Tennessee greatest coaches of the modern era

#26
#26
BigOrangeMojo said:
The order: Fulmer, Majors, Heupel, Battle, Kiffin, Butch, Pruitt, Dooley
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I believe he said Tennessee's greatest coaches in the modern era. At least 3 of those names should never appear on that list. Now, if we want to make a list of worst UT football coaches of any era, they may all still be on that list.
 
#27
#27
VolsnRavens said:
I believe he said Tennessee's greatest coaches in the modern era. At least 3 of those names should never appear on that list. Now, if we want to make a list of worst UT football coaches of any era, they may all still be on that list.
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I just went best to worst for HC....

Too many variables to do the others
 
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#28
#28
VFL-82-JP said:
I'm excited to see where Josh Heupel takes us, but I think you're getting way out over the tips of your skis with this take.

Let Josh win the SEC once, at least, before we say he has surpassed Johnny Majors. Let him win a national title before we leapfrog him over Phillip Fulmer.

Accomplishments matter.

Sure, the conditions in which someone works, the disadvantages they start off with, those should be acknowledged. But we are still, at the end of the day, what we have actually accomplished.

Go Vols!
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This is the toughest era of sec by far saban and Kirby would make fulmer look a lot worse… too many variables to truly and fairly compare for sure but even our 98 champs would struggle with this era Bama and UGA… for that reason I agree Heup is the best… I know the results still have to show but heup is a much better X and O coach than we’ve ever had and you couple that with his ability to connect with players and get them to buy in then I say he is the best… I won’t disrespect majors or fulmer but if you gave me a choice between those 3 of who I would choose as my coach I’m taking CJH every day of the week.
 
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#29
#29
I'd rate those since 70 in order as Majors, Heupel, Battle, Fulmer, Kiffin, Dooley, Jones, Pruitt. If we start in 64 then Dickey's first.
- Majors for building the program and having it ready to really fly before his health and coup d'etat problems.
- Heupel based on results so far and managing the program very well. He may end up the best in the modern era and in our wildest dreams the best ever.
- Battle for his first few years before things tailed off.
- Fulmer for recruiting well when the competition was down and getting the national championship, with serious points deducted for backstabbing to get the job, being a mediocre game coach on his best days, and being the poster child for complacency after the natty. What could have been had he put forth the effort when we were stacked.
- Kiffin had a decent year considering the previous season, but trying to plant USC culture here and being a rat, along with Orgeron, when he left were poor.
- Dooley didn't get it done since he was too busy listening to himself talk.
- Lyle above Beldar, barely. Being a nitwit, and tanking that last season to get the payout, puts him in some low company.
- Pruitt was something special to beat out Dooley, Kiffin, and Butch for worst. Thanks Phil.
 
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#32
#32
EasternVol said:
I'd rate those since 70 in order as Majors, Heupel, Battle, Fulmer, Kiffin, Dooley, Jones, Pruitt. If we start in 64 then Dickey's first.
- Majors for building the program and having it ready to really fly before his health and coup d'etat problems.
- Heupel based on results so far and managing the program very well. He may end up the best in the modern era and in our wildest dreams the best ever.
- Battle for his first few years before things tailed off.
- Fulmer for recruiting well when the competition was down and getting the national championship, with serious points deducted for backstabbing to get the job, being a mediocre game coach on his best days, and being the poster child for complacency after the natty. What could have been had he put forth the effort when we were stacked.
- Kiffin had a decent year considering the previous season, but trying to plant USC culture here and being a rat, along with Orgeron, when he left were poor.
- Dooley didn't get it done since he was too busy listening to himself talk.
- Lyle above Beldar, barely. Being a nitwit, and tanking that last season to get the payout, puts him in some low company.
- Pruitt was something special to beat out Dooley, Kiffin, and Butch for worst. Thanks Phil.
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I think Battle only did well for a couple of yrs because Dickey left the cupboard stocked with talent. He was not so good at recruiting his own for whatever reasons at the time. Very nice guy though, deserved a better send off at TN than he got.
 
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#33
#33
Definitely have to give Fulmer his due but I think Heupel will be the best once it's all said and done. What he's done in just two years is remarkable. Pruitt was the worst, then Dooley, then Butch. And I'd go with Wilcox for DC and Golesh/Heupel for OC.
 
#34
#34
cherokeeeVOL said:
Definitely have to give Fulmer his due but I think Heupel will be the best once it's all said and done. What he's done in just two years is remarkable. Pruitt was the worst, then Dooley, then Butch. And I'd go with Wilcox for DC and Golesh/Heupel for OC.
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I don’t guess I know how “modern era” is defined in this thread. That being said I would have to rate Dickey #1 or #2 . He took over a pretty sorry team still playing single wing and an outdated defense, and starting winning big in 3 years. Imo he was on the way to a nation championship before he deserted ut for Florida. I hate the guy for this and always disliked the decision to bring him back as a.d.
 
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#35
#35
Dansky said:
I don’t guess I know how “modern era” is defined in this thread. That being said I would have to rate Dickey #1 or #2 . He took over a pretty sorry team still playing single wing and an outdated defense, and starting winning big in 3 years. Imo he was on the way to a nation championship before he deserted ut for Florida. I hate the guy for this and always disliked the decision to bring him back as a.d.
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1968 was offered by the OP as a starting point.
 
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#36
#36
jessiej86 said:
]I thought Justin Wilcox did a good job considering what he had to work with. For me though it's Chavis. Mostly because I can only compare him and the ones that followed him.
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Wilcox always had his players in position to make a play.
 
#37
#37
OrangeBeachVol said:
I think Battle only did well for a couple of yrs because Dickey left the cupboard stocked with talent. He was not so good at recruiting his own for whatever reasons at the time. Very nice guy though, deserved a better send off at TN than he got.
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Tennessee was projected to go 5-5 in 1970. They went 10-1 with only a loss to Auburn in Birmingham early in the season. Beat Bama 24-0 and Florida 38-7 on back to back weekends in Knoxville. Also defeated UCLA on the last week of the season.
 
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#38
#38
Hawkeye4588 said:
Based on four factors — preseason poll, number of voters, number of teams ranked, and final poll coming after bowl games — 1968 could be considered the start of the 'modern' era of college football. So since then who is our dream team? Best Head coach, best OC and best DC.

My humble opinion. Fulmer best head coach. I know he tarnished his legacy a bit at the end but the numbers speak for themselves. 16 seasons, 116–62–8 overall, 57–40–3 SEC, 7-4 in bowls. 3 SEC championships, 1 national championship. For OC I would go with David Cutcliffe. His reputation for QB development is undisputed. He is Peyton's favorite coach and mentor which is enough for me. DC is where things get interesting. I am excluding Monte Kiffin as he was only at UT for a year and was in the twilight of his career. I will say I think Monte was one of the greatest defensive coordinators of all time, just not at Tennessee. I would exclude Sal Sunseri for the same reason. One season, NO impact. Offenses were playing against air. I still love John Chavis. The Chief had one of the stingiest defenses in the 90s. The game did pass him by as Spurrier's fun and gun exploited the holes in his vaunted 4-3 defense and he never has had the same success in the RPO, spread offense world but in his day he got the best players and got the most out of them. But he would still be my pick.

Obviously, this is just a topic starter for the offseason but what do you guys think?
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FYP:cool:
 
#39
#39
VFL-82-JP said:
I find myself more excited these days to anticipate the future than rehash the past.

And that's saying something. I love history, Tennessee football history especially.

But I'm more interested in this: when does Josh Heupel surpsass Johnny Majors? When does he leapfrog Phillip Fulmer?

Because indications are, he could overtake both, right in front of our eyes.

We are living in a blessed time, as far as college football goes.

Go Vols
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In my opinion…national championships trump everything. So…

1 national title to leapfrog Majors, 2 for Fulmer.

Without a national title, he needs to sustain 9-12 wins every year for 15 years and win at least 3 SEC championships to me to surpass Majors and he would never surpass Fulmer.
 
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#40
#40
BoroVol93 said:
This is the toughest era of sec by far saban and Kirby would make fulmer look a lot worse… too many variables to truly and fairly compare for sure but even our 98 champs would struggle with this era Bama and UGA… for that reason I agree Heup is the best… I know the results still have to show but heup is a much better X and O coach than we’ve ever had and you couple that with his ability to connect with players and get them to buy in then I say he is the best… I won’t disrespect majors or fulmer but if you gave me a choice between those 3 of who I would choose as my coach I’m taking CJH every day of the week.
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Saban at LSU did make CPF look stupid. We lost the sec championship to their no name back up qb.
 
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#41
#41
AD: Dickey
HC: Majors … Pre-fired for publicly insulting Dickey at a booster fund raiser
OC: Fulmer
QB-C: Cutcliffe
DC: Lacewell
 
#42
#42
College football is calked with quick hit wonders as well as one hit wonders. Charlie Weise and Terry Bowden come to mind. CJH may very well take us back to what Fulmer built us to be but that will take time. Though we are all glad to have CJH and are proud once again, there just has not been enough time to know if his offense is sustainable. So, for now, CPF is by far the best we have had in the modern era! Anyone disagreeing is ludicrous!
 
#43
#43
#1fulmerite said:
College football is calked with quick hit wonders as well as one hit wonders. Charlie Weise and Terry Bowden come to mind. CJH may very well take us back to what Fulmer built us to be but that will take time. Though we are all glad to have CJH and are proud once again, there just has not been enough time to know if his offense is sustainable. So, for now, CPF is by far the best we have had in the modern era! Anyone disagreeing is ludicrous!
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I’d be more likely to agree with you if coach heup didn’t produce top 10 offenses at every stop… his message he preaches develops not only his players but coaches as well… heup is 10x better X and O guy than Fulmer and he will only continue to get better he isn’t complacent and understands he has to continue to build… I love coach Fulmer and what he did during his time but Heup has an argument already with how quickly he took at 3 win team and had them in playoff contention in year 2 vs a much tougher sec than fulmer faced… I’m Not mad or won’t argue if you put Fulmer first because his record accolades and championship say he deserves it but it’s not ludicrous to say heup is up there with him…
 
#44
#44
BoroVol93 said:
I’d be more likely to agree with you if coach heup didn’t produce top 10 offenses at every stop… his message he preaches develops not only his players but coaches as well… heup is 10x better X and O guy than Fulmer and he will only continue to get better he isn’t complacent and understands he has to continue to build… I love coach Fulmer and what he did during his time but Heup has an argument already with how quickly he took at 3 win team and had them in playoff contention in year 2 vs a much tougher sec than fulmer faced… I’m Not mad or won’t argue if you put Fulmer first because his record accolades and championship say he deserves it but it’s not ludicrous to say heup is up there with him…
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Boro, great synopsis! If he can go 152-52 in the SEC with two SEC championships and a NC, he will be tied in my book.

Until he wins a couple of SECC and a NC, Fulmer is and will be the best HC since Neyland. No one has touched what he accomplished. It’s a shame he was not allowed to build upon what he had already built!
 
#47
#47
BigOrangeTrain said:
Head coach: Fulmer. As much as I hate him now I can’t argue with results.

OC: Heupel/Golesh. I get why some say Cut. But I don’t think he is on Heupel/Goleshs level. Some will say well Peyton loves him. So what? I don’t think Cut is as good as some Vol fans want to believe.

DC: I really like Chavis. I think he was really good. But Justin Wilcox did just as good of a job considering the people he had to work with.
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Thought Jancek was solid as DC.
 
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#48
#48
#1fulmerite said:
Boro, great synopsis! If he can go 152-52 in the SEC with two SEC championships and a NC, he will be tied in my book.

Until he wins a couple of SECC and a NC, Fulmer is and will be the best HC since Neyland. No one has touched what he accomplished. It’s a shame he was not allowed to build upon what he had already built!
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Fulmer was a great recruiter, but allowed the program to slip in his last few years. When he left it was nowhere near the level as it was when he got the job
 
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#49
#49
Got to give the 3 amigos of Fulmer, Cutcliffe and Chavis credit for the best sustained run including a national championship for the modern era. Of course Johnny Majors hired those 3. Cutcliffe was sort of Mr. inside who disciplined when needed and of course was a great offensive mind. Fulmer was Mr. outside - recruiting, boosters etc. and they were phenomenal together. Randy Sanders and others were solid loyal SEC position coaches Chavis by far was the best DC. His squads played out of their minds for Chief.

Bill Battle was a nice guy but he had no business being interviewed for the Vol HC position much less being hired at age 28. John Majors should have been hired to follow Dickey. The program was completely bankrupt of talent when Battle was let go. Bill was the first of 2 HC mistakes from Alabama.

Heupel is unique in many ways and the game planning genius is the head coach. Josh’s offense is the envy of the SEC and stars may have aligned when he was hired to produce another incredible run of success in Knoxville.

For the 4 lightweights hired following Fulmer, Butch produced 2 nine win seasons which merits mention. Kiffin ran out the back door for his “dream job” only to be fired on the tarmac. Yes he was booted from the USC team plane and locked out of all facilities.
 
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