TN's Decades of Failures Explained

#1
Chitlin&theDude

Chitlin&theDude

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#1
1) Fulmer. Great coach, great guy but he was retained too long. The SEC and good teams clearly passed him by. (To the deniers- his record his last 6 years) Kiffin inherited an empty cupboard.
2) Kiffin. The right idea but a bad decision who napalmed the program. Terrible decision not putting in a contractual safe guard to leave after only one year.
3) Brown. Hindsight has proven keeping him for a year as interim coach would have been advantageous and probably program saving.
4) Dooley. Maybe to worst hire ever. A loser from LA Tech. Did nothing for 3 years- recruiting was a joke. He solidified our culture of losing.
5) Jones. Another awful hire who wasn't nearly big enough for the job. Could not analyze or develop talent.
6) Pruitt. Year 3- are we improving? Good coordinator. Knows the coference and game, but is he smart enough to be a CEO?

What's a commonality they all have besides losing to our rivals? It's our fundamental problem- ineffective leadership above them at the highest levels. How many visionless and unprepared ADs have we had? More importantly, how many clueless presidents and chancellors have we had? And above them is the BODs. There's our problem. Until they want stop making politically correct decisions (ie Davenport) and understand football's economic AND academic impact (ie Alabama) our football program will be on loop.
 
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#3
#3
Chitlin&theDude said:
1) Fulmer. Great coach, great guy but he was retained too long. The SEC and good teams clearly passed him by. (To the deniers- his record his last 6 years) Kiffin inherited an empty cupboard.
2) Kiffin. The right idea but a bad decision who napalmed the program. Terrible decision not putting in a contractual safe guard to leave after only one year.
3) Brown. Hindsight has proven keeping him for a year as interim coach would have been advantageous and probably program saving.
4) Dooley. Maybe to worst hire ever. A loser from LA Tech. Did nothing for 3 years- recruiting was a joke. He solidified our culture of losing.
5) Jones. Another awful hire who wasn't nearly big enough for the job. Could not analyze or develop talent.
6) Pruitt. Year 3- are we improving? Good coordinator. Knows the coference and game, but is he smart enough to be a CEO?

What's a commonality they all have besides losing to our rivals? It's our fundamental problem- ineffective leadership above them at the highest levels. How many visionless and unprepared ADs have we had? More importantly, how many clueless presidents and chancellors have we had? And above them is the BODs. There's our problem. Until they want stop making politically correct decisions (ie Davenport) and understand football's economic AND academic impact (ie Alabama) our football program will be on loop.
Click to expand...
Dooley had the highest ranked recruiting class in UT history in 2011
 
#4
#4
Chitlin&theDude said:
1) Fulmer. Great coach, great guy but he was retained too long. The SEC and good teams clearly passed him by. (To the deniers- his record his last 6 years) Kiffin inherited an empty cupboard.
2) Kiffin. The right idea but a bad decision who napalmed the program. Terrible decision not putting in a contractual safe guard to leave after only one year.
3) Brown. Hindsight has proven keeping him for a year as interim coach would have been advantageous and probably program saving.
4) Dooley. Maybe to worst hire ever. A loser from LA Tech. Did nothing for 3 years- recruiting was a joke. He solidified our culture of losing.
5) Jones. Another awful hire who wasn't nearly big enough for the job. Could not analyze or develop talent.
6) Pruitt. Year 3- are we improving? Good coordinator. Knows the coference and game, but is he smart enough to be a CEO?

What's a commonality they all have besides losing to our rivals? It's our fundamental problem- ineffective leadership above them at the highest levels. How many visionless and unprepared ADs have we had? More importantly, how many clueless presidents and chancellors have we had? And above them is the BODs. There's our problem. Until they want stop making politically correct decisions (ie Davenport) and understand football's economic AND academic impact (ie Alabama) our football program will be on loop.
Click to expand...

Pruitt is learning on the job, but the rate at which he learns is way too slow for the vast majority of Vol fans, including myself. I'm certainly not calling for his job, but I'm tired of losing. Very tired.
 
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#9
#9
Chitlin&theDude said:
1) Fulmer. Great coach, great guy but he was retained too long. The SEC and good teams clearly passed him by. (To the deniers- his record his last 6 years) Kiffin inherited an empty cupboard.
2) Kiffin. The right idea but a bad decision who napalmed the program. Terrible decision not putting in a contractual safe guard to leave after only one year.
3) Brown. Hindsight has proven keeping him for a year as interim coach would have been advantageous and probably program saving.
4) Dooley. Maybe to worst hire ever. A loser from LA Tech. Did nothing for 3 years- recruiting was a joke. He solidified our culture of losing.
5) Jones. Another awful hire who wasn't nearly big enough for the job. Could not analyze or develop talent.
6) Pruitt. Year 3- are we improving? Good coordinator. Knows the coference and game, but is he smart enough to be a CEO?

What's a commonality they all have besides losing to our rivals? It's our fundamental problem- ineffective leadership above them at the highest levels. How many visionless and unprepared ADs have we had? More importantly, how many clueless presidents and chancellors have we had? And above them is the BODs. There's our problem. Until they want stop making politically correct decisions (ie Davenport) and understand football's economic AND academic impact (ie Alabama) our football program will be on loop.
Click to expand...
is he smart enough to be a CEO?

This is the question that needs to be answered! Most CEO’s are not trying to control its company, they make sure it’s running like it’s supposed to be running. Saban doesn’t call plays for the offense or what to run on defense! He has people hired to run what he wants. Pruit has to do this or he will never prosper at this job.
 
#11
#11
Chitlin&theDude said:
1) Fulmer. Great coach, great guy but he was retained too long. The SEC and good teams clearly passed him by. (To the deniers- his record his last 6 years) Kiffin inherited an empty cupboard.
Click to expand...
Dude.

Fulmer's last six years: 49-27. That's a .645 win rate. Two SEC East titles. Three different 10-win seasons, and another with 9 wins. Here, I'll bold the parts you seem to be missing:
  • 2003 -- 10-3 (6-2 in SEC)
  • 2004 -- 10-3 (7-1 in SEC) -- SEC-East champ -- Cotton Bowl victor (over #22 A&M)
  • 2005 -- 5-6 (3-5 in SEC)
  • 2006 -- 9-4 (5-3 in SEC)
  • 2007 -- 10-4 (6-2 in SEC) -- SEC-East champ -- Outback Bowl victor (over #18 Wisconsin)
  • 2008 -- 5-7 (3-5 in SEC)
Just to remind you: our very best seasons over the past 12 years since Fulmer left, our VERY best, were a couple of 9-win seasons under Butch. But nine or ten wins was the _norm_ with Fulmer. Even in those last six seasons.

Yes, Phillip got complacent. But even a complacent Fulmer is better than anything we've done since.

Anyone who thinks Fulmer has been our problem, or was even our first problem, is a fool. Getting rid of him was our first problem.

As for the rest of your post, I couldn't get past that first bone-headed statement. So I didn't read any more.

Go Vols!
 
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#12
#12
USAFgolferVol said:
Dooley had the highest ranked recruiting class in UT history in 2011
Click to expand...
No. Tennessee had the consensus #1 rated class in 1994. There obviously weren't internet sites that specialized in college football recruiting yet, but you did have publications such as SuperPrep (Allen Wallace), Blue Chip Illustrated, Tom Lemming's Prep Football Report and Max Emfinger. USA Today, Parade Magazine and ESPN were also covering football recruiting heavily at the time. I believe you will find that all of them (with the possible exception of SuperPrep) had Tennessee's 1994 signing class rated #1. I specifically remember watching a show on ESPN's Scholastic Sports America at the time which ranked the top 10 college football signing classes of 1994 and Tennessee was #1.

That class included players such as:

Peyton Manning
Marcus Nash
Jarvis Reado
Jonathan Brown
Terry Fair
Maurice Staley (WR - didn't pan out)
 
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#14
#14
VFL-82-JP said:
Dude.

Fulmer's last six years: 49-27. That's a .645 win rate. Three different 10-win seasons, and another with 9 wins. Here, I'll bold the parts you seem to be missing:
  • 2003 -- 10-3 (6-2 in SEC)
  • 2004 -- 10-3 (7-1 in SEC)
  • 2005 -- 5-6 (3-5 in SEC)
  • 2006 -- 9-4 (5-3 in SEC)
  • 2007 -- 10-4 (6-2 in SEC)
  • 2008 -- 5-7 (3-5 in SEC)
Just to remind you: our very best seasons over the past 12 years since Fulmer left, our VERY best, were a couple of 9-win seasons under Butch. But nine or ten wins was the _norm_ with Fulmer. Even in those last six seasons.

Yes, Phillip got complacent. But even a complacent Fulmer is better than anything we've done since.

Anyone who thinks Fulmer has been our problem, or was even our first problem, is a fool. Getting rid of him was our first problem.

As for the rest of your post, I couldn't get past that first bone-headed statement. So I didn't read any more.

Go Vols!
Click to expand...
No getting rid of him wasn’t the problem. It was time for him to go. The program had gotten stale and had slid far down the pecking order in the SEC. Not hiring Gary Patterson or Brian Kelly to replace him was the issue.
 
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#16
#16
VolInNW said:
Dooley. 2011? Best ever?? Rotflmmfao

1995, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2004, et al all say hi.
Click to expand...
1996 with Shaun Ellis and Raynoch Thompson was also a great class - although they weren't immediately eligible. It also had Tee Martin and Chad Clifton. I think it was rated around 6 or 7 in the country, but was underrated at that. Damn near everybody panned out and contributed heavily.
 
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#17
#17
VFL-82-JP said:
Dude.

Fulmer's last six years: 49-27. That's a .645 win rate. Two SEC East titles. Three different 10-win seasons, and another with 9 wins. Here, I'll bold the parts you seem to be missing:
  • 2003 -- 10-3 (6-2 in SEC)
  • 2004 -- 10-3 (7-1 in SEC) -- SEC-East champ -- Cotton Bowl victor (over A&M)
  • 2005 -- 5-6 (3-5 in SEC)
  • 2006 -- 9-4 (5-3 in SEC)
  • 2007 -- 10-4 (6-2 in SEC) -- SEC-East champ -- Outback Bowl victor (over Wisconsin)
  • 2008 -- 5-7 (3-5 in SEC)
Just to remind you: our very best seasons over the past 12 years since Fulmer left, our VERY best, were a couple of 9-win seasons under Butch. But nine or ten wins was the _norm_ with Fulmer. Even in those last six seasons.

Yes, Phillip got complacent. But even a complacent Fulmer is better than anything we've done since.

Anyone who thinks Fulmer has been our problem, or was even our first problem, is a fool. Getting rid of him was our first problem.

As for the rest of your post, I couldn't get past that first bone-headed statement. So I didn't read any more.

Go Vols!
Click to expand...

Smart guy who doesn't read, What was Fulmer's record against Tuberville, Saban, Spurrier, Richt, Meyer? I like Fulmer. He was good coach. But as you pointed out, in 05 things were quickly moving in the wrong direction.
 
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#18
#18
Fulmers last 2 years without Cutcliffe as OC we had losing records. It was time for him to go. We should have hired Cut and gave him full control when Kiffin bolted. We wouldn't have won a NC, but he would have brought in much needed stability and we would have at least made some appearances in the SECCG. Maybe even won 1 or 2.
 
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#20
#20
VFL-82-JP said:
Dude.

Fulmer's last six years: 49-27. That's a .645 win rate. Two SEC East titles. Three different 10-win seasons, and another with 9 wins. Here, I'll bold the parts you seem to be missing:
  • 2003 -- 10-3 (6-2 in SEC)
  • 2004 -- 10-3 (7-1 in SEC) -- SEC-East champ -- Cotton Bowl victor (over #22 A&M)
  • 2005 -- 5-6 (3-5 in SEC)
  • 2006 -- 9-4 (5-3 in SEC)
  • 2007 -- 10-4 (6-2 in SEC) -- SEC-East champ -- Outback Bowl victor (over #18 Wisconsin)
  • 2008 -- 5-7 (3-5 in SEC)
Just to remind you: our very best seasons over the past 12 years since Fulmer left, our VERY best, were a couple of 9-win seasons under Butch. But nine or ten wins was the _norm_ with Fulmer. Even in those last six seasons.

Yes, Phillip got complacent. But even a complacent Fulmer is better than anything we've done since.

Anyone who thinks Fulmer has been our problem, or was even our first problem, is a fool. Getting rid of him was our first problem.

As for the rest of your post, I couldn't get past that first bone-headed statement. So I didn't read any more.

Go Vols!
Click to expand...
And don’t forget the recruiting class he had coming in when he got fired.
 
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#24
#24
VFL-82-JP said:
Dude.

Fulmer's last six years: 49-27. That's a .645 win rate. Two SEC East titles. Three different 10-win seasons, and another with 9 wins. Here, I'll bold the parts you seem to be missing:
  • 2003 -- 10-3 (6-2 in SEC)
  • 2004 -- 10-3 (7-1 in SEC) -- SEC-East champ -- Cotton Bowl victor (over #22 A&M)
  • 2005 -- 5-6 (3-5 in SEC)
  • 2006 -- 9-4 (5-3 in SEC)
  • 2007 -- 10-4 (6-2 in SEC) -- SEC-East champ -- Outback Bowl victor (over #18 Wisconsin)
  • 2008 -- 5-7 (3-5 in SEC)
Just to remind you: our very best seasons over the past 12 years since Fulmer left, our VERY best, were a couple of 9-win seasons under Butch. But nine or ten wins was the _norm_ with Fulmer. Even in those last six seasons.

Yes, Phillip got complacent. But even a complacent Fulmer is better than anything we've done since.

Anyone who thinks Fulmer has been our problem, or was even our first problem, is a fool. Getting rid of him was our first problem.

As for the rest of your post, I couldn't get past that first bone-headed statement. So I didn't read any more.

Go Vols!
Click to expand...
THANK YOU!

One of the dumbest, unfounded arguments for explaining the current Vol football dilemma begins with “Fulmer was“ “lazy,” “no longer relevant,” “left behind,” etc. For those who continue to make that argument, the athletic department at the other UT is also calling...Mack Brown, Rick Barnes.
 
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#25
#25
volmoon said:
THANK YOU!

One of the dumbest, unfounded arguments for explaining the current Vol football dilemma begins with “Fulmer was“ “lazy,” “no longer relevant,” “left behind,” etc. For those who continue to make that argument, the athletic department at the other UT is also calling...Mack Brown, Rick Barnes.
Click to expand...

He had a losing record to over half the coaches in the SEC at the time he was fired. His time was up.
 
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