Why was 2009 a bust?

#76
#76
UT IE 95 said:
I guess I expected too much for a team of recruiting gurus to get their #1 target. My bad.

Put Brown and Richardson next to each other and tell me how that was an even trade in recruiting commits?
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Maybe my expectations were too high as well. I thought that with the recruiting experts we have, that we would do better. I dont like losing Stokes, Giles, and Oku after they commited.
Yes, we have a different staff, yes decommiting happens, but I figured that we could have kept them along with Herbert (sp) and gotten Marlon Brown as well.
 
#77
#77
Paying such close attention to the rankings is silly. I mean it is obvious that LSU got more talent than Tennessee, but to think that there is some huge difference between 15th and 25th, for example, is absurd.
But I guess it is fair to think how could our class be roughly similar to Miss. State and Auburn - two schools that got to the process later and have less "glorified" staffs.

I think they stretched themselves too thin. That is not to say that they were trying to just get the very top tier talent - just that they were trying to get anyone that showed the slightest interest in Tennessee - as opposed to concentrating on keeping some of the better players that had committed and only going after guys that seemed somewhat likely to end up here. For example, was it really worth the time to talk to Randle? Did Lane think there was any legitimate chance at getting him?
 
#79
#79
Dawson said:
Maybe my expectations were too high as well. I thought that with the recruiting experts we have, that we would do better. I dont like losing Stokes, Giles, and Oku after they commited.
Yes, we have a different staff, yes decommiting happens, but I figured that we could have kept them along with Herbert (sp) and gotten Marlon Brown as well.
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And since you can type I expect you to write the next great american novel. In three weeks. Starting now.
 
#80
#80
The Dude said:
Yeah, your bad. Brown wasn't even going to visit before Phil was fired. It's amazing Kiffin got him to come last weekend considering the mess Fulmer has caused.
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The guy set his own bar and then missed it. No big deal if he coaches the guys to win that are on the team.

I couldn't care less about recruiting rankings. It's all about kids and people with nothing else to do with their time. I was only interested in Brown because Kiffin made him a priority.
 
#81
#81
UT IE 95 said:
I don't like getting caught up in the recruiting hoopla too much because it's a bunch of kid's.

But living in Memphis I've heard a lot about Marlon Brown. Listening to Kiffin the day he was hired talk about locking the state down and leaving that night to meet his top recruit in Memphis got my attention.

I'm not ready to sail Kiffin down the river by any stretch, but losing Brown has a load of recruiting failure stink all over it.
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Building a so-called fence around the state that includes Memphis is going to be next to impossible for any UT coaching staff to do, no matter what Recruiting Olympians they are. I don't think it could be done in six years, much less six weeks. It's just too far away and too culturally separate from Knoxville. I doubt Kiffin quite understood the extent to which that's the case when he was standing up there on Day 1 talking about locking down the state. He's likely to have better luck in Atlanta than in Memphis.

I'd be happy if we put a fence around East and Middle Tennessee to begin with. Memphis I can understand, but there's no reason why all those kids from the Nashville area should be leaving the state.
 
#82
#82
We got a lot of visits from the big time recruits in Dec and Jan. This voided our advantage of bringing them in during a fall football weekend, which at Knoxville in the fall can be mesmerizing to a young recruit.
 
#83
#83
Vercingetorix said:
Building a so-called fence around the state that includes Memphis is going to be next to impossible for any UT coaching staff to do, no matter what Recruiting Olympians they are. I don't think it could be done in six years, much less six weeks. It's just too far away and too culturally separate from Knoxville. I doubt Kiffin quite understood the extent to which that's the case when he was standing up there on Day 1 talking about locking down the state. He's likely to have better luck in Atlanta than in Memphis.

I'd be happy if we put a fence around East and Middle Tennessee to begin with. Memphis I can understand, but there's no reason why all those kids from the Nashville area should be leaving the state.
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Man, I hope he understood the extent of proclaiming we'd be singing Rocky Top all night after beating UF this year.
 
#84
#84
rockydoc said:
We got a lot of visits from the big time recruits in Dec and Jan. This voided our advantage of bringing them in during a fall football weekend, which at Knoxville in the fall can be mesmerizing to a young recruit.
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Maybe the best point, so far.
 
#87
#87
UT IE 95 said:
Man, I hope he understood the extent of proclaiming we'd be singing Rocky Top all night after beating UF this year.
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So what if he doesn't beat Florida next year? We're used to it...our last coach sure as hell couldn't get it done.
 
#89
#89
Dawson said:
Difference is, that I am not paid to do type or write. Kiffin and staff are paid to recruit.
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no they are paid to WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS! Get back in your ZZ top car and head back to La Grange.
 
#90
#90
UT IE 95 said:
I guess I expected too much for a team of recruiting gurus to get their #1 target. My bad.

Put Brown and Richardson next to each other and tell me how that was an even trade in recruiting commits?
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i didn't say it was equal, i do point at richardson and call it a recruiting success. a long with a few others. you point at one, and label it all a failure. yeah, that's fair and objective.

Richardson has been committed to FL since last summer. FL just won a nataional title. He's had communication with that staff for the past year or so. TN just finished it's staff two weeks ago. Richardson just met Kiffin less than 3 months ago.

and he's going to be wearing organe in the fall.

i tip my hat.
 
#91
#91
Jaytrain5 said:
So what if he doesn't beat Florida next year? We're used to it...our last coach sure as hell couldn't get it done.
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And that's why people were upset with him. If he couldnt beat UF for 3-4 years in a row what makes you think people aren't going to get upset with 2 more years of losing to UF....we've got some fickle fans sometimes
 
#92
#92
You guys can remain ignorant if you want. But the fact is that Kiffin was not handing out a scholarship to somebody that he did not absolutely think was a potential big time player because that would be one less scholarship he could hand out next year. Next year it will be his class...his hand selected players...players that are better than these players you guys are crying about us losing to the Auburn's of the world..and he will be able to sell these kids on a thin depth chart. That is fact.
 
#93
#93
Jaytrain5 said:
So what if he doesn't beat Florida next year? We're used to it...our last coach sure as hell couldn't get it done.
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It was meant to be somewhat sarcastic considering the context of the post quoted.

But feel free to jump in and kick the coach that was fired months ago.
 
#95
#95
Dawson said:
We didnt get a lot of the guys we were targeting. What do we think was the problem?
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First 2009 wasn't a bust we signed nothing but quality players. Sure it would have been great to get more lineman, a quarterback and obviously Marlon Brown and Oku if we have indeed lost him. Last year we only signed something like 12-14 kids that actually got into school and that's coming off playing in the sec championship. Then we have arguably the worst season in the modern history of Tennessee football and that's when most of the great players are narrowing their list down to 3-5 schools. Honestly it is a miracle we were able to get in and actually sign as many quality guys as we did. The staff would rather not take a bunch of 2-3 star guys this year when they know they will have a full year to work on the top prospects in the country for next year. We already have a committment from Jacquez Smith who is most likely the top prospect in the state and one of the best players in the country for 2010. Next year will be a much better year but the landscape of this conference has changed so much in the last few years nothings going to be easy.
 
#96
#96
bignewt said:
no they are paid to WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS! Get back in your ZZ top car and head back to La Grange.
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Difficult to win to championships without top talent. Now, if you want to start with the insults, I can go toe to toe with you.
 
#97
#97
jakez4ut said:
i didn't say it was equal, i do point at richardson and call it a recruiting success. a long with a few others. you point at one, and label it all a failure. yeah, that's fair and objective.

Richardson has been committed to FL since last summer. FL just won a nataional title. He's had communication with that staff for the past year or so. TN just finished it's staff two weeks ago. Richardson just met Kiffin less than 3 months ago.

and he's going to be wearing organe in the fall.

i tip my hat.
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It was never my point to call the recruiting class as a whole a success or failure - I really don't pay attention to recruiting generally. I was only pointing to the one recruit which was labeled by the staff as their top priority and calling that recruiting effort a failure.

It's no big deal at all as long as the team on the field wins in the fall.
 
#98
#98
therickbol said:
You guys can remain ignorant if you want. But the fact is that Kiffin was not handing out a scholarship to somebody that he did not absolutely think was a potential big time player because that would be one less scholarship he could hand out next year. Next year it will be his class...his hand selected players...players that are better than these players you guys are crying about us losing to the Auburn's of the world..and he will be able to sell these kids on a thin depth chart. That is fact.
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The gospel.
 
#100
#100
UT IE 95 said:
The guy set his own bar and then missed it. No big deal if he coaches the guys to win that are on the team.

I couldn't care less about recruiting rankings. It's all about kids and people with nothing else to do with their time. I was only interested in Brown because Kiffin made him a priority.
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Sometimes it's okay to set goals and miss them. For example, it's okay to target yet miss on a kid that we had absolutely no chance of getting before the new coach arrived. I bet it's not acceptable in Kiffin's mind, but reaching high is how things are accomplished.
 
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