Analogy (Plus Vids) for you young timers

[mr3dboot]

Ladies & Gentleman,

I rarely post. Usually I sit back and read. If I may, today I'd like to whittle down an analogy especially for those out there who are in dire straights about this season.

I'll throw in some video to keep you entertained. opcorn:

My resume:
In my lifetime I held a variety of jobs before my career took off. I've been at the bottom of the totem pole, (Can you say "Fries with that?") and I've been at Director level where I ran operations across the entire South US for a major Cable company.

In the course of my career history I've seen a lot of things and I've learned a lot as well. Most of the learning has came through error at first. I've developed talent successfully and I've also had to show folks the door. Not something I every enjoyed.

Now, let's recap the state of our program at Tennessee:

1. In a word, Decimated. 3 Head Coaches in a short period of time. Two of those being awful performers, the third is yet to be fully evaluated.
2. Our players have had three different play schemes thrown at them. Most of us don't get how difficult learning one playbook is, much less three. Throw in full time college on top of that and you've got a recipe for disaster.
3. Our 'fall from grace" has limited our recruiting opportunities until this year and for those recruits who arrived prior to this year, they learned ineffective systems from ineffective teachers.
4. Many of our fan base forget about the three items above and start calling for heads to roll when the season appears to go down the drain.

Sound pretty close to where we are? Good. Now for my analogy.

The current Head Coaches state of the program is like a person being asked to perform at a level where you win trips to Hawaii....where you get the gold Rolex etc (you get it right?) but you must start your position with a set of tools that are not just cracked, not just worn, not just old but are quite literally being held together by duct tape and super glue. You know that too much pressure here or there will break it.
Still, you remain, working with those broken down tools because you've been told that you can go out and get more and you know that once you have all the right tools in place you will perform very well.

Your co-workers (aka, negafans) however expect you to break all production records with those broken down tools and they are very vocal about it. Every time the production line grinds to a halt because your tools don't work, they call for your head. You stick around though because your about to get your first new tool.

Joshua Dobbs:
Joshua Dobbs QB 2012 Senior Highlights HD - YouTube

The bad news, well, you have to wait until next years budget to get more. Here are a few that you put in the budget already:

Jalen Hurd:
Jalen Hurd - Highlight Videos, Schedule & Roster - Hudl

Dillon Bates:
Dillon Bates - Highlight Videos, Schedule & Roster - Hudl

Lavon Pearson:
Lavon "Von" Pearson - Hudl

Todd Kelly Jr:
Todd Kelly Jr '14 Junior Highlights (ATH/S) - YouTube

Ok, so I admit, cheesy analogy. But folks, we have to be realistic about where we are.

No promises that next year will be better, but here is a pretty good indicator of where the future points:

Tennessee Football Recruiting: Is Butch Jones Pulling a Nick Saban? | Bleacher Report

Keep those orange chins up. Pull for those broken down tools and be careful to remember that they have been mishandled. New ones are on the way.

 

[wcm100690]

Good post from another point of view. I'm more of a lurker as well. Too many experts and coaches on here for me to get involved.

Time will tell but the real question is just how much time will Butch get...

 

[WesternNCVol]

I like the analogy too, but I think the crowd calling for heads won't get it. They are drama infested and make emotional decisions.

 

[oregonvol]

Of all the faulty analogies on this board, I think my favorite is when people compare a guy making 3 million dollars a year with their $30,000 a year employees.

When we're talking multi-million dollar salaries and you are in the entertainment business, you don't have the same job performance expectations as that guy trying to sell someone a cell phone plan. You have to over-achieve at this level. When so much money is being spent on you and your staff and your facilities, and you have to keep the money coming in with high ticket sales and donations and (most importantly) you are competing with guys who regularly over-achieve, then you have to over-achieve or you're going to fail. There is no "good enough" in this position. There is no "well if only...". Either you win or you lose. Either you gain an advantage over the other guy and keep pushing that advantage or you fall by the wayside.

Look at the coaches who have succeeded in the SEC in recent history:

Was it reasonable to expect Nick Saban to win the SEC in his 2nd year at LSU?
Was it reasonable to expect Urban Meyer to win a national championship in his 2nd year at Florida?
Was it reasonable to expect Spurrier to beat both UT and Florida in his first year at S. Carolina?
Was it reasonable to expect James Franklin to win 9 games (and outrecruit UT) in his 2nd year at Vanderbilt?
Was it reasonable to expect Mark Richt to knock off a #6 ranked UT team at Neyland in his 1st year at Georgia (or go 13-1 the following year)?

That's your competition. People who defy expectations. As UT coach, that's who you will be compared to and that's who you have to beat.

And Butch Jones has done alot so far. He has upset S. Carolina. His recruiting is exceeding all expectations so far this year. But, at the same time, he can't let his foot off the gas. He has to keep improving this team and instead, it looks like things are falling apart. Is it understandable? Sure, if you hold your coach to the same standards as a regional sales manager. But it's not something that bodes well for your future in major college football.

 

[VolFootballlover]

Tennessee has The Tools to do the job a hell of alot better than what we saw Saturday!

 

[MustafaRasta]

You should post more often.