison. Tenn has more going against it than any of those teams did.
 
#20
#20
I get it, but at that time the SEC was a very different conference back then. These days you have Bama that is invincible, UGA not far behind, AU/LSU playing well now, and teams like Vandy and KY playing at historic highs. Plus, none of those teams had to paly the two best teams in the conference (if not the nation) every year going forward.

We are also recruiting the same region as AU/Bama/UGA, which makes it even more difficult.

I get these comparison threads, I really do. But it simply isn't an apples to apples comparison. Tenn has more going against it than any of those teams did.
Stop with this "whoa, is me" garbage..... Tennessee has the necessary resources to be successful. Who cares what Vandy and Kentucky are doing? - or even South Carolina. The landscape hasn't changed as much as the defeatists want to think. We need the right coach. We have everything else.
 
#21
#21
Lou was at notre dame for years.
Thats what I was thinking, just couldnt remember the order. I like Frentz too, doesnt get much talent but his teams usually play decent fundamental football.

So the op used 3 examples to prove a point, two of which has successful head coaching experience.
 
#22
#22
Thats what I was thinking, just couldnt remember the order. I like Frentz too, doesnt get much talent but his teams usually play decent fundamental football.

So the op used 3 examples to prove a point, two of which has successful head coaching experience.

Holtz had been wildly successful as a HC. Ferentz was 12-21 at the Univ of Maine 7 years before he was hired as HC at Iowa. Nick Saban had only one year of head coaching experience at Toledo five years before he took the Mich St. job.

The point is rebuilds take time, even for what we know are great coaches.
 
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#23
#23
Holtz had been wildly successful as a HC. Ferentz was 12-21 at the Univ of Maine 7 years before he was hired as HC at Iowa. Nick Saban had only one year of head coaching experience at Toledo five years before he took the Mich St. job.

The point is rebuilds take time, even for what we know are great coaches.
The op referred to sabans expereince at alabama not michigan st.
 
#24
#24
I get it, but the SEC was a very different conference back then. These days you have Bama that is invincible, UGA not far behind, AU/LSU playing well now, and teams like Vandy and KY playing at historic highs. Plus, none of those teams had to play the two best teams in the conference (if not the nation) every year going forward.

We are also recruiting the same region as AU/Bama/UGA, which makes it even more difficult.

I get these comparison threads, I really do. But it simply isn't an apples to apples comparison. Tenn has more going against it than any of those teams did.
We where recruiting the same areas before. Even more as there are few Tennessee recruits now, virtually none back then. All we did was be the top dog and beat they ash in recruiting. Nothing different except since the destruction of the program by Hamilton, we only get the leftovers. Not apples to apples because we took first pick because of who was running the ship.
 
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#25
#25
Rebuilds take time. Hard fact.

Another fact is this : the "Tennessee Rebuild" has arguably been going on since 2005/06. We were in rebuild mode even before the 07 title game appearance, a year where Florida & Alabama blew the doors off of us and we were fortunate to sneak in via a tie breaker. 13 years. 5 different head coaches. It's been going on so long we begged one of them to come back and be our AD after an ugly divorce.

I think most Tennessee fans realize the current status of the program. It's a rebuild. The new coach needs 2-3 recruiting cycles. He needs "his guys" ect ect ect.

The problem is Pruitt really needs 2-3 full years to correct this mess, but we've been down for so long already folks will grow irritable, impatient.. or worst of all .. totally uninterested.
You are not rebuilding when you win 10 games per year, go to the SEC title game every 3-4 years and are in the same division as Florida who was winning National Titles. Oh yea, and you have a College Football Hall of Famer running the ship. But yes, starting in 2004 is when Hamilton started scorching the UT football earth. That is a fact. Ask Ainge.
 

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