Vols trending Down (247 article)

[jakez4ut]

2016 will go down as the media bash year on UT.

I did see quite a few inconsistencies in this piece though that goes to show either a.) this journalist cherry picked quotes from his "sources" or b.) his sources aren't that close to the program.

1.) "Why would you lecture the media" - This person obviously has never watched a Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, Steve Spurrier or whoever that Oklahoma St. coach was that went off media's pressers.

2.) There were a lot of questions surrounding Lawson and his training program last year which was well documented on VolNation due to our significant amount of shoulder injuries. Don't make it out to think that we ran off some great S&C coach because him and Jones couldn't get along. There were significant issues and a change was needed.

3.) "Certain guys became team captains even though they didn't earn it" What the hell is this!!!!! Our captains for this year were JRM, Josh Dobbs, Cam Sutton and AK. Name one that didn't deserve it. The "source close to the team" on that one must have been some random dude walking out of a bar onto Cumberland.

It's easy in journalism to create the illusion of credible witnesses when their identities are held.

Does some change need to happen. Yes. Did we get out some bad apples. Yes. Did coach Jones' approach this last year of having a player led team work out the best. Probably Not but this is a method that has been used by several coaches. Do we need some change in some assistant coaching? I would say so. These are all growing pains that each coach will go through once they get to big boy football. The only thing you can do is look at the lessons learned and adapt.

To say that the Culture is a Disaster after all of the progress that has been made in this program in the last 4 years is pure negligence.

the coaches you mentioned in #2 have something that CBJ doesn't...credibility. when you're winning conf titles and national titles, you can get away with it. CBJ can't.

the media bashing UT has taken is a direct result of how CBJ portrays himself when in front of the media and fans. he's his own worst enemy in this regard.

the title of it being a "disaster" is probably overblown, and hte article has a narrative that it follows w/out question. but there's no real doubt that the culture took a punch to the gut this year.

 

[kid50]

Anyone else notice the shots at Kamara in the article?

I noticed this too. I was also wondering which freshman they were referring too. Has to be either Byrd or Warrior? I can't remember another freshman seeing significant snaps.

 

[triadvolfan]

I'm at the same spot

I'll also add that it does seem like a horribly timed article with yesterday's commitment though

An unnamed source told me there was an entire section on the negative impact this was having on recruiting that they had to delete.

 

[Aesius]

Why is Travis Haney looking for Click-bait? He is a well-respected ESPN writer. I would imagine that this probably wouldn't have came out had Butch not took off to Purdue right after Vandy.

Not a well-respected ESPN writer anymore. He got canned by them a few months ago.

 

[jakez4ut]

Can't agree with 11 wins this year but could meet you at 10-2.

But, to try and say we should have been 11-1 last year?? Thats laughable.

eh, before the season i would have agree with you.

but you look at how we lost the aTm game...that was totally winnable.

and no one, i mean no one, expected us to lose to Vandy and USCe this year.

looking back on team 120, you can definitely make an argument of 'what could have been' from a w/l standpoint.

because you could also look at how we won the GA and App st games and say we're just as close to 6-6 as we were to 11-1.

and that's kind of the issue.....

 

[Titan&Volfan4life]

That was something that was NOT fun to read at all...IF, and a big if, it's realistic at all.

The main thing I honestly believe right this minute is that the leaders of UT need to get up off their lazy, money grabbing butts and go hire Blackburn NOW and I mean today!

I think Blackburn can help buTch get everything back in order.

Blackburn can help get the right S&C people in place and working quickly.

He can also help buTch find and hire the right coaches on both sides of the ball that are also great recruiters and that's a must.

Blackburn also just might be the right man to help buTch get out of his own way so that he can trust his own coaching hires and allow his OC and DC to get their own coaching staffs together on the right page so that the entire Team is all pulling together.

I think buTch must learn to get the right coaching hires and then leave them alone and let them do their jobs and stop meddling so much and getting the coaches and players frustrated.

I still believe that IF we can get Blackburn here fast enough and he can help buTch take the next big step in his head coaching career and help him hire the right new coaches that we can get where all us fans want and believe we need to be.

The time to hire Blackburn is right damn NOW!!!

Get it done and lets get this thing turned back around in the right Championship direction!

VFL...GBO!!!

 

[volgr]

Until you realize nobody cared about Tennessee until last year, because of jones, in a long time can you understand what he's done.

Nobody cared about us because our own Administration didn't care about its' sports programs. Jones is just a symptom of a larger sickness within the UT Administration. You can white knight for Butch if you like, but it is a waste of time. He will fail again next year and we will see if the larger sickness within the Administration has been cured.

 

[FlyFishnVol]

The most telling quote to me was this one:

“Butch is not very comfortable in his own skin,” one source told us. “Until he has that, he’ll just never be a great coach. He’s not comfortable in his own skin in recruiting, play-calling, organization ...

“He’s great in a small setting, but he’s just not a comfortable guy.”

What the! is that suppose to mean? Can any sports writer just say something like that and be considered a Content Expert in physical, mental, social, environmental therapy? Are you the type of person that reads an article about miracle cures and because it says what you want to hear that it must be the truth?

The gullibility of fans on here is absolutely ridiculous. Anyone that reads an article from someone who majored in sports journalism and takes their opinions just because it matches your feelings is an idiot.

I equate this to all those infomercials on TV that come on after midnight........my god people, wake up and pull the curtain back on sports media.........they want you to believe they know what the heck is going on........and the crazy thing about it...........they don't have to prove it, YOU give them them that creditability just by reading and believing every word without any proof of their education or background......some of these people barely made it through college or played sports......man! what a world.......I went into the wrong profession, because there is plenty of weak minded people out there. By the way, I have some tree bark that will help grow hair and I need investors......send cash, no checks :crazy:

 

[jakez4ut]

That was something that was NOT fun to read at all...IF, and a big if, it's realistic at all.

The main thing I honestly believe right this minute is that the leaders of UT need to get up off their lazy, money grabbing butts and go hire Blackburn NOW and I mean today!

I think Blackburn can help buTch get everything back in order.

Blackburn can help get the right S&C people in place and working quickly.

He can also help buTch find and hire the right coaches on both sides of the ball that are also great recruiters and that's a must.

Blackburn also just might be the right man to help buTch get out of his own way so that he can trust his own coaching hires and allow his OC and DC to get their own coaching staffs together on the right page so that the entire Team is all pulling together.

I think buTch must learn to get the right coaching hires and then leave them alone and let them do their jobs and stop meddling so much and getting the coaches and players frustrated.

I still believe that IF we can get Blackburn here fast enough and he can help buTch take the next big step in his head coaching career and help him hire the right new coaches that we can get where all us fans want and believe we need to be.

The time to hire Blackburn is right damn NOW!!!

Get it done and lets get this thing turned back around in the right Championship direction!

VFL...GBO!!!

i think there's definitley some merit to the idea that Hart hasn't been exactly the best at holding Butch accountable along the way. i've always gotten the notion that Hart was just happy to be on the ride.

i think Blackburn can help Butch in ways Hart never could, or would.

 

[zjcvols]

Nothing a good S&C coach can't fix

 

[CMBVOL]

Hot garbage trying to kill the hype that Trey Smith commitment created. Bottomline don't believe everything you read.

 

[UTVolWarrior98]

Jesus, his own close friends even called him out....HIS OWN FRIENDS! One guy said "We weren't winning that football game against SC no matter what". WTF??! That is very disturbing and very odd. A freshman in particular not knowing basic D schemes because of lackadaisical effort in practice?? Really? This article sums up why we lost to SC and Vandy....we flat out are better than both of them and should have won. Its like the team is divided. All falls on Lyle. The guy actually questions himself and feels inferior to his OWN program lol What a complete utter joke!

Bottom line: He's in over his head and has no business running this proud, rich-in-tradition program. What a loser.

 

[volgr]

i think Blackburn can help Butch in ways Hart never could, or would.

Blackburn comes in too late to help Butch. Butch is on a one year contract. A good portion of fans are upset he is even getting a 5th year. Fail in that 5th year and Blackburn has no other choice but to can him next year.

 

[Top Gun]

Don't like any article that won't name the negative sources but names the positive one. One other thing and it's a pet peeve, I hate reading one sentence paragraph articles, it pure amateur hour

Exactly how I feel about this type of journalism. It could all be true, but a lot of it could also be out of context. It is obvious that CBJ seems perplexed and uncomfortable that Volnation had a meltdown after Vandy. The sad truth of the article was when someone said that a few of the higher recruited players could more or less get away with being lazy and have a disrupting voice. Maybe he was talking about only Hurd, but if there were more, then it will be hard to change.

 

[govols120]

1. Unnamed sources is how journalism works in cases like this. A lot of the people interviewed likely either work with/in the program; if they reveal their name, they can lose their job. Anonymity > losing your job.

2. Haney is a phenomenal reporter. Whether you like what it says or not doesn't make it true or false. Facts are facts, one way or the other.

 

[GoVols64]

I agree that the sources should be brave enough to stand up but reality is no one is losing their job for honor's sake; they would be a Benedict Arnold in the program and gone soon.

This does align with what we saw this year and I personally believe a lot of this is true. CBJ's himself even said he gave players too much control early. There is a dumpster fire in the program that is burning on the tinder of good intent. Good news is a lot of the arsonists are gone and we have a chance to recover with appropriate staff changes and Blackburn coming home.

As I said before, it is always easier to relax later than reign folks in after they have proven themselves incapable. I really hope CBJs gets these kids in shape and sets an example of leadership that shows the little things make the big things happen. Sounds like we were sleep walking and the results have shown it.

 

[jakez4ut]

Blackburn comes in too late to help Butch. Butch is on a one year contract. A good portion of fans are upset he is even getting a 5th year. Fail in that 5th year and Blackburn has no other choice but to can him next year.

if we really have to wait until June, when Hart officially retires, then i'm probably agreeing with you.

and if next year really goes south, there won't be much left to talk about....but if he goes 8-4 again, and i think that's the ceiling next year, i'll be shocked if he's not back in 2018. not saying i agree with that. but history has shown us that UT doesn't make that kind of change when you're posting winning records and going to bowl games.

we're not FL or GA that will fire a coach after an 8 or 9 win season....no matter what the trend of hte program is at the time. we had to wait an additional 3 years to can Fulmer, an additional year to can Dooley....so why would anyone think we're going to can Jones?

this program at the top cares about business....and business is good. period. if championships were the priority, we probably wouldn't have hired Dooley or Jones to begin with.

 

[BigorangeBoy]

1. Unnamed sources is how journalism works in cases like this. A lot of the people interviewed likely either work with/in the program; if they reveal their name, they can lose their job. Anonymity > losing your job.

2. Haney is a phenomenal reporter. Whether you like what it says or not doesn't make it true or false. Facts are facts, one way or the other.

Why was Haney fired from his other job?

 

[A-RodWiLks]

Article is pretty much dead on

 

[govols120]

Why was Haney fired from his other job?

He didn't share a reason but implied that it was due to ESPN restructuring the CFB department. Firing usually implies you ****ed up on the company's dime; this seems to be job cuts. ESPN is losing both online and TV subscribers at an alarming rate.

Adam Rittenberg basically does Haney's old job now and is fine, but is much more reliable for Big Ten rumors than SEC ones.

 

[VolSinceIwasborn]

I always take unnamed sources with a grain of salt BUT this makes a lot of since and matches the result on the field.

 

[sccshortstop]

Jesus, his own close friends even called him out....HIS OWN FRIENDS! One guy said "We weren't winning that football game against SC no matter what". WTF??! That is very disturbing and very odd. A freshman in particular not knowing basic D schemes because of lackadaisical effort in practice?? Really? This article sums up why we lost to SC and Vandy....we flat out are better than both of them and should have won. Its like the team is divided. All falls on Lyle. The guy actually questions himself and feels inferior to his OWN program lol What a complete utter joke!

Bottom line: He's in over his head and has no business running this proud, rich-in-tradition program. What a loser.

Yep!

 

[VolsNSkinsFan]

Why was Haney fired from his other job?

B/C ESPN is hemorrhaging money

 

[05_never_again]

The negativity towards the University of Tennessee from the media and voters has been going on long before Butch got here.

Look at us getting Trey yesterday. You hardly see a write up about it. Yet, if it was Alabama that would have got him you couldn't open a site without having to read it first.

Of course the negativity has been going on for awhile. Before Butch was 3 years of Dooley, 1 of Kiffin, and the last few mediocre years of Fulmer. Tennessee hasn't been consistently nationally relevant in over 15 years. Tennessee is a lot like Nebraska. Extremely passionate fans with high expectations, it has been so long since they've won titles that everybody else's reaction is "meh" to differing degrees. If Nebraska grabbed the ESPN #1 overall recruit, I don't think there would be a big hubbub over it either.

What reason has Tennessee given non-Tennessee fans and the media to pay a lot of attention to a nice recruiting get? Let's start winning titles with these recruits and people will notice. Until then we are just a tease.

 

[fade route]

Can't agree with 11 wins this year but could meet you at 10-2.

But, to try and say we should have been 11-1 last year?? Thats laughable.

Really?? Lost to A&M in OT after we coughed it up 7 times, lost to 2 dogs in SC and Vandy. There's your 11-1.


Edit - you meant 11-1 in 2015. My bad