Coach Hype Monday Presser

[Okie]

How many thought 2 years ago that this program would spend ANY time in a discussion about the playoff? It's hard to accept losing to SC, especially in the way it happened. It's not illogical to want answers and seek to blame somebody(s) for it. There is a real need to determine how the defense can get better, and JH will deal with it. The offense will need to continue to get better as well.

It often does take some time to learn how to win consistently. I expect that everyone of these kids is on social media, hearing about how awesome they were, how they were going to get another shot at Georgia in the playoff, how they were only a couple of touchdowns away from being undefeated. It's hard not to believe it if everyone of your fans is saying it. If you are awesome, you can't lose. Until you believe the press and you do. Bigly.

So, they laid a huge egg. Shame on the players. Shame on the coaches. Plenty of blame to go around. Don't lose sight, however, of how much better this program and team are than they were 24 months ago. They have worked really hard, done some amazing things and should be proud of the progress made. Take the heat from this loss, learn from it, and move on to even more greatness.

I fully expect Tennessee to be in the hunt for SEC Championships for many years going forward. They will win some and lose some. It happens. But I would absolutely take this season, even with the SC loss, over anything that happened in the decade prior to JH arriving.

 

[LTVol]

Do not like his answer on Banks. Needs way more transparency on that after it was clear the defense mailed it in to protest him not being allowed to play.

Most coaches will not talk publicly about team conflict issues. Heupel's no different. Hes not telling us anything about it no matter how much you want him to.

 

[Stephen Gray]

Most coaches will not talk publicly about team conflict issues. Heupel's no different. Hes not telling us anything about it no matter how much you want him to.

And really why should he? I can’t see how it helps deal with anything, but depending on what he said could see several ways it could make doing that more difficult.

 

[LTVol]

Didn’t say it was easy, but if you’re being paid that much and want to compete with coaches who have loaded rosters, you better recognize your limitations quick and solve that. You can be mad at me but I’m not the one who gave us the worst defensive performance in 1893.

Were you even alive IN 1893?

 

[LTVol]

Yes

He's been calling SC receivers and talking trash since Sunday.

 

[JoeBob]

I have heard all of this, but it is all rumors, not heard anything official.

I've also heard lesser heresay.. bad grades, missed classes, missed team meetings. All will eventually be revealed. Question is does a Heup move forward with JB v Vandy given all the controversy? Is this our best chance to win if he does? Will players continue to pick sides if he benches JB? Going to find out what Heup and the team is made of Saturday.

 

[jim pique]

If we get to ten wins on Saturday,how do you,The Tall Guy(about 5'6'),suppose that a minimum 9-3 record is no better than,3-7,4-8,5-7,etc?Only thing I worry about is if the team busses to Nashpatch,some yahoo,like you,just wrecks a bus to get your name in the paper.Better than an AR-15,your truck.

 

[UTFanHades]

Were you even alive IN 1893?

Wasn’t present-just like our defense in Columbia

 

[JohnD13]

Do not like his answer on Banks. Needs way more transparency on that after it was clear the defense mailed it in to protest him not being allowed to play.

You don't know squat yet run your mouth anyway.

 

[JoeBob]

And him giving a “better answer” will help? Or home explaining himself to you and prepping you for the next game is what he’s paid for? We’re fans. We’re not entitled to that. We got beat and we’re paying him to take care of it.

Yes. Fans are now investors in players and the program given team and player NIL money. The choice to attend or skip games is our support or protest in how the program is run. Do you think Heup and Danny want to see empty seats? Best to explain what's going on instead of platitudes and non-answers. Absent a verbal explanation, we'll find out Saturday.

 

[JoeBob]

Yes. Fans are now investors in players and the program given team and player NIL money. The choice to attend or skip games is our support or protest in how the program is run. Do you think Heup and Danny want to see empty seats? Best to explain what's going on instead of platitudes and non-answers. Absent a verbal explanation, we'll find out Saturday.

We're paying him to win football games. Period!

 

[Louisianavol78]

For the players on D who choose to be childish on a man’s platform in the SEC you don’t represent The University of Tennessee though you may wear the colors and uniforms you are not worthy of its honor or it’s grand history. Not only did you let down the fans but in my opinion you betrayed the one man HENDON HOOKER who restored honor and a man who stocked the fire in Volnation once again. HH put the power back into the Power T again for me. I’m 44 years old I’ve seen a lot Tennessee football but honestly I’ve never had a year where I am beyond excited , happy and proud. What we all witnessed this year will go down in history. HENDON you are a man all players should strive to be. Thanks for an amazing year full of success and a few failures but hey that’s the SEC BABY.

 

[JoeBob]

And really why should he? I can’t see how it helps deal with anything, but depending on what he said could see several ways it could make doing that more difficult.

Agreed but withholding info from investors is just as bad as sharing too much info. Would like to know which players we can support and which are sellouts. If you're not here to play for TN, there's always the transfer portal.

 

[VOLINVONORE]

I agree. Some people want to know if they can safely bet on this game though, and think coaches have an obligation to provide them information to help with that decision making.

There are safe bets? If I had bet last weekend, would have lost everything Glad I don’t bet. Worked too hard to give it away to someone else.

 

[Stephen Gray]

There are safe bets? If I had bet last weekend, would have lost everything Glad I don’t bet. Worked too hard to give it away to someone else.

Some are probably safer than others, but there is always risk for sure. I don’t bet on sports at all, but if I did I would still avoid betting on any team I was a fan of, but especially the Vols.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

Very confident these things happened early last week to cause JB SC game suspension:
1. JB chose to hit HH hard in a non-contact practice.
2. JB chose to defiantly step on the Power T in the locker room.
3. JB refused to do do the disciplinary push-ups as team punishment.
All this over NIL money jealousy.
There may be other unreported reasons.

I'm not in the loop about that but I find it hard to believe that Banks hitting Hooker too hard in a non-contact drill wouldn't have bought Banks some quick and serious attention from the big uglies. In that case, an injury could've kept Banks out.

UNLESS, there's a bigger picture and bigger issue that bubbled to the surface with that hit and with whatever else Banks might've done disrespectfully.

Has the Hooker leadership narrative and Heisman talk and NIL success turned some of the locker room against him? I don't know these kids, I wish I did, so I can't comment about that.

I just know that taking the hammer to the star QB during a walk thru or non contact would get someone's a$$ beat and face turned red...... for starters. Disrespecting the T in front of the team after hitting the star QB in a non contact might mean you crawl out of the building instead of walk.

Again, UNLESS......

 

[sami]

Yes. Fans are now investors in players and the program given team and player NIL money. The choice to attend or skip games is our support or protest in how the program is run. Do you think Heup and Danny want to see empty seats? Best to explain what's going on instead of platitudes and non-answers. Absent a verbal explanation, we'll find out Saturday.

I guarantee that 'Heup and Danny' aren't going to sweat having empty seats or feel the need to spill their guts because of the 'demands' of a few fans on an internet forum who take the results of a college football game as a personal affront.

 

[DMichel123]

It should've been resolved/fixed, and Banks allowed to make the trip.

I can almost guarantee that Banks was given an opportunity to right his wrong in order to make the trip and he refused.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

Yes. Fans are now investors in players and the program given team and player NIL money. The choice to attend or skip games is our support or protest in how the program is run. Do you think Heup and Danny want to see empty seats? Best to explain what's going on instead of platitudes and non-answers. Absent a verbal explanation, we'll find out Saturday.

If you have investments, you don't know much about what happens in the upper echelons of the management of a large corporation and almost nothing of what is discussed among the Board of Directors.

Just be quiet with the "investors" line until you know what's going on at Apple or GE or whatever. Heupel has regular press conferences and answers questions.

If that's not enough, show up at a UT football stockholder's meeting and protest. Oh, wait......

 

[Volnuck]

Imagine pissing away the opportunity to play for a national title in protest to someone getting punished.

I don’t believe it’s that simple. I think one we suck and two we were distracted by whatever went down with Banks.

Just a hypothetical thought with NIL involved these days. If players are paid, they are responsible for their actions to their employers (NIL deals), team, and yes, even the fans. The level of responsibility as a paid player is lifted to another level in my opinion. I think things like this are going to become more complicated in the future due to NIL. Just something to think about.

 

[Stephen Gray]

I'm not in the loop about that but I find it hard to believe that Banks hitting Hooker too hard in a non-contact drill wouldn't have bought Banks some quick and serious attention from the big uglies. In that case, an injury could've kept Banks out.

UNLESS, there's a bigger picture and bigger issue that bubbled to the surface with that hit and with whatever else Banks might've done disrespectfully.

Has the Hooker leadership narrative and Heisman talk and NIL success turned some of the locker room against him? I don't know these kids, I wish I did, so I can't comment about that.

I just know that taking the hammer to the star QB during a walk thru or non contact would get someone's a$$ beat and face turned red...... for starters. Disrespecting the T in front of the team after hitting the star QB in a non contact might mean you crawl out of the building instead of walk.

Again, UNLESS......

I tend to think there would be consequences for something like that too, and they would be immediate. Like you hit the QB when it’s off limits and no one is going to do anything right then?

This is all still speculation though. Various rumors mentioned could be true, but they might be false, or also only part of the whole story. Maybe some of it is true, but also other things happened and resulted in players being distracted which affected their readiness.

All I will say about Banks is I do think the defense suffered by him not being in the game. He is a talented linebacker and he helps get people into position. All of the other about mutinies, throwing the game, a rift between offense and defense… I mean it’s possible, but I think it’s just as likely if not more so that the team just assumed they would easily win and didn’t prepare for the game as seriously as they should.

Could locker room issues be part of that? Sure but it’s not the only reason young guys who have been hearing how awesome they are could be distracted. As for throwing the game intentionally.. these guys are athletes who hate losing. Teammates have interpersonal issues on every team, but rarely do things get so bad that anyone tanks on purpose. I just don’t see it.

If the situation was really that toxic, it is hard to believe the issues suddenly appeared last week.

 

[Stephen Gray]

I guarantee that 'Heup and Danny' aren't going to sweat having empty seats or feel the need to spill their guts because of the 'demands' of a few fans on an internet forum who take the results of a college football game as a personal affront.

Some other poster pointed out that every SEC school gets like $55m in tv revenue. Doesn’t matter if you are Alabama or Vanderbilt, that is apparently paid. Anyway, that aside, as long as we are winning games the seats will be sold. Even if we are not, sales might be down, but it’s not like 70-80k people still won’t show up. The whole “I am paying fan and I buy tickets and deserve to know” argument is silly. Like okay, you can decide not to buy a ticket, but if the coach does his job of winning games someone else will buy it.

 

[Big Al Orange]

I'm not in the loop about that but I find it hard to believe that Banks hitting Hooker too hard in a non-contact drill wouldn't have bought Banks some quick and serious attention from the big uglies. In that case, an injury could've kept Banks out.

UNLESS, there's a bigger picture and bigger issue that bubbled to the surface with that hit and with whatever else Banks might've done disrespectfully.

Has the Hooker leadership narrative and Heisman talk and NIL success turned some of the locker room against him? I don't know these kids, I wish I did, so I can't comment about that.

I just know that taking the hammer to the star QB during a walk thru or non contact would get someone's a$$ beat and face turned red...... for starters. Disrespecting the T in front of the team after hitting the star QB in a non contact might mean you crawl out of the building instead of walk.

Again, UNLESS......

I’m old as dirt, did my football playing in the 70s. There was a fight nearly everyday and the coaches seemed to enjoy it. If one disagreement caused all this drama, then God help us all. On Friday nights we would all play our guts out for each other. Things sure have changed.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

I tend to think there would be consequences for something like that too, and they would be immediate. Like you hit the QB when it’s off limits and no one is going to do anything right then?

This is all still speculation though. Various rumors mentioned could be true, but they might be false, or also only part of the whole story. Maybe some of it is true, but also other things happened and resulted in players being distracted which affected their readiness.

All I will say about Banks is I do think the defense suffered by him not being in the game. He is a talented linebacker and he helps get people into position. All of the other about mutinies, throwing the game, a rift between offense and defense… I mean it’s possible, but I think it’s just as likely if not more so that the team just assumed they would easily win and didn’t prepare for the game as seriously as they should.

Could locker room issues be part of that? Sure but it’s not the only reason young guys who have been hearing how awesome they are could be distracted. As for throwing the game intentionally.. these guys are athletes who hate losing. Teammates have interpersonal issues on every team, but rarely do things get so bad that anyone tanks on purpose. I just don’t see it.

If the situation was really that toxic, it is hard to believe the issues suddenly appeared last week.

I don't in any way think the players "threw" the game but they weren't themselves for whatever reason. I do think the team became demoralized after falling far behind and more or less gave up on executing. When USCe had us on the ropes and bleeding, they didn't have any mercy.

I'm reminded of the Nixon interview with David Frost when he said about Watergate: "I gave them a sword. And they stuck it in and they twisted it with relish." We did ourselves no favors in the game and they took every advantage but I don't think there was some kind of "let's lose" idea among the team.

I certainly hope whatever has gone sideways with the Vols is not an ongoing issue. We may struggle against Vandy just from the letdown of losing the CFP shot but I hope we see the game as redemption.

 

[onthehill71]

Or else what?

Any contract extension is put on hold. Force Josh to be a total head coach. Offense, defense and special teams. Recruiting. Assistant coach selection, retention. Absorb NIL issues and react appropriately. Effectively manage media relations and fan expectations. Pay him monster dollars for consistent head coach results not for incredible OC performance.

If Vandy even gets a breath of hope, Josh has got issues with this team....players and coaches.