When did the slide begin?

#77
#77
Vol423 said:
#1 is the correct answer, but I'm actually wondering if you realize exactly when that happened. It was the 1998 National Championship Game (The 1999 Fiesta Bowl). Pretty ironic, huh?
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That was going to be my post. I think it's like the stock market. The decline starts directly after the peak.
 
#78
#78
The problem with that is that Fulmer won a ton of games from 93-97 and really even in the early 2000s with players that Garner didn't recruit. Not saying that you don't have a valid point, but IMO it has a lot more to do with head coaching changes across the league than any single assistant coach.
 
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#79
#79
GAVol said:
The problem with that is that Fulmer won a ton of games from 93-97 and really even in the early 2000s with players that Garner didn't recruit. Not saying that you don't have a valid point, but IMO it has a lot more to do with head coaching changes across the league than any single assistant coach.
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Coach majors didn't exactly leave the cupboard bare either. Phil was great in the 90's thats about all that can be said.
 
#80
#80
GAVol said:
I'm just telling you what I know to be true.
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Just because they put in some time doesn't make them relevant. How many great players out of Georgia did those two ever get without Rodney there doing the heavy lifting? Fulmer would have essentially had Jim Donnan's career without Rodney Garner.
 
#81
#81
hatvol96 said:
Fulmer would have essentially had Jim Donnan's career without Rodney Garner.
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You could be right about that. There's definitely a fine line between landing good talent and landing elite talent.
 
#83
#83
Donnan probably got a raw deal at UGA. He took a program that Ray Goff had nuked back 20 years and had them winning 8+ every year.
 
#84
#84
GAVol said:
The second that Georgia finally got their act together and hired a head coach that could seal the borders and keep us from cherry picking talent. Then, to a lesser degree, Auburn, South Carolina and now Alabama followed suit.

You have to wonder if, in today's world, Jamal Lewis, Cosey Coleman, Deon Grant, Albert Haynesworth and Tee Martin end up in Knoxvile.
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This is IMO at least 1 of the primary factors, SEC camps shutting down their states to outsiders. I'd add the Texas/Oklahoma area would not only reduce UT's recruiting expenses....theres a ton of talent out here. Look at overflow schools like Tulsa who have talent that would look great in an orange jersey. Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas can't dress em all out.
 
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#85
#85
GAVol said:
Donnan probably got a raw deal at UGA. He took a program that Ray Goff had nuked back 20 years and had them winning 8+ every year.
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I've been a bit surprised that NC State hasn't taken a run at Donnan either of the times that job has been open recently.
 
#86
#86
Tennessee's slide was not caused by any one event. It wasn't hiring Randy Sanders, it wasn't losing to LSU in the championship game, it wasn't a couple of bad recruiting classes.

It was a failure to adjust to a rapidly changing conference. Fulmer specifically and Tennessee generally had the opportunity, in the wake of Spurrier's departure, to conquer the SEC and become what Florida had been in the 90s. It was all laid out before them for the taking. By and large, they failed to capitalize.

As others have pointed out, the coaching talent accumulated at what had become some of the real underachievers of the SEC (LSU and Georgia particularly) changed the game. The coaching staff stuck to what worked in the 90s. That, more than all else, is the cause of Tennessee's woes.
 
#87
#87
GoBigOrange86 said:
particularly) The coaching staff stuck to what worked in the 90s. That, more than all else, is the cause of Tennessee's woes.
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as i am watching the 95 uga game on classic, i agree. couple that with fulmer being a little too loyal and not adapting like you said, is the perfect recipe for complacency and downturn.
 
#88
#88
I'm going to take a different approach on this. Sure we were "sliding" in the early 2000's but yet we were still always ranked in the top 15, we just weren't going to BCS bowl games.

Our current "fall" from the National Scene started in 2004 when Ainge was injured against Notre Dame. Ainge looked better than Peyton Manning did as a freshman and we were slowly creeping up the rankings.

If Ainge was never hurt on that BOGUS play call by Fulmer right before halftime then the whole Rick Clausen dilema NEVER happens, thus 2005 probally NEVER happens, and so on and so on and so on.
 
#89
#89
My feelings....the slide began when Phil got a bit too full of himself and stopped producing nasty offensive linemen.
 
#91
#91
ainge was definitely a different QB after that injury. my boss kept saying that over and over (bammer) and i didn't want to admit it. i think he spent most of the rest of his career trying to avoid an injury like that one. i actually think we started sliding earlier than that, especially when you look at the attrition with few of our recruiting classes. a lot of guys were either plain ol' busts, or got kicked off or transferred.
 
#92
#92
GAVol said:
No way of knowing.
Who's to say whether they would have come to Knoxville anyway? Sanders and Brooks were big time involved in the recruitment of Coleman, Grant and Lewis.
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Actually, Lewis not going to Georgia had more to do with Jasper Sanks and Musa Smith than anyones recruiting at Tennessee.
 
#94
#94
ole_orange said:
Our current "fall" from the National Scene started in 2004 when Ainge was injured against Notre Dame. Ainge looked better than Peyton Manning did as a freshman and we were slowly creeping up the rankings.

If Ainge was never hurt on that BOGUS play call by Fulmer right before halftime then the whole Rick Clausen dilema NEVER happens, thus 2005 probally NEVER happens, and so on and so on and so on.
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I've never bought into any of that.
 
#95
#95
ole_orange said:
I'm going to take a different approach on this. Sure we were "sliding" in the early 2000's but yet we were still always ranked in the top 15, we just weren't going to BCS bowl games.

Our current "fall" from the National Scene started in 2004 when Ainge was injured against Notre Dame. Ainge looked better than Peyton Manning did as a freshman and we were slowly creeping up the rankings.

If Ainge was never hurt on that BOGUS play call by Fulmer right before halftime then the whole Rick Clausen dilema NEVER happens, thus 2005 probally NEVER happens, and so on and so on and so on.
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if you watch the replays, the biggest issue with that play (a hail mary call before 1/2 time isnt too out of the ordinary in college) was that the center - i believe it was david ligon at the time - snapped the ball while ainge had his head turned to the side (meaning that he snapped it at the wrong time) and on top of that he snapped it down low around ainge's feet.
 
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#96
#96
g8terh8ter_eric said:
Stop for a second and ask yourself, when did this all start going wrong?? I found myself asking this very question today after thinking about the past 10 years or so. Honestly, I can't pick just one so here's where I think we started the downhill trend....

1. Randy Sanders promoted to OC. Sure, he's was a good position coach here at UT but this move just didn't make sense. It also made me wonder if Phil was really calling the plays until we just didn't have the talent anymore to make it look better.

2. Stallworth's dropped TD passes in the 01 SECCG. Sure, this maybe a reach BUT we haven't played well in Atlanta on both sides of the ball since the first half of that game.

3. The recruiting classes from 2002 and 2003. Very overrated, even though they had their studs. Tough to play a game in the SEC with so many busts that came from those classes. I believe these classes still haunt us somewhat.

4. Trooper Taylor. Sure he can give chest bumps, but I can honestly admit that I was wrong and talent made him look better than advertised. That being said though, his WR core from last season definitely was made into something bigger than it really was. Ainge made that group look great when there wasn't really that much talent there besides Gerald Jones and Lucas Taylor.

I'm sure I could come up with more, but that's all I have right now.
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One second after the NC game.
 
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