The reality of our program

[chvy1986]

I've been a TN fan for all my life. Nearly 40 years now. I've seen the ups and I've seen the downs, and being that my family are season ticket holders, we've seen a lot of those ups and downs in person. I've also been a member of this board for 10 years now. Like most of you, I come here numerous times a day to see what's going on (Especially during coaching searches lol). One thing I've noticed about the fans is that throughout the years, the expectations have gotten bigger and the patience has gotten smaller. I absolutely want to win every game we play but some of y'all need to realize where this program is at. I know this is a world of instant gratification but its rare that a program has the massive turnaround that some of you want in the first year or two. You should definitely want to see steps in the right direction and I believe we've seen that so far, but expecting to beat a Florida team who is 29-9 in the past 3 seasons is a bit much. We're 16-19 over the same period, under an NCAA investigation, had 58+ transfer out vs Florida's 29 transfers, a completely new staff, a new AD, and most recruits are too young to even remember us being a good team.

I feel good about our staff and the leadership in place at UT now. I believe WITH TIME we will see a TN team that will win the SEC again. How that happens is by giving CJH and his staff time to recruit and develop a team that 100% fits their system. Calling for coaches to be fired after a few games in ridiculous and does nothing to help. Guys, we're on our 6th coach in 13 years. If we keep this up they'll create a coaches transfer portal because of us lol.

 

[VolInLR]

I've been a TN fan for all my life. Nearly 40 years now. I've seen the ups and I've seen the downs, and being that my family are season ticket holders, we've seen a lot of those ups and downs in person. I've also been a member of this board for 10 years now. Like most of you, I come here numerous times a day to see what's going on (Especially during coaching searches lol). One thing I've noticed about the fans is that throughout the years, the expectations have gotten bigger and the patience has gotten smaller. I absolutely want to win every game we play but some of y'all need to realize where this program is at. I know this is a world of instant gratification but its rare that a program has the massive turnaround that some of you want in the first year or two. You should definitely want to see steps in the right direction and I believe we've seen that so far, but expecting to beat a Florida team who is 29-9 in the past 3 seasons is a bit much. We're 16-19 over the same period, under an NCAA investigation, had 58+ transfer out vs Florida's 29 transfers, a completely new staff, a new AD, and most recruits are too young to even remember us being a good team.

I feel good about our staff and the leadership in place at UT now. I believe WITH TIME we will see a TN team that will win the SEC again. How that happens is by giving CJH and his staff time to recruit and develop a team that 100% fits their system. Calling for coaches to be fired after a few games in ridiculous and does nothing to help. Guys, we're on our 6th coach in 13 years. If we keep this up they'll create a coaches transfer portal because of us lol.

Couldn't have been said any better! Your right on point! I too am a long time fan... I remember the late 80's and 90's when we were always ranked and I want that for my team... But the reality is its going to take a while to do that... I think its the younger generation that just doesn't get it..... they want to fire the staff as soon as something bad happens....

 

[DuckinVol]

I'm 53 and have been a fan of no team not named Volunteers for the entire time. I'm still a fan, but my interest is pretty casual now. I haven't dug out a UT cap or put the flag on my truck this year, and I probably won't. I watched the first game because it was at a convenient time. I may watch another, but will do so only when I have absolutely nothing fun, interesting or not physically painful I can do instead.

If folks in control ever make UT competitive again, I'll be back shaping my Saturdays around the game.

 

[JoAllan]

I’m certainly on board with Heupel. I’m hopeful he can get things rolling, improve the program, and develop the talent.

At this point I don’t think I have had anything negative to say about him. I simply need to give him a chance………heck he was a better hire than several of the “names” I was thinking about.

However “if” at some point it fails…….”if” it all starts to fall apart……if the wheels come off……..there is NO need on earth to keep a coach who cannot get it done……..just to delay the inevitable………simply because “he needs more time.”

Heck all of them can use more time. If it don’t work……if it ain’t working……cut your losses and move on.

If it ain’t broke by all means don’t fix it…….if it’s broke……if it stays broke, if the “fixer” can’t fix it……..by all means try something…..anything different.

it was extremely easy to see Pruitt “didn’t have it.” He left Tennessee in a worse wreak than he found it…….had he stayed longer……if could have…….and probably would have become even worse.


Sure…..by all means give a coach time. IF it is justified. Not simply because……”well we have to.”

 

[Elhanan]

Quality post.

I think our chance to get that 2 year turn around has been wasted by the admin. Too many awful hires by people who don’t care about football.

We’ll just have to be patient with this guy so long as he is bringing in talent and we’re seeing actual improvement and development year after year.

I don’t expect him to make it long term but I’m hopeful he proves me wrong.

 

[Vollifer1949]

This is the fanbase in 2020(2019 season). Not sure which coach the OP thinks we should have had more patience with. No reason to settle for mediocrity that none of us caused. There has been no explanation from anyone in charge that suggest anything will get better with patience.

 

[jtdavis]

We are 14 players down from a normal roster- for the most part 14 starters. All the crap we are enduring right now is on that trainwreck Pruitt. We are going to have to be patient. Heupel I think is doing what he can, but he will have to have players. This recruiting class will suffer over the pending NCAA penalties. Again- not Heupel's fault. All the people posting her about the coaching staff need to redirect their anger to the previous coaches.

 

[Flipdaddy]

I'm 53 and have been a fan of no team not named Volunteers for the entire time. I'm still a fan, but my interest is pretty casual now. I haven't dug out a UT cap or put the flag on my truck this year, and I probably won't. I watched the first game because it was at a convenient time. I may watch another, but will do so only when I have absolutely nothing fun, interesting or not physically painful I can do instead.

If folks in control ever make UT competitive again, I'll be back shaping my Saturdays around the game.

Exactly! I quit watching Tennessee for the first time ever after Gaurantano threw all of the pick sixes against Kentucky last year. A quarterback that was repeatedly put in after mistake after mistake after mistake. Pruitt did this to himself. JG would’ve never started another game after the stunt he pulled in Bryant Denny. I started enjoying Saturdays again after not watching the rest of the season after the Kentucky loss.

Moving on to this season, I’ve watched every game and what I’ve seen is not bad. I don’t really think Milton is injured to the point that he can’t play but we’ve got a coach that wasn’t hard headed and knows he can’t win with Milton. Only one thing that’s puzzling is that he picked Milton to start. Another observation is that CJH offense is only successful if he has above average players. If you watch his vs others offenses that have running quarterbacks, there’s a lot more creativity.

 

[bigorangepoppa]

I like to give coaches an opportunity to prove themselves, so I usually give them 3 years to show something. Kiffin, no chance to see his potential here, but he was an immature, rule stretcher that could have landed us in trouble with the NCAA. I hoped Dooley would work out, given his pedigree, plus being the kid of a national championship coach, I thought he had a good chance at to be successful, man, I missed that one big time. Then with Butch, my biggest concern was that he always took over the program Brian Kelley had built, so nothing really to gauge him by. I actually was beginning to think he might work out, then Dobbs graduated, and the rest, as they say is history. With Pruitt, the biggest thing to me was he was a DC at Florida Sate under Jimbo, and at Alabama with Saban, and won championships at both of them. I hoped he may have learned the process necessary to build a program. It appears all he learned to do was pay the players, and didn't learn that well. Heupel has a good bit of experience as an OC, plus some head coaching experience, and the team seems to be responding to the coaching. Unfortunately, he inherited an awful situation, lost a lot of players to the transfer portal, and who knows what he will get hit with by the NCAA. We just have to give him more time in light of all the unknowns in front of him.

 

[lostsheep]

I don't disagree with the OP concerning the need for patience and the necessity of stopping the revolving door of head coaches. However, I'm curious what it is that Heupel has done so far that makes anyone think he is the long-term answer? I'm not saying he isn't, but at this point I don't feel any differently about him that I did about Kiffin/Dooley/Butch/Pruitt 3 games into their first seasons.

 

[Gandalf]

So far, what I have seen of CJH has been good, considering all that has come before it.

That said, every Saturday in season I am hopeful but it is a rare one that I am actually expectant of any results on the field, irrespective of the hype that precedes it.

 

[uvavol]

Maybe I’ve missed it but I haven’t seen many people saying this staff should be fired after 3 games. The national media will say something before and after the game Saturday to cause a stir and get clicks from fans and many will take the bait. I don’t think any media outlet truly hates us but there are a few tv personalities who enjoy picking on Tn fans and want us to stay exactly where we are.

 

[Chitlin&theDude]

REALITY OF THE PROGRAM: We've sucked for a long time. Fans are rightfully pissed or indifferent. The coaches will be given plenty of time. No one will be fired this year. It's not about winning the East this year. But the right coach will show up against our traditional rivals and games like this weekend. Getting demolished every year by Florida is unacceptable.

 

[B-17 Pilot]

I've been a TN fan for all my life. Nearly 40 years now. I've seen the ups and I've seen the downs, and being that my family are season ticket holders, we've seen a lot of those ups and downs in person. I've also been a member of this board for 10 years now. Like most of you, I come here numerous times a day to see what's going on (Especially during coaching searches lol). One thing I've noticed about the fans is that throughout the years, the expectations have gotten bigger and the patience has gotten smaller. I absolutely want to win every game we play but some of y'all need to realize where this program is at. I know this is a world of instant gratification but its rare that a program has the massive turnaround that some of you want in the first year or two. You should definitely want to see steps in the right direction and I believe we've seen that so far, but expecting to beat a Florida team who is 29-9 in the past 3 seasons is a bit much. We're 16-19 over the same period, under an NCAA investigation, had 58+ transfer out vs Florida's 29 transfers, a completely new staff, a new AD, and most recruits are too young to even remember us being a good team.

I feel good about our staff and the leadership in place at UT now. I believe WITH TIME we will see a TN team that will win the SEC again. How that happens is by giving CJH and his staff time to recruit and develop a team that 100% fits their system. Calling for coaches to be fired after a few games in ridiculous and does nothing to help. Guys, we're on our 6th coach in 13 years. If we keep this up they'll create a coaches transfer portal because of us lol.

Great post! I’ve been a Vol fan since 1965 and concur with you 100%! I love the passion that is UT football but I strongly feel that that passion needs to be channeled in a positive way. Calling for new QB’s and coaches after a game or two is ludicrous!

 

[Birdie]

Not sure if I agree about expectations getting bigger... we fired a HoFer because the year after he went to the SEC title game cause he lost his seat at the top. Today, I am pretty sure most everyone would be good if you told us we're gonna win 8-9 games over the next 4 seasons with our recruiting and depth getting better each year. That'd still be a step below the 9-10 games a year we were at 13yrs ago.

 

[Birdie]

REALITY OF THE PROGRAM: We've sucked for a long time. Fans are rightfully pissed or indifferent. The coaches will be given plenty of time. No one will be fired this year. It's not about winning the East this year. But the right coach will show up against our traditional rivals and games like this weekend. Getting demolished every year by Florida is unacceptable.

This. Nobody expects W's every week. Showing emotion during/after a game is natural though. Reality is be competitive, show glimpses. Win a game you're not supposed to this year or next. Win a big recruiting battle for a game changing player or few. Show competence as a coach and program builder. Build some momentum on the trail. Beat teams the teams that you're better than. Take advantage of opportunities that are right there for the taking.

It's tough to build a program when you're as down as TN is, especially in this conference. Gotta strike while you can and build momentum early.

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

We are 14 players down from a normal roster- for the most part 14 starters. All the crap we are enduring right now is on that trainwreck Pruitt. We are going to have to be patient. Heupel I think is doing what he can, but he will have to have players. This recruiting class will suffer over the pending NCAA penalties. Again- not Heupel's fault. All the people posting her about the coaching staff need to redirect their anger to the previous coaches.

Agree 100%. Bad part is there are idiot fans who are already saying Heupel sucks and probably want him gone already. Next season there will likely be the “we told you Heupel sucks” crowd in full force.

It’s funny. The portion of the fan base that says those things will rip the administration for making bad hires. Yet want the current coach fired and expect the same administration to make a good hire.

I think most logical Vol fan realizes what shape we are in and how many years it’s gonna take. But the idiot portion will always make themselves known.

 

[Carl Pickens]

I'm 53 and have been a fan of no team not named Volunteers for the entire time. I'm still a fan, but my interest is pretty casual now. I haven't dug out a UT cap or put the flag on my truck this year, and I probably won't. I watched the first game because it was at a convenient time. I may watch another, but will do so only when I have absolutely nothing fun, interesting or not physically painful I can do instead.

If folks in control ever make UT competitive again, I'll be back shaping my Saturdays around the game.

Well aren’t we the positive one? I’m 53 as well and not far behind you. I’ll watch the FL and get disgusted with myself for doing so

 

[Bighorn67]

CJH has gone a long way to fixing our biggest problem.………scoring points! We are now getting into the end zone more than once a game. It reminds me of when Johnny took over and started to build Wide Receiver U. It took at least 7 seasons for him to win 10 games. After that, he won 3 SEC ships. A winning culture has to be built. Scoring a lot of points is the best way to get it started. Now, if we can just keep the other team out of the end zone a little more.

 

[BigOrangeAl 1979]

We should really by now all lower our expectations for Tennessee football going forward as in we will probaly never win the SEC again and a 9-4 season will be like a 13-1 season for us. We should expect and be acceptive of 6-6 and 7-5 seasons with a few losing seasons thrown in. This is what UT football has been now for the better half of the 21st century so far I mean we haven’t won 10 games in 14 years.

 

[OrangeBeachVol]

Exactly! I quit watching Tennessee for the first time ever after Gaurantano threw all of the pick sixes against Kentucky last year. A quarterback that was repeatedly put in after mistake after mistake after mistake. Pruitt did this to himself. JG would’ve never started another game after the stunt he pulled in Bryant Denny. I started enjoying Saturdays again after not watching the rest of the season after the Kentucky loss.

Moving on to this season, I’ve watched every game and what I’ve seen is not bad. I don’t really think Milton is injured to the point that he can’t play but we’ve got a coach that wasn’t hard headed and knows he can’t win with Milton. Only one thing that’s puzzling is that he picked Milton to start. Another observation is that CJH offense is only successful if he has above average players. If you watch his vs others offenses that have running quarterbacks, there’s a lot more creativity.

Same for me. After JG threw the 2nd pick six against KY I turned off that game and never watched them again rest of season. I am not convinced the ROI on Milton is worth the time and effort it will take, if it does, to correct his flaws. No other coach got a return on him and cut their losses with him. This offense needs a really good QB and there is not one this year.

 

[tncolt55]

Running coaches off in 2-3 years does nothing except make a good coach not want to come here. We have what we have, we can either lose with CJH now and give him time to build his team or we can panic and fire him as soon as he has a bad season or two and start the cycle of losing all over again. These coaching searches are humiliating and frustrating. Saban ruined coaching in the SEC by having success from day one, now no one wants to have patients. CJH needs at least 4 years to get his players in here and to get the team to buy into his culture and system. He is playing with the last 2 coaches players right now and the guys are competing their tails off. It is a process and I love the effort these young guys s far.

 

[DuckinVol]

Well aren’t we the positive one? I’m 53 as well and not far behind you. I’ll watch the FL and get disgusted with myself for doing so

If I'm around a television I'll watch, but I haven't even looked at time and channel. I'm not mad, and I'm not calling for the coach to be fired. I'm just tired of spending the only thing I truly own, my time, watching a mediocre to bad product and getting no excitement or joy from it. I've been invited to a few games this year with great seats, great accommodations and no cost other than gas and time. I won't be attending. Hopefully the coach can field a competitive team in a few years while I still care.

 

[berryvol]

I'm 53 and have been a fan of no team not named Volunteers for the entire time. I'm still a fan, but my interest is pretty casual now. I haven't dug out a UT cap or put the flag on my truck this year, and I probably won't. I watched the first game because it was at a convenient time. I may watch another, but will do so only when I have absolutely nothing fun, interesting or not physically painful I can do instead.

If folks in control ever make UT competitive again, I'll be back shaping my Saturdays around the game.

If you can’t bring yourself to wear a Tennessee hat, you’re not a fan, you’re a front running loser. Most here will watch every game and hang on every play no matter how bad the team is. This makes the old generation (that always calls the young generation “soft” and “impatient”) sound like crybaby whiners.

 

[Doberman]

Running coaches off in 2-3 years does nothing except make a good coach not want to come here. We have what we have, we can either lose with CJH now and give him time to build his team or we can panic and fire him as soon as he has a bad season or two and start the cycle of losing all over again. These coaching searches are humiliating and frustrating. Saban ruined coaching in the SEC by having success from day one, now no one wants to have patients. CJH needs at least 4 years to get his players in here and to get the team to buy into his culture and system. He is playing with the last 2 coaches players right now and the guys are competing their tails off. It is a process and I love the effort these young guys s far.

This isn't entirely true. It's not just Saban had early success. It can, and is being done by others.

Kiffin is doing it in year 2. They look quite formidable.
Pittman is doing it. Arkansas may have been in worst position than us.
Ed Orgeron won a freaking National Championship quickly.
Jimbo Fisher hasn't had a problem fielding a competent team.
Mullen is still Mullen. Rolling along just fine.
Harsin at Auburn, in his first year with the jury still out, just went to Happy Valley vs. top ten Penn St. and could have won the game easily, and gave them all they wanted in a hostile environment in prime time.