Grade Heupel & Staff’s performance in 2022

Your grade?

  • A+

    Votes: 169 26.4%

  • A

    Votes: 264 41.3%

  • A-

    Votes: 161 25.2%

  • B+

    Votes: 38 5.9%

  • B

    Votes: 6 0.9%

  • B-

    Votes: 1 0.2%

  • C+

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • C

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • C-

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • D+ or worse

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    639
#51
#51
He_Made_It said:
How well did they do through your eyes this regular season?
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You would have to break it down into at least O and D.

O is pretty obviously an A+++++++++++++++. With the talent UT has they have no business being the best O in the country. The staff has done an amazing job. The OL coach seldom gets mentioned but he may have done the best job of any of them.

D to me is also pretty obvious. Something D- or below. Banks gets a big fat F. It is a popular thing apparently to blame assistants. Assistants run drills. They teach technique. They support players and try to motivate them. You can nitpick those things but there isn't a common thread running through the season for anything that leads back to an assistant.

UT doesn't have ideal talent. However you will not convince me that they don't have more talent than a whole bunch of teams ranked ahead of them both in the SEC and nationally. UT is #128 in pass D. I'm not buying that they are so less talented than Mizzou or MSU or UK or Iowa or Iowa State or Northwestern or Syracuse....

The things that have hurt UT most and consistently are gameplanning/scheming and play calling. The things that have hurt UT the most and most consistently point back to the DC.
 
#52
#52
BelieveTheHeup93 said:
Heupel: HC = A- offensive guru = A+ (he took this job when no one else wanted and brought us back to national relevance and the win over Bama is arguably a top 5 moment in this history of this program. The lack of emphasis on DBs in the portal hurt us though, and that falls a little on him)

Golesh: A (best offense in the country speaks for itself, plus he has recruited extremely well. Would’ve liked to see more some zone reads/jet sweeps a more diverse run game though)
Halzle: A- (Hooker played phenomenal this year, but he had a lot of accuracy issues and Milton still has no touch)
Mack: B- (He’s done ok with what he has to work with, but his inability to land elite RBs is concerning)
Pope: A- (Hyatt, Keyton, and Bru were extremely impressive this year, and he’s done a good job recruiting)
Elarbee: B (the OL started off the year well, but they dropped off as the season progressed and they took us out of the Georgia game early. They also don’t seem to be able to get a great run push against good teams)

Offense overall: A-

Banks: C+ (he drew up some phenomenal pressures against Pitt and our defense looked ok at times against Florida and looked phenomenal against LSU and Kentucky. Every other game they were pedestrian though and Georgia, Bama, and South Carolina were embarrassing. Safety play has also been poor)
Garner: A- (he’s done a good job at developing what we have and is doing an even better job recruiting. Our DL play particularly rushing the passer with 4-5 leaves a lot to be desired though)
Ekeler: B+ (pass rush has been weak this year and the only upside to our special teams was punt returns and coverage. Watching us always kickoff short and never let Holiday run it out is frustrating. He has done a good job recruiting though)
Jean-Mary: B (Beasley has played phenomenal this year and has been the most consistent player on our defense. Banks has been solid as well, but our LBs are atrocious at playing the pass. Not sure if it’s talent, coaching, or a combination of both)
Martinez: D- (130 out of 131 in pass defense speaks for itself. If we don’t see improvement after 15 extra bowl practices he has to go)

Defense overall: C+

Overall job: B

We exceeded preseason expectations but fell drastically short of mid season expectations
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So exactly how does the guy calling the plays and scheming up the opponent get a C+ while the guy running DB drills in practice gets a D-?
 
#54
#54
50YearsAVol said:
B+ because we exceeded expectations with a shaky defense.
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You gave Banks a "B"?

UT has the #1 O in the nation and SEC. They have the SEC's 11th D and 84th nationally. The only D's in the SEC worse than UT's are UF, Arkansas, and Vanderbilt. With a "good" D... UT is in the CFP right now and might be sitting at #1.
 
#55
#55
A - Because the memory of the past two decades remains raw in my psyche. So the cool and healing salve that 10 wins provide is greatly appreciated.
 
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#57
#57
I can understand the A or A- due to the uscjr game but I graded the staff a A+. 10 wins in Year 2 with wins over LSU, Florida, and snapping that awful losing streak to Bama.

Two years removed from going 3-7 and being the laughing stock of the country due to the recruiting violations and NCAA investigation cloud from the previous staff. We are going to the Orange Bowl in a month and haven't won 10 regular season games since 2001. Going undefeated at home for the first time in 15 years. Going undefeated against the SEC West in I don't even remember. My expectation this year was 8-4 with a chance to go 10-2 if we overachieved. That South Carolina game sucked, but this season was awesome. Staff deserved credit for that. Hell of alot room for improvement which is exciting.

A+.

But going forward expectations has drastically changed, which is a good thing.
 
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#58
#58
It's an A+ from me, even with USCe. Can anyone name the last time we beat Florida and Alabama in the same season? I think the last time we beat LSU was in 2006. We had never beaten Pitt as well (who turned out to be decent at 8-4). He ended 4 long streaks and gave us the best college football game I've ever seen against Bama. Then we destroyed Vandy, Kentucky, and Missouri.

All of that with a team projected to win 7 games this year. I can certainly understand giving an A given the UCSe game, but anything less than that just isn't being objective.
 
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#62
#62
I'm not grading Rodney Garner like you grade a 9yo on their times tables. That man is big and bad.

I'm also not grading Ekeler like a schoolboy. He's a maniac who might headbutt me.

Seriously. Great year and grading D1 football coaches like kids doesn't work for me. These guys are pros. Give them self-eval forms and talk about where we didn't meet expectations.

I give the poll an F.
 
#63
#63
I voted but I don't know jack about coaching. I just like to complain like everyone else on here.
 
#64
#64
txbo said:
Overachieved…. Like much of his playing and coaching career.
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Fair statement. At what point are these results not over performing? I think next year will say a lot about whether it's coaching or Hooker and co.
 
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#65
#65
Overall …not sure how they could be graded lower than an A. Of course we’ve got areas to work on (we’ve dissected those explicitly) but to think where they took this team this season…it really is far beyond reasonable expectations.
 
#67
#67
sjt18 said:
You gave Banks a "B"?

UT has the #1 O in the nation and SEC. They have the SEC's 11th D and 84th nationally. The only D's in the SEC worse than UT's are UF, Arkansas, and Vanderbilt. With a "good" D... UT is in the CFP right now and might be sitting at #1.
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How about comparing the D of a team that runs a very similar offense as we do. A team like USC. They are 11-1, and their D is statistically worse than ours and their offense is #2. Any idea why that is? Coach Grinch has been considered a defensive guru.
 
#68
#68
It was an A+ ... right up till the USC game.
Can't let that not cost them one full spot ... so a STRONG A!!!!
 
#69
#69
A little off subject, ESPN reporting Fickell at Wisconsin 7.9 million yearly and Rhule at Nebraska 9.25 million per year, the point is we better pay Heupel NOW at least 8.5 million per year to keep him in the stable
 
#70
#70
Anything better than 10-2 would have been a miracle. Crazy how close they came to pulling it off. A+
 
#71
#71
Lol.. I imagine Heupel will get a big fat raise real soon. I wouldn't worry about that. All these guys are grossly overpaid anyway. I wish i had gone into coaching at a early age at this point. Heck just be good enough to be a Botch Jones and get whatever insane buyout that clown got. Crazy money anymore.
 
#72
#72
volfanhill said:
IMO that's you adjusting expectations as the year went on. All that does is give him watered down credit for the progress shown, which is why you would grade him at A, and cause people to down grade it. If I told you before the year we would go 10-2 and win the games we won but get ass smacked by SC you would have said hell yea. A+++ year
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I expected exactly that. A-
 
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