Rating our Head Coaches

[arkyvol]

Agree.

He did very little. Ran off some of tge players we did have. Brought in his own guys which were either in jail or gone when he was

Tyler Bray was really the only piece that was left when Kiff blew town.

Dude left the program in so much worse shape than he was when he got here. Can't believe how many were ready to take him back

You don't burn couches when a coach you don't like leaves town.

 

[MontyPython]

Fuller was an average coach who rode a wave of player talent.

... because he was an amazing recruiter.

DING DING DING DING

 

[Rememberthelate90s]

We got blown out quite e won a natty and

He beat them 4 times in 16 years. Like I said, we got blown out by them several times during his tenure

He retired Spurrier. He won a natty. We thought we would win most of the time we played florida. He won a natty. We have 2. He is responsible for half of them.

 

[midnight orange]

Fulmer A+. Dude won us a natty, dominated bama, turned it around against Florida. Yeah his last years weren't great but he's responsible for our greatest run in program history. Or at least in my time.

Also won a natty in an era of mostly no “mulligans”. You lost a game and your national championship aspirations were done.

 

[TennEddie]

Dickey is a solid A. He had an enormous upward trend.
His leaving for UF was one of the worst things to happen to
UT football and one of the best for Bama. He had his foot
firmly on Bryant’s neck.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

He retired Spurrier. He won a natty. We thought we would win most of the time we played florida. He won a natty. We have 2. He is responsible for half of them.

I gave him an A-, mainly because of the blowouts against Florida when we were loaded

We thought we would win? That's got nothing to do with it. Silly comment

 

[DaddyChad]

During his tenure in total we were top 5 in the country, above the historical norm for UT, won a national title. Hard to say that doesn't equal an A.

Didn’t say he was below an A. Simply stating he struggled when in a game with a great coach. He also really took a step back after Cutliffe left.

 

[J C Higgins]

In fairness, that's what modern coaching is all about--recruiting. Without it, Saban and Smart would have never been heard of.

Agree, they won primarily because of their talent advantage and most people only look at won/loss records when they consider whether a coach is good or bad. But great coaches can have mediocre records if they don't have the players. See post above about what Barry Switzer said about Bill Sunyder.

 

[Rememberthelate90s]

I gave him an A-, mainly because of the blowouts against Florida when we were loaded

We thought we would win? That's got nothing to do with it. Silly comment

Over the past 15 years how many florida games you think we were gonna win? Yeah it means something. He won us a natty. Look if I'm comparing him to all time coaching list then sure I'm giving lower grade. But we comparing to tn. He won a natty so he automatically gets a A+.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

Over the past 15 years how many florida games you think we were gonna win? Yeah it means something. He won us a natty. Look if I'm comparing him to all time coaching list then sure I'm giving lower grade. But we comparing to tn. He won a natty so he automatically gets a A+.

7

I was just pointing out that we got blown out by them several times after you ignorantly claimed he turned it around against Florida

 

[Rememberthelate90s]

7

With Fulmer it was mainly all of them. So he wins.

 

[IndianapolisVol]

I separate the two based on their true definitions but not for the sake of an argument. I stand by my statements.

Addendum:

Barry Switzer lost one game in his first 3 years at Oklahoma, won 3 conference championships and 2 national titles. When he was asked who he considered the best coach in the conference he said Bill Snyder.

Addendum 2:

I was wrong. He said Snyder was coach of the century.

Snyder's first tenure at Kansas State is still considered one of the most successful rebuilding projects in collegiate history. In recognition of his rebuilding work, Hall of Fame football coach Barry Switzer once stated, "He's not the coach of the year, he's not the coach of the decade, he's the coach of the century."[12]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Snyder#:~:text=Snyder's%20first%20tenure%20at%20Kansas,the%20coach%20of%20the%20century.%22

Too long; didn’t read. Fulmer is A+

 

[Jaxon_Vol2017]

The back half of his career dropped him to a B.

Ridiculous. 152-52

 

[LittleVol]

How would you rate our coaches from Neyland to present? Anytime we lose, we start criticizing coaches first. Curious, especially for the old timers who actually saw pre-Majors/Fulmer coaches, how you would rank them. Majors was the first coach I remember so I’m just guessing based on what I have read about the others. How do your rankings differ from mine? Was Neyland the only ‘great’ coach we have ever had?

Neyland - A
Wyatt - C+
Dickey B+
Battle C+
Majors B-
Fulmer B
Kiffin C+
Dooley D
Jones C-
Pruitt D-
Heupel B-

Neyland - A
Wyatt - N/A
Dickey N/A
Battle N/A
Majors C
Fulmer B
Kiffin C
Dooley F
Jones C
Pruitt F
Heupel B

If Heupel gets an offensive Coordinator with new ideas and strategies that can beef up our offensive attack then he has the potential to move right up there near Neyland

 

[LittleVol]

Fuller was an average coach who rode a wave of player talent.

Well he helped a great deal to bring in that talent…

 

[Volfan1000]

Why does Majors get an A and Heupel a B+?

Majors gets an A for turning the Tennessee program around and winning the Sugar Bowl over Miami.

Heupel has had inexplicable losses to South Carolina and Arkansas in his tenure here. Therefore, the B+.

 

[Flipdaddy]

1. Fulmer (a lot of great years and a natty)

2. Heupel (has a chance to get to 1)

3. Majors (Legendary because of tenure and being Tennessee legacy)

4. Kiffin (rockstar hire he was just too immature for the moment, regrets leaving Tennessee all of the time)

5. Butch (weird hire, blew it)

6. Dooley (one of my favorite hires, really embraced tradition. Wins LSU and UNC game and it probably goes different for him. Defense killed his time at Tennessee)

7. Pruitt (best hire for the situation. You can’t act like a jerk until you’ve been established as a winner. Sloppy with paying players, couldn’t do it the right way. Treated players like high schoolers)

 

[loosecannon]

Anyone that says Butch was a C or better is high on something.

He was a con man who partially benefited from a rare legacy class. What talent he had was wasted and sucked at coaching.

There was a lot of talent on that roster and little to show for it

 

[Volizona]

He beat them 4 times in 16 years. Like I said, we got blown out by them several times during his tenure

He should probably get credit for 1992 since he coached while Majors was out.

 

[Jax_Vol]

Dooley was the F-


Horrible

 

[Volizona]

I'd like to see the justification for grading Dooley a B. I said at the time that if Dooley's last name was Smith or Jones, he would have never set foot in Knoxville. If he's a B level coach, that seems to have escaped all the colleges which have hired coaches since he left town.

Did I miss someone giving Dooley a B? I didn’t think anyone gave him higher than a D

 

[GetYouSomeofThat]

Majors gets an A for turning the Tennessee program around and winning the Sugar Bowl over Miami.

Heupel has had inexplicable losses to South Carolina and Arkansas in his tenure here. Therefore, the B+.

i suppose you weren't around for the 1988 version of the Vols?

Inexplicable losses were par for the course under CJM. And turn the program around? Did you also miss the the 2009-2020 seasons?

Did Bill Battle leave a mess? Sure, but it was like burning a marshmallow on a campfire and equating it to the dumpster fire CJH inherited.

Johnny also recruited with few limits, his team could have up to 105 scholarship players his first two seasons as HC and then 95 scholarship players the rest of his tenure. Josh on the other hand is STILL limited in recruiting because of the ineptness of the previous staff.

Johnny's first fours seasons we were 4-7, 5-5-1, 7-5, 5-6.

I am a John Majors fan as he was the HC when i became a fan. However to compare what he accomplished as a coach with what Josh Heupel has done is revisionist history at best...

 

[Volfan1000]

i suppose you weren't around for the 1988 version of the Vols?

Inexplicable losses were par for the course under CJM. And turn the program around? Did you also miss the the 2009-2020 seasons?

Did Bill Battle leave a mess? Sure, but it was like burning a marshmallow on a campfire and equating it to the dumpster fire CJH inherited.

Johnny also recruited with few limits, his team could have up to 105 scholarship players his first two seasons as HC and then 95 scholarship players the rest of his tenure. Josh on the other hand is STILL limited in recruiting because of the ineptness of the previous staff.

Johnny's first fours seasons we were 4-7, 5-5-1, 7-5, 5-6.

I am a John Majors fan as he was the HC when i became a fan. However to compare what he accomplished as a coach with what Josh Heupel has done is revisionist history at best...

1988 version of the Vols had Majors make a change at defensive coordinator with Ken Donahue.

 

[GetYouSomeofThat]

Neyland - A
Wyatt - N/A
Dickey N/A
Battle N/A
Majors C
Fulmer B
Kiffin C
Dooley F
Jones C
Pruitt F
Heupel B

If Heupel gets an offensive Coordinator with new ideas and strategies that can beef up our offensive attack then he has the potential to move right up there near Neyland

Fulmer won a NC and a couple of SECC. If that isn't an A, then what CJM accomplished was at best a C-.

 

[GetYouSomeofThat]

1988 version of the Vols had Majors make a change at defensive coordinator with Ken Donahue.

We also began 0-6. Inexplicable loss after inexplicable loss.

Johnny was an average coach.