Pruitt, Tennessee, and me.

#26
#26
SKBubba said:
He was worth a gamble. It didn't pay off.
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Really? Tennessee football has been mediocre for over a decade and we hire a guy who has never been a HC at any level. I have never understood how UT clams to take football seriously and spends hundreds of millions of dollars on facilities and goes cheap on every coaching hire for every sport. As Clay Travis said, they should have filled up a dump truck full of money and gone and gotten a proven winner.
 
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#27
#27
BigOrangeAl 1979 said:
UT will win Saturday and everybody will be back on board and thinking we can beat Florida
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Yeah, again it was one game. One horrible, @$%$@* game, but still one game. This game will never be forgotten completely, but it's on to the next game for me.

People can discount any reasoning for why this game was lost, but that is to deny that Saban and a select few others are the exception to the rule, that year 2's are often worse than year 1's. Year three is the time when coaches should start to be judged much more harshly.
 
#28
#28
UT_King said:
You're right, rinsing and repeating every 3 or 4 years is counterproductive, it should be when the time is right which could even be sooner. Dooley should have been fired after year 2 not 3. Jones should have been fired after year 3 not 4. Both of their rosters degraded substantially in that final slow death of a year. As did the condition of our program.

By your logic, keeping a coach longer, no matter how terrible the coach and the number of wins, the more talented and stable the roster will be? As I said, if you follow recruiting these days, that's not how it works. These recruits will start bailing ship immediately combined with the transfers of kids not wanting to play for a loser.

Money is absolutely a major hurdle, but I'm more worried about finding the right coach than the roster. Believe it or not, there are good coaches who will win with what they have and only get better as the roster improves. We just have to find him.
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Well, I am not reflexively and automatically opposed to firing a coach sooner rather than later IF YOU HAVE A BETTER CANDIDATE IDENTIFIED WHO IS LIKELY TO ACCEPT THE JOB. But just firing a coach and his staff without any inkling of who the next guy is going to be doesn't sound very smart to me. As I said in another post, it's really only the AD's opinion that matters. And I don't see Phil pulling the plug on his signature hire after his 13th game. It just isn't going to happen. If the Vols end the season 2-10 or 0-12, maybe....? But even then I doubt it. I just expect Fulmer to give Pruitt at least 3 (more likely 4) full seasons and evaluate performance based on the totality of his production. Fulmer knows his entire credibility as the AD rests on this hire. He isn't going to toss Pruitt overboard without giving him every chance to right the ship. Whether that approach is right, wrong or indifferent, is certainly fodder for fan debate. Again, JMHO.
 
#32
#32
MAUSERWERKE said:
UT is not in a position to buy out a HFC in his second season. So, ultimatums as you describe would be pointless. Barring scandal, Pruitt will be coaching at UT through at least the end of the 2020 season; more likely through 2021. Let us all hope that he has the ability to at least restock the roster and stabilize the program. That would make the job much more attractive to the next candidate, if Pruitt himself cannot get us there.
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His buyout is a drop in the bucket compared to the arhletic budget. His buyout would be covered in game attendance difference between sucking with him and moving on.

If the bean counters cant see the difference in attendance revenue with a full stadium and 50k showing up, they are a lot like our HC. In over their head.
 
#33
#33
Too many bridges burnt in the last several searches. No one lined up at this point to coach here. We better just keep him at this point
 
#35
#35
Halph66 said:
Kind of reminded me of a Holly Warlick coached basketball team.
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But no one ever questioned her love for TN. She just sucked as a coach. Pruitt is a Bammer through and through and grew up hating us. That’s what makes this worse.
 
#36
#36
MAUSERWERKE said:
Well, I am not reflexively and automatically opposed to firing a coach sooner rather than later IF YOU HAVE A BETTER CANDIDATE IDENTIFIED WHO IS LIKELY TO ACCEPT THE JOB. But just firing a coach and his staff without any inkling of who the next guy is going to be doesn't sound very smart to me. As I said in another post, it's really only the AD's opinion that matters. And I don't see Phil pulling the plug on his signature hire after his 13th game. It just isn't going to happen. If the Vols end the season 2-10 or 0-12, maybe....? But even then I doubt it. I just expect Fulmer to give Pruitt at least 3 (more likely 4) full seasons and evaluate performance based on the totality of his production. Fulmer knows his entire credibility as the AD rests on this hire. He isn't going to toss Pruitt overboard without giving him every chance to right the ship. Whether that approach is right, wrong or indifferent, is certainly fodder for fan debate. Again, JMHO.
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Just to be clear, I haven't advocated firing him now. That would be disastrous and the opportunity to redeem is still available. I'm talking about clear expectations for the remainder of the year that would allow UT to continue in confidence with Pruitt into 2020. Keeping Dooley/Jones too long are a major reason our roster is in such bad shape. We took major steps back in their final years. That won't be different with Pruitt. If he's not the man, which I now believe is extremely unlikely, then we SHOULD make the move. That said, ZERO confidence that will happen with this cluster.
 
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#37
#37
Russdaddy2027 said:
Too many bridges burnt in the last several searches. No one lined up at this point to coach here. We better just keep him at this point
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People said the same thing about Dooley.
People said the same thing about Jones.

Go back, would you have fired them earlier?
 
#38
#38
MAUSERWERKE said:
College AD's are certainly free to try to change the standard contract structures that are in use, but a contract requires both sides to agree. Right now, the market for college coach contracts dictates the structures that are currently in use. Any decent coaching candidate (or one perceived as decent) is going to insist on a standard type of contract. UT cannot easily change that dynamic unilaterally, and expect to attract any good coach. In my opinion.....
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True, I am just saying if You were guaranteed 4 million a year for x number of years and if they wanted to fire you, they had to buy out your contract, where is the incentive to give 100%. Dont know about you but I wouldnt give my all if I was guaranteed that money.
 
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#40
#40
I think these buyouts should have clauses, loose to two non power 5 teams and you waive the buyout. To chicken to step up? Next...



RE: TN has been so bad so long, I didn't even have any emotional attachment by the end of the game...
 
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#41
#41
UT_King said:
There is unequivocally no excuse for what Jeremy Pruitt allowed to happen Saturday.

Blaming experience, talent, injuries, coordinators, assistant coaches, etc. is not looking at the bigger picture. Each have their roles and each failed in their own way Saturday, but this must be taken further than X's and O's or Jimmie's and the Joe's. Pruitt lacked any and all major characteristics I would expect of a head football coach.

No leadership, No motivation, No drive, No sense of urgency, No awareness, No pride, No organization, No adaptability, No passion.... NO GIVE A DAMN.

Pruitt should have been called in immediately after the game with UT Athletic Leadership and given an ultimatum. The product you allowed on the field today is unacceptable on any day for any reason. Therefore, Mr. Pruitt, you will make a bowl game this year or you will no longer be the head coach of Tennessee. Anything less reaffirms you are not the person to lead this program into the future.

For me personally, there is no realistic scenario in which Pruitt will re-establish trust in his coaching abilities. The only way forward would be to make a bowl this year. Ending this season 5-7 or worse, including an unforgiveable loss to GA St., eliminates any confidence in moving forward with Pruitt. I firmly believe UT football has reached these all time lows due to the consistent malfeasance of UT brass and the lack of proper urgency in coaching changes. Each coach is left to allow the program to sink to new lows making the road to recovery one step harder for the successor.

With that said, Saturday didn't bring the normal disappointment and anger that comes with a loss, instead it was truly heart breaking and left me a bit lost with my investment in UT football. There are plenty of recent games I'd like to forget about, but this one hurts because it speaks about more than just one Saturday... it speaks about the state of a program I love.
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LOL
 
#43
#43
i2amavol said:
Yeah, again it was one game. One horrible, @$%$@* game, but still one game. This game will never be forgotten completely, but it's on to the next game for me.

People can discount any reasoning for why this game was lost, but that is to deny that Saban and a select few others are the exception to the rule, that year 2's are often worse than year 1's. Year three is the time when coaches should start to be judged much more harshly.
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It has been 3 THREE horrible games in a row or did you forget getting boat raced by Mizzu and Vandy last year?
 
#44
#44
UT_King said:
There is unequivocally no excuse for what Jeremy Pruitt allowed to happen Saturday.

Blaming experience, talent, injuries, coordinators, assistant coaches, etc. is not looking at the bigger picture. Each have their roles and each failed in their own way Saturday, but this must be taken further than X's and O's or Jimmie's and the Joe's. Pruitt lacked any and all major characteristics I would expect of a head football coach.

No leadership, No motivation, No drive, No sense of urgency, No awareness, No pride, No organization, No adaptability, No passion.... NO GIVE A DAMN.

Pruitt should have been called in immediately after the game with UT Athletic Leadership and given an ultimatum. The product you allowed on the field today is unacceptable on any day for any reason. Therefore, Mr. Pruitt, you will make a bowl game this year or you will no longer be the head coach of Tennessee. Anything less reaffirms you are not the person to lead this program into the future.

For me personally, there is no realistic scenario in which Pruitt will re-establish trust in his coaching abilities. The only way forward would be to make a bowl this year. Ending this season 5-7 or worse, including an unforgiveable loss to GA St., eliminates any confidence in moving forward with Pruitt. I firmly believe UT football has reached these all time lows due to the consistent malfeasance of UT brass and the lack of proper urgency in coaching changes. Each coach is left to allow the program to sink to new lows making the road to recovery one step harder for the successor.

With that said, Saturday didn't bring the normal disappointment and anger that comes with a loss, instead it was truly heart breaking and left me a bit lost with my investment in UT football. There are plenty of recent games I'd like to forget about, but this one hurts because it speaks about more than just one Saturday... it speaks about the state of a program I love.
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I hope everyone who wanted Big Boy and little Johnny Thornton to come back into the picture are happy! Maybe Peyton can call his buddy with orange hair and get him to say that the Vols actually won. It was a "fake score" which was announced on Saturday.
 
#45
#45
hog88 said:
It has been 3 THREE horrible games in a row or did you forget getting boat raced by Mizzu and Vandy last year?
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Yeah, that's a good point, but each season is it's own chapter in the story. We have no choice but to move on to the next game, in order see if this game was a part of a larger trend, or simply an abberation.
 
#47
#47
i2amavol said:
Yeah, that's a good point, but each season is it's own chapter in the story. We have no choice but to move on to the next game, in order see if this game was a part of a larger trend, or simply an abberation.
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Two games at the end of season one can be an aberration, starting off season two worse than you ended season one is a pattern.
 
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#48
#48
The fans at the game surely didn't make it hard for GaSt to run their offense. Quieter than a church mouse peeing on cotton.
 
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