Chill Pill

[BARknox bouncer]

Good to see the sunshine pumpers returning to the bored.

 

[DEFENDTHISHOUSE]

To cry and complain like a petulant child when things don't go your way, well, that's just bad upbringing. It is immaturity allowed to fester into adulthood. It is pitiful, but at the end of the day hurts no one other than the person throwing the tantrum. In short, it is ignorable as long as it is not a family member.

But to take the next step by calling for the firing of the best coach we've had since at least Fulmer, and maybe since Neyland, that's destructive. That's what got us into this mess in the first place, 15 years ago. That is unacceptable.

Josh Heupel is a very good coach. Tennessee needs to stick with him, as I'm sure Danny White and Donde Plowman already know. They need to ignore that vocal segment of the fan base that are going off the deep end. Because, sadly, if some idiots are doing it here on these boards, some other idiots among the boosters are trying the same crap.

Heupel doesn't yet have the talent he needs to take the next step. There are excellent, top-tier players on our roster. But there are also lads with whom we are making do. That was true last year, but is more evident in 2023. The strong bits were in just the right places to overcome most of the weak bits last year.

So Heupel needs time. And support. And a little bit of faith.

Most of you know this already. You support the coaching staff and understand it takes time. But man, there sure are a lot of the dangerous whiners here, too.

If you happen to be one of those, try this: take a chill pill. Learn to cope. Learn patience. Learn loyalty and discipline and maybe even a little faith. And if you can't do any of that, at least learn to scream your incendiary thoughts into a pillow rather than out into public.

To the majority, thanks for being you. You rock.

Go Vols!

Good grief. No serious person is calling for Heupel to be fired.

 

[Clad in Big Orange]

Heupel is going to get 5 seasons at least. Some seem to be convinced he'll make it beyond that, some are starting to doubt. Nobody's right/wrong. Plenty of evidence to support either view.

 

[DaddyChad]

I have to actually say that the LB play was worse than the secondary yesterday. Didn’t think I would find myself ever saying that.

Yep. That group was exposed. Absolutely have to get more depth at that position in the off-season.

 

[djwes]

I don’t think any reasonable person is calling for Heupel to get fired.

I for one did not think the vols would win yesterday, but they were wholly unprepared, grossly outplayed and out coached to a level that should never occur under a quality coach.

This is also a disturbing pattern for a Heupel which is a fair point to criticize.

I coach both middle school and high school football. This wasn’t a case of not having the athletes as Tennessee’s roster is as at least comparable to Missouri except perhaps the quarterback position.

A game looks very different when kids are prepared, focused and effort hard but they’re just out classed. This was not the case yesterday.

 

[DaddyChad]

Heupel is going to get 5 seasons at least. Some seem to be convinced he'll make it beyond that, some are starting to doubt. Nobody's right/wrong. Plenty of evidence to support either view.

Heupel’s early success may have got expectations a little high.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

Yep. That group was exposed. Absolutely have to get more depth at that position in the off-season.

#44 looked lost all day in coverage and absolutely failed spying the QB

 

[JMSqb11]

To cry and complain like a petulant child when things don't go your way, well, that's just bad upbringing. It is immaturity allowed to fester into adulthood. It is pitiful, but at the end of the day hurts no one other than the person throwing the tantrum. In short, it is ignorable as long as it is not a family member.

But to take the next step by calling for the firing of the best coach we've had since at least Fulmer, and maybe since Neyland, that's destructive. That's what got us into this mess in the first place, 15 years ago. That is unacceptable.

Josh Heupel is a very good coach. Tennessee needs to stick with him, as I'm sure Danny White and Donde Plowman already know. They need to ignore that vocal segment of the fan base that are going off the deep end. Because, sadly, if some idiots are doing it here on these boards, some other idiots among the boosters are trying the same crap.

Heupel doesn't yet have the talent he needs to take the next step. There are excellent, top-tier players on our roster. But there are also lads with whom we are making do. That was true last year, but is more evident in 2023. The strong bits were in just the right places to overcome most of the weak bits last year.

So Heupel needs time. And support. And a little bit of faith.

Most of you know this already. You support the coaching staff and understand it takes time. But man, there sure are a lot of the dangerous whiners here, too.

If you happen to be one of those, try this: take a chill pill. Learn to cope. Learn patience. Learn loyalty and discipline and maybe even a little faith. And if you can't do any of that, at least learn to scream your incendiary thoughts into a pillow rather than out into public.

To the majority, thanks for being you. You rock.

Go Vols!

The fire Heupel crowd are funny. I think it’s clear after 3 seasons / 39 games, Heupel is the trend breaker which is a good thing.

However, I do think the honeymoon phase is over after the bowl game and this season concludes. I’m not gonna sit here and be insane and say Heupel isn’t still feeling the effects of the roster/recruiting disaster he walked into in 2020. However, he has a few (not a lot) instances that have zero to do with the taken where his coaching IQ/decisions just seem to flop. Good news is these instances occur here and there.

Heupel is still a relatively young coach. I do think there are growing pains with a coach that young making jump from a small school to a bigger one in general. Now add in the state of the program and it’s gonna take time. I personally think he gets 5 years minimum here. That allows him to turnover the entire roster and then some. Love the team but cutting all ties from the Pruitt roster + transfer exodus takes time and that’s 3/4 years minimum.

But he has exceeded much of our expectations we all prolly had for 3 years in when he was hired.

But it’s clear he needs some growth as a coach and that can only be done through time.

 

[EZE]

I think anyone wanting Heupel fired is nuts. I think if he enters Spring Practice with this same staff intact I may turn nuts myself. Extremely solid OP.

Anyone wanting Heupel fire is absolutely nuts!

 

[EZE]

I have to actually say that the LB play was worse than the secondary yesterday. Didn’t think I would find myself ever saying that.

LBs were non existent. That is why they ran all over us.

 

[sonofUT62]

Anyone wanting Heupel fire is absolutely nuts!

I don’t want him fired. I do want them to hire someone else to do his interviews and pressers. After Jones and Pruitt I can’t take anymore.

 

[CAVPUT]

Something changed when Kamal Hadden went down. I do believe he was more aggressive when we had Hadden, remember I believe it was something like 64 percent of Texas A&M drop backs resulted in heavy pressure. Now I believe he is trying to compensate for the Kamal loss with a soft zone and it is killing us. He doesn’t even bring Beasley on blitzes anymore, nor am I seeing anymore stunts.

Did Beasley play yesterday? If he did, I didn't notice him at all. Very quiet for our "best LB".

 

[orangerush]

We don’t need five years of recruiting to compete with Mizzou. The game was not about the talent or depth level, it was about coaching and player effort when there was a considerable amount to play for.

 

[DaddyChad]

#44 looked lost all day in coverage and absolutely failed spying the QB

I would love to know why we didn’t sub him out at some point during the game. I know pili is done for the year and Carter was out last night but dang couldn’t we do better there? My biggest gripe with Banks is why he didn’t at least take away Schrader but apparently we didn’t have one LBer on the team capable of out athleting that guy.

 

[CAVPUT]

Don't be foolish.

Words exist to share information, in an effort to influence the thoughts and perhaps actions of others. That's all words are. That's it.

And boards like vn.com are nothing but words. We exist here only as ideas shared through our words. In order to alert, educate, and influence one another.

To think any post made here is not that, well, that's just foolish.

As one example, your post: it uses sarcasm (the lowest form of humor, btw) in an effort to influence others. Perhaps me; maybe you want me to stop posting. But more likely, it is an attempt to impress others who think the same way as you. In other words, you're trying to get them to like you. I'm just your foil, your chance to be sarcastic while telling others how to feel about what I said in the OP.

So stop being foolish, and understand what these boards actually are. Try that.

Go Vols!

You're making this message board stuff way too serious. It's water cooler banter and nothing more. As fleeting as a fart and even less likely to be remembered.

 

[tennesseepride84]

Did Beasley play yesterday? If he did, I didn't notice him at all. Very quiet for our "best LB".

Oh yeah he definitely played. But the fact that you didn’t notice speaks volumes

 

[CAVPUT]

We don’t need five years of recruiting to compete with Mizzou. The game was not about the talent or depth level, it was about coaching and player effort when there was a considerable amount to play for.

From my cheap seat, the drive, effort and will to win were all with Mizzou. From the head coach to the trainers, that team wanted that game far more than we did. They came to fight. UT OTOH had a plan...

 

[tbh]

You're making this message board stuff way too serious. It's water cooler banter and nothing more. As fleeting as a fart and even less likely to be remembered.

It's always super serious when one is the self-appointed political kommisar of VolNation. Especially those pesky "guess-the-score" threads.

 

[CAVPUT]

It's always super serious when one is the self-appointed political kommisar of VolNation. Especially those pesky "guess-the-score" threads.

Man, I live for those picker threads.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

Good to see the sunshine pumpers returning to the bored.

No interest in nuance? No one is pumping sunshine, and the sky isn't falling

 

[Volfan76]

To cry and complain like a petulant child when things don't go your way, well, that's just bad upbringing. It is immaturity allowed to fester into adulthood. It is pitiful, but at the end of the day hurts no one other than the person throwing the tantrum. In short, it is ignorable as long as it is not a family member.

But to take the next step by calling for the firing of the best coach we've had since at least Fulmer, and maybe since Neyland, that's destructive. That's what got us into this mess in the first place, 15 years ago. That is unacceptable.

Josh Heupel is a very good coach. Tennessee needs to stick with him, as I'm sure Danny White and Donde Plowman already know. They need to ignore that vocal segment of the fan base that are going off the deep end. Because, sadly, if some idiots are doing it here on these boards, some other idiots among the boosters are trying the same crap.

Heupel doesn't yet have the talent he needs to take the next step. There are excellent, top-tier players on our roster. But there are also lads with whom we are making do. That was true last year, but is more evident in 2023. The strong bits were in just the right places to overcome most of the weak bits last year.

So Heupel needs time. And support. And a little bit of faith.

Most of you know this already. You support the coaching staff and understand it takes time. But man, there sure are a lot of the dangerous whiners here, too.

If you happen to be one of those, try this: take a chill pill. Learn to cope. Learn patience. Learn loyalty and discipline and maybe even a little faith. And if you can't do any of that, at least learn to scream your incendiary thoughts into a pillow rather than out into public.

To the majority, thanks for being you. You rock.

Go Vols!

I don't think anyone is wanting Heupel to be fired right now. I don't think your argument that Missouri has recruited more talent than Tennessee is based on reality. Can't make the case when ut has smoked them the last 2 years. People want to see some changes with some glaring deficiencies.

 

[spyfish007]

I would love to know why we didn’t sub him out at some point during the game. I know pili is done for the year and Carter was out last night but dang couldn’t we do better there? My biggest gripe with Banks is why he didn’t at least take away Schrader but apparently we didn’t have one LBer on the team capable of out athleting that guy.

They did sub him out. It was just later in the game. I am not sure he played much in the 4th quarter. They probably didn't want to shatter his confidence??

 

[loservol]

When fans start telling other fans to take a chill pill, it is because they are worried that everything is not okay.

If Heupel makes the necessary coaching upgrades, everything will probably be fine. If not, it is going to be a long off season. Next season being an election year already means everyone is going to be in a foul rotten move. Trotting out the same position coaches and losing ball games is highly not recommended.

 

[cherokeeeVOL]

One thing I’ve learned from the past 15 years or so of watching mediocre to bad football by Tennessee, is that it’s not worth losing my cool over. We finally have a great coach but we just don’t have the depth or elite talent required at the key positions to hang with the elite programs yet. I’ve got next week’s game set to record but I’m not planning my day around it.

I’ll add that I think it would be an easier pill to swallow for some if the team was fun to watch. Hopefully Nico will add some excitement next year.

 

['Boro-vol]

How soon we forget where we came from. I would have sold my sister as recently as 3 years ago for a potential 8-4 season. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I love this coach. I’ve never been one to say someone needs “more time” as an excuse for underperforming. That’s usually accompanied by a lack of visual progress on the field and excitement around the program. That is not the problem we are having.

We play an exciting brand of football. We show flashes of greatness, even with this years roster. But we’re inconsistent. We haven’t had the leadership this year that we had with Hendon last year. But on any given day, when it comes together, the system puts us in a position to beat anyone in the country. Heupel has done everything I asked of a new coach three years ago, and exceeded my expectations.

I do believe some staff “adjustments” need to be made. We’ll see what type of CEO he is after the season. Despite yesterdays showing, we already know what kind of coach he is.

I get the angst, and vitriol from some. I was that guy, under Fulmer late in his tenure, and with three of the previous four coaches who demonstrated early on they weren’t worthy to coach in Orange. Heupel has already accomplished more than those clowns. He’ll get this right.

All that said, losing to Missouri sucks out loud.