ONE hurdle Heupel needs to clear to be an all time great Tennessee coach

#28
#28
UTFranklinVol said:
Heupel has already got two 10 win seasons. Only Bill Battle had that many so early on in his tenure. He's already beaten Bama twice.H e's already beaten Florida twice, Fulmer only beat them 4 time his entire tenure. He hasnt beat Georgia but I suspect he will take care of that next season when they come to Knoxville. He's got a NY6 bowl victory and put UT in talks for national championship contender.

The one thing left that I see is to win a big road game against top competition. Tennessee hasn't beaten a top10 team on the road in 19 seasons. He's proven he can beat very good teams if he has the help of the home crowd but he has to prove he has the coaching chops to win the big games on the road. He has his chance right in front of him.

I never expected Tennessee to win a CFP game this year because I didn't think the offense was where it needs to be. I thought if we had a home game we could get it done but never a true road game. This would be Heupel's chance to put that question to bed in my mind and make him one of the top coaches UT has ever had.

GB🍊!
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Heupel has a solid chance to be on the Tennessee football Mount Rushmore edition.

Dickey, Fulmer, Majors and Neyland are currently the four coaches on this Mount Rushmore.
 
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#29
#29
With expansion over the last 50 years the odds of winning an SEC have almost been cut in half. With 16 teams and only one spot and the additions of the NIL and Portal I think the days of dynasties could well be over. Parity will be the new norm and 2 and 3 losses will probably be greater. Winning a National Title may actually be easier than winning the SEC
 
#31
#31
Rocky Top T said:
No one wants him fired. But he has to stop getting beat by a team that shouldn't be on the same field with us. It happens every year
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how many coaches in the country don’t drop games like that? Kirby Smart might be the only coach you could name
 
#32
#32
BernardKingGOAT said:
The SEC is absolutely the toughest it has ever been right now
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It was tougher a decade ago. We could have made the SEC championship game with only one win over a team that finished .500 or better in the conference. And no matter how tough the conference is, to go down as a great coach at a place like Tennessee, you have to win championships.
 
#34
#34
VolFreakJosh said:
Fulmer wouldn’t last long if he coached in the SEC today.
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Fulmer is from a different era, of course he wouldn’t. Fulmer’s win-loss record would have held up quite nicely though. If any coach made us consistently the 2nd best SEC team, won a natty, etc, he’d be fine until he started having losing seasons.
 
#35
#35
The way to tell a "noticed" coach in the SEC is when you see them rocking along at their school but their name still comes up as..... "Who we'd like to get" or "Throw a Brinks Truck at" or "On my short list of any coach we could get."

Heupel doesn't appear on those. Even Saban would get mentioned as a "Make him say no" candidate from schools with big money to pay a coach, but certainly Kiffin or Lanning type of coaches.

You don't see Heupel's name on a "get a proven winner like...." list yet.
 
#36
#36
LegionnaireOfTheMiserable said:
It was tougher a decade ago. We could have made the SEC championship game with only one win over a team that finished .500 or better in the conference. And no matter how tough the conference is, to go down as a great coach at a place like Tennessee, you have to win championships
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We will disagree in that first statement
 
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#37
#37
BigOrangeTrain said:
How do you know?
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The SEC was starting to get better in the 2000s. Georgia, LSU, and Alabama started getting their stuff together. Fulmer thrived in the 90s when all three programs were down. His descent coincided with the other programs ascent. The SEC is even more deep and balanced now.
 
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#38
#38
He's had a better start to his tenure than anyone has ever hoped for. You won't know if his in discussion to be one of the all time great coaches at Tennessee until 2030.
 
#41
#41
Volfan1000 said:
Heupel has a solid chance to be on the Tennessee football Mount Rushmore edition.

Dickey, Fulmer, Majors and Neyland are currently the four coaches on this Mount Rushmore.
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Majors as the UT coach was 116-62 for a 65% winning percentage. If he hadn’t been a star player at UT and coached a natty at Pittsburg, not sure 65% would get him on Mt Rushmore?
 
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#42
#42
LegionnaireOfTheMiserable said:
It was tougher a decade ago. We could have made the SEC championship game with only one win over a team that finished .500 or better in the conference. And no matter how tough the conference is, to go down as a great coach at a place like Tennessee, you have to win championships.
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A decade ago, SC went to the SECCG with a 5-3 record. Missouri went twice with teams that were pale compared to the Spurrier/Fulmer teams of the 90s or the Ga teams last 5-6 years with KS.
 
#43
#43
Vanderbilt was talked about like a top 10 team whenever Alabama and Texas played them. But whenever we blow them out it’s just another ho hum victory.
 
#44
#44
wmcovol said:
A decade ago, SC went to the SECCG with a 5-3 record. Missouri went twice with teams that were pale compared to the Spurrier/Fulmer teams of the 90s or the Ga teams last 5-6 years with KS.
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Those Missouri teams were pretty good teams. Just in case you haven’t noticed, every team in the SEC this year pales in comparison to Spurrier/Fulmer teams and Kirby’s best teams.
 
#48
#48
SayUWantAreVOLution said:
Given the issues of Johnny and Phil and Doug, I'm not sure Johnny would want to be anywhere near them.

Dickey and Fulmer basically stabbed Johnny in the back.
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We aren’t talking about a literal thing here. Basically just asking who the top 4 coaches are. I highly doubt Majors would want to be rated alongside Jeremy Pruitt in such a discussion just because he dislikes Fulmer and Dickey
 
#49
#49
LegionnaireOfTheMiserable said:
We aren’t talking about a literal thing here. Basically just asking who the top 4 coaches are. I highly doubt Majors would want to be rated alongside Jeremy Pruitt in such a discussion just because he dislikes Fulmer and Dickey
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My issue isn't with Johnny. Guys who stab other guys in the back aren't my idea of great anything.
 
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