I see parallels in the Heupel and Vitello program trajectories

#29
#29
LegionnaireOfTheMiserable said:
Vitello’s program steadily got better each year for his first 4 years. Heupel’s best year so far was year 2. Year 3 got worse. Year 4 was better than Year 3 but not as good as Year 2. So even the trajectory argument doesn’t hold.
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Fair points. But both reached the pinnacle tournament in his respective sport for the first time in year 4. Yes, the CFP included 12 teams and Omaha only includes 8, but Tennessee was a top 8 team going into the CFP (ranked 7th in the playoff rankings). So there’s that.

I didn’t say everything was exactly the same. I said there are some parallels.
 
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#31
#31
Ned Ray McWorkher said:
Wishful thinking more than a legit comparison imo... Vitello has more accomplishment and hardware. Heupel has the hype. We'll see. 2025 is a year for football to surge toward the top. Or we risk falling back to the pack.
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How much hardware did Vitello have after year 4? The comparison is the 1st 4 years. Because obviously, Heupel doesn’t have a year 5, 6, or 7 yet.

I thought that was understood when I said “trajectory,” not “body of work.”
 
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#32
#32
NighthawkVol said:
I know they're somewhat difficult to compare because they're different sports and TV having his 3rd season cancelled due to COVID, however, I see some parallels.

Both inherited really bad programs that had struggled for a decade-plus. They both needed a roster reset. They both needed a jumpstart from bright young, energetic coaches.

Both coaches overachieved a with slightly over .500 seasons in year one with less than SEC-level talent, but winning over the players and establishing culture. Both made a breakthrough in Year 2. Heupel's was actually a bigger breakthrough, beating Bama, going 11-2, and making a NY6 bowl. But TV made it to Hoover and went to a regional for the first time in forever and won 40+ games. That was a big deal. Years 3 were kind of non-comparable, with Heupel going 9-4 in a slight step back after losing his top offensive talents, and COVID cancelling the baseball season.

Year 4 is when both really broke through...Heupel beat Bama again, won 10 games and made Tennessee's 1st CFP appearance. The disappointment was in getting there and getting blown out by the eventual NC at their place. The AP ranked Tennessee 9th in its final poll. TV, in Year 4, took the program to Omaha. A huge breakthrough, as well. However, once they got to Omaha (sort of the equivalent of making the CFP), they laid an egg, going 0-2 against Virginia and Texas in 2 games that were never really competitive. Baseball America ranked UT 8th in its final poll.

In Year 5, TV produced his best team up to that point, the 2022 team, which set all kinds of records, but was upset in the Supers. So while it was actually better than the 2021 team, it didn't go as far in the postseason. We will see what Heupel's 5th team looks like. I think it will be better than the 2024 team. But having to play Florida and Alabama on the road is a tall task.

TV finally won a NC in Year 7. It was his 3rd appearance in Omaha. Heupel's Year 7 will be 2027. Can he win a NC then? Will that 2026 recruiting class push him over the top? How many CFP appearances will he have by then? We'll see.

I also think there are similar staff approaches. Rodney Garner is the grizzled veteran coach who is Heupel's Frank Anderson. Tim Banks may be his Elander...the young future head coach.

Just some random thoughts I had with football being in the offseason and baseball approaching.
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Yeah I dunno. When Vitello talks, I wanna run through a wall for him. Vitello just has that top dog aura. I honestly don’t get that with Heupel although he’s clearly likeable. And it doesn’t feel like Heupel’s nearly the recruiter that Vitello is.
 
#33
#33
sami said:
Not a bad comparison, but one thing Vitello has going for him is that he has made UT into one of the elite college baseball programs, with the iconic 2022 team and the CWS win only cementing that status. In baseball, we are the equivalent of what Ohio State, Georgia, Oregon, Texas, and Alabama are in football right now, at the top of the food chain nationally.

Heupel has elevated the football program beyond our wildest dreams in a short time, but we are still on that second tier with regard to how we are viewed nationally. That's not to say that UT can't compete for and potentially win a NC some day, but until and unless we can recruit and compete financially on close to the same level as the 'big boys', it's always going to be a bit of an uphill climb.
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I still believe we can financially compete. To me it’s just a question of if we can get the top tier recruits to come here to spend the big dollars on.
 
#35
#35
LegionnaireOfTheMiserable said:
Vitello inherited a much worse program in a tougher conference where you can’t even offer full scholarships, and your best recruits almost always never make it to school. Vitello’s program was constantly improving for the first 5 years. Heupel has been unable to make it back to the success of year 2 so far.

Vitello has built the team of the decade and did several things no coach had ever done here even before winning our first natty. He is one of the best collegiate coaches in the country, not just in baseball but across college sports. Heupel has done a nice job taking over a tough rebuild, but no one is blown away by what he has turned the program into. He has made it respectable, Vitello made his dominant. No part of this analogy works in Heupel’s favor. Even the “Banks is a young coach” bit wildly misses the mark, as Banks is older than Heupel.
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You are the absolute worst person on this message board. Did we make the playoffs in 2022? Didn’t think so.

Expanded or not. One team will go down as a playoff contender and one will not.
 
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#36
#36
AstonRoyal said:
I still believe we can financially compete. To me it’s just a question of if we can get the top tier recruits to come here to spend the big dollars on.
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Oh, I have no doubt we can compete financially, but that was my point on how we are 'viewed' nationally. OSU, UGa, Bama, and Oregon are the "elite" along with a handful of other schools, they get the vast majority of 5-stars and virtually all the truly game changing talent like Smith and Ryan Williams. Until we are seen that way by more top recruits, money alone won't make up the difference.
 
#37
#37
Hairy Vols said:
You are the absolute worst person on this message board. Did we make the playoffs in 2022? Didn’t think so.

Expanded or not. One team will go down as a playoff contender and one will not.
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Lol okay guy. Convince yourself of that.

You have to be beyond stupid if you say “this team made a 12 team playoff, so it’s automatically better than the team that barely missed the 4 team playoff. Also SMU this year is way better than our 2022 team.”
 
#41
#41
I see Heup winning it all with Brandon at QB and a top5 pick at LT with Sanders. Travis Smith and Keys at WR, Brame at TE. This incoming class and the next has stud potential all over it. Jordan Ross should be a 1st rd edge as well by then. Just tons and tons of potential.
 
#43
#43
Ned Ray McWorkher said:
Wishful thinking more than a legit comparison imo... Vitello has more accomplishment and hardware. Heupel has the hype. We'll see. 2025 is a year for football to surge toward the top. Or we risk falling back to the pack.
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Vitello got blown out in the first round of baseball playoffs his fourth season. Sound familiar?
 
#48
#48
LegionnaireOfTheMiserable said:
Lol okay guy. Convince yourself of that.

You have to be beyond stupid if you say “this team made a 12 team playoff, so it’s automatically better than the team that barely missed the 4 team playoff. Also SMU this year is way better than our 2022 team.”
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You said “more successful.”
Yes this years SMU team was on paper more successful than the 2022 TN Vols team.
 
#50
#50
89 VOLS grad said:
Wrong! Dave Serrano left the baseball team much worse shape than Jones and Pruitt did the football team! TV has recruited much better, hired better coaches, and coached better than Heupel. It isn't even close! Don't insult TV by comparing him to Heupel! Heupel has done very good things. But, at no time has UT football looked like a DOMINANT or ELITE team like the baseball team has!
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Pruitt left the football program in worse shape due to the ncaa violations hanging over the team. We all know the amount of players that transferred out as well. Serrano underachieved but they weren’t necessarily in terrible shape. It just seemed hopeless that a guy with his resume couldn’t get a tournament bid. I think Todd Raleigh left his program in worse shape than any coach that has come through here
 
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