Danny White is impressed by Josh Heupel's rebuild of Vols football, (and so am I)

#1
UT Hill Man

UT Hill Man

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#1
"I think we’re way ahead of schedule in really any way you measure it," White said. "I mean, we’re in Year 2 of our five-year strategic plan where we hoped by the end of Year 5 to maybe have the stadium sold out, and it’s been sold out now a second year in a row.

Just to put things in perspective:

Derek Dooley was 15-21 in 3 seasons
Butch Jones was 34-27 in 5 seasons
Jeremy Pruitt went 16-19 in his three seasons

Heupel has led the program to a 27-12 record in his three seasons in Knoxville.

Heupel's 27 wins are the second-most through a Tennessee coach's first 39 games and third-most in his first three seasons. The program is tied with LSU for the third-most wins in the SEC since his arrival with 20 and only sit behind Georgia (28) and Alabama (23) within the conference.

He has also brought back-to-back top-20 finishes in the polls in 2022 (No. 6) and 2023 (No. 17).

And for me, personally, perhaps the best thing he has been able to do is change the culture in Knoxville.

He is honest about his faith, leads the program by the teachings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
 
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#2
#2
Yeah, “ahead of schedule” is an understatement. The man has done one of the most impressive jobs in a 3 year span I’ve ever seen. We’ve seen proven coaches go to programs and have fairly quick turnarounds, but a guy that didn’t have experience at this kind of program coming into this kind of mess and having it where he has it, is incredible. We’ve seen guys come on and have a good season, then drop off, but it appears this success will be sustained.

I actually don’t know anything about Heupel’s faith, so that’s cool to hear. I like when guys are open about it, but I don’t like when they are like Dabo (sanctimonious) and try to act like their program is chosen by God for greatness because of how they do things, which is almost exactly what he said a couple years ago. Being open about it when the opportunity presents itself is different than using it for self promotion and things like that.
 
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#3
#3
OrangeInKy said:
I actually don’t know anything about Heupel’s faith, so that’s cool to hear. I like when guys are open about it, but I don’t like when they are like Dabo and try to act like their program is chosen by God for greatness because of how they do things, which is almost exactly what he said a couple years ago.
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Josh isn't like that at all, he just leads by example.
 
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#6
#6
UT Hill Man said:
"I think we’re way ahead of schedule in really any way you measure it," White said. "I mean, we’re in Year 2 of our five-year strategic plan where we hoped by the end of Year 5 to maybe have the stadium sold out, and it’s been sold out now a second year in a row.

Just to put things in perspective:

Derek Dooley was 15-21 in 3 seasons
Butch Jones was 34-27 in 5 seasons
Jeremy Pruitt went 16-19 in his three seasons

Heupel has led the program to a 27-12 record in his three seasons in Knoxville.

Heupel's 27 wins are the second-most through a Tennessee coach's first 39 games and third-most in his first three seasons. The program is tied with LSU for the third-most wins in the SEC since his arrival with 20 and only sit behind Georgia (28) and Alabama (23) within the conference.

He has also brought back-to-back top-20 finishes in the polls in 2022 (No. 6) and 2023 (No. 17).

And for me, personally, perhaps the best thing he has been able to do is change the culture in Knoxville.

He is honest about his faith, leads the program by the teachings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Click to expand...
As long as we’re competitive and he runs a clean program I’ll support him. He’s exceeded expectations and his calm confident demeanor is a breath of fresh air. Tennessee had long been in need of loosening the belt in that department.
 
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#7
#7
UT Hill Man said:
"I think we’re way ahead of schedule in really any way you measure it," White said. "I mean, we’re in Year 2 of our five-year strategic plan where we hoped by the end of Year 5 to maybe have the stadium sold out, and it’s been sold out now a second year in a row.

Just to put things in perspective:

Derek Dooley was 15-21 in 3 seasons
Butch Jones was 34-27 in 5 seasons
Jeremy Pruitt went 16-19 in his three seasons

Heupel has led the program to a 27-12 record in his three seasons in Knoxville.

Heupel's 27 wins are the second-most through a Tennessee coach's first 39 games and third-most in his first three seasons. The program is tied with LSU for the third-most wins in the SEC since his arrival with 20 and only sit behind Georgia (28) and Alabama (23) within the conference.

He has also brought back-to-back top-20 finishes in the polls in 2022 (No. 6) and 2023 (No. 17).

And for me, personally, perhaps the best thing he has been able to do is change the culture in Knoxville.

He is honest about his faith, leads the program by the teachings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Click to expand...
Butch Jones was 21-17 his first 3 years.
Putting his 5 year record is completely against your original point.

All those other 3 coaches were 0-27 combined against FLA/UGA/BAMA 1st 3 years.

Heupel is 2-7. You can calculate that success comparatively.

Josh is building this program in his own unique way. He’s had some recruiting misses, but he always fills the need with good players.

Joe Milton became an NFL QB because of him.
I never thought that would happen after that debacle vs Ole Miss.
 
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#9
#9
OrangeInKy said:
Yeah, “ahead of schedule” is an understatement. The man has done one of the most impressive jobs in a 3 year span I’ve ever seen. We’ve seen proven coaches go to programs and have fairly quick turnarounds, but a guy that didn’t have experience at this kind of program coming into this kind of mess and having it where he has it, is incredible. We’ve seen guys come on and have a good season, then drop off, but it appears this success will be sustained.

I actually don’t know anything about Heupel’s faith, so that’s cool to hear. I like when guys are open about it, but I don’t like when they are like Dabo (sanctimonious) and try to act like their program is chosen by God for greatness because of how they do things, which is almost exactly what he said a couple years ago. Being open about it when the opportunity presents itself is different than usual it for self promotion and things like that.
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I think what is more impressive about Heupel is when he got here the roster was really bad. After Pruitt was fired a lot of talent left. Coach had to do a ton of work just to build back a roster.
 
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#10
#10
I think the thing that I admire most about Heupel so far is that when he got here, he immediately went to work. There were no silly monikers , no talking smack to the best coaches in the country, no cornbread or britches bull$hit , he just went to work. He’s given us an identity and philosophy that is unique and fun and he hasn’t made any excuses. Not to mention he sticks up for us and embraces our traditions.
 
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#15
#15
rickyyrs said:
I think what is more impressive about Heupel is when he got here the roster was really bad. After Pruitt was fired a lot of talent left. Coach had to do a ton of work just to build back a roster.
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That’s part of it and some of what I was referring to when I referred to it being such a mess. The turnover, the fear of scholarship losses and other sanctions hanging over the program’s head, (that certain national media kept fueling). However, I will say that some of the vital pieces of that 22 team were here when Heupel got here. He did the work with Hooker, of course, but that was a fortunate thing for him to have that guy here. I don’t give Pruitt credit for bringing him here, though, it’s pretty clear how that came about and that it was in spite of him. I think him keeping guys here that he did was more impressive. Recruiting the guys on the roster in the midst of all the turmoil was a big part of the turnaround.
 
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#16
#16
BeardedVol said:
Pruitt's recruits still made up the majority of the 1st and 2nd string in 2022.

View attachment 643238
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I think recovering from the sheer number of players who left was the biggest issue. The exodus of players from Pruitt's last team to Heupel's first was massive, and that may be an understatement.
 
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#17
#17
Freak said:
I think recovering from the sheer number of players who left was the biggest issue. The exodus of players from Pruitt's last team to Heupel's first was massive, and that may be an understatement.
Click to expand...

But for all the talent that left, Heupel still managed to have his best season at UT so far.

Pruitt wouldn't have come close to having anything like the 22 season, even with the players that transferred out when he was canned.
 
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#18
#18
UT Hill Man said:
"I think we’re way ahead of schedule in really any way you measure it," White said. "I mean, we’re in Year 2 of our five-year strategic plan where we hoped by the end of Year 5 to maybe have the stadium sold out, and it’s been sold out now a second year in a row.

Just to put things in perspective:

Derek Dooley was 15-21 in 3 seasons
Butch Jones was 34-27 in 5 seasons
Jeremy Pruitt went 16-19 in his three seasons

Heupel has led the program to a 27-12 record in his three seasons in Knoxville.

Heupel's 27 wins are the second-most through a Tennessee coach's first 39 games and third-most in his first three seasons. The program is tied with LSU for the third-most wins in the SEC since his arrival with 20 and only sit behind Georgia (28) and Alabama (23) within the conference.

He has also brought back-to-back top-20 finishes in the polls in 2022 (No. 6) and 2023 (No. 17).

And for me, personally, perhaps the best thing he has been able to do is change the culture in Knoxville.

He is honest about his faith, leads the program by the teachings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Click to expand...

Here we go: Jesus invented the spread offense....
 
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#19
#19
So we discuss a "can" of Pruitt....lack of depth,don't care how much of remaining roster, won't help late 3rd or 4th qtr as we saw. Picked and plugged and helped VOL fans start feeling better.
 
#22
#22
Chitlin&theDude said:
Has to beat FL & Bama this year
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I'd still consider beating Bubba an overachievement considering their roster . Florida should be a coin flip at worst , but only because we have yet to get that swamp gas out of our heads . I wouldn't be ready to start turning on the staff if we lost those , as long as we're competitive and not a** r**ed .
 
#24
#24
Wezcoast said:
I'd still consider beating Bubba an overachievement considering their roster . Florida should be a coin flip at worst , but only because we have yet to get that swamp gas out of our heads . I wouldn't be ready to start turning on the staff if we lost those , as long as we're competitive and not a** r**ed .
Click to expand...
So you'll be ok with 2-10 against AL, FA and GA thru 4 years?
 
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