The reason for the slide? It's simple. The strength of the SEC.

[General Jack]

Recruiting is the reason for the downfall. Some of that is on the coaches. Some of that is on the simple fact that the SEC is stronger than ever.

Look at Tennessee's recruiting. Tennessee is one of the few big college football programs that relies heavily on out of state recruiting. Yeah, I know the budget is huge. Still have to compete against top name football programs in other states.

Would Peyton Manning have gone to Tennessee or LSU?

Would Tee Martin have gone to Tennessee or Alabama/Auburn?

Would Jamal Lewis have gone to Tennessee or Georgia?

Would Peerless Price have gone to Tennessee or Ohio State?

Those are just a few of the many that you can look at.

There are numerous examples. The 90s made this fanbase delusional to an extent. Even myself. The SEC East was Tennessee vs. Florida every season. The SEC West was horrible for the most part. An up and down Alabama team was the big name over there.

Georgia had horrible coaching under Goff and Donnan. Were in the toilet for the most part.

LSU was up and down.

Auburn had a few decent seasons. Nothing great.

Alabama was great in the early 90s. Started a bit of a slide toward the mid-late 90s.

South Carolina was flatout horrible.

Tennessee (throughout the 90s) could go to Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, etc. and get any recruit they wanted for the most part. Now? The SEC is stronger. Can't do that.

Now let's look at the other recruiting areas. That's mainly California. USC was mediocre at best during Tennessee's great run in the 90s. UCLA controlled that state and Cal was terrible. Would those great players have come cross country to play at Tennessee?

Look at the history of Tennessee football. There have been a handful of down periods like this.

Going into the homes of recruits in a different state and recruiting is far more difficult than some can imagine. Competing against the homestate school is tough.

It is beyond delusional to think that Gruden, Muschamp, or anyone else can step into this job and suddenly go into Georgia and beat Richt for recruits, Meyer at Florida, Miles at LSU, Saban at Alabama, and so forth. They are too strong. It's not the 90s anymore.

Coaches certainly deserve some of the blame. You also need to take a step back and look at the success this team had and why they were having success.

Fulmer, Chavis, etc. didn't forget how to coach. Complacent to an extent? I would say so. The SEC is far more difficult now. Recruiting dropped off because Tennessee couldn't go into Georgia, Lousiana, and so forth and get those recruits (because they became stronger). What you are watching is the result.

Winning at Tennessee is far more difficult than Georgia, Florida, and so forth because of the recruiting base. Fulmer (a Tennessee guy) knows what it takes. Simply not going his way right now. There is no quick fix.

Muschamp, Kiffin, Gruden, etc. would not be able to fix this overnight. Delusional to think otherwise.

I haven't read through all of this thread, but this post is very troubling to me.

There is no way we'll ever achieve if the program expectations are dumbed down to meet the ability of the current regime. And thats what this post is trying to do... dumb down expectations.

We have talent, we have the tradition, the facilities, the exposure and all the financial resources to continue getting the talent. In fact, we currently have the talent to compete for an SEC championship. Put Saban or Meyer in fulmer's shoes at this point at we'd be 5-1. We have had top 3 recruiting classes 2 out of the past 4 seasons, and we are looking at a top 10 class this year. So get that "we can't recruit competitively" crap out of here. You are merely justifying our slide, which is pathetic.

Yes, the SEC is better than it was in the 90s. Its not a 2 team race. HOWEVER, there is no reason that we can't be competitive year in year out... if we do that, the championships will come.

Fulmer's ineptness against the great coaches is the problem. It ALL stems from that. Fulmer is the reason for our downfall... complacency, combined with the fact he gets taken to school at an embarrassingly frequent rate by the good coaches. Tennessee can recruit, but fulmer can't coach successfully against equal competition.

 

[bleedorange0037]

Look at the history of Tennessee football. There have been a handful of down periods like this.

You know, a lot of people make that argument, but it's getting to the point now that it's almost just plain wrong. Unless there is a major turnaround, this is going to be our second losing season in 4 years. Since General Neyland took over in 1926, and turned Tennessee into a National power, there have only been two other occasions in which Tennessee had 2 losing seasons in 4 years, 1962-1964, and 1977-1980. Also, since the SEC was founded in 1932, the longest Tennessee has ever gone without winning an SEC championship is 15 years (1970-1984). Well, counting this year, we're now at 10 years without a title, and to be real honest I don't see one on the horizon. So, while Fulmer took us to the mountaintop in '98, and I'll be eternally greatful for that, if things continue as they are, it's realistic to see in the next 4 or 5 years that he could have also taken us to a new low.