Recruiting Forum Football Talk III

[Kingston Vol]

When he was in play? It’s not only “fair” to say he waited for both to turn down the job...it’s FACTUAL. Want proof? Check to see who the Florida HC is. Your first sentence hints that you’re not even confident he leaves Mississippi State for us.

Florida is a better job and he had been there before so it felt more comfortable.

I happen to believe if Currie had made it clear Mullen was the #1 candidate and made an offer that reflected it, he would be the coach here. But it would have taken a lot of money.

Currie didn't do that because he thought Mullen and Schiano were roughly equal candidates and was happy to move on to #2 once it was clear Mullen was going to get the Florida job.

 

[MarcoVol]

You think the HC we have is worth more than we're paying? Or our OC? Or DC? UT is paying a lot of $$$ for underachievers. If they were overachievers, they'd be worth more.

Then let’s go get the guys who deserve to be paid more

 

[VolInDayton]

This year’s KY loss was far more embarrassing

Not even close. I was at the UK game when Dooley was the coach. I believe that was the worst lost any Tennessee team has had. Time has made you forget how bad that loss was.

 

[Brick_By_Brick]

He’s gonna coach 2021. We are gonna lose out on Ty Simpson and Sam Horn after we fire him, and end up Brian Maurer 2.0. The pool of coaches isn’t gonna be different. But we will have no talent on the team again and it’s gonna be a rinse and repeat process. This administration can’t be more ignorant.

FYP

 

[butchna]

Florida is a better job and he had been there before so it felt more comfortable.

I happen to believe if Currie had made it clear Mullen was the #1 candidate and made an offer that reflected it, he would be the coach here. But it would have taken a lot of money.

Currie didn't do that because he thought Mullen and Schiano were roughly equal candidates and was happy to move on to #2 once it was clear Mullen was going to get the Florida job.

He waited for Florida...only thing we KNOW.

 

[Govolsman98]

Not even close. I was at the UK game when Dooley was the coach. I believe that was the worst lost any Tennessee team has had. Time has made you forget how bad that loss was.

Eh. Georgia state and wyoming are the worst losses this program has had

 

[Volfanatic_20]

Then let’s go get the guys who deserve to be paid more

I agree but admin has no incentive to when the fans keep spending money and giving the support that we have over past 15 years.

Fans have to stop showing up and spend money elsewhere. When the bottom line gets smaller maybe they will see that a winning program/coach is needed.

 

[rjd970]

Oh my God we're going to keep him and lose 7 games next year aren't we

Yes, and we will like it. Anything other than full fledged support for Pruitt, AD, and big money boosters is an indictment on your fandom.

Keep the donations and season ticket sales coming, please. We have more extensions for the AD and HC to give out.

 

[JohnnyD1024]

We should give Pruitt as much as he needs to get things right.

 

[SLICKYINC]

If someone wants me stop spending my money on TN football. Let me know where to send the expense sheet for reimbursement.

 

[JMSqb11]

we offered first. there was no FL offer at the time. FL made the SAME offer. and Mullen never even allowed us to counter.

that's a pretty definitive statement on what his preference was.

It wasn’t hard to understand what Florida was gonna offer even while negotiating with Kelly and Frost. Florida was always going to offer in the 35-40 million range. That’s what Tennessee offered. The whole point I’m making is Tennessee didn’t offer a deal that made Mullen have to act first and not wait on Florida. You can think that 5-6 years at 6 million per year is a “make him say no offer”, but that wasn’t the case. Mullen should have been offered no less than 8 million for Tennessee to have any chance. We didn’t and Mullen waited out Florida. This is fact.

 

[m1al]

SIAP - this makes sense to me...

This was well known before he was hired and from a pure business standpoint (leaving emotion out of it), should've never been hired as AD at the university he was fired from.

 

[Brick_By_Brick]

Why do I feel like the university just loves to give the finger to football fans?

Because the AD and University are staffed with people long on ego and short on common sense. If anything, the machinations of the AD alone over the last 15 years is an excellent example of the Dunning-Kruger effect.

Hell, Phil chooses to throw his legacy in the dumpster rather than admit he was wrong on Pruitt. We aren't going to get anywhere until there's a total overhaul of the AD.

 

[VolInDayton]

You think the HC we have is worth more than we're paying? Or our OC? Or DC? UT is paying a lot of $$$ for underachievers. If they were overachievers, they'd be worth more.

No they don't deserve more money. I don't think money makes a coach automatically become a winner. The point being is the money we don't even throw enough money at coaches to differentiate ourself from the likes of Illinois. We just give a coach making 1.5 mill at a small school a 3 million dollar raise and hope we are going to win. Texas A&M and Michigan pay their guys double what we do. It doesn't guarantee championships, but it seems to work out better than Dooley, Butch, and Pruitt.

 

[vol72]

We should give Pruitt as much as he needs to get things right.

BS

 

[Volsfan895]

We should give Pruitt as much as he needs to get things right.

You’re right. I happen to believe a pink slip would be what he needs.

 

[Grey_pilgrim]

We should give Pruitt as much as he needs to get things right.

Reported.

 

[Govolsman98]

We should give Pruitt as much as he needs to get things right.

No. We've given him everything he wants and he still loses. Time to move on from him

 

[Tennessee Golfer]

Here for the meeting. Will post developments as they come. If you know, you know.

 

[HoleInTheRoof]

This morning on Swain out of nowhere and I’m just paraphrasing here. He said something along the lines of being a VFL and there was no way he would ever say anything to hurt the program. I found it kinda odd at that moment but then it started making sense... He drops hints like that from time to time... He knows who leaked it.

 

[LA Vol]

Gundy is the easiest example we have simply due to the history, but i think once you get to the P5 conferences, of the guys that most of us would consider a home run hire, that group of coaches is in the position to choose, and money isn't the main thing anymore. that's all i was getting at.

i also realize that the # of coaches at G5 or lower tier P5 outnumber the other group, so upward mobility is still a thing.

just in terms of what gets discussed here as far as candidates go, that group of coaches isn't waiting around for someone to back up the brinks truck, so to speak.

Agreed. The big names that are floated about-- Meyer, Petersen, Bob Stoops, even Patterson and Campbell-- generally are ruled out quickly. They're in a position to say "no" if it's not what they want. But schools with openings make the calls.

Then you have guys like Fickell who's in a position to be choosy as well. So working a list gets you past the homerun hires pretty quickly, and then it becomes a matter of how much you'll compromise what you want with what you can get. If you're smart and lucky, you find the sweet spot; if not, you make a compromise hire and hope for the best.

 

[Helton1]

Dooley only got three years and he was a better coach. I dont see how it is even an option that he could possibly come back.

Dooley was not a better football coach than Pruitt

 

[JMSqb11]

What was the EXACT offer that you don’t consider “serious”. Asking for the rest us not so privy.

The “framework” of our offer was the 5-6 year range for mid 30 million range. All while Florida was prepared to offer that same range to its next coach. All I’m saying is Tennessee would have had to make an offer serious enough to make him not wait out Florida and would have been perceived by everyone as “overpaying for Mullen.”

Getting Mullen means we hire a proven coach, get a package of Grantham at DC, and more importantly, we beat our rival in the coach hiring game. Tennessee did Tennessee things and tried to make the “brand” go toe to toe with Florida.

In short, Currie was and is forever a moron.

 

[Catbone]

Let's dive into some of Pruitt's stats while he was here cheating and still getting embarrassed on the field

(Out of 14 SEC schools)

Total Offense ranking:
2018: 14th
2019: 12th
2020: 12th

Opponent 3rd down conversions:
2018: 11th
2019: 12th
2020: 12th

3rd down conversions:
2018: 10th
2019: 3rd
2020: 14th

Time of Possession:
2018: 11th
2019: 10th
2020: 13th

Turnover Margin:
2018: 11th
2019: 10th
2020: 11th

 

[HankHill]

When he was in play? It’s not only “fair” to say he waited for both to turn down the job...it’s FACTUAL. Want proof? Check to see who the Florida HC is. Your first sentence hints that you’re not even confident he leaves Mississippi State for us.

I’m not really sure what’s so hard to understand about this. Florida offered the job to Kelly and frost before contacting Mullen. If either two of them say yes... he is either At Mississippi state or anywhere but Florida.