Where the down fall began and why fans are never happy

#1
WesternNCVol

WesternNCVol

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#1
The firing of Fulmer.

This is where things started. Recruiting was taking a dip, coaches got complacent, Florida and Bama hired top notch coaches, and we fell off a bit. Instead of privately firing Fulmer and allowing him to "retire" publicly, UT dumped him on his face. This was bad PR in the coaching ranks. No good coach will follow that. Fulmer was a class act and VFL. I agree it was time for a change but it was grossly mishandled.

The hiring of Kiffen.

This guy was the polar opposite of Fulmer. He was flashy and a breath of fresh air. He was also a snake in the grass and used us to get what he wanted. He was not head coach material at the time. I think he might be now, but will never be elite. He is an elite coordinator.

Dumped in the night.

Kiffen ran out in the middle of the night and we made a desperate move.

We hired Dooley. Yep, he's got the name of a famous coach but not the skills. He could recruit and coach a WR and could say some funny stuff in a press conference. His sorry but couldn't coach though. He drove the bus off the cliff.

This poisoned the water for good in many coaches eyes.

They saw UT as a place with unreasonable expectations and low pay. They saw no talent on the roster. They saw VFL's not backing the program. No one wanted the job.

Along came Butch.

He took the job as it was a huge step up. He's a salesman. He can recruit. He's a players coach. Almost to a fault.

He has stocked the roster with talent. He has fixed the broken relationships with Fulmer and VFL's. He's improved the team.

Fans are now torn. The want what they had in the good Fulmer days minus the Fulmer. Some want the excitement and flash of Kiffen. No one wants Dooley. Well, maybe the guys that sit in on press conferences. But, no one else.

Butch is not getting fired this year. He's not guaranteed anything long term either.

I hope he turns this team in to a powerhouse and everyone else should too. If not, and we fall off big time we will show him the door.

Lots of big schools are coach hunting and the market isn't great.

Enjoy the season guys. It doesn't last long. It's been a fun one minus 3 games. Hell, the A and M game was fun until we lost.

Football is a game. If you hate it that bad get a good hobby, enjoy the family more, walk away. Don't get so worked up. If you donate money and buy seats then enjoy them because many people can't. If you don't like the product, don't buy it. Someone else will take your spot.

Go Vols. Beat Vandy.
 
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#2
#2
Unfortunately Fulmer would have never "privately" retired.

I remember a year or two before he was fired the division as already coming to a head, something like 70+ former players (including Manning) pitched in to take out a full page ad in the major Knoxville newspaper to show their support for Phil.

Unfortunately the fall began before Fulmer was fired.

I agree that our administration mis handheld it severely. Fulmer should have been one of those instances where his replacement (not Kiffin) was hired first, and then he was informed privately first, and subsequently let go.

Other than that tid-bit I agree with you. Great post.

Put some Sugar in your Orange Kool-Aid negavols.

Beat Candy, Shoop has a month to prepare & earns his paycheck as we upset someone in the Bowl.

10-3 = progress & improvement.

2017 Vols even better.
 
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#3
#3
No it's not.

It's the fact that we want better and Butch had his chances to show he's a championships coach and pissed it away twice.
 
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#4
#4
Tennessee was trash by the time Fulmer was fired. Even the year before, the team wasn't really all that good. Tennessee needed a fair amount of luck to beat South Carolina, Vanderbilt, and Kentucky to make it to Atlanta. The team was also **** on the road. Fulmer was done. He was never winning the SEC again, and after Cutcliffe left the second time, it was just ugly.
 
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#5
#5
MemphisVol77 said:
Unfortunately Fulmer would have never "privately" retired.

I remember a year or two before he was fired the division as already coming to a head, something like 70+ former players (including Manning) pitched in to take out a full page ad in the major Knoxville newspaper to show their support for Phil.

Unfortunately the fall began before Fulmer was fired.

I agree that our administration mis handheld it severely. Fulmer should have been one of those instances where his replacement (not Kiffin) was hired first, and then he was informed privately first, and subsequently let go.

Other than that tid-bit I agree with you. Great post.

Put some Sugar in your Orange Kool-Aid negavols.

Beat Candy, Shoop has a month to prepare & earns his paycheck as we upset someone in the Bowl.

10-3 = progress & improvement.

2017 Vols even better.
Click to expand...

Shoop has had an entire season, full squads and bleak squads and he still sucks.

If the same vandy teams shows up that beat Ole Miss Vols lose by 2 scores.
 
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#6
#6
tvolsfan said:
Tennessee was trash by the time Fulmer was fired. Even the year before, the team wasn't really all that good. Tennessee needed a fair amount of luck to beat South Carolina, Vanderbilt, and Kentucky to make it to Atlanta. The team was also **** on the road. Fulmer was done. He was never winning the SEC again, and after Cutcliffe left the second time, it was just ugly.
Click to expand...

Cut saw the writing on the wall and bailed.
 
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#8
#8
Who do you want? Freeze, Sumlin, Malzahn, Smart, oh maybe Tom Herman sorry the other UT is busy writing him a Saban type deal as we post. Petrino isn't the answer. So what do us Vol fans want? Lil Nick? Maybe we could throw the checkbook at Franklin or Gruden... We don't have a checkbook it was used to buy the Browns. Peyton loves the Vols but he's not going to put his account behind a fickle fan base. Come on guys... Be real
 
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#9
#9
I see folks willing to now accept less than what folks expected this year. The op is right that folks are always in line to take the place of the burn out. I think if CBJ could recruit a Peyton class QB things could be more competitive. I'm not sure he'll make coaching changes but he should.
 
#10
#10
MFL said:
I see folks willing to now accept less than what folks expected this year. The op is right that folks are always in line to take the place of the burn out. I think if CBJ could recruit a Peyton class QB things could be more competitive. I'm not sure he'll make coaching changes but he should.
Click to expand...

Your right he won't he's already proven that.
That will eventually be his downfall.
Les Miles all over again.
 
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#11
#11
ConMan said:
Who do you want? Freeze, Sumlin, Malzahn, Smart, oh maybe Tom Herman sorry the other UT is busy writing him a Saban type deal as we post. Petrino isn't the answer. So what do us Vol fans want? Lil Nick? Maybe we could throw the checkbook at Franklin or Gruden... We don't have a checkbook it was used to buy the Browns. Peyton loves the Vols but he's not going to put his account behind a fickle fan base. Come on guys... Be real
Click to expand...

I want someone who doesn't Butch Jones and lose to teams he shouldn't year after year.

Or better yet win the division when it's the worst it's been in years. He can't win it with a good team he can't back into it this year. He's not a championship coach
 
#12
#12
tvolsfan said:
Tennessee was trash by the time Fulmer was fired. Even the year before, the team wasn't really all that good. Tennessee needed a fair amount of luck to beat South Carolina, Vanderbilt, and Kentucky to make it to Atlanta. The team was also **** on the road. Fulmer was done. He was never winning the SEC again, and after Cutcliffe left the second time, it was just ugly.
Click to expand...

Lol, trash? We played for an SEC championship the year before he was fired! Try again
 
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#13
#13
MFL said:
I see folks willing to now accept less than what folks expected this year. The op is right that folks are always in line to take the place of the burn out. I think if CBJ could recruit a Peyton class QB things could be more competitive. I'm not sure he'll make coaching changes but he should.
Click to expand...

Expected by whom? The media? Sportswriters? The fire Butch crowd?

Who cares what they expected? The results aren't as fast as I'd like, but the W-L record has improved every year.

Until the results gets worse Butch is our coach.
 
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#18
#18
Dudleys87 said:
No it's not.

It's the fact that we want better and Butch had his chances to show he's a championships coach and pissed it away twice.
Click to expand...

Anyone who thinks we should have won the SEC last year is delusional. I expected us to compete for the SEC East, and we did.

Anyone who thought we would win the SEC this year is still delusional, though less so. I expected us to be the favorites to win the East, and we were.

This season is disappointing, but we were not going to "win a championship" this year without a lot of luck.
 
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#19
#19
Dudleys87 said:
No it's not.

It's the fact that we want better and Butch had his chances to show he's a championships coach and pissed it away twice.
Click to expand...


Do you just sit around all day & post the same thing over & over again in every thread on here? We're all disappointed, get over yourself though. It really gets old & accomplishes nothing.
 
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#20
#20
Dudleys87 said:
I want someone who doesn't Butch Jones and lose to teams he shouldn't year after year.

Or better yet win the division when it's the worst it's been in years. He can't win it with a good team he can't back into it this year. He's not a championship coach
Click to expand...

the big guy isn't coming back just to coach football....so, appears you really don't want anyone. Every coach...yes, every one of them lose a game each year they shouldn't...Saban, Meyer, Herman, McElwain, et.al.
 
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#21
#21
ajvol01 said:
Expected by whom? The media? Sportswriters? The fire Butch crowd?

Who cares what they expected? The results aren't as fast as I'd like, but the W-L record has improved every year.

Until the results gets worse Butch is our coach.
Click to expand...
Hasn't improved yet, some of you are really discounting Vandy and booking flights to NOLA. Winning the east was the goal this year, the east was terrible even you must admit that. Losses to aTm and Bama were expected but to put in all that work to come off a bye week and sh!t the bed against South Carolina was down right bad. Theres no sugar coating what happened that night nor is there an excuse that I would be willing to except. The east will gradually improve and I'm afraid Tennessee is going to be a middle of the pack team with this staff. Not to discount anything Jones has done here because he has done some good things but when it comes down to Saturday's he falls short. I believe hes reached his full potential in this conference, is Tennessee going to find another Saban? No but next year will bring a new year of hot commodities and Tennessee will have its choice. May happen sooner than you think and I dont mean Jones will be fired, I think he pulls a Cuonzo.
 
#22
#22
BanditVol said:
Anyone who thinks we should have won the SEC last year is delusional. I expected us to compete for the SEC East, and we did.

Anyone who thought we would win the SEC this year is still delusional, though less so. I expected us to be the favorites to win the East, and we were.

This season is disappointing, but we were not going to "win a championship" this year without a lot of luck.
Click to expand...

You dont think Tennessee should have won the east this year?
 
#23
#23
Dudleys87 said:
I want someone who doesn't Butch Jones and lose to teams he shouldn't year after year.

Or better yet win the division when it's the worst it's been in years. He can't win it with a good team he can't back into it this year. He's not a championship coach
Click to expand...

I'm right there with you, but show me a sure- fire coach to come do it, is all I'm saying
 
#24
#24
The downfall started right after we won the title in 98. Fulmer gained too much power and influence. Got complacent. Already was stubborn and loyal to a fault. Didn't change with a changing league. By the time he got fired Tennessee didn't have a Oline and little talent left in the roster. We were getting our doors blown off by our rivals. Tennessee was guilty of
Not firing him soon enough


Then there was Mike Hamilton, who kept rewarding Fulmer for failure and botched his firing. There was no benefit by firing Fulmer in season. He deserved to finish the season out. Then the Kiffin fiasco. Instead of just letting Kippy coach in 2010. We make a rush hire and end up with the Dooley error.

So now here we are 4 years deep into another hire that looks to be just a matter of time. I don't think Jones will change much of anything he's doing. His best hope is the JG kid is as good as everyone is making him out to be. He can help hide Jones's flaws because there are plenty.
 
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#25
#25
Dudleys87 said:
No it's not.

It's the fact that we want better and Butch had his chances to show he's a championships coach and pissed it away twice.
Click to expand...

Who would you suggest we hire that will do better than Butch? And be realistic, no Saban, Meyer, Tom Herman, Jimbo or Gruden. None of those are ever going to happen.
And I am being serious, who out there would be a home run hire?
 
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