Rating our Head Coaches

#126
#126
Volizona said:
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-
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Wouldn’t Fulmer be an A considering first championship in 50 years?
 
#130
#130
The Original Fade said:
A guy who won the first natty in almost 50 years is a B.


Ok
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There are a lot of coaches that have one a Natty that I don’t consider an ‘A’ coach. Is Ed Orgeron considered an A coach? Fulmer was a very good recruiter, but an average game day coach. He lost a lot of games he had no business losing with the talent he had.
 
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#131
#131
GetYouSomeofThat said:
Fulmer won a NC and a couple of SECC. If that isn't an A, then what CJM accomplished was at best a C-.
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A is an Urban Meyer, Nick Saban, Bear Bryant, etc…

Ryan Day is not an A. Dabbo Sweeney is not an A and he has 2 National Titles.
Spurrier is a B+
Bobby Bowden B+
Joe Paterno B+
 
#134
#134
What will forever gall me about Kiffen was how he and Ogeron tried to steal the Vols recruits as they left which was entirely unnecessary.
 
#135
#135
top5vols said:
Butch should be C+: he had a couple of 9-4 teams with Dobbs and Kamara.
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On the surface that is true, but the reality is he underachieved greatly with some pretty amazing talent on those teams. Blew too many games we had won, and totally mismanaged Kamara, one of the great talents to come through here in the last couple of decades.
 
#136
#136
tdawgs said:
7-6 with a loss to VA Tech in the peach bowl. Not to mention left town in the middle of the night all the while trying to take recruits with him.
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Inexplicable loss to Ole Miss after the Nukeese Richardson "Pilot Oil Heist" fiasco. Lost very winnable games to Auburn and UCLA with IMO some bad playcalling at times. Bowl game was embarassing (likely had one foot out the door).

His stay was overated for sure.

Still, I'd give him a D+/C- simply because of a winning record and going to a bowl.

For the damage he did to our program F- for sure
 
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#138
#138
Volizona said:
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-
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I will play along for fun. To me, Neyland and Fulmer are the only "A" grades I would give out at this time. Dickey is a solid "B". Majors and Wyatt are probably a "B" too in my eyes. Battle is the only "C" grade I would give and who knows if he would be higher if not shown the door for Majors. Kiffin and Bitch would garner "D" grades from me solely on the fact they did win some games but both were conmen. Dooley and Pruitt are solid "F" grade. Heupel is undetermined right now, but if I am put on the spot, I would give him a solid "B" for taking a program in shambles, rebuilding it, kind of rebranding it, and in contention. Depending on how we finish this season, he could slide into an "A" grade from me. And I am not grading with pluses/minuses.

Neyland - A
Wyatt - B
Dickey - B
Battle - C
Majors - B
Fulmer - A
Kiffin - D
Dooley - F
Jones - D
Pruitt - F
Heupel - B
 
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#139
#139
GetYouSomeofThat said:
We also began 0-6. Inexplicable loss after inexplicable loss.

Johnny was an average coach.
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That 0-6 start included #12 Georgia, #9 LSU, #4 Auburn and #20 Alabama. All good teams. Now losing to Duke and getting pummeled by Washington St. might be “inexplicable”.

He also finished 1988 5-0, won 16 of 17 games after that 0-6 start, won a share of the SEC title while finishing ranked #5 in 1989 and won the SEC outright in 1990.

I miss the “average” days of coaches winning back to back SEC titles……
 
#140
#140
BanditVol said:
B+due to head scratching road losses (SC 2022, Mizzou and UF last year, Ark this year)
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You don't think those losses are offset by breaking the streak against Alabama (and then beating them again this year), 2022 LSU, winning a NY6 bowl, being ranked #1 at one point, and now being in position to be in a 12-team playoff? He would have already made the playoffs once in 2022 had such a format existed then.

It is amazing given the mess he had on his hands for the first couple of years that we were even in position for those games you mentioned to be considered head-scratching losses.
 
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#141
#141
SamuraiVol74 said:
I will play along for fun. To me, Neyland and Fulmer are the only "A" grades I would give out at this time. Dickey is a solid "B". Majors and Wyatt are probably a "B" too in my eyes. Battle is the only "C" grade I would give and who knows if he would be higher if not shown the door for Majors. Kiffin and Bitch would garner "D" grades from me solely on the fact they did win some games but both were conmen. Dooley and Pruitt are solid "F" grade. Heupel is undetermined right now, but if I am put on the spot, I would give him a solid "B" for taking a program in shambles, rebuilding it, kind of rebranding it, and in contention. Depending on how we finish this season, he could slide into an "A" grade from me. And I am not grading with pluses/minuses.

Neyland - A
Wyatt - B
Dickey - B
Battle - C
Majors - B
Fulmer - A
Kiffin - D
Dooley - F
Jones - D
Pruitt - F
Heupel - B
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Tell ya what....that is a good list of grades right there. I concur 100% which doesn't happen often.
 
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#142
#142
Jax_Vol said:
Tell ya what....that is a good list of grades right there. I concur 100% which doesn't happen often.
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Appreciate that, Jax.
Battle is the only one I was on the fence with because of his 59-22-2 record. That obviously is better than average. He did some good things, but the Vols started to decline when he was finally shown the door.
 
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#143
#143
SamuraiVol74 said:
Appreciate that, Jax.
Battle is the only one I was on the fence with because of his 59-22-2 record. That obviously is better than average. He did some good things, but the Vols started to decline when he was finally shown the door.
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Battles was thrown in there so young I always gave him the benefit of the doubt. But yeah...the ship was about to go down when Johnny came marching home.

I think Battles was a C. If he had stayed a couple of more years, would have drifted down to a D.
 
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#145
#145
They say “ Timing is everything “.
IF SOS doesn’t go to UF when he did,and
IF the SEC does not go to Divisions , and
IF we don’t end up against SOS and UF every
year, Fulmer probably becomes the GOAT.
 
#146
#146
VB_Vol said:
Dooley at the very least. The other two idiots at least had a winning season.
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So? They both sucked. I think Pruitt was the best football mind out of all 3, he just wasn't a head coach or had any kind of managing skills which lead to terrible results.

Butch squandered away a playoff roster in 2015 and 2016. Finally beat UGA and UF in the same year and still couldn't win the east in 2016.

Dooley tried to quit after his second season he sucked so bad.

All 3 had something in common that Is a fireable offense and leads to "F" status as head coach, and that is they all lost to Kentucky.
 
#147
#147
Why isn't John Barnhill in this conversation?
32-5-2
He lost 2 games only once.

I guess he is my most famous family member.
 
#150
#150
BigOrangeFanatic said:
Pruitt Jones and Dooley are all F...and it ain't even close.
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Pruitt was even lower than a F. Honestly, the worst coach we’ve had. His biggest contribution was beating number 15 Auburn. The only positive thing that man did was give Jauan Jennings another shot.
 
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