Most Over/Underrated Vol Coach

[#1fulmerite]

Who is your most Overrated Vol Coach?

Who is your most Underrated Vol Coach?


For me, overrated has to be Trooper Taylor.

For me, Underrated has to be Ken Donahue.

As our RB coach, he never seemed to develop any of our guys. I know Houston and Riggs both ran for a grand each during one season but, it seems like he coached them to get tackled and fall sideways. Other than whooping and hollering and twirling a towel for attention, we could have had better.

Donahue gave us some good times and some good games! His D gave us the Sugar Vols and that Sugar Bowl win. Everyone seems to forget at that awesome’87 season and how important his D was. Majors made him the scapegoat of that ‘88 season but, he was good till opposing coaches figured out how to scheme his defense.

What are your two choices volnation?

 

[VFL-82-JP]

Sticking with head coaches...

Over-rated: Johnny Majors. Love the man, really glad he was one of our head coaches, but he never came close to meeting our hopes and expectations after winning a national title at Pitt. He was good, and we sentimentally keep him somewhere in the top 4 or 5 or so on all our lists, but that over-rates his tenure.

Under-rated: John Barnhill. With a win rate even the General couldn't touch, the man is our winningest head coach ever. Sure, he only "filled in" for Neyland during World War II. Nevertheless, he stood on his own two feet for four seasons over a five-year stretch, and didn't miss a beat.

Go Vols!

 

[zeppelin128]

Underrated: George Cafego

Overrated: Pruitt

Hear me out. Whatever low opinion you have of Pruitt, it ain't low enough.

 

[jacksonvol24]

Head Coaches….

Overrated: Phillip Fulmer. He had great assistant coaches around him that carried him. He also coached when (other than Spurrier) the SEC wasn’t loaded with great coached teams week end and week out. He had great players but couldn’t win like he should have. In reality, he underachieved with one NC. He had teams that should have won at least 3 NC. He also refused to change.

Underrated: Johnny Majors. He came back to Tennessee when we needed him. He brought us back to relevance and had it rolling before an assistant coach made a play for his job. Coached hard, recruited hard and worked hard for every Tennessee fan. Will always be top 3 coaching greats on the Hill for me. Go Vols.

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

Overrated- Lame Kitten by far.

Underrated- Jon Jancek

 

[Carl Pickens]

Overrated?….. Chavis and the mustang package comes to mind, but overall he was good…. But had some damn good players.
Not sure he’s overrated as a whole.

Gotta go with Kiffin

Underrated …. Mike DeBord

 

[Carl Pickens]

Overrated- Lame Kitten by far.

Underrated- Jon Jancek

Jancek was pretty good unless there was less than :30 to go in a tight game against FL or GA

 

[508mikey]

Underrated: George Cafego

Overrated: Beldar Cornbread

Hear me out. Whatever low opinion you have of Beldar, it ain't low enough.

fyp

 

[Brave Volunteer]

Underrated: Dave Lawson. He was the best strength coach we had on campus since Johnny Long. The sharp decline in our team's physical makeup and toughness after he was let go was severe! Many bad decisions ultimately lead to Butch Jones being fired, and letting Dave Lawson go was a major one! Players complained that he was too hard on them. Awww, poor babies! And yeah you saw the difference on the field when he was fired and replaced with a babysitter!

Overrated: Hate to say it, but it has to be Majors. When you compare his actual accomplishments here VS the expectations everyone had when he was hired, he never lived up to them! I love the guy. I'm still glad he got to be our coach here. But 15 seasons, only 3 SEC championships, and no national championship VS what fans expected. Yes he is overrated considering the fondness that fans have for the man. Anybody else would've never gotten 15 years with that little to show for it.

 

[orangebloodgmc]

Underrated ... was it Phil Bennett that was our DB coach long about 69, 70 ...? We had DB play back in those days.

Edit: LBs, too. Who coached them?

Overrated ... don't want to go there.

 

[EtowahVol]

Buddy Bennett I think was his name. Back then we recruited a lot of very atheletic QB's that were turned into DB's and it worked.

 

[Buzzbait]

Overrated, Sal Sunseri

 

[05_never_again]

Sticking with head coaches...

Over-rated: Johnny Majors. Love the man, really glad he was one of our head coaches, but he never came close to meeting our hopes and expectations after winning a national title at Pitt. He was good, and we sentimentally keep him somewhere in the top 4 or 5 or so on all our lists, but that over-rates his tenure.

Under-rated: John Barnhill. With a win rate even the General couldn't touch, the man is our winningest head coach ever. Sure, he only "filled in" for Neyland during World War II. Nevertheless, he stood on his own two feet for four seasons over a five-year stretch, and didn't miss a beat.

Go Vols!

If Johnny coached at Tennessee in the modern era, he would have been fired after his 3rd or 4th season. Rightly or wrongly, he would have never been given the time that he got in the modern sport.

He had a big personality and was an incredible player here, and it leads to people overrating how good of a coach he was.

 

[OffTackleVol]

Buddy Bennett I think was his name. Back then we recruited a lot of very atheletic QB's that were turned into DB's and it worked.

Yep, "Bennett's Bandits" was the nickname given to those guys. Intercepted something like 38 passes that one season.

 

[miket4god]

If Johnny coached at Tennessee in the modern era, he would have been fired after his 3rd or 4th season. Rightly or wrongly, he would have never been given the time that he got in the modern sport.

He had a big personality and was an incredible player here, and it leads to people overrating how good of a coach he was.

Majors best characteristic is his ability to identify and hire coaching talent.
If you combine Fulmers likeability and recruiting prowess with Majors assistant coaches, you would have several championships

 

[OrangeBeachVol]

Reading this thread gave me thought. Does not meeting fans or medias expectations make you overrated??

 

[Boston Vol]

Underrated is John Stucky. He was arguably the best strength and conditioning coach in America. It’s not a coincidence that Fulmer’s program started to decline once Stucky was forced to resign for health reasons. Probably didn’t help matters that he was replaced by Johnny Long who was an abysmal S&C coach.

 

[LouderVol]

Underrated: Dave Lawson. He was the best strength coach we had on campus since Johnny Long. The sharp decline in our team's physical makeup and toughness after he was let go was severe! Many bad decisions ultimately lead to Butch Jones being fired, and letting Dave Lawson go was a major one! Players complained that he was too hard on them. Awww, poor babies! And yeah you saw the difference on the field when he was fired and replaced with a babysitter!

Overrated: Hate to say it, but it has to be Majors. When you compare his actual accomplishments here VS the expectations everyone had when he was hired, he never lived up to them! I love the guy. I'm still glad he got to be our coach here. But 15 seasons, only 3 SEC championships, and no national championship VS what fans expected. Yes he is overrated considering the fondness that fans have for the man. Anybody else would've never gotten 15 years with that little to show for it.

Fulmer is the most overrated. He did pretty much the same, Fulmer had 2 SEC championships, and 1 National Title in 16 years. Fulmer inherited a loaded program, with amazing coaches, and in a worse SEC; and under delivered. People are complaining about Heupel going into year 5, but golden boy Fulmer didn't win the SEC until his 5th year. The national title was a highlight, but he was never able to maintain, and once he lost his best coaches he suffered, which begs the question of why give him any credit if his success was so coordinator heavy that he didn't even hire.

underrated I have to agree with Jancek.

 

[peaygolf]

Underrated - Jerry Green or Doug Dickey

Overrated - Fulmer

 

[horde of llamas]

Underrated- Mike Barry
Our offensive lines were nasty when he ws the O-line coach

Underrated number 2 Rick Barnes

I've lived through some tough times with UT basketball, .and yes I wish he would win a big game in the tournament and get to the final 4.

With that being said UT mens basketball is more than relevant now, and we are considered one of the best teams around the last 5 years.

Overrated- John Chavis

If it was 3rd and 18 you can bet we would give up a play for 25 yards

this happened multiple times when he was defensive coordinator

 

[#1fulmerite]

Underrated - Jerry Green or Doug Dickey

Overrated - Fulmer

Dickey leaving and, the way he did it and where he went, soured many Vols fans for decades, even till today.

 

[J C Higgins]

Who is your most Overrated Vol Coach?

Who is your most Underrated Vol Coach?


For me, overrated has to be Trooper Taylor.

For me, Underrated has to be Ken Donahue.

As our RB coach, he never seemed to develop any of our guys. I know Houston and Riggs both ran for a grand each during one season but, it seems like he coached them to get tackled and fall sideways. Other than whooping and hollering and twirling a towel for attention, we could have had better.

Donahue gave us some good times and some good games! His D gave us the Sugar Vols and that Sugar Bowl win. Everyone seems to forget at that awesome’87 season and how important his D was. Majors made him the scapegoat of that ‘88 season but, he was good till opposing coaches figured out how to scheme his defense.

What are your two choices volnation?

Considering head coaches only and those during my lifetime..

Most overrated ....Fulmer
Most underrated......Dickey

 

[pimo1]

Head Coaches….

Overrated: Phillip Fulmer. He had great assistant coaches around him that carried him. He also coached when (other than Spurrier) the SEC wasn’t loaded with great coached teams week end and week out. He had great players but couldn’t win like he should have. In reality, he underachieved with one NC. He had teams that should have won at least 3 NC. He also refused to change.

Underrated: Johnny Majors. He came back to Tennessee when we needed him. He brought us back to relevance and had it rolling before an assistant coach made a play for his job. Coached hard, recruited hard and worked hard for every Tennessee fan. Will always be top 3 coaching greats on the Hill for me. Go Vols.

You do know what you point out as a knock on Fulmer is true of EVERY hall of fame coach ever? All great coaches had great staffs and great players lol. Name a great coach that didn't have a great staff and great players?

It is literally the staff and players job to carry the head coach.

It is the Head coaches job to enable the staff and players.

Fulmers downfall was really bad hires after losing key staff. He was never able to replace Cut.

 

[Brave Volunteer]

Fulmer is the most overrated. He did pretty much the same, Fulmer had 2 SEC championships, and 1 National Title in 16 years. Fulmer inherited a loaded program, with amazing coaches, and in a worse SEC; and under delivered. People are complaining about Heupel going into year 5, but golden boy Fulmer didn't win the SEC until his 5th year. The national title was a highlight, but he was never able to maintain, and once he lost his best coaches he suffered, which begs the question of why give him any credit if his success was so coordinator heavy that he didn't even hire.

underrated I have to agree with Jancek.

Yeah but thats...kind of a big deal LouderVol. It's something Majors never did here, and Fulmer won it with his own players! Majors might have left Fulmer a strong program, but that national championship roster was all of Fulmer's recruits. Not saying Fulmer isn't overrated in certain aspects, but having a natty vs not having one is a pretty big differentiator!

 

[05_never_again]

Yeah but thats...kind of a big deal LouderVol. It's something Majors never did here, and Fulmer won it with his own players! Majors might have left Fulmer a strong program, but that national championship roster was all of Fulmer's recruits. Not saying Fulmer isn't overrated in certain aspects, but having a natty vs not having one is a pretty big differentiator!

I think you have to separate Fulmer's tenure into two halves. From 2002 until he was fired, I don't think Phil was a great coach. I know he made the SECCG twice during those years, but the 2005 and 2008 seasons were extremely disappointing and there was also the 2002 season where we finished unranked. In the early 2000s, he was pulling elite recruiting classes but the program had clearly slipped behind UGA and UF. The last couple years he was here, he actually wasn't recruiting well at all.

1993 until 2001 (particularly 1995 until 2001) was a different story. He probably should have won the SEC more than twice, but he managed to bring home our only modern era national title and lost only 5 games from 1995-98.