Coach Banks.....😡

[JoAllan]

Losing to SC was really bad considering where we were ranked and what potentially was riding on the outcome.

But giving up 63 to that really bad offense is a fireable offense and I really believe that result will force Heupel's hand at the end of the season.

I also think Heupel will make a change.

However I differ as I do not believe one game becomes a “fireable” offense. Unless something happened that was immoral or something.

However that game was a culmination of bad defensive outputs……..vs bad teams.

Tennessee is just too good to have that kind of terrible defense.

 

[FollowTheLeader]

I also think Heupel will make a change.

However I differ as I do not believe one game becomes a “fireable” offense. Unless something happened that was immoral or something.

However that game was a culmination of bad defensive outputs……..vs bad teams.

Tennessee is just too good to have that kind of terrible defense.

 

[JoAllan]

Short answer is yes, but there's more to it. I will add our D shut down LSU and is the reason we beat Pitt. Only 3 teams have scored more than 30 on us. We won two of them. One was had a Heisman winner. The other was Florida who scored 33. South Carolina was the other. Our offense is what lost the Georgia game. Our defense is what lost the SC game.

You don't fire a guy in year 2 who began with no ballers with exception to a DL or 2 and has a done what I have mentioned above. I would be willing to give this man another couple of years to see if we like what he's putting down. Next year might be worse unless these freshman coming in play beyond their years.

Don't want to retype this. It's long.
Coach Banks.....

I definitely know who Banks is. I’ve been a Banks guy since before he came.

I’ve literally been making excuses for the guy since last year. I’ve used every stat I could to try and explain away the bad stats.

However “I” (just me personally) am done and hoping for a change. I don’t see the improvement. “I” see 100th defense and 61st scoring D.

I see giving up lots of yards to Ball ST and lots of yards and points to Martin.

The main thing “for me” (only my opinion) I see the the O doing so well and the program on the cusp of greatness……….and the defense WAY behind. I also see some really good DC’s out there (that Heupel has connections with) that are prime to moving.

Thanks for your valid response.

 

[TN1111]

I also think Heupel will make a change.

However I differ as I do not believe one game becomes a “fireable” offense. Unless something happened that was immoral or something.

However that game was a culmination of bad defensive outputs……..vs bad teams.

Tennessee is just too good to have that kind of terrible defense.

I maybe should have clarified as far as the fireable offense…I was referencing the whole body of work over the last two years where we have remained abysmal against the pass.

And given that, the game Saturday may be what forces the change. Because I agree with you -a one game overreaction would not be good. But, I believe there’s definitely mounting evidence that something needs to change.

 

[vegasvolfan]

I definitely know who Banks is. I’ve been a Banks guy since before he came.

I’ve literally been making excuses for the guy since last year. I’ve used every stat I could to try and explain away the bad stats.

However “I” (just me personally) am done and hoping for a change. I don’t see the improvement. “I” see 100th defense and 61st scoring D.

I see giving up lots of yards to Ball ST and lots of yards and points to Martin.

The main thing “for me” (only my opinion) I see the the O doing so well and the program on the cusp of greatness……….and the defense WAY behind. I also see some really good DC’s out there (that Heupel has connections with) that are prime to moving.

Thanks for your valid response.

Like wise and fair enough, I see those numbers too, but then I take a look at the players he has had the past two years and believe it is clear why those numbers are the way they are here vs other places he has coached. We have lost 2 games this year. The offense lost the Georgia game. Our D won the Pitt game. Our O won the Bama game. Both won almost every other game. Heupel almost lost us the Florida game IMO.

 

[JoAllan]

I maybe should have clarified as far as the fireable offense…I was referencing the whole body of work over the last two years where we have remained abysmal against the pass.

And given that, the game Saturday may be what forces the change. Because I agree with you -a one game overreaction would not be good. But, I believe there’s definitely mounting evidence that something needs to change.

Definitely got ya!!!

Puritt once fired a coach during the game in front of everyone.

That was such a douche thing to do. It definitely showed he was not a leader.

Could have been a culmination and needed to happen…….but definitely not like that and because of that game.

Also:
We can know it was in front of everyone because he was a coach on the field and it was during the actual game not halftime (I checked the press box coaches at the time),

 

[JoAllan]

Like wise and fair enough, I see those numbers too, but then I take a look at the players he has had the past two years and believe it is clear why those numbers are the way they are here vs other places he has coached. The offense lost the Georgia game

I KONW he’s a great coach

I’m confident I stated it in this thread. I’m of the thinking maybe not for this conference, or for this offense, or maybe not for building…..I don’t know.

 

[BlinghamptonVol]

A valid point can be made in the first post about play makers.

How many of our guys could start at Bama or Georgia. We as a fan base often compare our team to those teams as a measuring stick.

So which of our guys start there?

How many start at another top 10 program?

We do lack elite talent on defense.

Half our offense could play anywhere in the country. But that defense…

To be fair, what guys on any defense across the country would start at bama or uga? Didn’t it take Eli Ricks halfway through the season before he saw many snaps at bama? UGA had some West Virginia transfer who was an all American come in and he can hardly see the field.

Maybe a better question is, do we have players that would start at Kentucky or scarolina?

 

[PastorVolFan]

The playcalling and lack of adjustments are both very concerning...the run defense over the course of the season has been good. But that secondary?? Willie Martinez??

I feel like when an opposing QB launches a deep pass against us, 1 of 2 things is sure to happen: A completion or a pass interference...and it seems like it's every time.

 

[DynaLo]

Remind me again who actually suits up and is supposed to execute on the field the plays that are called? Oh that’s right, it’s the players and not the coaches suiting up.
You game plan based on the team tendencies shown on tape. When the other team does things they have never shown before you make adjustments, however you are still limited by what you have practiced and what your players are capable of doing.
Spencer had a hot arm throwing the game of his career and unfortunately our well known defensive weaknesses were not going to slow that down.

It really looked like our players bought into the hype of just needing to show up because the SC tapes were so bad and once they got surprise gut punched early they could never recover.

 

[WesternNCVol]

Do you think Tennessee has the talent on defense to be better than 100th in total D and 61st in scoring D?

I honestly don’t know. I’m leaning yes and do recognize there’s some coaching issues there but I’m also not impressed physically by our players and certainly not mentally.

 

[WesternNCVol]

Nice try but you’re asking the wrong question.
You ask how many start at UGA or Bama or another top ten program.
Should ask how many start at UF, UK, Vandy, Mizzou or A&M because all of them held the SC at 38 or a lot less.
And that’s enough for our offense to have a bad day and still win.
So let’s not act like it takes Top 10 talent to stop their offense more than 1 time a game.

I agree it does t take too 10 talent to stop them. But let’s not act like any of our guys are too 25 talent either.

Some have shown flashes. No one is consistent. No one.

So is that be they suck or because they are coached poorly? Is there an effort issue?

Probably a combo of all that.

 

[Allvols1996]

I agree it does t take too 10 talent to stop them. But let’s not act like any of our guys are too 25 talent either.

Some have shown flashes. No one is consistent. No one.

So is that be they suck or because they are coached poorly? Is there an effort issue?

Probably a combo of all that.

130 talent apparently.

 

[rocytop2624]

Funny.......not one word about the 9 touchdowns given up Saturday night to one of the worst offenses in college football. Nine! NINE!! 9 !!!

Now back to the propaganda.......

Flush it! Drive on.

 

[DuckinVol]

TLDR

 

[maryvillenative]

FIRST POST......and it's all about Coach Banks.

I know it's always fun to sit incognito on message boards and hurl vitriol all over the chosen target for the day, month, season or year.

Coach Banks has been CHOSEN. The coach that had the GUTS to step in and take over when others turned us down. Do you know why others turned us down? Because COACHES do not want to tarnish or ruin their reputation, nor do they want to deal with the public scrutiny and backlash of taking over and running an OFFENSE or DEFENSE that's BAD!! They don't want to deal with the RISK of being associated with a DUMPSTER FIRE! And on top of that, coaches know, even though fans don't, that being a DC of a team that runs an offense like the one Coach Heupel runs, can be coaching suicide. The offense puts a strain on the defense, so you need speed, depth and play-makers, NONE of which TENNESSEE had at the time Coach Heupel took over.

TENNESSEE was a DUMPSTER FIRE before Coach Heupel took the job......remember that? Other Head Coaches wanted no parts of this job, we kept getting turned down. These (HC) were ESTABLISHED Brands and they were not willing to risk ruining their reputation as a HC to take over a program that was in COMPLETE shambles!! NO ESTABLISHED HC wanted any parts of the SANCTIONS, TRANSFER PORTAL EXODUS or the TARNISHED name of UT football attached to them. Coach Heupel had the GUTS to accept the challenge head on!!

He had his OC, but offered the DC job to lots of "named" coaches.......coaches that everyone was excited about. What happened? They ALL used us to get raises, but NO ONE was willing to take the chance......NO GUTS!!

Coach Heupel "SETTLES" for Coach Tim Banks as DC.....a "NO NAMER" in the eyes of the fan base, but a well respected coach in the profession known for improving defenses, getting the most out of "no name players" and sending them to the NFL (as he did at CENTRAL MICHIGAN, CINCINNATI, ILLINOIS and PENN STATE), as well as finding a way to WIN when rosters don't have the caliber of kids that are play makers on game day.....all of which we NEEDED at TENNESSEE!!

When Coach Banks took over the DEFENSE, he and his staff had NO one to work with, which is why everyone believed we'd only win 3-4 games in year one. He played with walk-ons, he moved players to different positions, he tried different schemes. He basically found a way to get the most out of what we had left on the roster, and it wasn't always pretty, what happened? We won more games than expected! I don't care how you slice it, the defense helped to stop another team from scoring more than us on 7 occasions last year!!

Fast forward to this season. Who's our PLAY-MAKERS on DEFENSE? I'm talking legitimate PLAY-MAKERS that are difference makers......like we have on OFFENSE. If I asked that same question about the offense, we could all rattle off SEVERAL names and even a few 2 deep playmakers.

Coach Banks and the defensive staff have done a great job of FINDING a way to help WIN games, even though they have a limited roster......but because it DOESN'T LOOK right to the arm chair coaches, every WEEKEND, even when we WIN, we NEED to FIRE COACH Banks!! We need to find an experienced DC that's called plays before! We need to find a DC that can help us WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS!! We need to find a DC that can improve the PASS DEFENSE which sucks (even though there are 100s of statistical metrics that are more important)!!

We've won 9 games already this season and yes, I believe we should have wooped SC..... That game still stings as much today as it did on Saturday. But the fact that we have SEVERAL THREADS about getting RID of Coach Banks at the end of the season makes my BLOOD BOIL!!

Are there better DC's than Coach Banks?......absolutely! But are they better for what we need right now? I don't know. But why in the WORLD would you get rid of a Coach when we are WAY ahead of schedule in our rebuild and HE is a part of the pieces of the puzzle that has made that happen. What sense does it make to GAMBLE on bringing in another DC in the middle of a REBUILD that's almost REBUILT??!!!

Coach Heupel is a smart guy. He didn't just SETTLE for BANKS or ANY other coach on this staff. He was strategic in his hires and it's the reason we are WAY AHEAD of schedule today!!

If you think we need to get RID of Coach Banks, you're entitled to your opinion. THIS is MY OPINION based on what I KNOW about Coach Banks body of work as a DC. He has won Conference Championships at 2 out of 3 places where he was the PLAY-CALLING DC and 1 where he was the Co-DC. He said when he came to TENNESSEE that he wanted to be a part of a team that WON the National Championship.......and because he had the GUTS to come here and had the confidence to BELIEVE that we could WIN a National Championship.........I'm TEAM Coach Banks.......I'm TEAM current coaching staff......all day!!

I will ride or die with this STAFF! While the SC game was awful to watch, I refuse to jump on the national bandwagon of spewing HATE towards our FOOTBALL PROGRAM or ANY person on this STAFF!! We want to be RESPECTED nationally, yet our own fan base has little RESPECT for what's really been accomplished in with our Football Program.

GBO!!!!

FACTS about Coach BANKS (which can all be found in his BIO) for all of those who said he NO experience calling plays before he came to TENNESSEE:
- PLAY-CALLER at Central Michigan for 3 seasons and 2 of those seasons, they were MAC CHAMPIONS. Defense dominated!
- PLAY-CALLER at University of Cincinnati for 2 years. One season they were ACC CHAMPIONS. Coach Banks for the first time, was NOMINATED for the BROYLES AWARD because he had one of the youngest, but most improved and dominant defenses in college football. Defense dominated!
-PLAY-CALLER at ILLINOIS for 4 seasons. The team struggled....didn't win much, but defense continued to improve and by Coach Banks last season, it was considered one of most STATISTICALLY improved defenses in college football.
-NOT the PLAY-CALLER, but Co-DC at Penn State for 5 seasons. TOP 35 recruiter there and instrumental in developing several "no name players" into draft picks and free agents that are still currently playing in the NFL. During his time there, Penn State had three 11 win seasons, Played in 4 NY6 bowls and was BIG TEN CHAMPIONS his first year (2016)

Hey Tim, nice post .... Here's an idea maybe you should stay off the message boards and work on a game plan

 

[ddubb76]

I agree it does t take too 10 talent to stop them. But let’s not act like any of our guys are too 25 talent either.

Some have shown flashes. No one is consistent. No one.

So is that be they suck or because they are coached poorly? Is there an effort issue?

Probably a combo of all that.

It’s Not talent. It is Coaching. The teams that have run up scores on us have been held in check by teams with less talent. Before cjh coached up our offensive side who was talented enough to play on any of those other teams? Most thought we didn’t have any talent on either side of the ball. Heck, there are still people that say that hooker isn’t good, he benefits from the system, same for Hyatt and others. We may not have Georgia level talent on defense, but we should have been able to shut down usc and others that have put up tons of yards on us. Even Georgia state held them to less than half of what we let them put up. Are you saying our dbs are less talented then them? There was no excuse for that performance last week. And if there was some kind of riff with the players going on that’s still on the coaches. With all they had to play for, there is no excuse.

 

[TucsonVol]

FIRST POST......and it's all about Coach Banks.

I know it's always fun to sit incognito on message boards and hurl vitriol all over the chosen target for the day, month, season or year.

Coach Banks has been CHOSEN. The coach that had the GUTS to step in and take over when others turned us down. Do you know why others turned us down? Because COACHES do not want to tarnish or ruin their reputation, nor do they want to deal with the public scrutiny and backlash of taking over and running an OFFENSE or DEFENSE that's BAD!! They don't want to deal with the RISK of being associated with a DUMPSTER FIRE! And on top of that, coaches know, even though fans don't, that being a DC of a team that runs an offense like the one Coach Heupel runs, can be coaching suicide. The offense puts a strain on the defense, so you need speed, depth and play-makers, NONE of which TENNESSEE had at the time Coach Heupel took over.

TENNESSEE was a DUMPSTER FIRE before Coach Heupel took the job......remember that? Other Head Coaches wanted no parts of this job, we kept getting turned down. These (HC) were ESTABLISHED Brands and they were not willing to risk ruining their reputation as a HC to take over a program that was in COMPLETE shambles!! NO ESTABLISHED HC wanted any parts of the SANCTIONS, TRANSFER PORTAL EXODUS or the TARNISHED name of UT football attached to them. Coach Heupel had the GUTS to accept the challenge head on!!

He had his OC, but offered the DC job to lots of "named" coaches.......coaches that everyone was excited about. What happened? They ALL used us to get raises, but NO ONE was willing to take the chance......NO GUTS!!

Coach Heupel "SETTLES" for Coach Tim Banks as DC.....a "NO NAMER" in the eyes of the fan base, but a well respected coach in the profession known for improving defenses, getting the most out of "no name players" and sending them to the NFL (as he did at CENTRAL MICHIGAN, CINCINNATI, ILLINOIS and PENN STATE), as well as finding a way to WIN when rosters don't have the caliber of kids that are play makers on game day.....all of which we NEEDED at TENNESSEE!!

When Coach Banks took over the DEFENSE, he and his staff had NO one to work with, which is why everyone believed we'd only win 3-4 games in year one. He played with walk-ons, he moved players to different positions, he tried different schemes. He basically found a way to get the most out of what we had left on the roster, and it wasn't always pretty, what happened? We won more games than expected! I don't care how you slice it, the defense helped to stop another team from scoring more than us on 7 occasions last year!!

Fast forward to this season. Who's our PLAY-MAKERS on DEFENSE? I'm talking legitimate PLAY-MAKERS that are difference makers......like we have on OFFENSE. If I asked that same question about the offense, we could all rattle off SEVERAL names and even a few 2 deep playmakers.

Coach Banks and the defensive staff have done a great job of FINDING a way to help WIN games, even though they have a limited roster......but because it DOESN'T LOOK right to the arm chair coaches, every WEEKEND, even when we WIN, we NEED to FIRE COACH Banks!! We need to find an experienced DC that's called plays before! We need to find a DC that can help us WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS!! We need to find a DC that can improve the PASS DEFENSE which sucks (even though there are 100s of statistical metrics that are more important)!!

We've won 9 games already this season and yes, I believe we should have wooped SC..... That game still stings as much today as it did on Saturday. But the fact that we have SEVERAL THREADS about getting RID of Coach Banks at the end of the season makes my BLOOD BOIL!!

Are there better DC's than Coach Banks?......absolutely! But are they better for what we need right now? I don't know. But why in the WORLD would you get rid of a Coach when we are WAY ahead of schedule in our rebuild and HE is a part of the pieces of the puzzle that has made that happen. What sense does it make to GAMBLE on bringing in another DC in the middle of a REBUILD that's almost REBUILT??!!!

Coach Heupel is a smart guy. He didn't just SETTLE for BANKS or ANY other coach on this staff. He was strategic in his hires and it's the reason we are WAY AHEAD of schedule today!!

If you think we need to get RID of Coach Banks, you're entitled to your opinion. THIS is MY OPINION based on what I KNOW about Coach Banks body of work as a DC. He has won Conference Championships at 2 out of 3 places where he was the PLAY-CALLING DC and 1 where he was the Co-DC. He said when he came to TENNESSEE that he wanted to be a part of a team that WON the National Championship.......and because he had the GUTS to come here and had the confidence to BELIEVE that we could WIN a National Championship.........I'm TEAM Coach Banks.......I'm TEAM current coaching staff......all day!!

I will ride or die with this STAFF! While the SC game was awful to watch, I refuse to jump on the national bandwagon of spewing HATE towards our FOOTBALL PROGRAM or ANY person on this STAFF!! We want to be RESPECTED nationally, yet our own fan base has little RESPECT for what's really been accomplished in with our Football Program.

GBO!!!!

FACTS about Coach BANKS (which can all be found in his BIO) for all of those who said he NO experience calling plays before he came to TENNESSEE:
- PLAY-CALLER at Central Michigan for 3 seasons and 2 of those seasons, they were MAC CHAMPIONS. Defense dominated!
- PLAY-CALLER at University of Cincinnati for 2 years. One season they were ACC CHAMPIONS. Coach Banks for the first time, was NOMINATED for the BROYLES AWARD because he had one of the youngest, but most improved and dominant defenses in college football. Defense dominated!
-PLAY-CALLER at ILLINOIS for 4 seasons. The team struggled....didn't win much, but defense continued to improve and by Coach Banks last season, it was considered one of most STATISTICALLY improved defenses in college football.
-NOT the PLAY-CALLER, but Co-DC at Penn State for 5 seasons. TOP 35 recruiter there and instrumental in developing several "no name players" into draft picks and free agents that are still currently playing in the NFL. During his time there, Penn State had three 11 win seasons, Played in 4 NY6 bowls and was BIG TEN CHAMPIONS his first year (2016)

Are you his wife?

 

[FollowTheLeader]

Are you his wife?

Yes!

Mrs. BANKS

 

[xpsyclonex2002]

Banks isn't the problem. Maybe some position coaches need replacing. Need a new secondary from scratch. The only thing our secondary can be depended on to do right now is give up 3rd and 30.

 

[UT-Rex]

Did #2 just fall down here ? Didn't even make contact.

 

[GreyWolf1129]

No reason this defense could not and should not be at least middle of the pack in the SEC.

Except that there is a reason, and the roster ain’t it.

As Winston Churchill stated, “That which must be done eventually should be done immediately.”

Go Vols.

 

[Sudden Impact]

I never liked the T Banks hire. Let's face it he was a Co Defensive Coordinator or DC at two B10 Schools. That should have been enough to not hire him.

The SEC is a physical Football league week in and week out. The Big 10 is not. The Big 10 is lucky if they get a physical type game every 3 to 4 games. The SEC gets it week in/out.

SEC Coaching Experience Matters. This is a league that Coordinators have to understand and adapt to weekly what they are facing. The Time of Possession and the defense was evident in Banks first year.

In order to succeed this had to be a tightly wound ground group of which several threads broke prior to the game.

We have what I term as the best DL Coach in the SEC if not ever. Was not concerned about our LOS.

It is easy to say we need a SEC Defensive Coordinator but the truth is that we do. Banks will not be that person. Talent or not.

 

[OrangeTsar]

Coach banks at a just hastily called press conference…..

 

[DaddyChad]

I'm not defending Banks defensive performance Saturday night, it was all time bad. However Tennessee doesn't have any players on defense, our secondary is worst in the country. Do I think that will improve? Maybe but I will agree that Martinez needs to go

I mean I definitely can believe we need time to develop talent but I do not believe for a second that we have the worst talent in the country in the secondary.