Heupel vs Fulmer

#101
#101
Volanooga2521 said:
Exactly, Bama, UGA, LSU all were average or bad at that time. LSU sucked until Saban, UGA got a modest upgrade from Ray Goff to Donnan and Bama was very hit and miss.
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Sort of true . . . but Bama literally won a national title the year before Fulmer got the job. Donnan was nowhere near as bad at UGA as people make him out to be. Florida was absolutely loaded. I've always thought the SEC really wasn't much worse in the 90s. There have always been 2-3 elite teams . . . It's just that we were one of them looking down at everyone else.
 
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#102
#102
sjt18 said:
In an era when the competition in recruiting was nothing like it is today and when a few programs including UT had a decisive advantage in terms of the resources devoted to recruiting. Fulmer regularly raided NC and SC for the best players in those states in part because he was a good recruiter and in part because none of the in state programs had a good recruiting structure.
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I was just telling somebody yesterday . . . being in an era when South Carolina, Clemson, North Carolina, NC State etc were weak AND we were beating UGA in the Atlanta area made life so much easier.
 
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#103
#103
carolinaviking said:
Just to note:

Fulmer went 9-2-1 in his second year, then 8-4 in his third year. I'm guessing lots of fans were very skeptical of his potential after that third year.

He then went 11-1 (damn Gators!) in his fourth year.

We get Bama and UF at Neyland next year, and we *may have a better QB and receiving corps.
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Idk what we will have coming back but we also have to go to Georgia and Oklahoma
 
#105
#105
sjt18 said:
In an era when the competition in recruiting was nothing like it is today and when a few programs including UT had a decisive advantage in terms of the resources devoted to recruiting. Fulmer regularly raided NC and SC for the best players in those states in part because he was a good recruiter and in part because none of the in state programs had a good recruiting structure.
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Yea. Totally agree. We owned GA too. Frequently, he got the best players there.
 
#106
#106
GAVol said:
I was just telling somebody yesterday . . . being in an era when South Carolina, Clemson, North Carolina, NC State etc were weak AND we were beating UGA in the Atlanta area made life so much easier.
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South Carolina will always be hampered by the presence of Clemson. They just can’t recruit consistently at a high-level enough to sustain a winning program for multiple years. Clowney and Lattimore are the only elite prospects that I can remember coming out of South Carolina after George Rogers.
 
#107
#107
Cartervol said:
It's how Saban got great. It's always been the Jimmy's and the Joe's.. Not our Joe obviously but you get the point. X's and O's play a smaller part to overall talent. Bama has had top classes his whole time there.
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"It's how Saban got great. It's always been the Jimmy's and the Joe's.."

This. Exactly.

And the same with Fulmer and Kirby Smart.
 
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#108
#108
GAVol said:
Sort of true . . . but Bama literally won a national title the year before Fulmer got the job. Donnan was nowhere near as bad at UGA as people make him out to be. Florida was absolutely loaded. I've always thought the SEC really wasn't much worse in the 90s. There have always been 2-3 elite teams . . . It's just that we were one of them looking down at everyone else.
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I think it definitely was worse. There have always been 2-3 elite teams, but in the 90s there were 2 elite teams, maybe 1 team that was pretty good (like Donnan's UGA teams, or occasionally Auburn), then the rest were garbage. South Carolina/UK/Vandy/OM/Miss St/LSU were virtually MIA during the 90s - all were worse than they have been in more recent times. The most shocking team in that list is LSU. It is wild to me how they truly got their act together as a program for the first time in history when they hired Saban - it's such a recent development for a program that you'd think would have been good forever.

Not this year, but it seems like since the late 2000s in the SEC there are a couple of elite teams, a handful of solid teams, some mediocre teams, and just a couple who are garbage.
 
#109
#109
05_never_again said:
I think it definitely was worse. There have always been 2-3 elite teams, but in the 90s there were 2 elite teams, maybe 1 team that was pretty good (like Donnan's UGA teams, or occasionally Auburn), then the rest were garbage. South Carolina/UK/Vandy/OM/Miss St/LSU were virtually MIA during the 90s - all were worse than they have been in more recent times. The most shocking team in that list is LSU. It is wild to me how they truly got their act together as a program for the first time in history when they hired Saban - it's such a recent development for a program that you'd think would have been good forever.

Not this year, but it seems like since the late 2000s in the SEC there are a couple of elite teams, a handful of solid teams, some mediocre teams, and just a couple who are garbage.
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Again… I don’t totally disagree, but Alabama typically was in top 10 territory from 90-97 before they imploded.
 
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#111
#111
I think it’s unfair to compare the Fulmer era to now. The SEC as a whole was much weaker. No Saban, Smart, Stoops, Kiffin or Kelly.
 
#114
#114
carolinaviking said:
Just to note:

Fulmer went 9-2-1 in his second year, then 8-4 in his third year. I'm guessing lots of fans were very skeptical of his potential after that third year.

He then went 11-1 (damn Gators!) in his fourth year.

We get Bama and UF at Neyland next year, and we *may have a better QB and receiving corps.
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Head Coach's competition in the SEC were not anywhere what they are now, there was Spurrier & Fulmer/Cutcliffe and the other HCs . So both are good HCs just keep a good to great DC & OC and we should be good for a while. The SEC gauntlet is a lot harder now and will get tougher with Oklahoma & Texas. The one thing that might make things more manageable for HCs is the 12 team playoff. Meaning if you're 1 of the 12 you have a shot at a Natty and that goes on your resume'. Now basically you lose 1 game you are out.
 
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#115
#115
So if the SEC overall was a much weaker conference during Fulmer's era, especially with LSU, UGA, UK, and Bama being lesser programs, then that makes Heupel's accomplishments all the more impressive. We should be feeling pretty hopeful about the future. I just hope he can find his Chavis and Cutcliff soon.
 
#117
#117
BigOrangeTrain said:
I think it’s unfair to compare the Fulmer era to now. The SEC as a whole was much weaker. No Saban, Smart, Stoops, Kiffin or Kelly.
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Right now you have Saban & Smart. Then you had Spurrier and Fulmer. A comparison could be made. Rarely more than two top level coaches at a time. An argument can be made for the bottom of the league being worse then than now.

But football as a whole is better from the ground up. Most sports are. More of a sign of the times. I think Tennessee should take full credit for winning like we did, when we did. Sure has been damned hard for anyone else to win like it since. And that includes everyone from Kiffin to Heupel. Not even so much as an Eastern Division title since 2007.
 
#118
#118
carolinaviking said:
Just to note:

Fulmer went 9-2-1 in his second year, then 8-4 in his third year. I'm guessing lots of fans were very skeptical of his potential after that third year.

He then went 11-1 (damn Gators!) in his fourth year.

We get Bama and UF at Neyland next year, and we *may have a better QB and receiving corps.
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Many on here may not remember when he promoted Chavis from LB’s to DC and how (before volnation.com) all of Vol Nation was questioning and second guessing that move. Then, Fulmer proceeded to tear up the SEC and nation.

Just think; had we just given our HOF coach a simple sabbatical, we would not be going through this again! Sure he had two losing seasons in four years and sure we weren’t blowing teams out and maybe recruiting was down just a tad but ded gummit, the man was working hard and we owed it to him! Had it not been for Mike Hamilton back stabbing him, we would not have been wandering the wilderness for the past 15 years!
 
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