Twenty Long Years

#1
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SilvaDoc

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#1
And so it goes, after Fulmer retired we become everyone else’s homecoming game for nearly 20 years … and just about irrelevant in college football.

Fulmer won about 3/4 of his games and finally we have a coach who is winning just about 3/4 of his games. And, of course, in a rebuilding year with significant injuries in very critical parts of the team, especially the defense (lose an all-American corner back and it ought’a sting), and with a couple of losses in games where it could have gone either way, and with recruiting success soaring, we get those who are saying, “yeah, that coach gotta get better real quick or he has gotta go …”

Couch coaching is somehow easier with a loss or two to work with.

I’ve heard this before. We all have. Twenty or so years ago.

Added, a new quarterback comes in, a journeyman looking for a chance and he’s not only good, but with this coaching staff helping, he is great. The focus has been on his mistakes, but truth be told he’s thrown some fantastic darts for touchdowns and high mileage gains, throws that some quarterbacks could not make or would not attempt because of the inherent risk. He has been immense fun to watch, but like any quarterback even he needs time to at least take a look downfield.

So, here we are, relevant again, all season in the discussion for college football’s ultimate prize, with an offense that is booming, an injured defense that is playing hard, a coach that is good, getting better and will likely be great … and naysayers seem to have forgotten those long, hard twenty years.

Best to learn from history. It can be repeated. Making vast changes do indeed, usually, mean vast results. But, which way?
 
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#3
#3
Hasn't been 20 years. In 2007 we played for the SEC championship. Didn't win it, no, but we were in the hunt. A 10-win season.

Folks who like to hate on Fulmer love to take away his last four years, as if they were all losing seasons. Or his last eight years. Or everything after the national championship. But that's just haters being haters.

We were relevant right up until 2008.

And Josh arrived in 2021 to begin righting the ship.

So it's not 20 years. It is 13: 2008 to 2020, inclusive.

Go Vols!
 
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#4
#4
VFL-82-JP said:
Hasn't been 20 years. In 2007 we played for the SEC championship. Didn't win it, no, but we were in the hunt. A 10-win season.

Folks who like to hate on Fulmer love to take away his last four years, as if they were all losing seasons. Or his last eight years. Or everything after the national championship. But that's just haters being haters.

We were relevant right up until 2008.

And Josh arrived in 2021 to begin righting the ship.

So it's not 20 years. It is 13: 2008 to 2020, inclusive.

Go Vols!
Click to expand...
well it felt like 20!
 
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#7
#7
VFL-82-JP said:
Hasn't been 20 years. In 2007 we played for the SEC championship. Didn't win it, no, but we were in the hunt. A 10-win season.

Folks who like to hate on Fulmer love to take away his last four years, as if they were all losing seasons. Or his last eight years. Or everything after the national championship. But that's just haters being haters.

We were relevant right up until 2008.

And Josh arrived in 2021 to begin righting the ship.

So it's not 20 years. It is 13: 2008 to 2020, inclusive.

Go Vols!
Click to expand...
Feels like 20.....
 
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#8
#8
SilvaDoc said:
And so it goes, after Fulmer retired we become everyone else’s homecoming game for nearly 20 years … and just about irrelevant in college football.

Fulmer won about 3/4 of his games and finally we have a coach who is winning just about 3/4 of his games. And, of course, in a rebuilding year with significant injuries in very critical parts of the team, especially the defense (lose an all-American corner back and it ought’a sting), and with a couple of losses in games where it could have gone either way, and with recruiting success soaring, we get those who are saying, “yeah, that coach gotta get better real quick or he has gotta go …”

Couch coaching is somehow easier with a loss or two to work with.

I’ve heard this before. We all have. Twenty or so years ago.

Added, a new quarterback comes in, a journeyman looking for a chance and he’s not only good, but with this coaching staff helping, he is great. The focus has been on his mistakes, but truth be told he’s thrown some fantastic darts for touchdowns and high mileage gains, throws that some quarterbacks could not make or would not attempt because of the inherent risk. He has been immense fun to watch, but like any quarterback even he needs time to at least take a look downfield.

So, here we are, relevant again, all season in the discussion for college football’s ultimate prize, with an offense that is booming, an injured defense that is playing hard, a coach that is good, getting better and will likely be great … and naysayers seem to have forgotten those long, hard twenty years.

Best to learn from history. It can be repeated. Making vast changes do indeed, usually, mean vast results. But, which way?
Click to expand...
Nice post. It could have started by saying After losing our homecoming game to Wyoming the University of Tennessee "retired" Phillip Fulmer. Very good take
 
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#9
#9
I was always of the mindset that firing Fulmer was the wrong thing to do. He had at least another 10 years left in him. Had he been able to leave with the dignity he deserved, the replacement and the ensuing years would have likely have seen us remain at the top.
TN unnecessarily sacrificed a ton of goodwill that ultimate hurt the program.
 
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#10
#10
SilvaDoc said:
And so it goes, after Fulmer retired we become everyone else’s homecoming game for nearly 20 years … and just about irrelevant in college football.

Fulmer won about 3/4 of his games and finally we have a coach who is winning just about 3/4 of his games. And, of course, in a rebuilding year with significant injuries in very critical parts of the team, especially the defense (lose an all-American corner back and it ought’a sting), and with a couple of losses in games where it could have gone either way, and with recruiting success soaring, we get those who are saying, “yeah, that coach gotta get better real quick or he has gotta go …”

Couch coaching is somehow easier with a loss or two to work with.

I’ve heard this before. We all have. Twenty or so years ago.

Added, a new quarterback comes in, a journeyman looking for a chance and he’s not only good, but with this coaching staff helping, he is great. The focus has been on his mistakes, but truth be told he’s thrown some fantastic darts for touchdowns and high mileage gains, throws that some quarterbacks could not make or would not attempt because of the inherent risk. He has been immense fun to watch, but like any quarterback even he needs time to at least take a look downfield.

So, here we are, relevant again, all season in the discussion for college football’s ultimate prize, with an offense that is booming, an injured defense that is playing hard, a coach that is good, getting better and will likely be great … and naysayers seem to have forgotten those long, hard twenty years.

Best to learn from history. It can be repeated. Making vast changes do indeed, usually, mean vast results. But, which way?
Click to expand...
My God, somebody here in VN that makes a whole lot of sense.
 
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#11
#11
SilvaDoc said:
And so it goes, after Fulmer retired we become everyone else’s homecoming game for nearly 20 years … and just about irrelevant in college football.

Fulmer won about 3/4 of his games and finally we have a coach who is winning just about 3/4 of his games. And, of course, in a rebuilding year with significant injuries in very critical parts of the team, especially the defense (lose an all-American corner back and it ought’a sting), and with a couple of losses in games where it could have gone either way, and with recruiting success soaring, we get those who are saying, “yeah, that coach gotta get better real quick or he has gotta go …”

Couch coaching is somehow easier with a loss or two to work with.

I’ve heard this before. We all have. Twenty or so years ago.

Added, a new quarterback comes in, a journeyman looking for a chance and he’s not only good, but with this coaching staff helping, he is great. The focus has been on his mistakes, but truth be told he’s thrown some fantastic darts for touchdowns and high mileage gains, throws that some quarterbacks could not make or would not attempt because of the inherent risk. He has been immense fun to watch, but like any quarterback even he needs time to at least take a look downfield.

So, here we are, relevant again, all season in the discussion for college football’s ultimate prize, with an offense that is booming, an injured defense that is playing hard, a coach that is good, getting better and will likely be great … and naysayers seem to have forgotten those long, hard twenty years.

Best to learn from history. It can be repeated. Making vast changes do indeed, usually, mean vast results. But, which way?
Click to expand...
Coach Phillip Fulmer did not retire. He was disrespectfully, unceremoniously, and wrongly fired by a punk named Mike Hamilton. That is what started all this mess and Heup is fixing it.
 
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#12
#12
luthervol said:
I was always of the mindset that firing Fulmer was the wrong thing to do. He had at least another 10 years left in him. Had he been able to leave with the dignity he deserved, the replacement and the ensuing years would have likely have seen us remain at the top.
TN unnecessarily sacrificed a ton of goodwill that ultimate hurt the program.
Click to expand...
Then why did no one else hire him?
 
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#13
#13
VFL-82-JP said:
Hasn't been 20 years. In 2007 we played for the SEC championship. Didn't win it, no, but we were in the hunt. A 10-win season.

Folks who like to hate on Fulmer love to take away his last four years, as if they were all losing seasons. Or his last eight years. Or everything after the national championship. But that's just haters being haters.

We were relevant right up until 2008.

And Josh arrived in 2021 to begin righting the ship.

So it's not 20 years. It is 13: 2008 to 2020, inclusive.

Go Vols!
Click to expand...
That 2007 team was blown out by Florida, Alabama and California. We weren't nationally relevant up till 2008. We didn't have one single top ten finish after 2001. We've had 2 since Heupel took over, one being a top 5
 
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#14
#14
luthervol said:
I was always of the mindset that firing Fulmer was the wrong thing to do. He had at least another 10 years left in him. Had he been able to leave with the dignity he deserved, the replacement and the ensuing years would have likely have seen us remain at the top.
TN unnecessarily sacrificed a ton of goodwill that ultimate hurt the program.
Click to expand...


Hire good offensive coordinators. He messed that up twice. Appreciate everything he did for Tennessee except the run at AD. He was out of his league there. But losing to Wyoming after going to the seccg in 08 it was time
 
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#15
#15
SilvaDoc said:
And so it goes, after Fulmer retired we become everyone else’s homecoming game for nearly 20 years … and just about irrelevant in college football.

Fulmer won about 3/4 of his games and finally we have a coach who is winning just about 3/4 of his games. And, of course, in a rebuilding year with significant injuries in very critical parts of the team, especially the defense (lose an all-American corner back and it ought’a sting), and with a couple of losses in games where it could have gone either way, and with recruiting success soaring, we get those who are saying, “yeah, that coach gotta get better real quick or he has gotta go …”

Couch coaching is somehow easier with a loss or two to work with.

I’ve heard this before. We all have. Twenty or so years ago.

Added, a new quarterback comes in, a journeyman looking for a chance and he’s not only good, but with this coaching staff helping, he is great. The focus has been on his mistakes, but truth be told he’s thrown some fantastic darts for touchdowns and high mileage gains, throws that some quarterbacks could not make or would not attempt because of the inherent risk. He has been immense fun to watch, but like any quarterback even he needs time to at least take a look downfield.

So, here we are, relevant again, all season in the discussion for college football’s ultimate prize, with an offense that is booming, an injured defense that is playing hard, a coach that is good, getting better and will likely be great … and naysayers seem to have forgotten those long, hard twenty years.

Best to learn from history. It can be repeated. Making vast changes do indeed, usually, mean vast results. But, which way?
Click to expand...
We only beat who we are supposed to (most of the time). Always (except for Bama twice) lose to who we are supposed to and one (other) game a year we were supposed to win.

Being mediocre around here is what lead to our twenty-year walk in the wilderness. That’s what winning 3/4 of the time gets you.
 
#17
#17
SilvaDoc said:
And so it goes, after Fulmer retired we become everyone else’s homecoming game for nearly 20 years … and just about irrelevant in college football.

Fulmer won about 3/4 of his games and finally we have a coach who is winning just about 3/4 of his games. And, of course, in a rebuilding year with significant injuries in very critical parts of the team, especially the defense (lose an all-American corner back and it ought’a sting), and with a couple of losses in games where it could have gone either way, and with recruiting success soaring, we get those who are saying, “yeah, that coach gotta get better real quick or he has gotta go …”

Couch coaching is somehow easier with a loss or two to work with.

I’ve heard this before. We all have. Twenty or so years ago.

Added, a new quarterback comes in, a journeyman looking for a chance and he’s not only good, but with this coaching staff helping, he is great. The focus has been on his mistakes, but truth be told he’s thrown some fantastic darts for touchdowns and high mileage gains, throws that some quarterbacks could not make or would not attempt because of the inherent risk. He has been immense fun to watch, but like any quarterback even he needs time to at least take a look downfield.

So, here we are, relevant again, all season in the discussion for college football’s ultimate prize, with an offense that is booming, an injured defense that is playing hard, a coach that is good, getting better and will likely be great … and naysayers seem to have forgotten those long, hard twenty years.

Best to learn from history. It can be repeated. Making vast changes do indeed, usually, mean vast results. But, which way?
Click to expand...
You seem to be implying that letting Fulmer go was a mistake. His winning percentage was dipping every year and he had a losing record to just about every coach that was at a decent SEC school at the time. His time had past and letting him walk away before the program completely cratered was the right move. Pretty much everything that happened after that was the wrong move and we continuously doubled down on stupid moves.
 
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#18
#18
VFL-82-JP said:
Hasn't been 20 years. In 2007 we played for the SEC championship. Didn't win it, no, but we were in the hunt. A 10-win season.

Folks who like to hate on Fulmer love to take away his last four years, as if they were all losing seasons. Or his last eight years. Or everything after the national championship. But that's just haters being haters.

We were relevant right up until 2008.

And Josh arrived in 2021 to begin righting the ship.

So it's not 20 years. It is 13: 2008 to 2020, inclusive.

Go Vols!
Click to expand...

vols40 said:
Nice post. It could have started by saying After losing our homecoming game to Wyoming the University of Tennessee "retired" Phillip Fulmer. Very good take
Click to expand...

luthervol said:
I was always of the mindset that firing Fulmer was the wrong thing to do. He had at least another 10 years left in him. Had he been able to leave with the dignity he deserved, the replacement and the ensuing years would have likely have seen us remain at the top.
TN unnecessarily sacrificed a ton of goodwill that ultimate hurt the program.
Click to expand...

rikberry31 said:
Coach Phillip Fulmer did not retire. He was disrespectfully, unceremoniously, and wrongly fired by a punk named Mike Hamilton. That is what started all this mess and Heup is fixing it.
Click to expand...

vols40 said:
Hire good offensive coordinators. He messed that up twice. Appreciate everything he did for Tennessee except the run at AD. He was out of his league there. But losing to Wyoming after going to the seccg in 08 it was time
Click to expand...
Should have given him a sabbatical. He would have come back fresh and led us to another NC!
 
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