Dear Toxic Tennessee fans—go play in traffic and have a terrible Christmas—we are lucky in spite of you.

[The Tall Gguy]

Range time can help with mid range

You are ok in my book! Hope we can become friends!

 

[kirbysmartsbowlcut12]

I’m a Tennessee alum. Came here in 06’ because I wanted to go to a school with a big sports program, and be proud of my Alma mater.

I was a student Fulmer’s last year. I grew up a Michigan fan and I saw how two different programs conduct themselves. Michigan is similar in that Lloyd Carr was fired, probably before he should have been. And Michigan endured a decade of incompetence to pay for their decision of getting rid of a coach that won them a NC in 1997.

Tennessee pulled the same stunt with Fulmer. And we’ve been an absolute joke in football since. Firing Fulmer was the biggest mistake any major program has ever made. We went from
Being a blue blood to being a door mat, and a joke. Anyone that was vocally anti Fulmer and put pressure on the AD to act is responsible for the decade plus of incompetence.

If Tennessee was in the same position as Michigan was with Harbaugh, say—with Peyton Manning—and say Manning lost his first 3 or 4 games against Bama—they would have tarnished Manning’s legacy and probably chased him off. Michigan did the logical thing, fought to keep their guy—and now Michigan has defeated Ohio State 3 times in a row and will probably win a national championship this year.

And now I’m seeing many of the same morons cut from the same cloth—putting that same toxicity at Coach Rick Barnes.

If you need to spew venom and criticism—why not target the right thing. Officiating.

Tennessee has endured insane officiating across every major sport, and it’s not a coincidence. I don’t know why the officials have chosen to screw our school and our athletics; but they have. And it’s not an opinion. It’s not in my head.

Look at the stats. Heres the stats from this past football season.View attachment 598859

Check out the free throw discrepancy in Tennessee basketball games. It’s absurd. How much do we put up with before enough is enough???

If you must be toxic—aim that toxicity at the officiating and demand an inquiry or change at an institutional level.

Holding our coaches—who we are lucky to have—to absurd standards while not acknowledging the unfair level of play is insane and stupid.

To our whiny, annoying, toxic, embarrassing fan base—May you have a terrible Christmas and please go become an Alabama fan and annoy and embarrass those clowns. Christmas is the perfect time for you to get your transition completed and become the brave Alabama or Florida fan you know you really are Deep inside of you. I’m tired of you making the university I actually graduated from—look bad.

Thank you Coach Barnes, Coach Heupel, and Coach Vitello for being the best 3 coaches a school has across the major sports.

Go Vols!

I’m a Tennessee alum. Came here in 06’ because I wanted to go to a school with a big sports program, and be proud of my Alma mater.

I was a student Fulmer’s last year. I grew up a Michigan fan and I saw how two different programs conduct themselves. Michigan is similar in that Lloyd Carr was fired, probably before he should have been. And Michigan endured a decade of incompetence to pay for their decision of getting rid of a coach that won them a NC in 1997.

Tennessee pulled the same stunt with Fulmer. And we’ve been an absolute joke in football since. Firing Fulmer was the biggest mistake any major program has ever made. We went from
Being a blue blood to being a door mat, and a joke. Anyone that was vocally anti Fulmer and put pressure on the AD to act is responsible for the decade plus of incompetence.

If Tennessee was in the same position as Michigan was with Harbaugh, say—with Peyton Manning—and say Manning lost his first 3 or 4 games against Bama—they would have tarnished Manning’s legacy and probably chased him off. Michigan did the logical thing, fought to keep their guy—and now Michigan has defeated Ohio State 3 times in a row and will probably win a national championship this year.

And now I’m seeing many of the same morons cut from the same cloth—putting that same toxicity at Coach Rick Barnes.

If you need to spew venom and criticism—why not target the right thing. Officiating.

Tennessee has endured insane officiating across every major sport, and it’s not a coincidence. I don’t know why the officials have chosen to screw our school and our athletics; but they have. And it’s not an opinion. It’s not in my head.

Look at the stats. Heres the stats from this past football season.View attachment 598859

Check out the free throw discrepancy in Tennessee basketball games. It’s absurd. How much do we put up with before enough is enough???

If you must be toxic—aim that toxicity at the officiating and demand an inquiry or change at an institutional level.

Holding our coaches—who we are lucky to have—to absurd standards while not acknowledging the unfair level of play is insane and stupid.

To our whiny, annoying, toxic, embarrassing fan base—May you have a terrible Christmas and please go become an Alabama fan and annoy and embarrass those clowns. Christmas is the perfect time for you to get your transition completed and become the brave Alabama or Florida fan you know you really are Deep inside of you. I’m tired of you making the university I actually graduated from—look bad.

Thank you Coach Barnes, Coach Heupel, and Coach Vitello for being the best 3 coaches a school has across the major sports.

Go Vols!

Our time at UTK overlapped three years. I was a freshman in 2007. But, unlike you, I've pulled for UT, & UT only since I was old enough to walk. Tennessee's 15+ years(minus 2022) of outright pathetic, with a few average years mixed in, has NOTHING to do with firing Fulmer a decade & a half ago.

I loved Phil, & still very much appreciate everything he did for the school/program, but, by 2008 it had become glaringly obvious it was time to make a change. I'm not gonna rehash all that, it's irrelevant in 2023 & has been discussed to death as it is. The program cratered bc we kept making really fu*king bad hires after him, & there was little to no steady leadership to pull us out of the rut.

I've been a HUGE Rick Barnes fan since day one. I've been a member over on Hubbs' Volquest site going on 20 years now(just don't post there much anymore). I was one of the very few over there trying to tell people that we lucked out BIG TIME with the timing of him being available that offseason. He's very easily the 2nd best coach we've had in my lifetime(behind Bruce, of course), & we've been very fortunate to have him re-stabilize & consistently put out top 15-20ish type teams most years. We've also had unprecedented recruiting success with Rick, I've lost count the # of 5 *'s he's signed, starting with Josiah 5 years ago.

That being said, I wouldn't be devastated if he decided to retire after this season. Hell, the guy is 68 years old & has been a D-1 Head Coach somewhere for like 36/37 years straight. Frankly, he just seems worn out, way more so than any other season. We're only 7 games into a long season, but, it's very obvious that something is just OFF with this team. It's over now, & there's certainly no need to dwell on it any more, but last night was extremely troubling. If Rick does decide to retire, the good news is we'll be in a WAY better position to make a really strong hire than years past. We're obviously not a blue blood, but the last 20ish years have propelled us into that range of teams right below the blue bloods.

Lastly, why the **** do u care what other grown mens' opinions on UT athletics are? Who tf are you to tell people to "go play in traffic, & have a horrible Christmas?" How are you even qualified to speak on the Fulmer years? Phil coached here 18 years, you were a fan for all of two of them, lol. I was in Tempe, Arizona in January 1999 as a 3rd grader watching Phil win us a national championship. I followed the basketball program religiously going all the way back starting with Kevin O'Neal, then Jerry Greene, then Buzz Petersen, then Bruce, who thankfully was the coach for all of my college years. **** you, fake as*, wannabe Tennessee fan.

 

[indian rick]

Thank you for taking the initiative to become the new head of the True Fan Police and do everything you can to ensure everyone be required to feel, think, and post only as you do. We would not want VolNation to allow differing opinions.

Differing opinions is one thing, stupidity is another, you missed the point, can I guess what group you are in?

 

[OllVol]

Kevin O’Neill was the UT fan choice for that post Wade hire. He had Marquette in the Sweet 16 and the NCAAT Regional was in Knoxville. He was a popular coach throughout his tenure. Fans appreciated the excellent defense. He became a pariah only when he got into a pissing match with Dickey and ran off to Northwestern while actively sabotaging the search for his replacement.

He was not that popular. His offense was awful. His language was worse. He was a dime store Bobby Knight without the results.

 

[OllVol]

So Jerry green rode O'Neills recruits for a couple of years, then started sucking again.
We sucked until Bruce Pearl came in 2005
Sucked again 2014-2016(Donnie Tyndall)
Then Barnes came in and is chasing Pearl (record wise)

Don't forget Kudzu.

 

[WhenUrVolUrVFL]

Tennessee Athletic Department has, in the past, repeatedly given the fan base the middle finger with coaching hires (Dooley, Butch, Pruitt, O'Neil, Green, Tyndall...)
It is no wonder so many are quick to assume the worst when things start to trend down...this has been proven over and over to be an accurate indication of a coach being in over his head.
Barnes has assembled a high talent program but struggles to get consistent results. Heupel has also built a high talent program, but has 2022 uscjr loss and not even competitive in 4 losses in 2023.
I think we have to question when things don't look right.

I’ve been very critical of Heupel with his decision to start Milton.

As I said earlier, I was a Michigan fan growing up and still am. Since I actually went to Tennessee tho, my fandom in Tennessee far outweighs my Michigan fandom.

That being said—when Milton transferred to Tennessee I knew EXACTLY what we were getting. It was Guarantano 2.0 and I was very vocal about it.

I have messages to my group chat of guys I went to college with telling them over the summer the exact battle plan: have Milton on a super short leash. When he starts faltering and begins to lose us gsmes, he ready to pull him and give Nico a spin.

How Heupel refused to do it is BAFFLING. I just don’t get it.

I am not saying we fire the guy. Last year and that bama gsme earned goodwill that’s only partially tarnished by the bad decision to play Milton.

Milton was the reason we lost to Florida, Bama, and Missouri this year. No offensive consistency.

 

[WhenUrVolUrVFL]

Not to mention the fantom hold on our DB that kept a Bama drive alive. Squirrel was held on a 4th down pass in the end zone. Officiating may have not cost us the game, but it damn sure limited our chances to win it.

These clowns don’t get the impact of officials being against a team and what it does to the psyche of an athlete.

it’s not something you overcome. It makes the team benefiting from the call overly confident and it makes the team that is getting the BS call NOT PLAY their game. You can see it against FAU last year.

Why don’t you use your incredible toxicity to making sure our teams get objective officiating? It’s so obvious but you’re part of the half of the fanbase that would rather complain about us losing than addressing the reason why we get constantly screwed.

Seriously, open your eyes.

 

[WhenUrVolUrVFL]

I get it but sometimes you’ve got to move to the next level. Take football for instance. We sucked for over a decade and would have been happy to just make a crappy bowl. We’ve made some crappy bowls so then we made some good bowls. Need to make an SECCG. Then maybe win an SECCG. Next step is the playoffs. I don’t expect a National Championship yet until we get a good taste of the playoffs. Once we do, the natural progression would be an NC.

Basketball pretty much had sucked for several years then we got an unexpected trip to the Sweet Sixteen with Cuonzo the Clown. I’m very thankful to have Barnes and it sure beats the previous past 30 years or so minus the Bruce Pearl years. We’ve had many Sweet Sixteens and I feel that Barnes has gotten us to the highest level that we’ve never been before on a consistent basis

But it’s time to move up to the next level. I’m ready for a Final Four and to compete for an NC. Barnes got us here and he’s now got our expectations up. It’s time for us to do better. I don’t think it’s too much to ask and I don’t think that people criticize the program for just kind of hanging around where it is are being unreasonable. I don’t think anybody does not appreciate where we are at and the state of the program under Barnes. But you play sports to win. And you should always be shooting for a championship. I understand it takes baby steps but we have went as far as we can go in this baby step. Time for the next step. Final Four and a NC! If some of you are satisfied then enjoy this baby step. I’m ready to win it all. That’s not unreasonable to expect and I can wish for anything I want.

Now you can go play in traffic in the middle of I75 on a Friday afternoon at 5:30 in West Knoxville if you’re so pathetic that you think you can tell the rest of us what we expect or wish for. If you like where we are at then enjoy it. I’m ready for more than this.

How.....the hell.....do you write this after experiencing what we did for the last 15 years in football?

It's baffling.

It's not just us.

Look at Nebraska.

Michigan got lucky that Jim Harbaugh was a Michigan alum, otherwise they would STILL be in a tailspin. Hell--fans like you would have chased Harbaugh off with this nonsense. I saw it...there was a very very vocal group of idiots--just like you---that wanted IMMEDIATE results like some sort of petulant man-child throwing a temper tantrum.

Same exact thing with Lloyd Carr as with Fulmer....you went from winning 10 games a year consistently. NY-6 bowls. Competitive program. To a joke.

Will Nebraska EVER become a football school again? They're in serious danger of being a case study of why people like you should be stuffed in a locker when you don't realize what you have.

I shared an instagram post before that fans ALL OVER THE ENTIRE COUNTRY Saw---Tennessee was #1 in having the best coaching duo in men's basketball and football.

I still think this basketball team is going to make a serious run.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

He was not that popular. His offense was awful. His language was worse. He was a dime store Bobby Knight without the results.

While he was the UT coach he was very popular. His results included recruiting CJ Black, Charles Hathaway, Isiah Victor, and Tony Harris to the program. That was a great group tgat Green underachieved with.

Most coaches cuss. He didn’t care what people thought. That’s one reason why he was very well liked. He was also only here for 3 years. He didn’t wear out the welcome.

 

[WhenUrVolUrVFL]

Our time at UTK overlapped three years. I was a freshman in 2007. But, unlike you, I've pulled for UT, & UT only since I was old enough to walk. Tennessee's 15+ years(minus 2022) of outright pathetic, with a few average years mixed in, has NOTHING to do with firing Fulmer a decade & a half ago.

I loved Phil, & still very much appreciate everything he did for the school/program, but, by 2008 it had become glaringly obvious it was time to make a change. I'm not gonna rehash all that, it's irrelevant in 2023 & has been discussed to death as it is. The program cratered bc we kept making really fu*king bad hires after him, & there was little to no steady leadership to pull us out of the rut.

I've been a HUGE Rick Barnes fan since day one. I've been a member over on Hubbs' Volquest site going on 20 years now(just don't post there much anymore). I was one of the very few over there trying to tell people that we lucked out BIG TIME with the timing of him being available that offseason. He's very easily the 2nd best coach we've had in my lifetime(behind Bruce, of course), & we've been very fortunate to have him re-stabilize & consistently put out top 15-20ish type teams most years. We've also had unprecedented recruiting success with Rick, I've lost count the # of 5 *'s he's signed, starting with Josiah 5 years ago.

That being said, I wouldn't be devastated if he decided to retire after this season. Hell, the guy is 68 years old & has been a D-1 Head Coach somewhere for like 36/37 years straight. Frankly, he just seems worn out, way more so than any other season. We're only 7 games into a long season, but, it's very obvious that something is just OFF with this team. It's over now, & there's certainly no need to dwell on it any more, but last night was extremely troubling. If Rick does decide to retire, the good news is we'll be in a WAY better position to make a really strong hire than years past. We're obviously not a blue blood, but the last 20ish years have propelled us into that range of teams right below the blue bloods.

Lastly, why the **** do u care what other grown mens' opinions on UT athletics are? Who tf are you to tell people to "go play in traffic, & have a horrible Christmas?" How are you even qualified to speak on the Fulmer years? Phil coached here 18 years, you were a fan for all of two of them, lol. I was in Tempe, Arizona in January 1999 as a 3rd grader watching Phil win us a national championship. I followed the basketball program religiously going all the way back starting with Kevin O'Neal, then Jerry Greene, then Buzz Petersen, then Bruce, who thankfully was the coach for all of my college years. **** you, fake as*, wannabe Tennessee fan. Douche.

Because these people would rather complain about coaches that were lucky to have rather than what’s actually impacting the outcome of Tennessee athletics—and that’s rigged/compromised officiating.

one of the risks you run in firing one of the best coaches a program has ever had—is putting your program in a tailspin.

Georgia got lucky with Kirby Smart. Many programs have faltered because of it.

Congratulations you never left your state. That’s not the flex you think it is.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Because these people would rather complain about coaches that were lucky to have rather than what’s actually impacting the outcome of Tennessee athletics—and that’s rigged/compromised officiating.

one of the risks you run in firing one of the best coaches a program has ever had—is putting your program in a tailspin.

Georgia got lucky with Kirby Smart. Many programs have faltered because of it.

Congratulations you never left your state. That’s not the flex you think it is.

I don’t know if SEC officials necessarily conspire AGAINST UT in football, but they clearly got the memo to assist with the bell cows that are contending for Nattys. It also a big advantage for Bama to have the home office in the neighborhood.

The basketball refs work for multiple conferences. The problem there is how random and inconsistently games are called and rules are interpreted. And any personal biases that they could have are easily translated to giving an advantage to the teams that they want to benefit - seemingly with little accountability. At least tge LSU fan/ref doesn’t work UT games anymore.

 

[The Tall Gguy]

Differing opinions is one thing, stupidity is another, you missed the point, can I guess what group you are in?

Differing opinions, you?

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

While he was the UT coach he was very popular. His results included recruiting CJ Black, Charles Hathaway, Isiah Victor, and Tony White to tge program. That was a great group tgat Green underachieved with.

Most coaches cuss. He didn’t care what people thought. That’s one reason why he was very well liked. He was also only here for 3 years. He didn’t wear out the welcome.

I know you meant Tony Harris

 

[gainesvol82]

Oh execute like when we had an 8 point lead on Purdue until the weird technical call?

Yes our teams should overcome officiating. And since our players have ****ing super powers according to you, perhaps we should airlift them to the Middle East and they can broker a peace deal. They can then travel to China and tell China to stop being better at business than us and stop manufacturing things that we must buy since our people decided to outsource all of our manufacturing in a stroke of genius. Maybe they also are capable of time travel and could stop the assassination of Franz Ferdinand? Clearly they should be able to overcome the space time continuum according to you.

Regarding the technical versus Purdue. It was a smart tech on Barnes part. The refs were calling the game differently for each team which allowed Edey to play like a bully. Officiating got better from then on until around the 10 minute mark of the second half when it reverted to first half form. That said.....Knecht played poorly and was a turnover machine which got him benched most of the second half. Vescovi and Zeigler also did not play well and Gainey missed a lot in the second half.

That is the majority of our offensive fire power that disappeared. That is why we lost, though I do agree mostly with your points on bad officiating in other sports and in previous basketball seasons. This year's basketball team does not initiate contact other than Knecht so the disparity will probably continue. I would tone down the vitriol a bit and I am every bit as invested in UT athletics as any alumni with the exception of major boosters or former players and I did not attend UT. My grandfather worked for the university, multiple family members are graduates and I grew up going to games. That doesn't have any impact on the veracity of someone's opinion.

 

[OffTackleVol]

These clowns don’t get the impact of officials being against a team and what it does to the psyche of an athlete.

it’s not something you overcome. It makes the team benefiting from the call overly confident and it makes the team that is getting the BS call NOT PLAY their game. You can see it against FAU last year.

Why don’t you use your incredible toxicity to making sure our teams get objective officiating? It’s so obvious but you’re part of the half of the fanbase that would rather complain about us losing than addressing the reason why we get constantly screwed.

Seriously, open your eyes.

I'm assuming this post is not directed at me, particularly the last 3 sentences?

 

[OffTackleVol]

He was not that popular. His offense was awful. His language was worse. He was a dime store Bobby Knight without the results.

Back in the day when I was a high school head basketball coach, I took one of my teams to one of O'Neil's summer team camps. He was definitely rough around the edges. He had a rule, no caps in the gym. There were around 30 teams at the camp, roughly 350-400 kids participating. We started each day with a big group meeting with everybody sitting in the sideline seats. A high school kid accidently wore a cap. O'Neil stopped his presentation and chewed that kid's ass for 10 minutes. It was quiet embarrassing. On the other hand, my team was playing on the main floor against a pretty good team out of Georgia. I called time out late in the fourth quarter to set up a particular defensive strategy. It worked and we won. He made a point to find me later in the day to ask about it and congratulate me. He was a strange bird........

 

[aWhiteLoftonChism]

I get what you think—but in reality, the numbers don’t lie. There’s empirical data that is statistically significant when you look at it from just examining the data.

How many times have we gotten absolutely scammed in key moment? It wasn’t just this year or last year.

When we played Purdue in the NCAA tourney a couple years ago and Lamonte Turner got an absolutely ridiculous foul call on him to send the game to OT.

How about the TD by Jaylen Wright last year against Purdue?

How about the bowl game against North Carolina where they literally changed the rules in football after we got screwed?

How about the absolute sham of the game last year against FAU?

If you can’t see how officiating undermines our athletes, and you’re unwilling to do anything about it—you’re either a fool or a coward.

Lamonte call still burns me….
UNC was ridiculous…

 

[EasternVol]

I wouldn’t put Tamu as a great power. They have money but not an elite sports program.

Or Auburn, or UCLA, or Oregon, etc

 

[calban]

Back in the day when I was a high school head basketball coach, I took one of my teams to one of O'Neil's summer team camps. He was definitely rough around the edges. He had a rule, no caps in the gym. There were around 30 teams at the camp, roughly 350-400 kids participating. We started each day with a big group meeting with everybody sitting in the sideline seats. A high school kid accidently wore a cap. O'Neil stopped his presentation and chewed that kid's ass for 10 minutes. It was quiet embarrassing. On the other hand, my team was playing on the main floor against a pretty good team out of Georgia. I called time out late in the fourth quarter to set up a particular defensive strategy. It worked and we won. He made a point to find me later in the day to ask about it and congratulate me. He was a strange bird........

The hat trick was probably a carryover from his Man Crush on bobby Knight who was religious about removal of head attire in the domicile.

 

[orbs son]

Back in the day when I was a high school head basketball coach, I took one of my teams to one of O'Neil's summer team camps. He was definitely rough around the edges. He had a rule, no caps in the gym. There were around 30 teams at the camp, roughly 350-400 kids participating. We started each day with a big group meeting with everybody sitting in the sideline seats. A high school kid accidently wore a cap. O'Neil stopped his presentation and chewed that kid's ass for 10 minutes. It was quiet embarrassing. On the other hand, my team was playing on the main floor against a pretty good team out of Georgia. I called time out late in the fourth quarter to set up a particular defensive strategy. It worked and we won. He made a point to find me later in the day to ask about it and congratulate me. He was a strange bird........

Went to the UT camp in the summer of '96. A really young camper, probably 10 or under did something during one of the morning speeches that he gave and O'Neil ripped him for 5 minutes. I realized then he was a piece of trash.

 

[onthehill71]

Honestly, losing to a 3-9 UCLA team did it end for Fulmer. He had no business losing to that team. I think it was coming off having those two ugly loses to open 2007 against Cal and Florida. Yeah we made it to Atlanta in 2007 but people forget how bleak it looked after a 1-2 start.

Was at that game in Rose Bowl. I knew that was the end of Phil. We played abysmally. I went 2500 miles to watch ... I was/am so angry at the end of our terrific run. It didn't have to be that way.

 

[volbound1700]

Was at that game in Rose Bowl. I knew that was the end of Phil. We played abysmally. I went 2500 miles to watch ... I was/am so angry at the end of our terrific run. It didn't have to be that way.

His teams played very undisciplined in the later years. Sadly, they were still better coach than most the teams that came after him, however.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

His teams played very undisciplined in the later years. Sadly, they were still better coach than most the teams that came after him, however.

BS. Our special teams went way downhill in his last few years, with the exception of Dustin and Britton. One of the things we could always count on, even in the down years, were great special teams across the board. We went YEARS without a great kicker. Our return averages shrunk abysmally. We had walk-ons playing on the OL and DL.