Why is everyone so optimistic about Pruitt and his staff?

#26
#26
gcf_VFL said:
I bet Santa never brings what you want! Have you ever thought, maybe Santa is not the problem?

Pruitt bringing top-notch staff to Tennessee

Vols, Pruitt raiding SEC rival for key staff hire
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I am not debating the fact that these coaches did well in their previous roles, nor am I debating their ability to recruit. I am asking questions like "Pruitt was a great defensive coordinator, but can he be a good head coach?" and "Kevin Sherrer was a great linebackers coach, but can he be a good defensive coordinator?" We are going to have guys with little to no experience at HC, OC, and DC. That is cause for concern! You can say all these guys were good in their previous roles at their old schools, but it doesnt tell me anything about their ability to perform well in their new roles at UT.
 
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#28
#28
Longsufferingvol said:
I am not debating the fact that these coaches did well in their previous roles, nor am I debating their ability to recruit. I am asking questions like "Pruitt was a great defensive coordinator, but can he be a good head coach?" and "Kevin Sherrer was a great linebackers coach, but can he be a good defensive coordinator?" We are going to have guys with little to no experience at HC, OC, and DC. That is cause for concern! You can say all these guys were good in their previous roles at their old schools, but it doesnt tell me anything about their ability to perform well in their new roles at UT.
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Exactly. They are very green. We all need to prepare ourselves for possible bad game day decisions like we have never seen before.

Edited to add: I hope I am wrong but this is not high school - this is the SEC. If you don't have experience at the three key coaching positions - that has a higher chance of things not going well. Lots of "on the job training" with this staff.
 
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#29
#29
TAF said:
1427752096-shep.gif
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Fulmer sheep!
 
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#30
#30
Has any one paused to think that the problems w/ UT football (& all athletics) over the last decade hasn’t necessarily been 100% the coaches fault? Prior to Fulmer, our last 3 athletic directors didn’t have an athletic bone in their bodies, they simply had business degrees in the pockets. Coaching has been reflective of the leadership over them, honestly I look for a lot of improvement w/ Fulmer as the AD, not just for football, but all UT athletics. He’s a leader that knows what it means to compete & what it takes to compete.
 
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#31
#31
DrTNT said:
Has any one paused to think that the problems w/ UT football (& all athletics) over the last decade hasn’t necessarily been 100% the coaches fault? Prior to Fulmer, our last 3 athletic directors didn’t have an athletic bone in their bodies, they simply had business degrees in the pockets. Coaching has been reflective of the leadership over them, honestly I look for a lot of improvement w/ Fulmer as the AD, not just for football, but all UT athletics. He’s a leader that knows what it means to compete & what it takes to compete.
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I don't. Fulmer was let go for a reason. Also college football has changed drastically in the last 10 years.

I remember folks bashing the OC hire of MD because he had been out of college football for 2 years. Yet they give Fulmer, who has been out for 10 years the benefit of the doubt.

Sheep are running rampant right now.
 
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#32
#32
No different than the mopes who witch and moan over his hire proclaiming him a failure before he's coached his first game. No one....no one...knows what kind of coach Pruitt will be. No one knows how this staff will mesh with each other or the team. No one knows what kind of recruiting this staff can accomplish with the time needed to cultivate relationships. No one knows what this staff will be able to accomplish with the current roster.

What we do know is that what we had wasn't working. We do know that players didn't develop. We do know we weren't going to be serious players in the east under Butch. This guy has the mentors. He's seen and helped develop a championship mindset and locker room. He's reportedly an intense, fiery competitor. If the saying that a team is a reflection of the coach is true, I think we are far better off under Pruitt than Butch. He deserves a few year to get this listing ship back on course. Of course, the first loss or if we don't contend for the east in his first season with all this great talent that Butch left him, twits on this and other boards will crow about how they told us he was a failure and the BS talk about a hot seat will be flowing. Just the spoiled, entitled culture we live in today.

Personally, I hope we might have hired our next long term, legendary coach to go with majors and Fulmer. I'm so damned sick of change and the thought of a coaching search....again....that he's got a free pass from me until he graduates his first class and that will be next years class not this one. Need at least a 4-5 year break from hearing the cursed name of Gruden again. Makes me ill just typing it.
 
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#33
#33
CAVPUT said:
a
.that he's got a free pass from me until he graduates his first class and that will be next years class not this one. Need at least a 4-5 year break from hearing the cursed name of Gruden again. Makes me ill just typing it.
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He does not have a free pass from me. If it takes 4 to 5 years, he will be gone year 3 or 4.

Here is the deal - there are 3 games we lost last year that we could have won. Had we won those - we are 7-5 and we probably keep the previous staff, keep the 2018 class in tact and all of us are looking forward to a really really good season next year.

And if you remember last year was almost a complete turn over on staff with a lot of coaches brought together that had not worked together before. How did that work out?

Where are we at now? Making excuses to justify the firing and making excuses for the next coach.

It is time to stop making excuses.
 
#34
#34
Longsufferingvol said:
I am glad the disaster of a coaching search is over like everyone else, but I am not completely sold on Pruitt and the staff. From where I am standing, we will have a head coach who has never been in that role before, an offensive coordinator who did not call plays at his last job, and a defensive coordinator who was a position coach last year. What could possibly go wrong with that combination? :crazy: Does the name Larry Scott or Sal Sunseri ring any bells? I can handle hiring a rookie head coach, but the combination of inexperience at all three of the most important positions of the coaching staff is cause for concern. Butch was criticized for hiring his buddies to his own detriment, so what do you make of these moves by Pruitt? He got his first opportunity to be a head coach and he put the future of Tennessee football in the hands of his inexperienced buddies. He hopes it will all work out, but if it doesnt he can go back to Bama and Tennessee will continue to suck.
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Fulmer, that's why. Ever since Phil moved into the AD's office. anybody hired by him is the perfect man for the job. And anyone HE hires must have been selected with his blessed approval. And all they do will be under his watchful eye and guided by his infinite wisdom.

There is your why. Now turn in your hymnals to number 327, "Oh. How I love Fulmer" We will sing all 4 verses.
 
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#35
#35
volfan102455 said:
He does not have a free pass from me. If it takes 4 to 5 years, he will be gone year 3 or 4.

Here is the deal - there are 3 games we lost last year that we could have won. Had we won those - we are 7-5 and we probably keep the previous staff, keep the 2018 class in tact and all of us are looking forward to a really really good season next year.

And if you remember last year was almost a complete turn over on staff with a lot of coaches brought together that had not worked together before. How did that work out?

Where are we at now? Making excuses to justify the firing and making excuses for the next coach.

It is time to stop making excuses.
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Butch coached how many years? Butch graduated his first class which included Dobbs, Sutton, Wiesman, Foreman and JRM. Once they moved on we judged Jones on the team he built and has now left us with. It had 8 losses. If Pruitt does the same, we make a move. Butch made his hires, fires and rehires....and the results were dismal and last place in the sec east.

Rational minds know there's a lot of work needed to rebuild this program. Our biggest deficiencies are on the LOS. You don't plug in freshmen at those positions and win in the SEC. They take time to develop physically. Takes time to build depth. Takes time for strength and conditioning. Takes time to the staff to change the culture. This isn't a damned PlayStation game. You see all this as an excuse. BS. It's reality and no amount of whining, complaining and throwing of tantrums calling for hot seats and firing will change that. Barring some sort of moral or ethical violation, Pruiit deserves time to turn over this roster, instill his culture and put his product on the field. Won't happen overnight, but we should see gradual changes as we go along.
 
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#36
#36
Initially I wasn’t excited about this hire. But, as he continues to add to his staff, I find myself cautiously optimistic. Maybe he’s like Fulmer was. Fulmer hadn’t been a head coach at this level before he took over, but he had been around a good system long enough to know how to do it right. I think Pruitt will surprise us.

And even if he turns out to be a lousy coach, at least he wasn’t alleged to have turned a blind eye to pefophelia.
 
#37
#37
i2amavol said:
Well, for starters, I don't think his DC needs to have experience at that position so much, because Pruitt (an experienced DC) will have a lot of say so on that side of the ball. You may have a better case on offense.

My optimism comes from the fact that he seems to have a plan, and has so far been able to implement it with very few hickups. He seems to be getting what he has wanted on his staff, and I think recruits are listening to him as well.

He has apparently told two QB's that they can find another place to play. Some may see this as a bad sign, but again, I think he has a plan and is confident that he can make it work.

He appears to be cherry picking staff from other SEC schools, which has it's benefits, including the highly regarded GM from LSU.

He also appears to be laying a foundation of having more support staff than TN is accustomed to having. This is the Alabama model, and if we want to compete with them, we may have to start with mimicking them in this area.

All this may be for naught if he fails to change things with Strength and Conditioning, or if he cannot teach the players or implement a good game plan. However, all we can go on is what he has done in one week, which I think is cause for lots of optimism.
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So a plan is all that's needed?


Other than just being a fan and a optimist, OP's question is valid as this staff should scare most UT fans to death.

If any of our rivals were putting together a staff this inexperienced, the same group on here that our touting them as the next Kirby Smart/Nick Saban/Robert Neyland/John Heisman/Bear Bryant or whomever, would be laughing their asses off at them.

While I'm praying they work wonders here my gut tells me that the Big Orange faithful haven't seen the bottom of our fall from Fulmer yet.
 
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#38
#38
Maybe because these coaches/recruiters have proven themselves in some capacity at successful programs, while nothing is a given there is reason to be extremely excited for our future!
 
#39
#39
CAVPUT said:
Butch coached how many years? Butch graduated his first class which included Dobbs, Sutton, Wiesman, Foreman and JRM. Once they moved on we judged Jones on the team he built and has now left us with. It had 8 losses. If Pruitt does the same, we make a move. Butch made his hires, fires and rehires....and the results were dismal and last place in the sec east.

Rational minds know there's a lot of work needed to rebuild this program. Our biggest deficiencies are on the LOS. You don't plug in freshmen at those positions and win in the SEC. They take time to develop physically. Takes time to build depth. Takes time for strength and conditioning. Takes time to the staff to change the culture. This isn't a damned PlayStation game. You see all this as an excuse. BS. It's reality and no amount of whining, complaining and throwing of tantrums calling for hot seats and firing will change that. Barring some sort of moral or ethical violation, Pruiit deserves time to turn over this roster, instill his culture and put his product on the field. Won't happen overnight, but we should see gradual changes as we go along.
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BS BS BS

This program doesn't need rebuilding regardless of what the ones making excuses have to say. They need to be healthy and stay healthy. No more than that and this team will have plenty of talent.

No whether the first-timers can work together well enough to coach them up remains to be seen. But rational minds know that when you have a guy who has never been HC before, a guy who didn't call plays at his last job and a guy who hasn't been a DC before in those positions, the results are very likely to be very bad.
 
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#40
#40
davethevol said:
Initially I wasn’t excited about this hire. But, as he continues to add to his staff, I find myself cautiously optimistic. Maybe he’s like Fulmer was. Fulmer hadn’t been a head coach at this level before he took over, but he had been around a good system long enough to know how to do it right. I think Pruitt will surprise us.

And even if he turns out to be a lousy coach, at least he wasn’t alleged to have turned a blind eye to pefophelia.
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That's the point. We just don't know what we have with Pruitt. He's going to have an adjustment to make and lessons to learn as a head coach. Only way he learns is by doing. There will be mistakes. He needs time. So much to learn and build. If he's a solid man and the kids connect to him, we will have a guy we can hold on and grow with. The problem will be the fans and expectations....again. Think the Clemson folks are glad they gave Dabo a shot and stuck with him? Think Bama fans are happy Rich fell through and they "settled" for Saban? You never know but haste makes waste. Better cool the hot seat BS. Bottom line....you can't build anything if you're constantly tearing things down and starting over. Let Pruitt rebuild this thing. Don't go nuts if we don't contend in year 1, 2 or even 3. Just keep grinding and growing as a team and a head coach. Fans need to get behind the program and all pull together as Pruitt said. He's heen a part of it at FSU and Bama. Guess he might know better what winning at that level would take than all of us armchair coaches on this board. That's my hope anyway.
 
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#41
#41
GetYouSomeofThat said:
BS BS BS

This program doesn't need rebuilding regardless of what the ones making excuses have to say. They need to be healthy and stay healthy. No more than that and this team will have plenty of talent.

No whether the first-timers can work together well enough to coach them up remains to be seen. But rational minds know that when you have a guy who has never been HC before, a guy who didn't call plays at his last job and a guy who hasn't been a DC before in those positions, the results are very likely to be very bad.
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Right on cue....the perfect example of the unrealistic, entitled fan I was referring to. THE problem in a nutshell.
 
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#44
#44
volfan102455 said:
He does not have a free pass from me. If it takes 4 to 5 years, he will be gone year 3 or 4.

Here is the deal - there are 3 games we lost last year that we could have won. Had we won those - we are 7-5 and we probably keep the previous staff, keep the 2018 class in tact and all of us are looking forward to a really really good season next year.

And if you remember last year was almost a complete turn over on staff with a lot of coaches brought together that had not worked together before. How did that work out?

Where are we at now? Making excuses to justify the firing and making excuses for the next coach.

It is time to stop making excuses.
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I haven’t read any “excuses”. They haven’t coached a freaking GAME yet. :)
 
#45
#45
TNnative said:
Fulmer, that's why. Ever since Phil moved into the AD's office. anybody hired by him is the perfect man for the job. And anyone HE hires must have been selected with his blessed approval. And all they do will be under his watchful eye and guided by his infinite wisdom.

There is your why. Now turn in your hymnals to number 327, "Oh. How I love Fulmer" We will sing all 4 verses.
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You definitely have a narrative. Ride that thing til it quits breathing so much! :aggressive:
 
#46
#46
OnlyGodForgives said:
Absolute desperation to be able to say they root for a winner. The health of so many egos tied to the performance of kids they'll never meet and who could not care less about them. Ie, fandom.
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There we have the view from Heaven Above, looking down upon we poor, pitiful ignoramuses.

Thanks for clearing it up.
 
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#48
#48
BigOrangeTrain said:
Whats wrong with showing excitement for a new coach? Some fans will set unreal expectations sure, but that would happen who ever we got.

If Pruitt doesnt work out, then we will be back to the drawing board again. Head coaches are crap shoots. There are only a few cannot miss guys. And Leavh and Kiffin arent on that extremely small list.
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Your funny BOT. You will be one of the first on here calling for his head. Lol
 
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