Which coach walked into the worst situation

Which coach walked into the worst situation?

  • Majors

  • Kiffin

  • Dooley

  • Jones

  • Pruitt

  • Heupel

Results are only viewable after voting.
#51
#51
Volnut said:
The only reason Majors isn't winning this poll is most on here are not old enough to remember or weren't born yet when Bittle Battle inflicted his damage to the program.
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Or old enough to understand recruiting in that era without the technology. I talked to Johnny about 6 or 7 years ago at a benefit. He was spitting off the weight, height, position changes and jersey numbers of the players he coached like they were his own kids. Recruiting was a lot more personal and time consuming then......and so was coaching..... I didn't talk to him long and he still found a way to work how Fulmer back stabbed him into the conversation.
 
#52
#52
Volfan76 said:
I disagree. Heupel had Tennessee in the playoff and national championship discussion in year 2. I don't see any scenario where he does that with the team, resources, technology limitations, and lack of transfers in the Major era.
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Fine, but if it was me, I would have rather been in Major’s shoes in year one at Tennessee, than Heupel‘s shoes when arrived.
 
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#54
#54
BigBadVol said:
It’s not even close. Heupel inherited the worst roster in college football with only around 40 scholarship players.
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I would give Jones an honorable mention for dealing with Dooley's sins. We had zero players drafted the first two years Jones was here, none, and Heupel had seven. Pruitt at least left some talent in his wake. But that pales to the staggering lack of depth that Heupel had to get us past. There's a moral to the story here though when you think about our three most serious rebuilds being after a couple of 'Bammers (Battle, Pruitt), and diet Vince Dooley. There should be a commandment that says thou shalt not stray too far into your rivals' coaching trees.
 
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#58
#58
Volnut said:
The only reason Majors isn't winning this poll is most on here are not old enough to remember or weren't born yet when Bittle Battle inflicted his damage to the program.
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I loved Coach Majors but Tennessee had finished 4th, 9th, 8th, 19th and 20th in the AP poll in the first 5 years of the decade. Before Heupel took over we hadn't finished in the top 10 in 20 years.

We hadn't had a losing record in 12 years before Majors got here. We had 3 in the 4 years before Heupel arrived. We were a complete afterthought and punchline the day Heupel stepped foot on campus.
 
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#60
#60
#1fulmerite said:
As the title said, which coach do you believe took over the worst program? Fulmer is not listed, obviously because the program was already doing well. Seems over the years and still now, there is debate in many threads as to the quality of players in the program when each of these choices became the HC

Though Dooley had Bray, I give a nod to him as virtually none of CLK’s one recruiting class panned out. Runner up on my list would have to be Jones as there was nothing but, I’m tempted to switch CJH due to all of the transfers when Pruitt was let go.
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For me it was between Jones and Heupel. I went with Heupel, although an argument could be made for any listed.
 
#61
#61
All walked into depleted rosters. Only Heupel walked in here with NCAA up our ass, staring at self imposed double digit scholly reductions.

We are extremely blessed to have a coach like Heupel, one of the best offensive minds in the game, a first class, no nonsense, no ego guy.
 
#62
#62
I think it's Pruitt

I would maybe say Majors, but I don't know enough about that time period. How exactly did Battle ruin it? Always seemed weird it took Johnny so long to get it rolling again.

Dooley still had studs on his roster that were from Fulmer and Lane.

Butch still wasn't that far removed from the glory days then he had all those legacy players.

Pruitt though? The 4-8 season was the worst in Tennessee history. The way Butch botched the 15' and 16' seasons and then completely collapsed in 17' was absolutely soul crushing. Pruitt was left with small players on the LOS. Super young team and........JG 😂

No portal, small linemen, youth, followed the most epic collapse in program history and had JG at QB!

Heupel had the portal, inherited a much stronger LOS with guys on it that are still with us to this day. Lots of veteran guys, Byron Young was brought in by Pruitt and Hendon Hooker.

Sorry, Heup would not have been nearly as successful with JG. Not a chance. Hooker was in fact a good QB at Virginia Tech.

Yes the NCAA infractions were terrible and replacing portal players sucked, but he retained a lot of solid veteran players and Mr Hendo Cinco.

For me, it's Pruitt because the QB situation puts it over the top.
 
#65
#65
PlanetVolunteer said:
I think it's Pruitt

I would maybe say Majors, but I don't know enough about that time period. How exactly did Battle ruin it? Always seemed weird it took Johnny so long to get it rolling again.

Dooley still had studs on his roster that were from Fulmer and Lane.

Butch still wasn't that far removed from the glory days then he had all those legacy players.

Pruitt though? The 4-8 season was the worst in Tennessee history. The way Butch botched the 15' and 16' seasons and then completely collapsed in 17' was absolutely soul crushing. Pruitt was left with small players on the LOS. Super young team and........JG 😂

No portal, small linemen, youth, followed the most epic collapse in program history and had JG at QB!

Heupel had the portal, inherited a much stronger LOS with guys on it that are still with us to this day. Lots of veteran guys, Byron Young was brought in by Pruitt and Hendon Hooker.

Sorry, Heup would not have been nearly as successful with JG. Not a chance. Hooker was in fact a good QB at Virginia Tech.

Yes the NCAA infractions were terrible and replacing portal players sucked, but he retained a lot of solid veteran players and Mr Hendo Cinco.

For me, it's Pruitt because the QB situation puts it over the top.
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Would Heupel have played JG for 4 years even with how bad he was?
 
#66
#66
I just remember hearing stories how Battle took Dickey’s players and rolled but did not replace with recruiting. I wish more of those on here would comment about that time period and compare that era to after Fulmer era.
 
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#67
#67
To me, it was between Majors and Heupel

Was barely even alive when Johnny came marching home so went with Heupel

We were all convinced we were screwed for another decade after the NCAA bomb. All of what we're considered the "good" players at the time mostly left. Face it, I don't recall very many of us being over the moon about the Heupel hire. I think the pie in the sky hope was that he could just stabilize the program a bit before getting canned.

20 months later, we were ranked #1-at least for a minute-with a team comprised mostly of misfits and spare parts.
 
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#68
#68
GetEmVols said:
Would Heupel have played JG for 4 years even with how bad he was?
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I think the Heup, like the others would have at first, seduced by JG's practice displays. Why? Because he was suckered by the same thing with JoMil. After a game or two, Heup would pull JG to see if any of the other QBs were any better. He then would have made a decision based on which of the available QBs was the most coachable, which is why Hooker took the job from JoMil.

I think Butch was already in the process of losing the team, and fear motivated his benching QuiDor for JG, recall JG's pouting on the sideline. At that point, the players were becoming the team bosses, not the coach. Heupie would have NEVER, EVER, let tha happen. He got tested on it once, and didn't back down, it cost us the USCe game. Banks got back because the players were pissed at the missed opportunity and had words with Banks, who toed the line. Cause if he didn't, the players would have voted him off the team and Heup would have agreed.

So, would Coach JH have had better seasons than either Lyle or Puddinghead? I'd say yes, maybe not wildly successful, but better than Lyle's third, and Puddinghead's entire time at the UT. Heup! Heup! Hooray!
 
#69
#69
UT Administration dysfunction was ghastly and very public when Jones was hired. Alumni wondered who if anyone would take the job. Jones believed that Tennessee was a career destination job. The roster he inherited lacked freshman OLs.

Heupel inherited NCAA sanctions, the dark clouds of scandal, and ~50-few scholarship players on the roster. From the ashes, he built an admirable culture and teams who would embody Neyland’s maxims.

Whose situation was more dire? I’ll give the nod to CJH.
 
#71
#71
Volnut said:
The only reason Majors isn't winning this poll is most on here are not old enough to remember or weren't born yet when Bittle Battle inflicted his damage to the program.
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Yup. The roster Josh inherited would beat the group Johnny found by 50 points.

But, this crowd wasn't yet conceived.

Photo of Bill Battles' final team.
 

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#72
#72
Heupel and it’s not even close. With the mess he had to come in and clean up after the previous coaching staff and the results of the decade plus preceding that, and the fact he was routinely playing games with 60 scholarship players is nothing short of miraculous. He took over a true dumpster fire of a program and made it into a contender.
 
#73
#73
Easily Heupel. Took over a 3-7 team with sanctions and a depleted roster. And a program that hadn't won 10 games in 14 years.
 
#74
#74
Wireless1 said:
I'm still struggling between Heupel and Majors. Majors had nothing to sell and the cloud of the NCAA was enormous for Heupel......we can thanks former Tide players for the messes left in Knoxville.
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Majors had just came off of a NC at Pitt. He definitely sold that in his recruiting pitch
 
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