Coaching Comparison

#1
Elhanan

Elhanan

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#1
The progress made by Coach Hype is obviously very impressive. So I thought it would be fun to go back in Doc Browns time machine to just a few short years ago.

Lane Kiffin (7-6)
Derek Dooley (15-21)
Butch Jones (34-27)
Jeremy Pruitt (17-19)
Josh Heupel (18-8)

If trends continue CJH could be sitting around* the 38-12 mark over the next few season. That’s assuming a lot but still fun to see what could be. Hell, it could be even better.

And yes you’re seeing that right. Coach Hype already has more wins than 3/4 most recent coaches. Lol
 
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#2
#2
Dooley (11-14)
Jones (11-13)
Pruitt (13-12)
Heupel (18-8)

I think just looking at it by the first two years is enough to show a difference in the coaches. One of these coaches also beat Florida, Alabama, LSU, and won the Sugar Bowl in their first two years. Heupel is without a doubt the best coach out of the bunch.
 
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#4
#4
I think it has become less useful, and frankly un-important, to compare Josh Heupel to the four fellas who came before. Don't even need to look at win/loss records or stats to know, intuitively, he is a far better coach than any of them.

The real question to ponder is where Josh Heupel will eventually stack up in comparison to the best coaches in Vols football history. In short, will Josh outshine Johnny Majors? Doug Dickey? Phillip Fulmer? John Barnhill? Perhaps even the General?

In my mind, I already see Heupel in that group. Somewhere. Too early to know where. But certainly he will be one of the top 6 coaches all-time for our program.

I'd love nothing more than for him to become our new #1. That's a tall order. Shouldn't expect it. But it would be awesome.

I can certainly see him, after a long and storied career in Knoxville, being our new #2, outshining everyone but Neyland. That seems entirely realistic to me.

One thing is for sure: these next 20-40 years are going to be a blast.

Go Vols!
 
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#6
#6
volzonemat said:
Our biggest mistake of all was hiring Dooley. Worst hire than Jones and Pruitt. That was when it all went downhill.
Click to expand...
Dooley was IMO never hired as a coach but instead was hired because of the following reasons:

1. to help Hamilton get through the NCAA investigation because he was a former AD
2. to get the Complex built
3. because he was a lawyer
4. because he was immediately available and had name recognition
5. Cheaper Hire than most but we weren't going to get through the investigation and we were not willing to spend the money to bring someone in worth a damn.
 
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#7
#7
Sudden Impact said:
Dooley was IMO never hired as a coach but instead was hired because of the following reasons:

1. to help Hamilton get through the NCAA investigation because he was a former AD
2. to get the Complex built
3. because he was a lawyer
4. because he was immediately available and had name recognition
5. Cheaper Hire than most but we weren't going to get through the investigation and we were not willing to spend the money to bring someone in worth a damn.
Click to expand...

You forgot the biggest reason: He was willing to take the job.
 
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#8
#8
VFL-82-JP said:
I think it has become less useful, and frankly un-important, to compare Josh Heupel to the four fellas who came before. Don't even need to look at win/loss records or stats to know, intuitively, he is a far better coach than any of them.

The real question to ponder is where Josh Heupel will eventually stack up in comparison to the best coaches in Vols football history. In short, will Josh outshine Johnny Majors? Doug Dickey? Phillip Fulmer? John Barnhill? Perhaps even the General?

In my mind, I already see Heupel in that group. Somewhere. Too early to know where. But certainly he will be one of the top 6 coaches all-time for our program.

I'd love nothing more than for him to become our new #1. That's a tall order. Shouldn't expect it. But it would be awesome.

I can certainly see him, after a long and storied career in Knoxville, being our new #2, outshining everyone but Neyland. That seems entirely realistic to me.

One thing is for sure: these next 20-40 years are going to be a blast.

Go Vols!
Click to expand...

Totally agree about Heupel. It's easy to look at stats and draw conclusions. In this case, there's no need for that. His 18-8 record in the first 2 seasons could be cited as evidence. And someone could counter that Butch's 2-season record in 2015-2016 (his best two seasons) was also 18-8. But that would obviously be misleading and laughable. The 2022 season stands on it's own as testimony to Heupel's place in the history of Vol head coaches.
 
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#9
#9
fossilfiction said:
Dooley (11-14)
Jones (11-13)
Pruitt (13-12)
Heupel (18-8)

I think just looking at it by the first two years is enough to show a difference in the coaches. One of those two coaches also beat Florida, Alabama, LSU, and won the Sugar Bowl in their first two years. Heupel is without a doubt the best coach out of the bunch.
Click to expand...

I don’t recall any UT Coach winning the Sugar Bowl in the past 30+ years.
 
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#12
#12
volzonemat said:
Our biggest mistake of all was hiring Dooley. Worst hire than Jones and Pruitt. That was when it all went downhill.
Click to expand...
Pointless distinction. It’s like arguing which of the three stooges was dumbest. Ironic that we are also comparing three individuals, no?
 
#17
#17
Elhanan said:
The progress made by Coach Hype is obviously very impressive. So I thought it would be fun to go back in Doc Browns time machine to just a few short years ago.

Lane Kiffin (7-6)
Derek Dooley (15-21)
Butch Jones (34-27)
Jeremy Pruitt (17-19)
Josh Heupel (18-8)

If trends continue CJH could be sitting around* the 38-12 mark over the next few season. That’s assuming a lot but still fun to see what could be. Hell, it could be even better.

And yes you’re seeing that right. Coach Hype already has more wins than 3/4 most recent coaches. Lol
Click to expand...
Fahr fulmer…oh wait we did. Thanks Big D UT Sports is finally being Athletically Directed!!!
Thank you good sir 👍🏻
 
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#20
#20
Worst hire was Kiffin. That impudent snake torpedoed Fulmer’s solid recruiting class and replaced them with thugs. Hamilton - who screwed the pooch hiring Lane compounded the mistake with Dooley - but given the circumstances Dooley was about as good as wanted the job. Lesson number 1 - if you fire a hall of fame coach without a sound succession plan- and particularly turn over a major program to an immature brat - the downfall and incidental damage may last for decades.
 
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#21
#21
knox73 said:
Worst hire was Kiffin. That impudent snake torpedoed Fulmer’s solid recruiting class and replaced them with thugs. Hamilton - who screwed the pooch hiring Lane compounded the mistake with Dooley - but given the circumstances Dooley was about as good as wanted the job. Lesson number 1 - if you fire a hall of fame coach without a sound succession plan- and particularly turn over a major program to an immature brat - the downfall and incidental damage may last for decades.
Click to expand...
Hamilton nuked a lot of bridges with the crap that went down with Gary Patterson as well. He’s was utterly incompetent as an AD.
 
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#22
#22
Elhanan said:
The progress made by Coach Hype is obviously very impressive. So I thought it would be fun to go back in Doc Browns time machine to just a few short years ago.

Lane Kiffin (7-6)
Derek Dooley (15-21)
Butch Jones (34-27)
Jeremy Pruitt (17-19)
Josh Heupel (18-8)

If trends continue CJH could be sitting around* the 38-12 mark over the next few season. That’s assuming a lot but still fun to see what could be. Hell, it could be even better.

And yes you’re seeing that right. Coach Hype already has more wins than 3/4 most recent coaches. Lol
Click to expand...
The biggest difference to me, besides the W/L and crazy stats, is how much more fun the players are having and it started before they played a single game. You could see it in the spring of 2021. This staff believes in playing loose and having fun.
 
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#23
#23
Elhanan said:
The progress made by Coach Hype is obviously very impressive. So I thought it would be fun to go back in Doc Browns time machine to just a few short years ago.

Lane Kiffin (7-6)
Derek Dooley (15-21)
Butch Jones (34-27)
Jeremy Pruitt (17-19)
Josh Heupel (18-8)

If trends continue CJH could be sitting around* the 38-12 mark over the next few season. That’s assuming a lot but still fun to see what could be. Hell, it could be even better.

And yes you’re seeing that right. Coach Hype already has more wins than 3/4 most recent coaches. Lol
Click to expand...
We’ve had some 💩 coaches since Fulmer…… hopefully we are now out of purgatory
 
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#25
#25
fossilfiction said:
Dooley (11-14)
Jones (11-13)
Pruitt (13-12)
Heupel (18-8)

I think just looking at it by the first two years is enough to show a difference in the coaches. One of these coaches also beat Florida, Alabama, LSU, and won the Sugar Bowl in their first two years. Heupel is without a doubt the best coach out of the bunch.
Click to expand...

Another impressive metric (I’m sure) would be ranked wins and even top 10 wins. I believe we had 2 top 10’s with bama being no3 at the time we played them. Clemson was what no8 or something? I don’t think another of those other coaches had a single top 3 win.
 
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