Two concerning things about Heupel so far in his tenure here that bother me.

[firedog28]

Lets make a vow! Let the coach who is putting his future on the line with the coaches he has beside him decide who they will be! After all I have never seen anyone on volnation have a real say so in the matter! Go Vols !!

 

[posivol]

20 Wins in 2 seasons say he is right. What he has done in 3 years is amazing. Coach started with almost nothing. Some of you Vol fans are never satisfied.

yep..ran off a HOF coach for a sackful of crap.

 

[Probably_in_Class]

I'm still hoping Heupel can bounce back next year. But he seems to put staff continuity/loyality above results. And concerned he can't recruit at a high enough level.

Results? The man has lead us to our best 3 year stretch in decades. And you're criticizing him over loyalty? Some of you are just completely irrational with your expectations.

 

[HuntlandVolinColo]

1. His ridiculous loyalty to Joe Milton as the starter. It’s crazy to think if Milton hadn’t got hurt in 2021 we would have never seen the greatness of Hendon Hooker and as we all
know was clearly the much better QB. We wouldn’t have gone 11-2 last season either. Remember Joe was always Heup’s guy from day one the moment he got here. Hooker was brought here by Pruitt and Jim Chaney. It also makes me wonder if Nico wasn’t ready to start and play earlier in the season based on what I saw in the bowl game. Did Joe have incriminating photos on Heupel or something?

2. Retaining Tim Banks and Wille Martinez for a fourth year. I can maybe roll with bringing Banks back but Willie too I just don’t understand. The secondary and DB’s have not improved and just regressed if anything. He’s a terrible coach that Georgia didn’t want 15 years ago I didn’t want him when he was here with Butch. It’s asinine to retain him another season we have all seen enough and there is enough stats and data since 2021 to see that he needs to go and Banks probably does as well but definitely keep RG he’s the only defensive coach that is earning his money. It just appears that Heupel won’t fire his buddies and unfortunately that’s gonna cost him his job eventually. Highly successful coaches like Kirby and Harbaugh and others know when they need to shake up their staffs and make changes to keep improving and not get stagnant. And if that means firing your friends well so be it, coaching is a business.

I'm with ya on Martinez. Default to the coach on Milton.

My other concern is I wish we were better at recruiting....It's a lot harder without the complementary McDonalds!

I'm stoked that we have him as a head coach after enduring through the dooley/butch/pruitt years!

 

[Sandman 423]

1. His ridiculous loyalty to Joe Milton as the starter. It’s crazy to think if Milton hadn’t got hurt in 2021 we would have never seen the greatness of Hendon Hooker and as we all
know was clearly the much better QB. We wouldn’t have gone 11-2 last season either. Remember Joe was always Heup’s guy from day one the moment he got here. Hooker was brought here by Pruitt and Jim Chaney. It also makes me wonder if Nico wasn’t ready to start and play earlier in the season based on what I saw in the bowl game. Did Joe have incriminating photos on Heupel or something?

2. Retaining Tim Banks and Wille Martinez for a fourth year. I can maybe roll with bringing Banks back but Willie too I just don’t understand. The secondary and DB’s have not improved and just regressed if anything. He’s a terrible coach that Georgia didn’t want 15 years ago I didn’t want him when he was here with Butch. It’s asinine to retain him another season we have all seen enough and there is enough stats and data since 2021 to see that he needs to go and Banks probably does as well but definitely keep RG he’s the only defensive coach that is earning his money. It just appears that Heupel won’t fire his buddies and unfortunately that’s gonna cost him his job eventually. Highly successful coaches like Kirby and Harbaugh and others know when they need to shake up their staffs and make changes to keep improving and not get stagnant. And if that means firing your friends well so be it, coaching is a business.

…….Nico just got sacked again. He looked great at times against Iowa but he also showed why he wasn’t the starter too.

 

[jasonvol18]

Thanks this topic really needs to be discussed I can’t believe no one else has brought it up.

Yet, you took the time to read and and give your 2 cents. If it bothers you, don't read it nor respond. It's really that simple. Nothing complicated about it, Dogg!

 

[jasonvol18]

1. His ridiculous loyalty to Joe Milton as the starter. It’s crazy to think if Milton hadn’t got hurt in 2021 we would have never seen the greatness of Hendon Hooker and as we all
know was clearly the much better QB. We wouldn’t have gone 11-2 last season either. Remember Joe was always Heup’s guy from day one the moment he got here. Hooker was brought here by Pruitt and Jim Chaney. It also makes me wonder if Nico wasn’t ready to start and play earlier in the season based on what I saw in the bowl game. Did Joe have incriminating photos on Heupel or something?

2. Retaining Tim Banks and Wille Martinez for a fourth year. I can maybe roll with bringing Banks back but Willie too I just don’t understand. The secondary and DB’s have not improved and just regressed if anything. He’s a terrible coach that Georgia didn’t want 15 years ago I didn’t want him when he was here with Butch. It’s asinine to retain him another season we have all seen enough and there is enough stats and data since 2021 to see that he needs to go and Banks probably does as well but definitely keep RG he’s the only defensive coach that is earning his money. It just appears that Heupel won’t fire his buddies and unfortunately that’s gonna cost him his job eventually. Highly successful coaches like Kirby and Harbaugh and others know when they need to shake up their staffs and make changes to keep improving and not get stagnant. And if that means firing your friends well so be it, coaching is a business.

I absolutely agree with you on Milton and Martinez. I understand loyalty, but that can also get you fired. We had a chance to upgrade the Secondary and even the D, but Heupel refuses to do so. Secondary recruiting is killing us, we aren't getting any or many elite Secondary guys. Who was our last 5 star DB??

 

[hUTch2002]

This. Hooker looked like absolute trash in the O&W game. I remember thinking, this guy sucks. Boy, was I wrong.

Revisionist history from a lot of fans has people thinking we had another Jayden Daniels transferring in when we got Hooker. Hooker wasn’t good at Va Tech.

 

[hUTch2002]

Correct. Heup never saw HH in a live game until we all did. And once he did, to his credit, he never looked back, even once Joe was healthy.

But, regarding his #2 point...I completely agree...I have no idea how Martinez is still here...or even keeps getting hired at the FBS level.

I mostly agree on Martinez BUT I will say that he had that secondary playing some pretty good ball just before Hadden got hurt. They had improved drastically over the earlier games.

 

[Vato]

1. His ridiculous loyalty to Joe Milton as the starter. It’s crazy to think if Milton hadn’t got hurt in 2021 we would have never seen the greatness of Hendon Hooker and as we all
know was clearly the much better QB. We wouldn’t have gone 11-2 last season either. Remember Joe was always Heup’s guy from day one the moment he got here. Hooker was brought here by Pruitt and Jim Chaney. It also makes me wonder if Nico wasn’t ready to start and play earlier in the season based on what I saw in the bowl game. Did Joe have incriminating photos on Heupel or something?

2. Retaining Tim Banks and Wille Martinez for a fourth year. I can maybe roll with bringing Banks back but Willie too I just don’t understand. The secondary and DB’s have not improved and just regressed if anything. He’s a terrible coach that Georgia didn’t want 15 years ago I didn’t want him when he was here with Butch. It’s asinine to retain him another season we have all seen enough and there is enough stats and data since 2021 to see that he needs to go and Banks probably does as well but definitely keep RG he’s the only defensive coach that is earning his money. It just appears that Heupel won’t fire his buddies and unfortunately that’s gonna cost him his job eventually. Highly successful coaches like Kirby and Harbaugh and others know when they need to shake up their staffs and make changes to keep improving and not get stagnant. And if that means firing your friends well so be it, coaching is a business.

Well we need consistency at coaching so why let guys go right now.
Hold them and get some studs on the D, then we will see.
Im not a HC or OC so, no reason why joe got so much love.
By stats Joe was not that bad.

 

[FiremedicVOL127]

1. His ridiculous loyalty to Joe Milton as the starter. It’s crazy to think if Milton hadn’t got hurt in 2021 we would have never seen the greatness of Hendon Hooker and as we all
know was clearly the much better QB. We wouldn’t have gone 11-2 last season either. Remember Joe was always Heup’s guy from day one the moment he got here. Hooker was brought here by Pruitt and Jim Chaney. It also makes me wonder if Nico wasn’t ready to start and play earlier in the season based on what I saw in the bowl game. Did Joe have incriminating photos on Heupel or something?

2. Retaining Tim Banks and Wille Martinez for a fourth year. I can maybe roll with bringing Banks back but Willie too I just don’t understand. The secondary and DB’s have not improved and just regressed if anything. He’s a terrible coach that Georgia didn’t want 15 years ago I didn’t want him when he was here with Butch. It’s asinine to retain him another season we have all seen enough and there is enough stats and data since 2021 to see that he needs to go and Banks probably does as well but definitely keep RG he’s the only defensive coach that is earning his money. It just appears that Heupel won’t fire his buddies and unfortunately that’s gonna cost him his job eventually. Highly successful coaches like Kirby and Harbaugh and others know when they need to shake up their staffs and make changes to keep improving and not get stagnant. And if that means firing your friends well so be it, coaching is a business.

Stupid post……… bitch bitch bitch…… always a super fan a VFL to bitch about something!!!

 

[Jxn Vol]

How much did it affect his bowl game? Tackle play might have entered his mind since Nico was a little light in the britches.

We won the 2023 bowl game. I’m more concerned with next season. Quite frankly I stated thinking about 2024 season after the Mizzu loss.

 

[LAVol1]

I wasn't going to but I have no choice. This is another cattleprod worthy post from a key member of the LOTM. This fine poster has brought some interesting concerns.

1) Blind loyalty to Joe Milton Everyone on here, At least those with functioning brain calls, knew that this would be a difficult year. On top of the already present attrition from an offensive side, we lost our starting center, which in Heupel's offensive is a massive issue. It was a concern from Spring training on because they had difficulty in getting anyone to understand the extreme complexity of the position in this offense. Due to the speed, the center calls the bulk of the protections as he is getting over the ball with very little adjustment by the QB. Second, fully realizing that Nico Iamaleava was more talented the Joe Milton, he realized that PUTTING A 6'6" LESS THAN 200 POUND TRUE FRESHMAN QB INTO AN SEC MEATGRINDER WAS REALLY STUPID, made the decision to play the long game and try to succeed with a player he knew could at least survive this rough season and let Nico get a little stronger for next year. We got a really good indication of just how special this QB can be next year. Look at the QBs for UT over the last 50 years and you will find a dozen that were far worse than Joe Milton. This is of course lost on the Legion of the Miserable.

2) The constant diatribe about "loyalty to coaches". This fine example VOL fandom has forgotten a couple of facts.
a) This DC and defensive staff in general was saddled with a non-existent roster when they got here. There were very few scholarship players that were not involved in the idiotic former coach's laughable attempt at cheating. ALL of the higher rated players jumped into the portal and off campus. They had to work with what they had. They tried to undo the so-called coaching from the defensive genius that was Beldar, but were admittedly unable to do so. Also, they were trying to convince recruits that they really wanted to come to play in a defense that would require them to be on the field more than any other team in the country. He is just now starting to get some of the real pieces he wanted into the gameplan.

b) They have now dumped all of the left-over players that they could not fix. We saw a good dose of how good the younger secondary players look at this time, with more growth coming over the offseason. But also lost on this crew.

3) COACH CAN'T RECRUIT
Same old malarky. Amazingly, this is year THREE, not year 5+ This team was under a potential major NCAA penalty that could have prevented post season play at the very least. Saddle that with a new young coach and a team coming off an epically bad season. Did you forget? We were 3 and 7 and looked horrible doing it. Really fertile ground for recruiting. CJH got whatever he could get in the first year, primarily because he didn't have any time to even prepare a war room little less be able to get out and recruit. Each of the next two classes has been trying to get the best available people while operating under the gift from Beldar that keeps on giving.....scholarship restrictions! Also trying to build a resume. It looks to be working as the level of player wanting to come to UT continues to go up.

I know this is going to trigger the whiners of the LOTM, but that is fine. Their constant stream of crap triggered me to the point that I didn't even want to get on this site because I get tired of reading mindless tripe.

(To those who actually know what you are talking about and have functioning brain cells I apologize sincerely for the length and tone of this post) [to the LOTM, I truly could not care less how you feel about it]

This post proves there are a few who post here do have functioning brain cells. Well done!

 

[Lars]

Um, ok. In which game this season would the starting QB have made a difference?

I can think of a few when legit officials would have made a difference.

 

[WillOverstreetFanClub]

On the Hooker thing, you just have to understand where it's challenging to pick a starting QB.

Milton clearly is a show stopper in practice. Virtually every practice report we've ever read about him praises him. HH on the other hand, I remember not being impressed by him in the OW game in 2021.

Dobbs was a notoriously bad practicer, but when the lights came on he came alive. HH was at his best under the lights in high pressure situations. JG was phenomenal in practice.

Thats where it gets tough. You have to play the guy that practices the best, until you see the other guy in a high pressure situation and see how he reacts.

You had me until you said the you have to play the guy who practices the best. I could understand if we had not seen joe thrive in practice and then stumble in games three years ago before he got hurt and hendon took over. Last season is literally what our last three years would have been had joe not gotten hurt back then There is just nothing Huepel has done that would suggest otherwise. He is loyal to a fault. It was clear after the first two games last year that joe just was not going to be able to win against the harder opponents.

 

[Volfan2012]

1. His ridiculous loyalty to Joe Milton as the starter. It’s crazy to think if Milton hadn’t got hurt in 2021 we would have never seen the greatness of Hendon Hooker and as we all
know was clearly the much better QB. We wouldn’t have gone 11-2 last season either. Remember Joe was always Heup’s guy from day one the moment he got here. Hooker was brought here by Pruitt and Jim Chaney. It also makes me wonder if Nico wasn’t ready to start and play earlier in the season based on what I saw in the bowl game. Did Joe have incriminating photos on Heupel or something?

2. Retaining Tim Banks and Wille Martinez for a fourth year. I can maybe roll with bringing Banks back but Willie too I just don’t understand. The secondary and DB’s have not improved and just regressed if anything. He’s a terrible coach that Georgia didn’t want 15 years ago I didn’t want him when he was here with Butch. It’s asinine to retain him another season we have all seen enough and there is enough stats and data since 2021 to see that he needs to go and Banks probably does as well but definitely keep RG he’s the only defensive coach that is earning his money. It just appears that Heupel won’t fire his buddies and unfortunately that’s gonna cost him his job eventually. Highly successful coaches like Kirby and Harbaugh and others know when they need to shake up their staffs and make changes to keep improving and not get stagnant. And if that means firing your friends well so be it, coaching is a business.

Only reason I give it an ok is because we still probably did as well as we would've if Nico had started. Only other possible win may have been Florida as we score more for sure. We would've needed to score a lot more to win that one.

 

[csheaton]

On the Hooker thing, you just have to understand where it's challenging to pick a starting QB.

Milton clearly is a show stopper in practice. Virtually every practice report we've ever read about him praises him. HH on the other hand, I remember not being impressed by him in the OW game in 2021.

Dobbs was a notoriously bad practicer, but when the lights came on he came alive. HH was at his best under the lights in high pressure situations. JG was phenomenal in practice.

Thats where it gets tough. You have to play the guy that practices the best, until you see the other guy in a high pressure situation and see how he reacts.

The reason Milton was a show stopper in practice is because he was going against our secondary…

 

[wmcovol]

I go back to Spring 2021 immediately after the O&W game, call in shows and message boards were complaining about how Harrison Bailey wasnt getting enough time and looked to be the best QB option. If the brainpower or Volnation didnt see the brilliance of Hendon Hooker then, how could Heupel be expected to see it?

Seriously, I doubt Heupel would have stayed with Milton thru 2021 with Joe missing passes that were so open.

The defense has steadily improved each year with the improvement in talent. There wasnt much in 2021 to build on.

 

[volfan411]

Yet, you took the time to read and and give your 2 cents. If it bothers you, don't read it nor respond. It's really that simple. Nothing complicated about it, Dogg!

It would have been just as easy for you to ignore me but you couldn’t Dogg!

 

[GoVols64]

If you think you know better than a guy who is doing it professionally at the highest level in college, one who has turned a flailing team around and has been successful elsewhere you may want to ask yourself why you are uniquely qualified to think that. Maybe, just maybe, the people paid millions to do the job actually know what they are doing. Are they perfect? No. But just because they don't do what you think is the right thing doesn't make them wrong or incompetent. Food for thought.

 

[#1HomeGrownUTVOL]

Fixed your post

Those hammers actually have a purpose though…

 

[Big151Orange]

None of what the OP stated concerns me. What does, is how we play on the road against quality teams. I’m really hoping with the roster changes at QB and DB next year, we become a much more consistent team. What happened at UF, Mizzou and Bama this year give cause for concern.

 

[Other_Guy]

Are we really still talking about Joe and trying to blame him? Geezus.

Here's a question:
Everyone is baffled as to why he barely played Nico even in the blowouts they had.
Is it because he was worried that Nico would ball to the point there would major divide amongst the fanbase and be a distraction for the team?
If so, um, does that mean he knew how good he was? And didn't he tell Joe he wasn't playing in the bowl game?

 

[Manchester Vol]

1. His ridiculous loyalty to Joe Milton as the starter. It’s crazy to think if Milton hadn’t got hurt in 2021 we would have never seen the greatness of Hendon Hooker and as we all
know was clearly the much better QB. We wouldn’t have gone 11-2 last season either. Remember Joe was always Heup’s guy from day one the moment he got here. Hooker was brought here by Pruitt and Jim Chaney. It also makes me wonder if Nico wasn’t ready to start and play earlier in the season based on what I saw in the bowl game. Did Joe have incriminating photos on Heupel or something?

2. Retaining Tim Banks and Wille Martinez for a fourth year. I can maybe roll with bringing Banks back but Willie too I just don’t understand. The secondary and DB’s have not improved and just regressed if anything. He’s a terrible coach that Georgia didn’t want 15 years ago I didn’t want him when he was here with Butch. It’s asinine to retain him another season we have all seen enough and there is enough stats and data since 2021 to see that he needs to go and Banks probably does as well but definitely keep RG he’s the only defensive coach that is earning his money. It just appears that Heupel won’t fire his buddies and unfortunately that’s gonna cost him his job eventually. Highly successful coaches like Kirby and Harbaugh and others know when they need to shake up their staffs and make changes to keep improving and not get stagnant. And if that means firing your friends well so be it, coaching is a business.

His overachieving since he has been here is really pissing me off. I didn’t expect him to be this good as a coach.

 

[VFLCodyGBO]

Here's a question:
Everyone is baffled as to why he barely played Nico even in the blowouts they had.
Is it because he was worried that Nico would ball to the point there would major divide amongst the fanbase and be a distraction for the team?
If so, um, does that mean he knew how good he was? And didn't he tell Joe he wasn't playing in the bowl game?

Yeah. You’re probably right. He put his multi million dollar contract on the line and didn’t let Nico play because he was afraid he’d be better than Joe.

He 100% doesn’t care about his own stability or his families, it’s just blind loyalty to a kid that would be gone in a year regardless.

It’s the most logical explanation. Let’s run with it.