VTTW Board Index

I said it when Pruitt was hired and I'll say it again: Our next coach is dog shizzle until he proves otherwise. The days of "trust the ol' coach" are long gone. My eyes are wide open, and I'm in "show me" mode. UT has lost the benefit of any and all doubt when it comes to coaching hires. I don't care if they get Saban himself, he's going to have to prove it to me.

That said, we have to give them some time. These may be the worst circumstances any incoming UT coach has ever faced, and it may get worse before it gets better. I wouldn't expect any big time recruits to give us the time of day until we prove something on the field. The standard "three years to turn it around" are off the table at this point. This is a five year rebuild, at best. I would expect to see some upward trajectory by year 3, but we're not competing for titles any time soon.

Judge our coach critically, but at the same time be patient.

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJJdRUCkXp4. Would we really want Fickell from Cincy? How did that 1st Cincy coach we got turn out?

Replace the whole staff. I don't care who you like that is there already. Tee Martin? Bye, Bye What did he do for that offensive juggernaut we put on the field? The rest...also See ya.

This fanbase is going to HAVE to be patient with this hire, imo.

I agree with BDV.

I feel better about the coaching search than I did yesterday, I'll just say that.

Tee is gone, no matter what 1 Feb
old news

One thing I believe, it will not take long
I believe we will have a HFC in place before the end of the month
I also believe it will be an offensive minded coach (that's been White's MO)

Watch the name Lance Leipold being mentioned....Current HC at Buffalo. Just putting that out there because Danny White was the AD at Buffalo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lance_Leipold#:~:text=Lance%20O.%20Leipold%20%28born%20May%206%2C%201964%29%20is,eight%20seasons%20at%20the%20University%20of%20Wisconsin%E2%80%93Whitewater%20%28UWW%29.

Yay...offense. I remember it. But I swear these guys forget how to coach once they get to Knoxville. Hasn't every coach we have hired supposed to have been a good coach and know what he is doing?  What happens to them?

That might not be the worst option.

Having read Chris Collinsworth's comments on Malzahn, I am sold that we could do worse.

What was said about Malzahn? Don't think Steele and Malzahn will work together again for a good while.

Seen those type of records before. Winning and recruiting in the SEC is different. Does this mean he is an SEC caliber coach or just a friend of the new AD? I have seen what hiring friends can do to a team.

I am making a sea change also. I was one of the biggest critics of Johnny Majors back in the day.  He had his moments, but was incredibly (and inexcusably) inconsistent.  Then the whole "I'm jealous of Fulmer so I'm going to come back too soon and shizzle all over this great season" thing just sealed the deal.  But to continue, long time posters will well recall I was one of strongest critics of Randy Sanders, who initially had a lot of defenders on here (looking back, I didnm't know how much worse it could get).  Which brings us to the Fulmer firing. As I have expressed elsewhere, though there is no doubt Fulmer had slipped several notches, I really didn't like the way it went down. I thought, and still think, that there were too many fans with delusional expectations that weren't around for the very long grinding climb to 1998, which arguably was a 13 year process, if not longer, and that they didn't appreciate that a coaching change is actually very risky, and less likely to succeed than to fail.  But Hamilton caved and the result is the complete cluster fizzle we have today.

Thus after Kiffin left us in the mess, I resolved to give any new coach the full benefit of the doubt. Thus I defended all our coaches longer than most. As I have often said, I was not really defending them, but the program.  To the extent over negativity and delusional expectations have led us into this mess, I think I was justfied in doing so.

However it's time for another sea change.  I am with you BDV, I am not cutting any future coaches any slack whatsoever.  Get it done or get gone.

Ironically you are also correct that more patience is called for due to how low the program (appears to be) sunk.  Those two things are contradictory.  I guess the solution is to be as critical as we want but not call for a change until later than we would.

At any rate, the next coach is going to need some thick skin.  

http://https://www.star-telegram.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/mac-engel/article248602750.html

Playing in the SEC is the biggest challenge. Especially for a G5 coach. You have to overcome the recruiting the elite in the league do. Then you have to have good coaching. When Bama, UGa and UF are getting Top 5 classes and you are lucky to get Top 20 classes it makes it a challenge. Would the Vols even consider looking at an ex-NFL coach? I just feel most "next big thing" G5 coaches are over their heads right off the bat in coming into the SEC in one aspect or another.  Look at Jones. He had the recruiting down but was lost at coaching them. That's why our 5*'s didn't look like other teams 5*'s. Looking back, Pruitt was about the same.  Plus he sucked at cheating.

I guess we will give Phillip Rivers one good year to coach HS ball, and then we will hire him   :laugh:

All kidding aside, who knows?  Maybe Rivers will become a hot commodity one day, although I don't think his coaching ambitions run that deep.

Not a fan of Rivers, period.Dot.

Me neither, really - always seem to rub me the wrong way.  However, he may turn out to be a good coach.  Seems to be a hard worker type. 

2002 was a long time ago.

But mostly the dumbass writing that article doesn't seem to get what "INTERIM" means.   :rolleyes:

What does that have to do with what Collinsworth said a Malzahn?

Cristobal  - $4.55M salary and $9.0M buyout
Fickell - $3.4M salary and $4.0 buyout
Campbell - $3.7M and $6.0M buyout
Chadwell - $375K salary and $700K buyout
Napier - $1.0M salary and $750K buyout
Clark - $1.5M salary and $750K buyout

Buyouts are probably slightly less with a new contract year.

Edited #'s above

But don't you think it is an easy notion to see him as UT's next head coach. Don't the players opinions still hold water?

You truly are like a gnat in the ear. While it's always an automatic to scroll past your comments, they continue to be an annoyance without you realizing it much later.

They give you something to whine about though. So they got that going for them.

The Grinch hated UT and every UT season.
Why you ask? No one knows the reason.

It could be his head wasn't screwed on just right.
It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight.

But I think that the most likely reason of all,
May have been that his heart was two sizes too small.

 :dielaughing:

after EIGHTEEN YEARS???

I know.  Let's go dig up some Cleveland Browns from when Bellichek coached there in the mid-90s and see what they say about him. Or how about some of Saban's players from Michigan state, where for four years he was barely above 0.500.  About as relevant!

But the Grinch has balls enough to call out bad coaching when he sees it. You apologists don't. You guys slobbered all over Jones when he was 5-0 and winning games with a lot of luck like the Hail Mary in Athens. How many losses did he end up with that year? How many fell for the brick by brick drivel? Just askin?

There's almost always a very simple reason that some people feel the need to pat themselves on the back.......

I get it, volsboy.  You are like the parents that used to sit behind the bench when I was coaching, yelling at the coaching staff every time something went wrong.  My wife would often ask me, "Did you hear what such-and-such yelled?"  My answer was always, "No, I don't hear anything that those folks say."

As for being an apologist, you have no idea whether I fit that mold or not.

I do respect all the coaches that we have had. I just can't imagine the pressure they are under. It is easy for tools like me to second guess and criticize all their coaching decisions and results. I am just too upfront about it and not very patient. There is nothing wrong with fans giving these coaches the benefit of the doubt and not being so pessimistic as I can be.  I just want to get a coach that gives a fighting, competitive, chance. I thought Pruitt might be that coach. But I just couldn't get over that Ga State loss and the way he handled the QB position. Looking back, where did eight straight wins come from? I'm wrong to call folks apologists.  At least they try to paint a positive picture. Please let this next coach be a keeper. And offense oriented. If he's not offense oriented, let him hire a great OC.

I have no problem with calling out bad coaching. So we are just supposed to set back and watch a bad coach run the team into the ground?  Did you ever think those parents might have seen something you didn't? But parents do ruin sports for the kids too many times. I despise to have parents cry because little Johnny isn't playing enough.

volsboy, I don't agree with all coaches, ever - even the people I coached with I often disagreed with.  There is also nothing wrong with questioning coaching moves and decisions (I do it myself).  It is also part of what message boards are for, in my opinion.  It isn't going to determine the direction of a program, but at least we have a venue to express our views.

With you, however, it seems to always be negative - and you are always so proud and eager to boast that you are the only person to be able to recognize it.  That is not the case, by the way.  It may just be that some folks are more positive and some more negative - some choose to expound on deficiencies and some would rather dwell on the more hopeful sides of the issues.

You are definitely not the only person on this board to question Lyle's coaching and likely were not the first to have doubts.  I know that for fact.  You are not the only person who questioned whether Pruitt was the person to turn our program around and likely were not the first to harbor insecurities with respect to where he would take the program.  I know that for fact.

If I offended you, I sincerely apologize.  I likely should have kept my thoughts to myself.  There are none of us perfect, no not one.  I value that each and every person has their own views, and I respect your right to have and express your opinions.

Never have you offended me. I value everyone's opinions and views. I have been negative since right after Kiffin left. I don't expect my opinion to be valued anymore than everyone else's. I'm just not the type to find the positive after a 34-7 loss to UK or a 48-17 loss to Bama like many do and say "but our tight end looked good".

I'm not normally a gambling man, but I'd be willing to make a fairly large wager that no true UT fan on this message board was happy with either the 34-7 loss to UK or the 48-17 loss to Bama.

Geez... make it stop.

It’s all he knows. He’s just a hammer in search of a nail, and where no nails exist, he’ll conjure one out of thin air.

I'm sorry if my posts burn your toes. Not. Let's not make excuses for the product we see on the field. As far as conjuring a nail out of thin air..yes I'm that good. If the shoe fits you should wear it. Never be an appologist.

How do we know Danny White will be a good hire? We hope he is. But is being an AD at an AAC school the same as being one at a SEC school. Same with coaches. He will be in a whole different world. How has Frost looked since leaving UCF. Like I said P5 conference's are a different animal.

Having an understanding of football is a different animal to you

I understand what I see on the field. And scoreboard. What's your problem? UCF had one great year. How many SEC teams would have great years playing their AAC schedule?  The challenge is to keep having great years consistently. That is not as easy to do in the SEC as it is in the AAC. What is not true in that? Is he better than all the elite programs AD's? We shall see. The hard part is he can't favor one sport over another. All our sports have slipped. Look at our sports in the late 90's compared to now? Which one has improved much? He has a huge job to do?

Many straw men died to bring us this response.

For the love of all that is sacred and holy, would y'all please stop responding to the idiot troll??????   

Ooops ya just did..I'll tone it down. Sorry to hit your last nerve.  :moon: