UT will be the most improved team in the SEC

If you want to ignore what the fans wanted and whatever Currie did, that's your choice. It doesn't change the fact that nobody wanted Pruitt from the git. He's got a couple more seasons to turn this thing around and prove the doubters wrong, but he probably won't.
lol...that's about as glossed over as i've seen about that whole situation.....nobody chose that.

it's just what happened....actually.

you can't go back and re write it. it happened. and we weren't getting who you wanted or who i wanted regardless.

and after all that "whatever it was that happened" happened, the pool got real shallow real quick.

it's no different, to me really, than how we got Dooley. situation dictated, and you get what you get.

i do think we got better than what we got in Dooley in 2010. how much? i'll let you know in 2021.

otherwise, this schtick about what we should have done....really doesn't matter, most all of your choices were removed once that whole schiano deal went south. cause that's who we were getting. not some pie in the sky coach that would make everyone happey.

nope. we went got someone that made EVERYONE angry. lol. then we fired err'r body and started over.....lol.
 
If you want to ignore what the fans wanted and whatever Currie did, that's your choice. It doesn't change the fact that nobody wanted Pruitt from the git. He's got a couple more seasons to turn this thing around and prove the doubters wrong, but he probably won't.

I don't have a strong opinion on how Pruitt will turn out yet, but the whole "nobody wanted him" logic is both wrong and irrelevant.

Clemson didn't want Dabo Swinney. He was their fallback option when no one else wanted the job.

USC didn't want Pete Carroll. he was like their 5th option when no one else would take the job. The fact that "nobody wanted them" was pretty irrelevant there because Dabo and Pete Carroll are both top 5 coaches of this century.

And Miss State did want Pruitt. I don't know if they would've hired him, but he was certainly in their final 2 along with Moorhead. So it's not even completely true that nobody wanted Pruitt.

Like I said, I don't know how he'll turn out, but I've always thought worse case scenario is that Pruitt is like Muschamp: great DC, good recruiter, but just doesn't seem to be good at being a "head coach". Best case scenario is that he turns out like Dabo. And there's much space in-between those outcomes.

At a bare minimum, he's already better than Dooley.
 
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No. I am sure that Pruitt was not our first choice. I'm relatively certain he was not the first choice of Fulmer seeing as how any AD with a lick of competence would much rather hire a guy with head coaching experience who has rebuilt a program and/or won a championship of some sort than hire an unknown assistant coach that nobody else wanted.
Normally I would agree with some of this but..
Given every candidate Fulmer looked at was an SEC defensive coordinator, and he hired the most successful one, appears you're just wrong. You don't have to like it, it may not work out, but Fulmer went straight for Pruitt. You spreading bullshiz doesn't change that.

There are 18 5 stars in the East. 16 of them play for UGA. Pruitt can get it done, but the talent gap has to close.
Dayum and ouch
 
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lol...that's about as glossed over as i've seen about that whole situation.....nobody chose that.

it's just what happened....actually.

you can't go back and re write it. it happened. and we weren't getting who you wanted or who i wanted regardless.

and after all that "whatever it was that happened" happened, the pool got real shallow real quick.

it's no different, to me really, than how we got Dooley. situation dictated, and you get what you get.

i do think we got better than what we got in Dooley in 2010. how much? i'll let you know in 2021.

otherwise, this schtick about what we should have done....really doesn't matter, most all of your choices were removed once that whole schiano deal went south. cause that's who we were getting. not some pie in the sky coach that would make everyone happey.

nope. we went got someone that made EVERYONE angry. lol. then we fired err'r body and started over.....lol.
That is exactly right. We fell to taking a Pruitt the same way we fell to taking a Dooley, only Dooley at least had some head coaching experience to accompany his Saban tree connection and hereditary ties to SEC royalty. That aside, if I read someone puffing about how we got our top choice, first choice, best choice, whatever, without qualifying it with words such as yours ('situation dictated') then I may feel inclined to remind them how far we had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to come up with this last hire. or maybe I won't. We'll see.
 
I don't have a strong opinion on how Pruitt will turn out yet, but the whole "nobody wanted him" logic is both wrong and irrelevant.

Clemson didn't want Dabo Swinney. He was their fallback option when no one else wanted the job.

USC didn't want Pete Carroll. he was like their 5th option when no one else would take the job. The fact that "nobody wanted them" was pretty irrelevant there because Dabo and Pete Carroll are both top 5 coaches of this century.

And Miss State did want Pruitt. I don't know if they would've hired him, but he was certainly in their final 2 along with Moorhead. So it's not even completely true that nobody wanted Pruitt.

Like I said, I don't know how he'll turn out, but I've always thought worse case scenario is that Pruitt is like Muschamp: great DC, good recruiter, but just doesn't seem to be good at being a "head coach". Best case scenario is that he turns out like Dabo. And there's much space in-between those outcomes.

At a bare minimum, he's already better than Dooley.
Dooley went to a bowl game his first season. Just sayin'.
 
Normally I would agree with some of this but..
Given every candidate Fulmer looked at was an SEC defensive coordinator, and he hired the most successful one, appears you're just wrong. You don't have to like it, it may not work out, but Fulmer went straight for Pruitt. You spreading bullshiz doesn't change that.


Dayum and ouch
So you really believe Fulmer did not at least try to get us someone with head coaching experience who has had some success at the P5 level? Really?
 
So you really believe Fulmer did not at least try to get us someone with head coaching experience who has had some success at the P5 level? Really?

First time head coaches at Tennessee: Neyland, Dickey, Fulmer turned out pretty well ... Battle not so much. Previous head coaches hired by Tennessee: Majors, Kiffin, Dooley, Jones. I'd say the odds have been better when hiring promising assistant coaches. Since head coaches aren't born to the position, they all started out somewhere as an assistant. As far as evaluating a potential coach, I'll take Fulmer over anyone on this board or the last three ADs.
 
So you really believe Fulmer did not at least try to get us someone with head coaching experience who has had some success at the P5 level? Really?
Jake already did a fine job retelling the events that transpired and it had no impact with you. Would be a fool's errand to continue.
 
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So you really believe Fulmer did not at least try to get us someone with head coaching experience who has had some success at the P5 level? Really?
it was reported he was all in on Doren from NCSU and was helping currie with that process. i think he was supportive of Brohm, iirc? i think once Currie went rogue, fulmer was out of the loop, so i have no idea about what he thought about gundy or the pirate. i dont think he ever circled back around to any of those guys......

but i do know that his main 3 candidates were Mel Tucker, Jeremy Pruitt and kevin steele. now, did he talk to other P5 Head coaches while he was at the coaches conf? i'd be shocked if he didn't. i don't know that we ever got a "list" of folks he "spoke" with. i would imagine that had any of those conversations gotten past the warm fuzzy stage, we would have seen a leak or two.

when it came down to it, he had his list down to 3. 3 guys that wanted the job, and 3 guys that fulmer was comfortable with, and he hired who he thought was the best choice. i would be that if you got fulmer in a dark room and he was able to whisper in your ear, he'd tell you that none of those 3 candidates were his 1st choice either........

but everything that happened prior to that was part of the reason that we got to that point....and it just can't be ignored....

the revisionist history here is laughable. 1) no, pruitt was not THE first choice. 2) we weren't going to get who we wanted....from the jump......anyway.

imagine the conversations we'd be having if Currie was still here, and we hired Schiano and he went 5-7?

i'd argue we'd likely be further behind the 8 ball than we are right now simply because we'd have serious questions about the overall leadership of the athletic department and administration in general.

if you want a silver lining with all of this mess..........we ripped it off like a band aid 18 months ago, and it's in the rearview. and we've moved forward, with more stable leadership and a roster that's at least started to be rebuilt............the other good news here is that despite whatever misgivings one may have about pruitt, they're not sticking him off an island and leaving him w/out resources. he's getting everything he's asked for and everything he needs to be successful here from a resource standpoint.

everything else with football is TBD. but either you think the direction is better today than it was 2 years ago or you don't. and if you don't, i honestly can't think of a reason why..lol.

and that still doesn't guarantee that we'll get the results we all want. but personally, i feel better about our chances today than i ever did at any point in the past 8 years..........jmo....we'll know more at the end of 2021.
 
If you want to ignore what the fans wanted and whatever Currie did, that's your choice. It doesn't change the fact that nobody wanted Pruitt from the git. He's got a couple more seasons to turn this thing around and prove the doubters wrong, but he probably won't.
1. Who exactly did the fans want? Gruden....reportedly never even contacted. Schiano?.....believe that was put to rest, no? Mullen?....was never coming to Tennessee, was just waiting around to see if the Florida job was gonna open, and it did. Doeren?.....lol, nah.

2. Who cares if nobody else wanted Pruitt.....Fulmer did, as his first choice, and that’s who he got.

3. Definitely has 2 more years to turn it around, maybe/probably at least 3.....why do you presume he won’t be successful? Because you don’t like him?
 
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1. Who exactly did the fans want? Gruden....reportedly never even contacted. Schiano?.....believe that was put to rest, no? Mullen?....was never coming to Tennessee, was just waiting around to see if the Florida job was gonna open, and it did. Doeren?.....lol, nah.

2. Who cares if nobody else wanted Pruitt.....Fulmer did, as his first choice, and that’s who he got.

3. Definitely has 2 more years to turn it around, maybe/probably at least 3.....why do you presume he won’t be successful? Because you don’t like him?
i think as long as things dont totally implode, he gets 4 or 5 years. there's been a significant investment in this staff. they're going to get every opportunity to succeed. Fulmer knows/believes this rebuild is bigger than a 2 or 3 year turn around.....

but either way, we're not close to determining that, good or bad, yet.
 
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1. Who exactly did the fans want? Gruden....reportedly never even contacted. Schiano?.....believe that was put to rest, no? Mullen?....was never coming to Tennessee, was just waiting around to see if the Florida job was gonna open, and it did. Doeren?.....lol, nah.

2. Who cares if nobody else wanted Pruitt.....Fulmer did, as his first choice, and that’s who he got.

3. Definitely has 2 more years to turn it around, maybe/probably at least 3.....why do you presume he won’t be successful? Because you don’t like him?
Where do you get your info? Those text chains released between Mullen and Currie reveal that there was interest on Mullen's behalf in the Tennessee job... but when Scott Frost chose Nebraska and Chip Kelly chose UCLA over Florida, the UF AD moved on to Mullen. The Florida job was already open when Mullen and Currie were texting each other. Jim McElwain was fired before Butch Jones was. Chances are better than not, that if Florida had hired Chip Kelly, Mullen would currently be Tennessee's head coach and Currie would still be Tennessee's AD.
 
So you really believe Fulmer did not at least try to get us someone with head coaching experience who has had some success at the P5 level? Really?

The National Championship being our ultimate goal how many Coaches were out there with National Championship experience? I can't think of a single Coach we realistically had a chance to get that would have us in any better position after one year. If Pruitt doesn't work out the next Coach will face the same obstacles and criticism. We have dug this hole over the last decade or so and we are going to have to dig ourselves back out. They ain't an available Coach anywhere with a latter big enough to get us out in a couple of years. For the life of me I can't understand why some fans can't give the man a fair chance to do the job!
 
You can tell FB seasons getting close.

If you think we’re going 9-3 you’ve lost your mind. I hope to the sweet Lord you’re right but i think it’ll be a shock if we even pull off 6-6.
 
In general, the team got their butts kicked. Specific to the WR’s, Hammond had a nice game; 5 catches and a TD, Jefferson had 4 catches, Toney had a couple of big plays; 72 receiving yards on two catches.

Hard to point to much positive in that game, it was UF’s worst performance of the year. I assume that’s the reason you chose that game and ignored the 10 wins.

Don’t take my word for it, take everyone else’s. Most everyone is recognizing UF’s WR’s as among the best in the country and second in the SEC behind Bama. That position group is talented and deep.

I wouldn't call 175 yd's against freshman a dominating performance! What happened to your all American WR's against Missouri?

We lost to Georgia two weeks in a row.
 
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Where do you get your info? Those text chains released between Mullen and Currie reveal that there was interest on Mullen's behalf in the Tennessee job... but when Scott Frost chose Nebraska and Chip Kelly chose UCLA over Florida, the UF AD moved on to Mullen. The Florida job was already open when Mullen and Currie were texting each other. Jim McElwain was fired before Butch Jones was. Chances are better than not, that if Florida had hired Chip Kelly, Mullen would currently be Tennessee's head coach and Currie would still be Tennessee's AD.
Mullen had “interest” in Tennessee to the extent that it was maybe, maybe his fallback option if all his back-channeling efforts to get the Florida job had fallen through. Matter of fact, I’m not convinced Mullen wouldn’t have just stayed at MissSt had the Florida gig not worked out. Iirc, Mullen/Mullen’s agent responded to Currie once or twice until things heated up with Florida and then wouldn’t even return his texts. So no, Mullen was never coming to Tennessee.
 
"UT will be the most improved team in the SEC".....someday this will come true and can only hope it comes before players are paid above the table when CFA of old no longer exists !
 
Mullen had “interest” in Tennessee to the extent that it was maybe, maybe his fallback option if all his back-channeling efforts to get the Florida job had fallen through. Matter of fact, I’m not convinced Mullen wouldn’t have just stayed at MissSt had the Florida gig not worked out. Iirc, Mullen/Mullen’s agent responded to Currie once or twice until things heated up with Florida and then wouldn’t even return his texts. So no, Mullen was never coming to Tennessee.
This is flat out wrong. Those texts make it clear that there was mutual interest and more than just casual contact between the two parties. We have no way to know (and it no longer matters) what Mullen would have done if Florida had landed either Scott Frost or Chip Kelly. But for what it's worth, I do not believe for one minute that someone who was unaware that Jim McElwain was fired before Butch Jones, was in any way clued in to the back channel communications of Dan Mullen, his agent and of SEC Athletic Directors.
 
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This is flat out wrong. Those texts make it clear that there was mutual interest and more than just casual contact between the two parties. We have no way to know (and it no longer matters) what Mullen would have done if Florida had landed either Scott Frost or Chip Kelly. But for what it's worth, I do not believe for one minute that someone who was unaware that Jim McElwain was fired before Butch Jones, was in any way clued in to the back channel communications of Dan Mullen, his agent and of SEC Athletic Directors.
No, it’s not wrong at all. They texted a few times around the thanksgiving holiday/the Egg Bowl game vs Ole Miss and Currie was under the impression he would get to meet with Mullen....but before they could get face to face, Florida came calling and Mullen was gone. Mullen didn’t so much as meet with Currie or communicate with him to let him know he was going to Florida and wouldn’t be meeting with him, didn’t text him back.

Also, you don’t think Dan Mullen and his agent were working behind the scenes to inquire about and communicate his desire to be Florida’s next football coach? Alrighty then.....
 
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The most inproved team in the SEC sounds good, but will it flush? Unfortunately there are 13 other teams in the SEC Vying for the most improved crown as well
 
Mullen will win with Florida. They have more talented players and will destroy tenn this year. Tenn has beaten Florida 7 times in 30 yrs. So much for an east title let alone a natty. Pruitt was the only one willing to take the job so by default it wasnt a desired position. Mullen was smart to go where one can win. Just beat vandy then do it on a regular basis then you might be 11th or 12th best in the SEC. Always behind Alabama LSU. Georgia ect. Cant even beat missouri. Barely took out ETSU and the sunbelt conf. Pruitt will never take tenn to anything clise to a NC.
 

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