The Culture problem with TN football

#54
#54
We've been talking about culture problems the last 10 effing years. Every new coach claims the previous culture needs to be changed. I'd appreciate a culture where offensive linemen could actually block, we ain't had none of those in nearly 10 years either.
 
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#55
#55
Thank you for wasting my time reading another bland puff piece. Sounds like note's from one of Fulmer's writers. Still does not take away from the fact that they had almost a year to prepare for Georgia State, and lost. No excuse for that Foolip Fillmore.
 
#56
#56
I think Pruitt has a very good idea of how a championship program should be run. He's been around too many great programs to not have noticed this. Where I think he messed up in year one is that he realized if he totally cleaned house of all the kids he thought shouldn't be here, he wouldn't have been able to field a team. Perhaps he thought he could convince these particular players of their potential and what it takes to reach that potential. He probably didn't reach as many as he thought he did, thus we have guys who aren't giving 100% or not focusing on the things they need to correct.

Personally, If I was Pruitt and I saw a guy who just wasn't doing everything he could to be the best player he could be, I would give them an ultimatum - either you're in this 100% or you're gone. And maybe he did do that and some guys just BS'ed their way through it to stay on the team. You know his assistants are going to tell him when a guy is slacking off. But maybe he lacks the cold calculation of Saban when it comes to that. Almost all head coaches do. Saban runs the Alabama program like an NFL organization. No guaranteed scholarships. Everyone is expendable. Sure he'll try and keep super talented guys on the team, but if they continually disappoint with lack of effort and mental lapses in practice and games, they won't play and they probably won't be with the team for that long.

On the flip side of that argument, if he did go scorched earth, we probably wouldn't have won a single game his first year. And I don't blame him for not wanting to post an awful record in his first year as a HC. But I think it would have paid some dividends down the road and let the rest of the team know that nobody's job is safe and nothing will be given.
 
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#59
#59
zjcvols said:
It’s always when been a problem. Kids use to quit all the time in the 60’s/70’s/80’s too, they just went to the factory instead of transferring.

Clemson doesn’t have this problem. Georgia doesn’t have this problem. Hell Will Muschamp and Mark Stoops don’t have this problem.

Jeremy Pruitt is the coach. It’s his job to motivate his players. And if he can’t they do, then he isn’t meant to be a head coach.
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It has nothing do with quitting. It's a prevalent attitude of not putting forth maximum effort or being able to handle criticism. The numbers bear out the fact that fewer and fewer kids are involved in sports, nationally and it has nothing to do with an "old" opinion. All schools deal with poor attitudes, but when you are a football program that has won 10 games over the last three seasons 5-6 players with poor attitudes who are forced to start because there is a lack of depth can create major issues. Other schools who are competitive have the luxury of benching said players because they have quality depth. This notion that it's a coach's responsibility to motivate a player who in some cases has been playing since they were 6 is nonsense. A coach's responsibility is to prepare a player for the game and create a game plan, not be a cheerleader on the sideline. If a player can't put forth maximum effort, that is 100% on the player. Coach Pruitt deserves criticism for not preparing the team enough to play Georgia State, not a lack of motivation. Anyone claiming that social media hasn't had a major impact on this generation athletically/socially/politically doesn't understand this generation. I work with them everyday.
 
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#61
#61
volfannbama said:
Its not a generational thing, there are fierces competitors in this generation, just like every other. I always find it funny that the generation that created the generation complains continually about the generation it created.
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So you're saying they weren't fierce competitors in the last generation
 
#62
#62
DonDiego said:
No, actually I'd prefer to leave off with the blame game altogether. It hasn't done us any good so far, and it's not likely to anytime soon. I'd prefer to support the current staff and give him this year and a good chunk of next year before the long knives come out.
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One of the best comments I've seen on the subject.
 
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#63
#63
jwilliams said:
Ya, I don't disagree really... I thought JG would take a big step this year. Lots of people did. I think Pruitt and Chaney did too, and now we're all just standing here kinda going, "what the hell?"
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Can't blame Chaney I don't think. He's been highly successful everywhere he's been. We keep getting these ultra successful position and coordinator coaches that come here and take a dump. I'm starting to believe the culture is a big problem there.
 
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#64
#64
VolinMichigan said:
I think Pruitt has a very good idea of how a championship program should be run. He's been around too many great programs to not have noticed this. Where I think he messed up in year one is that he realized if he totally cleaned house of all the kids he thought shouldn't be here, he wouldn't have been able to field a team. Perhaps he thought he could convince these particular players of their potential and what it takes to reach that potential. He probably didn't reach as many as he thought he did, thus we have guys who aren't giving 100% or not focusing on the things they need to correct.

Personally, If I was Pruitt and I saw a guy who just wasn't doing everything he could to be the best player he could be, I would give them an ultimatum - either you're in this 100% or you're gone. And maybe he did do that and some guys just BS'ed their way through it to stay on the team. You know his assistants are going to tell him when a guy is slacking off. But maybe he lacks the cold calculation of Saban when it comes to that. Almost all head coaches do. Saban runs the Alabama program like an NFL organization. No guaranteed scholarships. Everyone is expendable. Sure he'll try and keep super talented guys on the team, but if they continually disappoint with lack of effort and mental lapses in practice and games, they won't play and they probably won't be with the team for that long.

On the flip side of that argument, if he did go scorched earth, we probably wouldn't have won a single game his first year. And I don't blame him for not wanting to post an awful record in his first year as a HC. But I think it would have paid some dividends down the road and let the rest of the team know that nobody's job is safe and nothing will be given.
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Bingo - right on the money IMO. I think his unwillingness to go scorched earth his first year was due to it being his first HC gig. Im sure there was some self doubt and hope that he could coach a few up, etc and not having been at a disaster before, probably didnt quite know how it would effect things. He also really didnt have a lot of time to figure out who was going to really give him their all. Very curious how we took down 2 rated teams but collapsed at the end. Pruitt himself says its because he was focused on fixing so many things that he didnt have as much time to bond with the players. I also suspect he just wasnt used to players who didnt really believe in winning.
 
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#65
#65
GoVols64 said:
Read “Extreme Ownership” and you will find it a blue print for what an accountable leader should be. I’m willing to bet CJP is doing the right things and it will show over time. Can’t fix everything in a couple years.
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I'm a military officer and have been serving for 25 years. I've had years and years of professional development and leadership training. From what I've seen Coach Pruitt is doing everything right. He yells/gives criticism in private (this year), something he learned and always backs his players and coaches in public. He takes all the blame for everything which is also a great leadership trait. If you watch any of the practice highlights you see him right down there getting in the weeds too. You want to see your leaders down there helping and encouraging vs always barking orders (out of a microphone, U hmm). He's also addressing the right things. He recognizes the culture problem and was one of the first things he addressed, that's smart.
 
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#66
#66
MadWorld said:
I think it's mostly due to this hat he wears. My gosh is there not a better hat to wear than this one he found at Walmart?

View attachment 226177
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Back before Clemson blew up, when the term “clemsoning” was still a thing, I used to piss my wife off by telling her that they lost because Dabo wore K-Mart Clemson sweatshirts and it was bringing them bad luck. 😅
 
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#67
#67
volgrad500 said:
Why? I'm genuinely curious. I see this statement a lot and I don't get it. Every generation has tried to make the lives of their children easier/better. But this is the first generation that has taken that and decided to lay down and regress, instead of working hard to advance the ball. Why would it then be funny for other generations to complain about that? To say they shouldn't complain because they "created" the generation sort of relieves the younger generation of any responsibility, doesn't it? Like, you made us this way, that's why we are worthless? And btw, I'm in my early 40's so I haven't made one and I'm not one lol. Just seems like an odd point of view to me.
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I've heard about this generation's tendencies from lot's of various other generations. I think a lot of it is due to automation and technology. Kids rarely go outside anymore. I'm in my 40s too and I remember when Nintendo came out and more video games and it caused me and my friends to start spending more time indoors. But we knew how to play outside and enjoyed it so we still did. Now I rarely see kids outside in my neighborhood. My kids don't go outside much (my fault) but we've become reliant on the entertainment we have and I think it breeds laziness.

Also, it's true that the generation has become more about awards for everything. You hear people talk about participation trophies, etc but it's true...we didn't have that growing up. We had winners and losers. When you lost you got mad and tried harder to win. Now I see much more apathy. Once again, it's our fault. I'm certainly to blame for my kids. I'm scared to let them go play and walk around the neighborhood alone. I used to ride my bike all over the city when I was young. It's weird that we do that...maybe because there's so much more news sources and people getting caught due to tech, camera's, etc so we're more aware of all the perverts, violence, etc.

That's another thing, because of the smaller world due to the Internet and social media kids are waaaaay smarter...and they're much smarter at a younger age. But there's a huge danger to it when you let your kids learn too much from outside sources without someone to explain and correct. There's lots of good information on the Internet but there's lots of bad too.

I'm aware that every generation has complained about the next generation. My parents told their stories when I was young but there's definitely some truth to it.
 
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#68
#68
Gandalf said:
Bingo - right on the money IMO. I think his unwillingness to go scorched earth his first year was due to it being his first HC gig. Im sure there was some self doubt and hope that he could coach a few up, etc and not having been at a disaster before, probably didnt quite know how it would effect things. He also really didnt have a lot of time to figure out who was going to really give him their all. Very curious how we took down 2 rated teams but collapsed at the end. Pruitt himself says its because he was focused on fixing so many things that he didnt have as much time to bond with the players. I also suspect he just wasnt used to players who didnt really believe in winning.
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I dunno. I think he saw what happened to Charlie Strong at Texas. He went scorched earth and it cost him his job arguably. Guy could barely field a team he kicked so many people out of the program. So I can see how Pruitt was reluctant to do that
 
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#69
#69
GoVols64 said:
Read “Extreme Ownership” and you will find it a blue print for what an accountable leader should be. I’m willing to bet CJP is doing the right things and it will show over time. Can’t fix everything in a couple years.
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Incredible book. My 14 year old son is reading it now. I made him.
 
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#71
#71
Vfl2407 said:
Greenville ok, but there’s nothing to Clemson, imho.
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Clemson is a really nice place. That area has really grown the past 10 years. Amazing how much success with a football program and pump money into an area. Too bad our administration doesn’t understand that.....oh wait, they don’t have to, we could go 0-12 every season and people would still lay down the dollars and say “thank you!” Lol
 
#72
#72
volgrad500 said:
Why? I'm genuinely curious. I see this statement a lot and I don't get it. Every generation has tried to make the lives of their children easier/better. But this is the first generation that has taken that and decided to lay down and regress, instead of working hard to advance the ball. Why would it then be funny for other generations to complain about that? To say they shouldn't complain because they "created" the generation sort of relieves the younger generation of any responsibility, doesn't it? Like, you made us this way, that's why we are worthless? And btw, I'm in my early 40's so I haven't made one and I'm not one lol. Just seems like an odd point of view to me.
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Please tell me how this generation has laid down and regressed?
 
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#74
#74
Booker512 said:
Clemson is a really nice place. That area has really grown the past 10 years. Amazing how much success with a football program and pump money into an area. Too bad our administration doesn’t understand that.....oh wait, they don’t have to, we could go 0-12 every season and people would still lay down the dollars and say “thank you!” Lol
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Thanks for the update.
I’ll admit it’s been over ten years since I was there. Time flies.
I just hate watching them have all of that success especially with some of our native talent.
 
#75
#75
Vfl2407 said:
Thanks for the update.
I’ll admit it’s been over ten years since I was there. Time flies.
I just hate watching them have all of that success especially with some of our native talent.
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Trust me. I do to. We are going to a game in a few weeks and it’s gonna kill me to see all those guys that were committed to Tennessee out there tearing it up.
 
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