Would you trade Heup for any of our rival's coaches?

I don’t know what your point is. He didn’t beat him twice, neither did Heupel.
That's because Saban chickened out and retired. He knew his second whooping in a row at Neyland Stadium was coming. Ammarite??
 
Heupel should have beaten Saban twice. We were smoking them in 2023, but the refs had to step in and bail him out in his house.
 
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Hard no. I wouldn't want a coach who tolerates the kind of criminals who consistently seem to play for Kirby Smart, and I think he's the only coach arguably better than CJH in the entire SEC. Coach Heup's best days at Tennessee haven't happened yet. Mark my words.
 
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My two cents on Kirby.
He ended his first year (2016) with a 7-5 record plus a bowl win. He lost to Ole Miss, Tennessee (CBJ), Florida, Vanderbilt (at home/homecoming), and Georgia Tech that year. According to 247Sports, Georgia ranked 6th in team talent that year (https://247sports.com/season/2016-football/collegeteamtalentcomposite/) and faced zero recruiting restrictions to my knowledge.

Heupel went 7-5 his first year (with a bowl loss- we were robbed) with a team that was ranked 19th in talent (https://247sports.com/season/2021-football/collegeteamtalentcomposite/) with recruiting restrictions, etc.

Kirby built great teams in subsequent years, but he allegedly used dishonest tactics to steal recruits from Alabama. He used this inertia to build these championship-competing teams.

Question: Is Heupel still facing NCAA restrictions due to Coach Cornbread's violations?
 
Hard no. I wouldn't want a coach who tolerates the kind of criminals who consistently seem to play for Kirby Smart, and I think he's the only coach arguably better than CJH in the entire SEC. Coach Heup's best days at Tennessee haven't happened yet. Mark my words.

I’m sure you must have really despised Fulmer during his heyday of winning 10-11 games year after year. To all the non Vol fans he was leading a team of criminals and thugs. Constantly in the news for players getting arrested.
Funny how a fan Sees their favorite team and how they see their opponents.
Heupel isn’t the only reason Tenn finally got out of the wilderness. Along with a head coach change all of the people from the chancellor, the president, AD, and changing of the guard of boosters. Heupel alone, without the unified support of everyone above him, would not have been able to revive Tenn football and actually all the sports at TENN. As for his best days, we will have to see if he is a builder of programs or a regular championship contender. Some coaches can build but never reach the top. I know Lou Holts finally won a championship but his career was mostly a builder. Many a coach has done that. When they finally get to a job requiring a championship, they go to the next job that needs resurrected.
 
I don't get all the love for people like Smart, Day, and Sark. When you are in a position where you can go out and load your roster with almost nothing but 4 and 5 star in-state boys who dreamed of playing at your school all their lives, you're naturally going to look like a freaking coaching genius. Tell you what, let's let Smart coach Kentucky for 3 or 4 years, and if he wins big, I'll be a believer.

Oh yeah, I totally forgot that time Mark Richt lost 2 regular season games, two conference titles and two national titles in a 4-year span. Just like Kirby Smart!
 
Rival Coaches in the Conference:

1. Lea = HELL NO. No Vandy stink at Tennessee EVER
2. Napier = Nope. Guy can recruit, but he feels very Butch-y to me
3. Lebby = Nope as a HC, yes as an OC.
4. Dorkwitz = HELL NO. That Goober can eat **** and die for all I care.
5. Beamer = see Dorkwitz, although he's much less annoying when you don't have to play him every year.
6. Pittman = HELL NO as a HC, HELL YES as an OL coach
7. Stoops = HAHAHAHAHAHA No 😂🤣😂🤣😂
8. DeBoer = Before he got the Alabama stink on him, maybe. Now? Not even if Hell freezes over.
9. Freeze = Nah, he's a relic and the modern game has passed him by.
10. Kelly = Butch Jones but with better coaching/recruiting. No thanks, I'm good.
11. Venable = HELL NO as a HC, HELL YES as a DC
12. Elko = I literally forgot he existed, had to Google "Texas A&M Football Coach" to find him. Draw your conclusions from that.
13. Kiffin = I lean no, but he's not the "Hell NO" he would've been 10-12 years ago.
14. Sark = The guy's good, very good at coaching football. I might trade Heupel for him as long as he promises -in writing - to away from the bars and distilleries in the Knoxville area.
15. Kirby = It's only a HELL NO because he's Saban 2.0. I won't deny the man is a damn good coach, though.
 
This board (and college football generally) is full of people who will only be impressed with a coach if he wins national titles with random guys off the street. I don't know how many times I've heard "So-and-so is a great coach, but he's overrated because he always has the better team." I mean yes, duh, isn't that the point? It's like someone saying that "So-and-so wasn't a great General - he just always had more soldiers at the key spot than his opponent did. If he was really good, he would have won all those battles even though he was way outnumbered." It's absurd.

What great coach, either today or historically, consistently won a bunch of games with teams who were less talented than their opponents? The only one that comes to my mind is Bill Snyder.

90% of the posters on this board thought Dan Mullen was a better coach than Kirby Smart after 2020.
 
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Kirby is head and shoulders above everyone in college football. He didn't lose a regular season game for 3 freaking years in the SEC. It's the most impressive thing I've seen in the modern SEC.

I would listen to a case for Sark but when you factor in the baggage and the fact, he (IMO) should have cakewalked to an SEC title and national title game appearance, I still have doubts about him. Plus, with all the Texas funding he has, I'm not overall impressed with the recruiting. Hence, I'd take Heupel.
 
It's probably something like this

Tier 1: Smart

Tier 2: DeBoer, Heupel, Kelly, Sarkisian

Tier 3: Kiffin

Tier 4: Drinkwitz, Freeze, Stoops

Tier 5: Beamer, Elko, Lea, Napier, Venables

Tier 6: Lebby, Pittman
 
It's probably something like this

Tier 1: Smart

Tier 2: DeBoer, Heupel, Kelly, Sarkisian

Tier 3: Kiffin

Tier 4: Drinkwitz, Freeze, Stoops

Tier 5: Beamer, Elko, Lea, Napier, Venables

Tier 6: Lebby, Pittman
Based on their history I’d move Kiffin up ( Ole Miss in never before seen success, even with Archie), would move Lea up to #4 tier if he can sustain 6 wins at Vandy. Freeze had better pick it up or I’d drop him to tier 5. Best known at Miss and was only 39-25, a .609 winning % and bought players part of that time when he had his best seasons.
 
It's probably something like this

Tier 1: Smart

Tier 2: DeBoer, Heupel, Kelly, Sarkisian

Tier 3: Kiffin

Tier 4: Drinkwitz, Freeze, Stoops

Tier 5: Beamer, Elko, Lea, Napier, Venables

Tier 6: Lebby, Pittman
This is fun. I think those tiers are really solid.

You could make an argument that at their current jobs (and relative to the expectations/capabilities of those jobs), Kelly could be Tier 3 and Lane could be Tier 2. Could also argue that Stoops and Drink could be Tier 3. Not enough sample size on DeBoer yet, but if he wins 9 games again this year you could lower him to Tier 3. You can also argue that Venables could even be Tier 6. He's gone 12-14 in conference play, and 2 of those seasons were in the Big 12. I think they move on from him if he doesn't win 9-10 games this year and is at least somewhere around the playoff bubble. Hugh is also slipping towards Tier 5 or maybe even 6. I know he had something of a rebuild there, but he hasn't been able to find a QB in 2 seasons (even in the Portal era) and their offense, which is his calling card, has been awful. At least Venables's side of the ball has been good at OU.
 
This is fun. I think those tiers are really solid.

You could make an argument that at their current jobs (and relative to the expectations/capabilities of those jobs), Kelly could be Tier 3 and Lane could be Tier 2. Could also argue that Stoops and Drink could be Tier 3. Not enough sample size on DeBoer yet, but if he wins 9 games again this year you could lower him to Tier 3. You can also argue that Venables could even be Tier 6. He's gone 12-14 in conference play, and 2 of those seasons were in the Big 12. I think they move on from him if he doesn't win 9-10 games this year and is at least somewhere around the playoff bubble. Hugh is also slipping towards Tier 5 or maybe even 6. I know he had something of a rebuild there, but he hasn't been able to find a QB in 2 seasons (even in the Portal era) and their offense, which is his calling card, has been awful. At least Venables's side of the ball has been good at OU.

What DeBoer did at Washington really impressed me, even with the underwhelming Bama season, so I kept him at tier 2.

Lane had a pretty easy path to the playoffs this year and blew it. That Kentucky loss was inexplicable.

Venables might be high. Want one more year with Lea. Freeze is definitely dropping if he doesn't turn it around.
 
What DeBoer did at Washington really impressed me, even with the underwhelming Bama season, so I kept him at tier 2.

Lane had a pretty easy path to the playoffs this year and blew it. That Kentucky loss was inexplicable.

Venables might be high. Want one more year with Lea. Freeze is definitely dropping if he doesn't turn it around.
Yeah, if you're going each coach's career overall and not just at their current job DeBoer is definitely Tier 2.

Maybe I'm going to easy on Lane, but what you just said I think speaks to how good of a job he's done at OM. He had an easy path to the playoffs last year...at Ole Miss. That was a completely inexplicable loss but to even have them in the position they've been in 3 out of the last 4 seasons is pretty remarkable. Had a 12-team playoff existed in 2021 and maybe 2023, they would have been in it.

I can't stand Drink, but after needing some time to get his feet under him at Mizzou he's somehow gone 21-5 (11-5) there the last 2 years. That isn't easy to do.
 
Based on their history I’d move Kiffin up ( Ole Miss in never before seen success, even with Archie), would move Lea up to #4 tier if he can sustain 6 wins at Vandy. Freeze had better pick it up or I’d drop him to tier 5. Best known at Miss and was only 39-25, a .609 winning % and bought players part of that time when he had his best seasons.
Agree with all of your suggestions but I would also bump Kelly down a tier.
 
A lot of people in here saying they'd trade Huep for Kirby Smart. The thing is, Im not so sure Kirby Smart could be as successful here where he doesnt have a massive in-state recruiting advantage like he has at Georgia. I think for the system CJH runs, it's a better fit for programs that do not have quite the same level of elite talent.

Now, thats not to say that I dont think CJH should be recruiting better, because I do! I dont think he and his staff have reached the full recruiting potential this place has! Not by a long shot!
 
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I’m sure you must have really despised Fulmer during his heyday of winning 10-11 games year after year. To all the non Vol fans he was leading a team of criminals and thugs. Constantly in the news for players getting arrested.
Funny how a fan Sees their favorite team and how they see their opponents.
Heupel isn’t the only reason Tenn finally got out of the wilderness. Along with a head coach change all of the people from the chancellor, the president, AD, and changing of the guard of boosters. Heupel alone, without the unified support of everyone above him, would not have been able to revive Tenn football and actually all the sports at TENN. As for his best days, we will have to see if he is a builder of programs or a regular championship contender. Some coaches can build but never reach the top. I know Lou Holts finally won a championship but his career was mostly a builder. Many a coach has done that. When they finally get to a job requiring a championship, they go to the next job that needs resurrected.
People in the Georgia football program have literally died because of the players Kirby Smart recruits and tolerates. How many players and staff assistants did Fulmer's players kill?
 
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