Take a look in the mirror..

[PMC2726]

Victim Blaming, pure and simple.

Victim blaming - Wikipedia

 

['Boro-vol]

I think he's right to an extent, not just this site but the media are going for Pruitts throat, if you think there is no power in this board your wrong, this site and others are where the fans sound off and players read these threads, recruits read these threads, the media read these threads and they throw it back at the coaches and it can make things very hard to overcome because it creates such a negative atmosphere.

I've said it a dozen times...18-20 year old players do not come here. This is like MySpace to this generation. If they get a negative vibe it comes from Twitter and Instagram.

This is not me saying this...it comes from the college football player that is home for the holidays living in my house.

 

[EZE]

Y'all ever stop to think about what our competition uses to recruit coaches and players against us? I'm sure one of the low hanging fruits they attack is our miserably toxic, disloyal, and negative fan base. It hasn't crossed most of your minds that these decommitments could be stemming from how unstable we've made our coaching situation appear. These players rarely choose to go to a school because of the school when they're recruited by 15+ Power 5 schools. They go for the coaches. We're throwing these recruiters soft balls because they're pointing at UT saying those guys aren't even going to be there in a couple years. You're delusional if you expected anything more than 5-6 wins on the year with absolutely no offseason development for a team that played 20 true freshmen. I understand we haven't met those expectations but our team faced more adversity this year than other teams of similar build and unfortunately that came down to the luck of the draw. Some of you clowns need to just shut up and be fans. Don't give the program any of your money and do something else on Saturday if it ruins your life that much.

Just doing my part to attract some 5-star recruits....I’m sure we’ll see a commitment later today.

 

[chattavol420]

Oh another one of these. It’s the fans fault we suck. Lol. And here I was thinking we’re not getting the 5 star kids because if they go to bama or Clemson they’ll get to play for a championship amd they’ll get to play in the nfl. But in reality...they’re choosing bama and Clemson because Tennessee has some negative fans. Got it.

 

[coffeevol]

Man, it must be the fan base...he's right. We are the reason the Tennessee Football Program has fallen so much. After not reaching the title game in 13 years, after going 5-7 2008, 7-6 2009, 6-7 2010, 5-7 2011, 5-7 2012, 5-7 2013, 7-6 2014, 4-8 2017, 5-7 2018, 3-7 2020. Having one victory again florida in the last 15 years, zero victories against Bama in the last 15 years, no exciting victories in the last decade plus AND STILL PACKING NEYLAND AT OVER 90,000 FANS. It is not the fans, we have been here and been hopeful at every opportunity they have tried to feed us some subpar coach. We have packed spring games and bought stupid coaches shirts like "The Lane Train", "Butch Please" and "AIGHT".....so help me God you must be a genius private Pyle, of course its the fans. Screw it, lets just quit caring and obviously the program will bounce right back.

 

[Volfan76]

Y'all ever stop to think about what our competition uses to recruit coaches and players against us? I'm sure one of the low hanging fruits they attack is our miserably toxic, disloyal, and negative fan base. It hasn't crossed most of your minds that these decommitments could be stemming from how unstable we've made our coaching situation appear. These players rarely choose to go to a school because of the school when they're recruited by 15+ Power 5 schools. They go for the coaches. We're throwing these recruiters soft balls because they're pointing at UT saying those guys aren't even going to be there in a couple years. You're delusional if you expected anything more than 5-6 wins on the year with absolutely no offseason development for a team that played 20 true freshmen. I understand we haven't met those expectations but our team faced more adversity this year than other teams of similar build and unfortunately that came down to the luck of the draw. Some of you clowns need to just shut up and be fans. Don't give the program any of your money and do something else on Saturday if it ruins your life that much.

No, I'm pretty sure the other coaches are focusing on the fact that we are getting whipped by everybody we play, our head coach is in his 3rd year and he is not improving, our OC is the 2nd highest paid in the country yet our offense is ranked 105 in the nation, oh and the fact we've only won 2 GAMES THIS YEAR! I dont think any recruit could care less about the fanbase right now.

 

['Boro-vol]

Lol and yours do? This is a fan board, where people share their opinions and all you coach leg humpers get butt hurt when someone critizes a man making 7 figures for a lack luster performance

Isn't it odd that the most dedicated coach worshipers never follow the failed coach to his next destination? They always come back here to canonize, and coronate the next stiff that walks through the door, and blame the players for not being the best "Jimmies and Joes", or not "his guys".

 

[Volsfaninva917]

Isn't it odd that the most dedicated coach worshipers never follow the failed coach to his next destination? They always come back here to canonize, and coronate the next unproven guy, and blame the players for not being the best "Jimmies and Joes", or not "his guys".

Wash, rinse and repeat. Isn't it funny that its year 3 and Pruitt guys aren't playing, you know the ones he recruited

 

[Zues1]

 

[BigOrangeMojo]

Y'all ever stop to think about what our competition uses to recruit coaches and players against us? I'm sure one of the low hanging fruits they attack is our miserably toxic, disloyal, and negative fan base. It hasn't crossed most of your minds that these decommitments could be stemming from how unstable we've made our coaching situation appear. These players rarely choose to go to a school because of the school when they're recruited by 15+ Power 5 schools. They go for the coaches. We're throwing these recruiters soft balls because they're pointing at UT saying those guys aren't even going to be there in a couple years. You're delusional if you expected anything more than 5-6 wins on the year with absolutely no offseason development for a team that played 20 true freshmen. I understand we haven't met those expectations but our team faced more adversity this year than other teams of similar build and unfortunately that came down to the luck of the draw. Some of you clowns need to just shut up and be fans. Don't give the program any of your money and do something else on Saturday if it ruins your life that much.

Judging by the staff continuity, recruiting rankings, and Vegas's thoughts, a 6 win season was a reasonable expectation. A 2 (or 3) win season with 6 straight blowouts in a row was not...

 

[HARTUPM]

Y'all ever stop to think about what our competition uses to recruit coaches and players against us? I'm sure one of the low hanging fruits they attack is our miserably toxic, disloyal, and negative fan base. It hasn't crossed most of your minds that these decommitments could be stemming from how unstable we've made our coaching situation appear. These players rarely choose to go to a school because of the school when they're recruited by 15+ Power 5 schools. They go for the coaches. We're throwing these recruiters soft balls because they're pointing at UT saying those guys aren't even going to be there in a couple years. You're delusional if you expected anything more than 5-6 wins on the year with absolutely no offseason development for a team that played 20 true freshmen. I understand we haven't met those expectations but our team faced more adversity this year than other teams of similar build and unfortunately that came down to the luck of the draw. Some of you clowns need to just shut up and be fans. Don't give the program any of your money and do something else on Saturday if it ruins your life that much.

You're over thinking it. Over a decade of sucking at football and bad hires. Fans are invested emotionally and financially. And we are sick of being terrible. This was once a proud top 10 program, at times top 5. It's not the fans fault, the ones to blame are the folks up there on the hill getting paid big salaries and making bad decisions. Enough said.

 

[hog88]

Wash, rinse and repeat. Isn't it funny that its year 3 and Pruitt guys aren't playing, you know the ones he recruited

Why do we have such a hard time finding a coach that can with someone else's guys?

Bryant can take his'n and beat your'n, and then he can turn around and take your'n and beat his'n. - Bum Phillips

 

[Special Ed]

I don't remember the last time we recruited a coach.

 

[LargeOrange1]

Y'all ever stop to think about what our competition uses to recruit coaches and players against us? I'm sure one of the low hanging fruits they attack is our miserably toxic, disloyal, and negative fan base. It hasn't crossed most of your minds that these decommitments could be stemming from how unstable we've made our coaching situation appear. These players rarely choose to go to a school because of the school when they're recruited by 15+ Power 5 schools. They go for the coaches. We're throwing these recruiters soft balls because they're pointing at UT saying those guys aren't even going to be there in a couple years. You're delusional if you expected anything more than 5-6 wins on the year with absolutely no offseason development for a team that played 20 true freshmen. I understand we haven't met those expectations but our team faced more adversity this year than other teams of similar build and unfortunately that came down to the luck of the draw. Some of you clowns need to just shut up and be fans. Don't give the program any of your money and do something else on Saturday if it ruins your life that much.

 

[JonGrudensAgent]

Lewis decommitted directly based on my snarky use of Guarantano gifs. My bad fellas.

 

[sjt18]

Y'all ever stop to think about what our competition uses to recruit coaches and players against us? I'm sure one of the low hanging fruits they attack is our miserably toxic, disloyal, and negative fan base.

Yes. Thought about it and even believed it for a while. I then came to realize it is 100% wrong.

It hasn't crossed most of your minds that these decommitments could be stemming from how unstable we've made our coaching situation appear.

Or... maybe they're smart enough to see what you would rather have everyone ignore.... the results of Pruitt. The program isn't unstable because fans just arbitrarily decided to put Pruitt down or even because expectations were too high. It is unstable as a direct result of the decisions made by Pruitt.

These players rarely choose to go to a school because of the school when they're recruited by 15+ Power 5 schools. They go for the coaches.

That's actually untrue. Every kid has their own reasons. Coaches are definitely a part. But you usually only see a few defections when there's a coaching change and those are as often as not because the new coach doesn't want the player.

We're throwing these recruiters soft balls because they're pointing at UT saying those guys aren't even going to be there in a couple years.

Seriously? You don't think opposing recruiters have plenty of ammo based on Pruitt's performance? Do you think kids are lining up to play for coaches that register losses like those UT suffered this year or the lack of development indicated by the way this team has played?

You're delusional if you expected anything more than 5-6 wins on the year with absolutely no offseason development for a team that played 20 true freshmen.

Right. Because Mizzou sitting at 5-3 now with a new coach, less talent, and a Fr QB PLUS just as many Covid problems... was so much better off? Arkansas has reason for hope in the way they've competed with maybe the worst roster in the SEC.

I understand we haven't met those expectations but our team faced more adversity this year than other teams of similar build and unfortunately that came down to the luck of the draw.

Prove they faced MORE adversity than UK, Ark, or others. There's no "luck" here. There's poor coaching decisions from the HC. This roster is too talented to see what we're seeing.

Some of you clowns need to just shut up and be fans.

You start. What makes you think a "fan" accepts and excuses losing and poor performance the way you have here?

Don't give the program any of your money and do something else on Saturday if it ruins your life that much.

Or maybe we continue to support the program AND hold it to a high standard rather than surrendering to failure like you've done?

 

[DownNDirty]

No, you know what the competition uses to recruit against UT? The coaching record of the current head football coach. That's all they need to do. They say look at this guy he's supposed to be a defensive guru and his defense cannot stop anything, especially slants.

They will point out some of the glaring stats against Tennessee like they are 109 out of 127 as far as points per game. And only have the 76th best defense. They'll point out in the Simple Rating System measuring all teams in D1 we are 98th out of 127. They will point to the amount of BLOWOUT losses Pruitt has had in just 3 years. They'll point to the fact that he was beaten by Georgia State last year. They'll point to the mismanagement of players on the roster.

What they won't do is say, "hey, let's pull up some Tennessee fan forums and see how much the fans of UT hate the coach and want him gone." You know why? Because EVERY FREAKING FANBASE IN AMERICA does the same thing when they are losing. Tennessee fans aren't special in that. The only thing we are special in is the amount of time we've stayed loyal to an on the field product that is very subpar for the type of tradition that we've had for 100+ years. If Saban trips up and loses a game there will be thousands of Bama fans calling for his head immediately. It's just the way some fans are wired.

When did the fanbase become apologists for the head football coach? I definitely noticed that here when Dooley was the coach. Fans that would demean other fans just because they didn't support the head coach. I'm sorry it's the University of TENNESSEE. It's not the University of Pruitt, Jones, Dooley, Fulmer, etc. The Tennessee football program will always be more than the guy they trot out as the head coach - no matter who that is. I believe that the majority of people have given Coach Gomer ample time to show what he is. Unfortunately we've seen this all too often lately with coaches. You have to stay ahead of the curve on this and get rid of the guy.

With recruits dropping off of the cliff right and left the best way to reinvigorate the next class is to bring in someone that players could be excited about. Matt Campbell could come in here right now and walk into recruits living rooms and say, "look what I've done at Iowa State. Look what the program looked like before I got there and now Iowa State is one of the top 10 programs in the country." Players would be drooling to sign up for him. He can show that he's coached a bunch of 2 and 3 star kids UP to compete against 5 star talent.

This song and dance argument you have don't work in my opinion. I mean you are certainly entitled to it but I think it's way off base. Your original argument about the fans being the problem is someone to me that sounds like a coach worshipper. I don't worship anyone except God personally. But I can tell you that I will never worship a coach. They are never bigger than the university. And this coach can't get the job done here. I'm sorry - the longer you wait the more traumatic the aftermath will be. You can't afford to give him one more year and hope and pray that they get their head above water enough to keep him. Because, if the program is in the tank again next year with this guy at the helm, you've set yourself back several years. You can have guys come in right now with the players we have and win 8 or 9 games next year. But not with the guy we've got now.

The fans have been far too hospitable far too long for most of the recent coaches. There's nothing that the UT "fans" have done to create an atmosphere where recruits don't want to come here. Every program is like that. And I would hope that any level headed 18 year old kid would be thick skinned enough to realize that there's going to be people pretty upset with a team that's won 2 games all year against crap teams. I would hope the fans would be upset if I were a prospect because otherwise that means apathy has finally set in for this fanbase and that's the true final death blow. We've already lost a generation of potential Vol fans because kids have picked other schools to cheer for like Clemson, Bama, etc. Don't lose another generation.

And DON'T blame the fans for a coaches lack of ability. Last time I checked - and I check every day - I'm not getting any part of that big 5 million salary that the coach here is getting to not perform at a level expected of the football coach at the University of Tennessee.

 

[chad954ut]

Y'all ever stop to think about what our competition uses to recruit coaches and players against us? I'm sure one of the low hanging fruits they attack is our miserably toxic, disloyal, and negative fan base. It hasn't crossed most of your minds that these decommitments could be stemming from how unstable we've made our coaching situation appear. These players rarely choose to go to a school because of the school when they're recruited by 15+ Power 5 schools. They go for the coaches. We're throwing these recruiters soft balls because they're pointing at UT saying those guys aren't even going to be there in a couple years. You're delusional if you expected anything more than 5-6 wins on the year with absolutely no offseason development for a team that played 20 true freshmen. I understand we haven't met those expectations but our team faced more adversity this year than other teams of similar build and unfortunately that came down to the luck of the draw. Some of you clowns need to just shut up and be fans. Don't give the program any of your money and do something else on Saturday if it ruins your life that much

 

[patrick]

Those pesky little things called "facts".

 

[UTwild82]

Wasn't there a rule at one time you had to have 100 posts before you could start a thread? Can we go back to that?

 

[ABINGDON VOL FAN]

Poor performance and losing effects recruits more than anything, but toxic fans do not help the situation.

Doesn’t hurt either. It’s a non issue for recruiting.

 

[ABINGDON VOL FAN]

Wasn't there a rule at one time you had to have 100 posts before you could start a thread? Can we go back to that?

Not needed IMO. If a thread is offensive or blatantly silly the moderators can delete it.

 

[Vol524]

Can I just ask a question? Why would a recruit commit to a staff when what appears to be most of the fan base is calling for him to be fired at the end of this season? I know I wouldn't unless I was sure the coach was returning. I am not saying the "Fire Pruitt Now" and the list of replacement coaches is the reason for the decommits. But, it sure doesn't help. JMHO

 

[hog88]

Can I just ask a question? Why would a recruit commit to a staff when what appears to be most of the fan base is calling for him to be fired at the end of this season? I know I wouldn't unless I was sure the coach was returning. I am not saying the "Fire Pruitt Now" and the list of replacement coaches is the reason for the decommits. But, it sure doesn't help. JMHO

All a recruit needs to do is look at Pruitt's record to have doubts on how long he will be retained.

 

[EZE]

Oh another one of these. It’s the fans fault we suck. Lol. And here I was thinking we’re not getting the 5 star kids because if they go to bama or Clemson they’ll get to play for a championship amd they’ll get to play in the nfl. But in reality...they’re choosing bama and Clemson because Tennessee has some negative fans. Got it.

It’s like clockwork.