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re: Who (or what) broke the Tennessee football program?
Posted on 9/3/19 at 3:38 pm to NocaHomas Teepee
Posted on 9/3/19 at 3:38 pm to NocaHomas Teepee
quote:
A specific game? 2008 Wyoming.
Wyoming was the first game AFTER Fulmer announced his resignation...so, it was already broken by that time.
1
Posted on 9/3/19 at 3:39 pm to HailHailtoMichigan!
Bad hires. Bad hires will kill a program that depends on being great to lure in recruits.
Tennessee is the latest example of it but we have plenty of others.
Nebraska used to recruit Texas and the South along with the Midwest and they had great season after great season. Then they make a few bad hires for HC and you suddenly have smallish Midwestern state competing on the big stage.
Arkansas from the early 60s to '90 was a legit national power but the combination of getting shut out of Texas and mediocre at best coaches put us in the position we are in today.
The Vols have had a string of bad coaches. Because of that they just aren't a program that attracts top level recruits any more and it shows.
When you are in a state that doesn't churn out a ton of top level talent you have to have a good coaching staff with proven results and they have to be there for a while. The Vols don't have that and I am not sure they will under Pruitt.
Tennessee is the latest example of it but we have plenty of others.
Nebraska used to recruit Texas and the South along with the Midwest and they had great season after great season. Then they make a few bad hires for HC and you suddenly have smallish Midwestern state competing on the big stage.
Arkansas from the early 60s to '90 was a legit national power but the combination of getting shut out of Texas and mediocre at best coaches put us in the position we are in today.
The Vols have had a string of bad coaches. Because of that they just aren't a program that attracts top level recruits any more and it shows.
When you are in a state that doesn't churn out a ton of top level talent you have to have a good coaching staff with proven results and they have to be there for a while. The Vols don't have that and I am not sure they will under Pruitt.
Posted on 9/3/19 at 3:41 pm to HailHailtoMichigan!
We went down in increments, with several losses standing out as turning points
2001 LSU knocked us from to natty contention to just another good team
2005 Vandy (streak ender) knocked us from good to mediocre
2008 Wyoming knocked us from mediocre to fricking garbage tier
With Lyle we gradually build up a facade of a program and got up to an almost-good level...
Then 2016 S Carolina knocked us back to mediocrity
And the 41-0 loss to UGA in 2017 knocked us back to total shite tier where we’ve been ever since.
2001 LSU knocked us from to natty contention to just another good team
2005 Vandy (streak ender) knocked us from good to mediocre
2008 Wyoming knocked us from mediocre to fricking garbage tier
With Lyle we gradually build up a facade of a program and got up to an almost-good level...
Then 2016 S Carolina knocked us back to mediocrity
And the 41-0 loss to UGA in 2017 knocked us back to total shite tier where we’ve been ever since.
This post was edited on 9/3/19 at 3:45 pm
Posted on 9/3/19 at 3:41 pm to HailHailtoMichigan!
I think it was losing their recruiting advantage in the AL/GA region. Now Clemson is getting their share with UGA/AU/Bama. There just isn't enough talent left for them.
Posted on 9/3/19 at 3:42 pm to madmaxvol
I forgot about that. Thanks for the reminder.
So HBC did this.
So HBC did this.
Posted on 9/3/19 at 3:42 pm to HailHailtoMichigan!
This worthless bag of shite:
Posted on 9/3/19 at 3:43 pm to HailHailtoMichigan!
They were pretty bad after 2007. The just sucked for a while, but Butch had them trending back to greatness until A&m got ahold of them.
They were bad after 2007
5-7
7-6
6-7
5-7
5-7
5-7
7-6 - a slight improvement
9-4 - finished ranked 22nd!
5-0 - ranked #9 in the world!
**
A&M beats their arse and the finish 4-4.
**
4-8
5-7
0-1
They were bad after 2007
5-7
7-6
6-7
5-7
5-7
5-7
7-6 - a slight improvement
9-4 - finished ranked 22nd!
5-0 - ranked #9 in the world!
**
A&M beats their arse and the finish 4-4.
**
4-8
5-7
0-1
Posted on 9/3/19 at 3:43 pm to Korin
quote:
The 01 SECCG. Their last great team went from playing in the Rose Bowl for a national title to...the Citrus Bowl.
That was the start of the decline...still UT did have 3 10-win seasons between '02 and Fulmer's departure in '08. They have won 9 games twice since Fulmer left.
Posted on 9/3/19 at 3:46 pm to themicah85
Tennessee was being investigated by the NCAA early 2000's. Fulmer told them hold on I've got information on Bama cheating. Bama like many others did have dirty dealings going on. Problem was a lot of what Fulmer was detailing was not true but was all done to get the NCAA off his back so with scholarship reductions it set Bama back quiet a few years. Fast forward to 2007, Bama hires Saban. UT hasn't beaten Bama since. Fulmer's lies & slimy ways has most certainly put a curse over Tennessee football & the dummies still have him around making fricked up decisions as AD.
Posted on 9/3/19 at 3:47 pm to HailHailtoMichigan!
Joe Adams
Posted on 9/3/19 at 3:47 pm to HailHailtoMichigan!
I mean honestly, you have to go with the moment that Mike Hamilton fired Fulmer and rolled the dice on Lane Kiffin. It was a bold move and Kiffin repaid UT by putting the clown costume on them and splitting town with the croots. From that moment on, UT has been sort of a joke and everything that followed was just further comedic fodder. Dooley. Butch. Just "WTF" hires. Kiffin leaving town in the dead of night just set off a chain reaction of irrational decisions that have led them to losing to the GA States of the world. Pruitt is just the latest iteration in this saga. They should have let Schiano have his shot, but like everything around that program, they had to frick it up. They will probably replace Fulmer with Joe Alleva next.
This post was edited on 9/3/19 at 3:50 pm
Posted on 9/3/19 at 3:49 pm to HailHailtoMichigan!
Couple of sub-par seasons, couple of poor coaching hires(could be 3 by the looks of recent games), team looks unorganized, potential recruits don't like the trajectory of the team and go elsewhere...
Same thing happened at Bama when Bryant retired. Perkins, Curry, Stallings(natty), probation, the 3 Mikes(with more probation)...
Same thing happened at Bama when Bryant retired. Perkins, Curry, Stallings(natty), probation, the 3 Mikes(with more probation)...
Posted on 9/3/19 at 3:49 pm to TidenUP
Didn't y'all hire Curry over Bowden?
Posted on 9/3/19 at 3:49 pm to HailHailtoMichigan!
I would argue it was the 2001 Hobnail Boot game, even before the SECCG.
Not only was it an upset at home but it was the game that really shifted UGA from being third wheel in the east to what it has become now in a consistent Conference and National contender. While that wasn’t an immediate issue for Tennessee, it shifted the way uga has been able to recruit the state of Georgia which Tennessee uses as its program’s lifeblood. A good-recruiting UGA is bad for Tennessee and up until 2001, Tennessee had the drop on Georgia for a lot of prime recruits
Not only was it an upset at home but it was the game that really shifted UGA from being third wheel in the east to what it has become now in a consistent Conference and National contender. While that wasn’t an immediate issue for Tennessee, it shifted the way uga has been able to recruit the state of Georgia which Tennessee uses as its program’s lifeblood. A good-recruiting UGA is bad for Tennessee and up until 2001, Tennessee had the drop on Georgia for a lot of prime recruits
Posted on 9/3/19 at 3:53 pm to HailHailtoMichigan!
quote:
What SPECIFIC GAME or SPECIFIC EVENT marked the official beginning of the slide onto Darkness
It's a loooooooooooooooooooong story, my friend.
In condensed form, begin with former UT athletic directors Doug Dickey, Mike Hamilton and Dave Hart.
Dickey...….well liked, former HC of the Vols 1964-1969, won a couple of SEC's and three top 10 finishes. He was AD from 1985 to 2002. Generally well liked and did a great job of running the athletic dept. But, he had poor PR skills.
Hamilton...was AD from 2002 to 2010. He hired Lane Kiffin and Derek Dooley. He was a very poor administrator.
Hart...AD from 2010 to 2016. He removed the name of "Lady Vols" from female athletic teams except basketball...women filed lawsuits, etc...He hired Butch Jones.
Hamilton and Hart were awful AD's and made Dickey look better than he really was.
The Great Pumpkin resigned as HC in 2008 with hopes that he would be UT's next AD. Didn't happen. The Great Pumpkin had a great fall and a mighty fury ensued.
Today, John Currie is UT's AD. So far, his most famous statement has been...."Coach Dickey used to tell us we're either playing for the title or we're biting on the butt of the guy that is, right?"
He came from Kansas State. Tennessee reached a $2.48 million settlement in 2016 in a Title IX lawsuit regarding its handling of assault and sexual assault complaints against athletes. Former AD Hart angered some fans over the decision to eliminate the Lady Vols nickname for all women's sports other than basketball.
Currie has restored the Lady Vols. It remains to be seen if the men's football team will ever be restored, however.
Somewhere in all this, a poisonous ingredient got inserted and has been slowly destroying Tennessee athletics and the football program in particular.
This post was edited on 9/3/19 at 4:07 pm
Posted on 9/3/19 at 3:54 pm to 8miles
quote:
The rise of Georgia and lsu has hurt Tennessee bad. In the 90’s that’s where they recruited most of there roster. The state of Tennessee simply does not produce enough talent.
This isn't a talent issue. GSU doesn't have a single kid that UT wanted. This is coaching - horrible coaching.
Posted on 9/3/19 at 3:54 pm to Korin
I don't know about them but we hired Curry over Spurrier.
Posted on 9/3/19 at 3:55 pm to Korin
Yes 
Posted on 9/3/19 at 3:56 pm to LouisvilleKat
Nick Saban stuck them with the knife in 2001.
Nick Saban drove it into their very large guts in 2007 and 2008.
Nick Saban drove it into their very large guts in 2007 and 2008.
Posted on 9/3/19 at 3:56 pm to HailHailtoMichigan!
It might have been when Manning put his balls on top of his trainers face.
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