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It's way too soon to know for sure and I'm sure we said these same things in 2010 and 2013.. but a good interview still:

https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/tennessee-football/tennessee-football-1-game-in-fred-white-sees-progress-purpose-hope-for-vols/ (https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/tennessee-football/tennessee-football-1-game-in-fred-white-sees-progress-purpose-hope-for-vols/)

Fred White is on my all-time "want to" team.  Not the most talented safety we ever had, but nobody played the game harder or smarter than Fred White.  And, for the record, I agree with him, we have a ways to go, but we're on the right road, and with the right driver for a change.

 :thumbup:

Dave: Why didn’t former UT coach Butch Jones do the same sort of teaching?

Fred: “He didn’t know a whole lot about football in the first place. He really didn’t. I’m being honest. I’m not trying to berate him or belittle him or anything but, honestly, you could see that on film. You could see that when you asked him questions about technique and personnel. He could not answer those questions. He could not teach his guys …. He could not do that. That’s just something he could not do. To see that now, is a promising thing.”

Butch never played at the college level and from what I understand, didn't play much in HS either.  I don't think he had the game in his gut so to speak.  Had to learn by watching or reading books. 

That's a great quote and all, but why wasn't he saying these things 4-5 years ago? Our former players were almost unanimous in lavishing praise on Butch and his staff back then. In fact, several of them loved him so much that they let their sons come play for him. These guys aren't infallible just because they used to play the game.

Seriously, how did I of all people become the resident pessimist around here? :dunno:

Many times it's about who you follow.  Everyone was so happy Dooley was gone, we wanted to believe him and hope his sales pitch was the real deal.  Took a couple years for that to be exposed.

And I'm sorry for what TN sports have done to you us.  It will get better.   :thumbup:

Along the same lines as VV.  Butch was an upgrade over Dooley, and hopefully a step in the right direction.  Had success at previous stops, recruited well, seemed to have good organization skills.  The problem is he had a ceiling and it was too low for Tennessee.  Let's not forget he wasn't a total failure. Recruited well.   Beat UF and Uga in the same year for the first time since 2004, won three straight bowl games, denied the OBC a return to the SECC and may have helped send him packing.  Whereas Dooley...lbeat NC State?   :dunno:


We have to hope Pruitt is another step up.  Way too early to say.

That's basically what I've been saying- it's too early to say. Nobody really knows- even the media only gets to see the first 10-15 minutes of practice, and that's usually just warmups. But many are acting like they know for sure that Pruitt is an upgrade, and...just no, they don't.

But getting back to Fred White's quote (I've met him at TRO's tailgates, BTW, and he's a really good guy- so this isn't a personal shot at him)- If it was so obvious on film that Butch didn't know what he was doing, that should have been evident from day one. Our former players should've noticed and said something back then- but they didn't. In fact, most of them were wildly optimistic about the future of our program under Butch, and said so publicly. And they were dead wrong. Or they were lying, or, like Vinnie said, they just wanted to believe. I'm guessing it's the latter.

I didn't play organized football after my freshman year of HS. I'm certainly no expert on the X's and O's of today's game. And I'm sure 99% of our fanbase is in the same boat. So when a respected VFL speaks out on the state of our program, we listen. At least up until now. Because I'm personally done listening to the so-called "experts"- be it VFLs, media, message board posters, whatever. I want to see results, and I won't be a Pruitt believer until I do.