Football Practice

[jakez4ut]

in fact, the only school in recent memory that i can recall that got instant success was ohio st. They got rid of a lame duck, who by the way was pretty successful from a w/l %, but coulnd't beat MICH and the Big10 or NC...and got Tressell who broght them to the promise land, and are now a contendor year in and year out. But even then, that change hasn't warranted an error free stint...with the whole M. Clarrett and recruiting violations stuff going on there....

Also, let's not forget that there was a pretty vocal group in Austin Tx that wanted someone other than Mack Brown...and what has he done? i'd say he compares very well to CPF....if you look at their records, problems with OK or UF, one NC because of a great qb etc, etc....but now, Mack is on good footing again, wonder what would have happened had they pulled the trigger. who knows, in 7 years from now, if TX has a losing season, i guess we'll see how well they compare with each other....both known as great recruiters etc....

 

[WA_Vol]

that's a good list, and yep, all did get better. But to get to the guy that got those teams where they are now, let's look:
Florida...Ron Zook...i think we all know how UF fans felt about that hire....and let's not forget UF hasn't "done" anything yet....though that could change this year.
Auburn...the Terry Bowden experiment wasn't exactly a rousing success....
LSU...Gerri Denardo and Mike Archer. nuff said.
SC...ok, they get a pass, but it's not like Lou brought them any championships. Just a couple of New Year's day bowl games, which was huge for that program, but not what i could call the standard bearer in SEC play, as far as we're concerned.

the difference in each of those cases, was the coach that was replaced, some times in multiple cases, was because the previous coach that was brought in didn't do anything more than the previous coach(es), so they were forced to make a change.

My point is are we ready to deal with the fact that if we fire Fulmer right now, that we may have to go thru at least one maybe two more coaches in the next 5-8 years to find "our" guy? my answer is NO. right now.

there are no guarantees, positive or negative, and RIGHT NOW, i'm willing to go with the guy that i know has gotten us there in the past. I don't want to be sitting here in 2 years going "what a terrible hire, we need to get (fill in the blank with the next hottest name)".

And i'm not convinced Chavis could be a HC. Cut might do pretty well....

I dont think your making a fair comparison. Florida had no choice to replace Spurrier. Of course Spurrier was a hard coach for anyone to follow. LSU was in the same position when they hired Saban. These teams were not voluntarily choosing to terminate a coach and hire another one, they were forced into it. Auburn and Ga and Florida firing Zook choose to terminate coaches and are better off for it. Replacing Spurrer however Fl had no choice.

 

[WA_Vol]

Meyers? lets wait a few seasons before we drop the gavel on that one, Tubby? you're kidding right, Miles? again lets talk after 4 or 5 yrs in the SEC. (Saban is gone so he doesn't count) I'll give you Spurrierbut still a monkey could have followed Lou and made improvements.

Meyer took Utah to an undefeated season and a BCS bowl and win in only 2 seasons at Utah. The same number of BCS victories Fulmer has had in 14 yearss at UT. Miles finished the season ranked in the top 10 last year. Fulmer has done that once in the last 7 years.

 

[Volunteer]

Thats a lot to read...so if I am repeating someone sorry....those schools listed...LSU, Georgia, FLorida and even SC for that matter...a coach can swing a dead rat around his head, let it go, and hit a five star recruit in the head every year, in Tennessee, you get one or two tops and when that happens, the SAME SCHOOLS come into Tennessee and recruit THAT kid.

Coaching is important but recruiting is even moreso, tell me who has out recruited Phil in the past 5 years, no wait....tell me of any coach listed on this thread who WOULD HAVE recruited better than Phil as head coach of Tennessee..the answer is noone.

I don't know why I am defending him so much and the topic of this thread has gone off on a tangent.

I'm not trying to be so harsh on Mike Griffith, I guess I would prefer that Griffith not bash UT or complain on a broadcast level about the amount of access he is or is not receiving from said program.

 

[jakez4ut]

I dont think your making a fair comparison. Florida had no choice to replace Spurrier. Of course Spurrier was a hard coach for anyone to follow. LSU was in the same position when they hired Saban. These teams were not voluntarily choosing to terminate a coach and hire another one, they were forced into it. Auburn and Ga and Florida firing Zook choose to terminate coaches and are better off for it. Replacing Spurrer however Fl had no choice.

i basically said as much in my reply to volmanjr....i made reference to both Saban and Spurrier being different because both left on their own accord...so they had to make a change....

But the point is still valid for LSU (prior to Nick Saban), UGA, Bama, NEbraska and ND...

 

[jakez4ut]

Meyer took Utah to an undefeated season and a BCS bowl and win in only 2 seasons at Utah. The same number of BCS victories Fulmer has had in 14 yearss at UT. Miles finished the season ranked in the top 10 last year. Fulmer has done that once in the last 7 years.

and neither have any SEC titles or a national championship, ever....i mean seriously, we could all go back and forth like this forever.....jeez.

 

[volmanjr]

Coaching at Utah vs coaching at Florida are two horses of a different color, again we'll have that discusion 5 yrs from now.(He may turn out to best thing since sliced bread.) Same goes for Miles, 1 good season in the SEC does not a career make.

 

[WA_Vol]

Thats a lot to read...so if I am repeating someone sorry....those schools listed...LSU, Georgia, FLorida and even SC for that matter...a coach can swing a dead rat around his head, let it go, and hit a five star recruit in the head every year, in Tennessee, you get one or two tops and when that happens, the SAME SCHOOLS come into Tennessee and recruit THAT kid.

Coaching is important but recruiting is even moreso, tell me who has out recruited Phil in the past 5 years, no wait....tell me of any coach listed on this thread who WOULD HAVE recruited better than Phil as head coach of Tennessee..the answer is noone.

I don't know why I am defending him so much and the topic of this thread has gone off on a tangent.

I'm not trying to be so harsh on Mike Griffith, I guess I would prefer that Griffith not bash UT or complain on a broadcast level about the amount of access he is or is not receiving from said program.

Bro, Meyer just landed the no. 1 recruited class in the nation this year. And all those guys on that list did better then Fulmer this year. Ga has consistently had a 10 class since he's been at Ga. If all that mattered was recruiting we would have had a top 10 team last year, because 4 years ago that the top class in the nation.

 

[Volunteer]

oklavol, reread my post and then ask yourself how well those coaches would do in recruiting as head coach of Tennessee...pure conjecture, but my answer is not near as well as Fulmer.

 

[hatvol96]

oklavol, reread my post and then ask yourself how well those coaches would do in recruiting as head coach of Tennessee...pure conjecture, but my answer is not near as well as Fulmer.

Bob Stoops and Pete Carroll would recruit top 5 classes to Idaho or Utah State.

 

[Volunteer]

okay hatvol, YOU WIN.

Volunteer signing off on this thread....geesh.

 

[IBleedOrange]

okay hatvol, YOU WIN.

Volunteer signing off on this thread....geesh.

Volunteer....it doesn't really matter what you say, if it's something positive about fulmer hatvol will come over the top every time with something to discredit fulmer in any way possible

 

[rockydoc]

Hey. I didn't mean this thread to turn into a Fulmer/anti-Fulmer shootout so early in the year but some us who live in other states hear these guys like Griff pop off to the interviewer in a way that I doubt if they would in the Knoxville media. Funny, when I used to puruse the then free GOVOLS "Ask Griff" Mike Griffith was always defending everything that Fulmer did or said. Funny how your support can turn on you.

It's just my opinion (disregarding whether I like or dislike CPF or not) that it's a mistake for us to close practices to the local and state media. This will only mean less exposure for the program and more exposure for competing interests such as the Titans. (I think, and I may be wrong, that the NFL doesn't allow teams to close practices to the media). Teams win football games by execution and not some secret trickery. Maybe if we were putting in the wishbone to beat California, yeah, but that's not likely.

 

[Freak]

Hey. I didn't mean this thread to turn into a Fulmer/anti-Fulmer shootout so early in the year but some us who live in other states hear these guys like Griff pop off to the interviewer in a way that I doubt if they would in the Knoxville media. Funny, when I used to puruse the then free GOVOLS "Ask Griff" Mike Griffith was always defending everything that Fulmer did or said. Funny how your support can turn on you.

It's just my opinion (disregarding whether I like or dislike CPF or not) that it's a mistake for us to close practices to the local and state media. This will only mean less exposure for the program and more exposure for competing interests such as the Titans. (I think, and I may be wrong, that the NFL doesn't allow teams to close practices to the media). Teams win football games by execution and not some secret trickery. Maybe if we were putting in the wishbone to beat California, yeah, but that's not likely.

well said rockydoc

 

[hatvol96]

Volunteer....it doesn't really matter what you say, if it's something positive about fulmer hatvol will come over the top every time with something to discredit fulmer in any way possible

You guys make it easy. Comparing him to coaches like Stoops and Carroll sets him up to look poor.

 

[GAVol]

Bob Stoops and Pete Carroll would recruit top 5 classes to Idaho or Utah State.

Uhh, OK :crazy: :focus:

 

[WA_Vol]

volunteer,

i agree that Fulmer is the best recruiter in the sec, there is no doubt about that, he has to do all his recruiting out of state, where Myer and Richt are loaded in state and have a much easier time.

But Majors was a good recruiter at UT, when he left to coach at Pitt he had problems. UT has great facilities, nice campus, nice area, that plays a part in it.

 

[General Jack]

Football season just needs to hurry up and get here. I'm sick of all this crap already, and its not even April.

Make no mistake, this season is huge. Pearl set the bar pretty high, proved what a good coach can do. I don't mean to say fulmer is a good coach, but in the past year he has grossly underachieved, and our b-ball team just had gross overachievement. The way I see it, this coming season is make or break. Two crappy seasons in a row isn't going to hack it at Tennessee in this day and age.

 

[patrick]

Volunteer I have a question....

Do you think that no other coach in the Nation could recruit as well as Fulmer at UT???

 

[Volunteer]

I am done with this thread Pat, call me.

 

[GVF]

I'd say, yes. Phil can out recruit most any D1 major coach in the country. UT HS prospects are thin when picking to play at that level. most end up at Vandy or Ole Miss or Martin or Austin Peay. Phil has to into FLA, Cali, NJ, and the Mid-West to bring in alot of his players. He is on the home turfs of the likes of Mich, OSU, PSU, SoCal, UCLA, Miami, UF, FSU, UGA, VT and so forth. To consistently bring in top classes is remarkable. Doesn't hurt that he's got first class facilities and a 108K home crowd to sell a recruit, but he and his staff must do it better than the rest to get players cause Tenn is limited on top prospects.

 

[vols3131]

I haven't posted on this thread one time but I just read every post from the front to the back. I found that there are some people on this board that would rather sit around and complain about Fulmer than talk about anything good that's going on with the team. All I hear is people whining and crying about last year, about Fulmer closing practices, and about how he can't recruit like Carrol and Meyer. It's almost to much to stomach. It almost pisses me off because the same people that are running CPF down now will be kissing his a$$ later on this year when things turn around. If you have such a problem with UT and CPF go support Bama or Florida. No one wants to hear your negativaty. He is the coach here for now so I say if you really love the UT football program then shut up and support the team and the coach. For those that are supporting your coach and your team without complaining then I commend you. We need more people on this board like you.

 

[VolunteerHillbilly]

GO VOLS!!! :rock:

 

[VolBeef88]

Hey. I didn't mean this thread to turn into a Fulmer/anti-Fulmer shootout so early in the year but some us who live in other states hear these guys like Griff pop off to the interviewer in a way that I doubt if they would in the Knoxville media. Funny, when I used to puruse the then free GOVOLS "Ask Griff" Mike Griffith was always defending everything that Fulmer did or said. Funny how your support can turn on you.

It's just my opinion (disregarding whether I like or dislike CPF or not) that it's a mistake for us to close practices to the local and state media. This will only mean less exposure for the program and more exposure for competing interests such as the Titans. (I think, and I may be wrong, that the NFL doesn't allow teams to close practices to the media). Teams win football games by execution and not some secret trickery. Maybe if we were putting in the wishbone to beat California, yeah, but that's not likely.

There are more reasons to close the practice than trickery or to avoid criticism. There is no way CPF can avoid criticism after the season we had except win. I think it is a good move. Focus, Focus, Focus! UT is following the lead of a bunch of schools accross the nation. I understand why the media don't like it. But why does it make fans mad? All we got was the "opinions" of some ink stained nerds who (most anyway) never even plaid the game! We have had a very good run for over a decade now under CPF. If he thinks we need to close practices then so be it. I think he has earned (not to be given but earned) the right to call the shots. If we have another yuear like last then I will be on the side asking for a change. But I am very disapointed that so many on here want to forget the past decade of winning that we have had under this HC.

 

[WA_Vol]

I found that there are some people on this board that would rather sit around and complain about Fulmer than talk about anything good that's going on with the team.

How do you make a blanket statement statement like this and expect to get credibility? You think everything is so black and white, that the people who criticize Fulmer think everything about Fulmer is bad, and everyone who has said something positive about Fulmer thinks everything about him is good? There's no middle ground here? Do you have to paint everyone into a corner.

Do you really expect after a 5-6 season, to find everyone in here talking about what a great coaching job he's doing? Obviously things need to be done better and improved, even Fulmer and Cutcliffe have said as much.

Why can't you simply respect people's opinion who have a different opinion then yours, instead of expecting everyone to have the same positive outlook on the program as you do? If everyone has the same opinion what is there to discuss? Don't take this the wrong way, I just dont think its fair to complain about people opinion, simply because they don't have the same outlook as yours. :twocents: