Biggest "what-if" scenarios in Tennessee football history

#27
#27
What if Lyle would have moved Hurd to WR/TE and let Kamara been our starting RB

What if Lyle would have never fired his strength and conditioning coach

What if Huepel could have coached those 2015-2016 teams? I really believe we would have had two sec championships those two years
 
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#29
#29
Volosaurus rex said:
Since it is off-season, here are a couple of monumental what-if scenarios to debate in terms of their most likely effects on the trajectory of Tennessee football:

(1) What would the effect have been if Doug Dickey had been hired as head coach in 1963, rather than 1964, thus making Tennessee a more desirable college destination for Stephen Orr Spurrier?

(2) What would the long-term effect have been if Dickey had never made the mistake of his life by returning to Florida as head coach, thus sparing us a decade-long decline and rebuild during the Battle and early Majors era?

If you have other, equally compelling, what-if hypothetical scenarios to add to the equation/discussion, feel free to do so.
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Since Spurrier was not recruited that hard by Tennessee despite playing at Science Hill. I think he enjoyed beating Tennessee and needling Tennessee during his coaching career.
 
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#30
#30
Volosaurus rex said:
Since it is off-season, here are a couple of monumental what-if scenarios to debate in terms of their most likely effects on the trajectory of Tennessee football:

(1) What would the effect have been if Doug Dickey had been hired as head coach in 1963, rather than 1964, thus making Tennessee a more desirable college destination for Stephen Orr Spurrier?

(2) What would the long-term effect have been if Dickey had never made the mistake of his life by returning to Florida as head coach, thus sparing us a decade-long decline and rebuild during the Battle and early Majors era?

If you have other, equally compelling, what-if hypothetical scenarios to add to the equation/discussion, feel free to do so.
Click to expand...
 
#31
#31
This is easy. What if Hamilton had hired Cutcliffe instead of Dooley? It was almost a done deal, except for a few questions about Cutcliffe's staff, that should've been none of the AD's business. It would have stabilized the program, we would have had success in the SEC (no losing seasons for sure), and I think he would have stepped down when/if he had done all he could do. And Peyton/Eli would've been around the program the whole time they were balling in the NFL.
 
#33
#33
Volfan1000 said:
Since Spurrier was not recruited that hard by Tennessee despite playing at Science Hill. I think he enjoyed beating Tennessee and needling Tennessee during his coaching career.
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According to Chris Low, "The reality is Spurrier grew up cheering for the Vols. He lived in several small towns in Tennessee while his father, a Presbyterian minister, moved around to different churches, and then Spurrier went to high school in Johnson City, Tennessee. He told ESPN.com a few years ago he probably would have gone to Tennessee out of high school -- and was also recruited by then-Tennessee basketball coach Ray Mears -- but the Vols were still running the single-wing offense in football at the time, and Spurrier wanted to go somewhere they were going to throw the ball and chose Florida." See Spurrier recalls best one-liners, preps to be honored by rival Volunteers.
 
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#35
#35
What if we didn’t play bama and uga every year?

What if kiffin would’ve had a huge buyout should he leave after only 1 season.

What if butch jones would’ve had a pair of balls and played an aggressive brand of football with all the talent we had back then.

What if hart, curry, and fulmer had never been allowed in the athletic dept (as none of them we’re qualified to be A.D.s)

What if Heupel wouldn’t have misevaluated Milton and had a better replacement in place to succeed hooker.
 
#36
#36
wmcovol said:
Casey Clausen was better. Screw Chris Simms
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Absolutely. Major applewhite was way better as well. I remember the Texas crowd booing Sims until he was eventually replaced with Applewhite. The crowd went crazy and Applewhite rally them from down like 21 points in the second half.
 
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#37
#37
What if Tennessee had hired Gary Patterson after 2008?

What if Fulmer had gone with Casey Clausen from Game 1 in 2000 instead of messing with Joey Matthews and AJ Suggs for two weeks?

What if Tennessee hadn't knocked Rohan Davey and LaBrandon Toefield out of the 2001 SECCG? Or at the very least hadn't had half the team out partying the night before the SECCG?

What if Lincoln had gotten the ball over Alabama in 2009?

What if Butch Jones hadn't completely fumbled the recruiting of Trevor Lawrence?

What if Tennessee hadn't blown off Tennessee native and lifelong Vol fan Patrick Willis?

What if the Vol Network had gone with Mike Keith in 1998?

What if the Houston Oilers never moved to Nashville?

What if Tennessee had kept 11 on the field against LSU in 2010?

What if Tennessee had blitzed JaMarcus Russell, who had already thrown three previous INTs because of pressure, at the end of the game in 2006?

What if Tennessee had recognized that every Tim Tebow run was to the left side of the line in 2006?

All that said, I think folks have rightly hit upon the biggest what if - what if Saban had never hooked up with Alabama? Nicky single-handled demolished over a decade of football enjoyment for everyone in the SEC, Tennessee most of all. I can't even begin to imagine how much different we'd look back at the BCS/CFP era had Saban not been there to ruin it.
 
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#40
#40
What if Schiano actually got the job and he brought Joe Burrow with him from Ohio State?
 
#41
#41
What if we beat Florida in 95,what if we don't lose to Memphis st in 96,what if we don't lose to Florida in 99 or Arkansas, what if we don't lose to lsu in secg in 01,what if we don't lose to Notre Dame and auburn twice in 04,what if 2005,08,2010,2011,2012,2013,2017-2020 didn't happen, what if we didn't lose to uscjr in 22,list goes on
 
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#43
#43
What if Chuck Webb doesn't get injured.
What if Reggie Cobb wasn't kicked off.
What if Tony Robinson doesn't get knee capped
What if Manning could beat Florida
What if Hooker doesn't get injured
 
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#46
#46
Voltopia said:
What if Tennessee had hired Gary Patterson after 2008?

What if Fulmer had gone with Casey Clausen from Game 1 in 2000 instead of messing with Joey Matthews and AJ Suggs for two weeks?

What if Tennessee hadn't knocked Rohan Davey and LaBrandon Toefield out of the 2001 SECCG? Or at the very least hadn't had half the team out partying the night before the SECCG?

What if Lincoln had gotten the ball over Alabama in 2009?

What if Butch Jones hadn't completely fumbled the recruiting of Trevor Lawrence?

What if Tennessee hadn't blown off Tennessee native and lifelong Vol fan Patrick Willis?

What if the Vol Network had gone with Mike Keith in 1998?

What if the Houston Oilers never moved to Nashville?

What if Tennessee had kept 11 on the field against LSU in 2010?

What if Tennessee had blitzed JaMarcus Russell, who had already thrown three previous INTs because of pressure, at the end of the game in 2006?

What if Tennessee had recognized that every Tim Tebow run was to the left side of the line in 2006?

All that said, I think folks have rightly hit upon the biggest what if - what if Saban had never hooked up with Alabama? Nicky single-handled demolished over a decade of football enjoyment for everyone in the SEC, Tennessee most of all. I can't even begin to imagine how much different we'd look back at the BCS/CFP era had Saban not been there to ruin it.
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I don’t think the Titans have had much impact on UT football. Vols are STILL the most popular team in Middle Tennessee. This is evidenced by the attendance at the Va game this year & BB attendance at Sats Vandy game. Tennessee’s problems were internal due to hiring stupid people with stupid ideas.
 
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#47
#47
Volizona said:
If Spurrier played for UT, the next what if would be “what if he became our coach in the 90s?” Perhaps replaced Majors instead of Fulmer. Would we have more Natties? There would be no Florida getting in our way and can you imagine Spurrier and Peyton teaming up?
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There’s no doubt in my opinion. Our unwillingness to understand what a gem Spurrier was and build a team around him was the first of our head-in-the-sand decisions that has plagued the Vols. Followed by not hiring Majors in 1970 and giving Hamilton the keys.
 
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#48
#48
Voltopia said:
What if Tennessee had hired Gary Patterson after 2008?

What if Fulmer had gone with Casey Clausen from Game 1 in 2000 instead of messing with Joey Matthews and AJ Suggs for two weeks?

What if Tennessee hadn't knocked Rohan Davey and LaBrandon Toefield out of the 2001 SECCG? Or at the very least hadn't had half the team out partying the night before the SECCG?

What if Lincoln had gotten the ball over Alabama in 2009?

What if Butch Jones hadn't completely fumbled the recruiting of Trevor Lawrence?

What if Tennessee hadn't blown off Tennessee native and lifelong Vol fan Patrick Willis?

What if the Vol Network had gone with Mike Keith in 1998?

What if the Houston Oilers never moved to Nashville?

What if Tennessee had kept 11 on the field against LSU in 2010?

What if Tennessee had blitzed JaMarcus Russell, who had already thrown three previous INTs because of pressure, at the end of the game in 2006?

What if Tennessee had recognized that every Tim Tebow run was to the left side of the line in 2006?

All that said, I think folks have rightly hit upon the biggest what if - what if Saban had never hooked up with Alabama? Nicky single-handled demolished over a decade of football enjoyment for everyone in the SEC, Tennessee most of all. I can't even begin to imagine how much different we'd look back at the BCS/CFP era had Saban not been there to ruin it.
Click to expand...
Glad I didn’t read this anywhere near the Henley St. bridge.
 
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#50
#50
Volizona said:
The two biggest down periods in the modern era were the post Dickey and Post Fulmer years. The coaching decisions in both scenarios were devastating, especially post Fulmer where we didn’t just make one bad hire, we made 4 consecutive hires that were awful.
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You forgot the Bowden Wyatt era that was pretty bad
 
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