re: VOL fans..please explain your happiness with mediocrity under Butch Jones.

Phil might have just set the record for flippin' a troll thread on the OP. Holy cow.

Our presence on here isn't big, but our pot stirrers are pretty good at what they do.

Butch had the youungest team in the country with one of the toughest schedules. That alone should tell you enough about the situation he walked into. We are not happy with mediocrity, we are happy with progress.

It all boils down to the culture. Under Dooley, we had players who quit, players who didn't embrace the traditions and importance of our brand (Dooley actually ignored calls from many former Vols who wanted to talk to him or vome visit the facilities), and players who didnt care (for example they would sign their workout books saying they had completed them without even doing a single rep.)

Under Butch we have a tough group of kids who fight tooth and nail to the end, despite what the scoreboard says. And they resepct and embrace what Tennessee football is and should be. These kids want to return UT to its place at the top, and that a direct reulst of the culture that Butch is instilling. A lot of it sounds like coachspeak, and a lot of it is, but its a very strategized, direct, and unilateral message across all aspects on and off the field.

It's something you've had to follow UT pretty closely in the past 6-7 years to really understand. We see a light at the end of the tunnel, and once we get the horses, we'll be back to competeing for championships again.

Wins
2011 - 5
2012 - 5
Year 1 - 5
Year 2 - 7

SEC Wins
2011- 1
2012 - 1
Year 1 - 2
Year 2 - 3

Power 5 matchup point differential
2011 - 101 points
2012 - -77 points
Year 1 - -146 points
Year 2 - -20 points

Recruiting Class Ranking on 247
2012 - 20th (#8 in SEC)
2013 - 24th (#10 in SEC)
Year 1 - 7th (#4 in SEC)
Year 2 - 4th (#2 in SEC)

Neyland Stadium Average game attendance Figures
2012 - 89,965
2013 - 95,584
2014 - 99,820

Football APR Rating
2011/12 - 909
2012/13 - 962

All of these show tangible improvement. He is making a ton of behind the scenes improvement in overall stability and relations with Boosters ($$$), Ex Players, HS Coaches in the state, ect. The team never gives up, the players give better effort in years past, you actually see players improving. The list is long.

All signs point up so most fans expect a continued improvement in all these stats next season. He made these improvements this season with 0 starting O or D lineman, playing 25 freshman (most in country) and starting up to 9 in one game. Given the experience we return even more reason to be optimistic next year.

If not maybe the optimism will die, but I highly doubt it won't continue to get better since that is the trend he has set in every category thus far.

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recruiting obviously but imo that starts to go down the shitter if he doesnt show something in year 3

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Yep

We (UT fans) know how shitty of a situation he walked into and many average coaches would've lost 8 games two years ago and In fact many posters/media predicted us to do just that

This year many posters/media predicted us to just win 5 games and a few even said only 4.

I'm not going to say Butch is a good coach yet but he's exceeded expectations in both seasons in which he's coached on the field and has blew it out of the water as far as recruiting goes

As the poster I quoted said, if we hang around at 7 or less wins next year his seat will start getting warm and if the next year we don't compete for the East he may very will be gone

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Butch walked into an extremely shitty situation, he deserves some patience.

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^This. A final record of 7-6 was nothing short of a miracle this year, most picked us to finish far worse. Dooley absolutely wrecked our roster -- didn't recruit a linemen, I mean, wtf??!

It's like folks forgot we were the only team in all of CFB who had to replace BOTH the oline and the dline or that we played 23 FRESHMEN this year - all with significant PT and many of them starters. And of course, 90+ percent of games we fought to the bitter end. We got beat to a bloody pulp -- a lot -- and while most would've given up and mailed in the rest of the season we didn't.

Add in that we lost to UGA by 3, UF by 1 (yes we shoulda won but Worley+psych -- Florida just has our number), lost to Mizzou by 8 despite losing AJ Johnson and our starting Center to injury (enormous blows) and Williams (a big blow) and so on. We also improved greatly as the season wore on and again when the center returned. Dobbs was an enormous boost as well. Folks can call that "moral victories" but they'd be wrong. Them thar's just facts.

Rough year for us but brighter days are ahead.

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t's like folks forgot we were the only team in all of CFB who had to replace BOTH the oline and the dline

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Which is interesting cause a bunch of other teams posters referenced it and started threads about it last offseason

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Which is interesting cause a bunch of other teams posters referenced it and started threads about it last offseason

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There are a few fanbases or at least fans from other teams who get it. There's a lot of smart LSU, BAMA (hold thy tongue - they really do have some good posters ), UGA, and even a few UF fans that know we'll be back. Arky fans have seen it too.

I'm sure I've left a few out but the idiots are always loudest and unfortunately outnumber the smarter posters from each fanbase by far but those smart ones are around too. Others don't want to say it and/or live in denial - they want us to be down forever due to self-interest.

Obama's just like Hitler, amirite?