Nope, I haven't. I don't post here much. You must have me confused with another poster.
OK. Sorry about that. Sincere apologies.
I'm not hand-waving denials. If you want to play the based solely on the record game, you can say they are similar. Sure. But that is a shallow argument.
I wouldn't be prone to it normally but the UF loss kind of changed that. The same arguments being made for Jones now could have easily been made for Dooley during or after year one. He had landed a great recruiting class against difficult circumstances. He had almost beaten one of the best, most talented teams in the country in LSU. Even the Oregon game was a game at the half with some of their staff even crediting the weather delay for giving them enough time to study what UT was doing to them and adjust to it.
I don't trust "close" or promises. I believe many of the things that Jones is doing
should work... but am experienced enough to know that even plans that seem to make perfect sense don't always succeed.
Coach Jones is doing so many more things well than Dooley ever did it's not even close. Thus the reason for comparing the two.
The problem is that they're also doing some things wrong... and to date those things are costing them wins. UF was in the bag. UGA was winnable both this year and last. Those are the games that will make a difference.
After 3 years on the job, if their records are the same then fine, you can start to compare the two, but not yet.
I actually used a very, very similar argument for Fulmer after 2005 and for Dooley. I thought all criticism should be withheld until it was time to make a final judgment.
I will now make a statement that you are unlikely to ever see anyone else make on this site:
I was wrong.
I don't get into the hatred or personally offensive things toward the coach. Frankly I think stupid names for people are stupid. But there is no reason not to talk about standards not being met, mistakes, or concerns about progress. We're not telling anyone things that they can't see if their eyes are open.
I never said Kiffin was dominating. Never once. Not sure where you got that.
I must have written it wrong. I was trying to respond to the comment about last year's run game. It ranked only 9th in the SEC. That's hardly dominating by that OL.
Of the o-linemen on this team, Jackson is the only legit upperclassman they have. Crowder isn't good right now, Kerbyson could be serviceable as a guard.
I actually think all three are good OL's but Kerbyson playing out of position is hurting him and the team. Crowder with a stronger, more experienced player on his right hip would be fine.... a player like Kerbyson for instance.
He isn't near athletic enough to be playing LT in this league,
Said it many times myself and agree completely.
thus the reason Gilliam was LT to start the season. Swain and I went over the o-linemen, their offers and where they fit yesterday on the show. JUCO linemen very rarely pan out in year one.
So can Gilliam be the solution?
Blair was the number rated JUCO tackle and can't see the field.
Not ready to give up on him myself. Sounds like he's headed for a RS and could be part of the solution next year.
It isn't an auto excuse, it's a truth. This staff had very little time to put together what they put together in 2013. Recruiting is about relationships. They had little time to build any but look at what they've done since. Built relationships and it's paying off on the trail.
That applies to everyone though. Freeze, Kiffin, Stoops, Bilema,... right? It isn't a disadvantage that only blights Jones at UT.
They haven't had 2 years. If you can't see the program moving forward in every way that in the long run will equal wins then I don't know what to tell you.
I see things being done that look good that have only resulted in continued disappointment and losses of winnable games.
And I might as well throw this out since it might be part of our difference. My hope is not for UT to become and also ran again... a team that "competes" for the East, wins it once in a blue moon, and then if the stars somehow perfectly align the Vols win the SEC. I want a coach that builds a dominant program like Saban has at Bama that is often just assumed to be the SECE winner and is always in the national conversation.
I do NOT expect that to be an overnight thing. I DO expect to see the kind of coaching that will push the team over the top in close games (like UF/UGA) once the pieces are in place... a program where the coach routinely takes just a little less talent and beats an opponent.
In short, I want to see a powerhouse, championship program with excellent players and excellent coaching.
Outside of blind Tennessee loyalists that didn't pay much attention to inner workings of the program, most felt pretty uncomfortable with Dooley after the team failed to improve.
That's part of what I see in posters here. Maybe it works out this time... but I see A LOT of the same types of excuses being made... shoot... I gave some pretty strained justifications myself trying to hold out hope that somehow Dooley would succeed.
There is much more to this than straight wins and losses. Just stop man.
Sorry. But no. The effectiveness of a business isn't measured by good reports, great training programs, good equipment, etc. You hope you have all of those things because they are necessary to achieve the one and only measure that matters. But even if you seem to have done "all the right things" but cannot beat the competition and turn a profit... you fail.
I can still be convinced by Jones. I'm far from making a final judgment. But so far... I am unconvinced. I need to see a "bottom line" in the black rather than red.
