Too soon...Way too soon.

Anyone can afford to be cocky about KY talking noise in football. No one knows if Pruit going to kill it or not...for that matter, whether Mullen or Jimbo will do well. I do like Pruitt no nonsense approach and staff he's putting together. LSU on year 2 of coach O, which is one year closer to wheels coming off there. Every team goes thru dysfunction...Bama before Saban, and LSU with archer and dinardo before Saban. We will be back. Don't worry.

NO DOUBT. Both UT and Gruden at fault here. Gruden could have easily said he wasn't interested, but ego won't let him. UTAD could have also put out info that would have squashed all the nonsense.

10 years of seemingly purposeful disfunction and 2 days of national mattress burning has me thinking this will certainly not turn out right. Will withhold any comments. If we get him, I'm very happy, compared to where we were with Schiano mess. Thanks UTAD.

The real problem is that frieze isn't Jim boheim or calipari or Joe pa, etc, etc. Same thing happened to Bruce Pearl. He had a junior over to his house for a cook out (which is legal now) and lied about it and couldn't coach for 3 years. UNC and SYR forged test results and get a slap on the wrist. Hypocritical nature of ncaa is laughable.

Third party Vols observer...both have chance to be really good or average. Think would prob give GA the nod with more returning. The real question, to me, and I don't know the answer, is can UF D flourish now that have lost Muschamps guys on D, and can Kirby step up a notch from, in my opinion, several mistakes and missteps in rookie campaign. Vols have plenty to worry about but will prob be another tight race unless someone's QB steps up big time.

Butch lowered his rating by a good 20 slots by dumb stuff he says in press conferences.

I think all schools do this hype stuff, but am quite tired of them. How about NO hype videos and go out and win some games...tell out pr guy to stop sending out videos and have him give Butch pointers on press conferences.

If they say it every year, maybe the media will be right at some point

I'm a ut guy, but REALLY SDS???

Coach Herman says hello.

Correct, and same about UGA w/ CMR where UGA predicted to win every year but wouldn't. Would be cool if we had a sportswriter rating pole and we could taunt them for their bad articles and incorrect predictions.

SDS is a major disappointment. You pay these writers?

Pretty sad that on Christmas Day , with undefeated, #1 ranked team, and instead of spending time with family and friends, or on own team boards, Bama's trolling UT... Sounds like Big Orange envy to me?

STOP changing the topic with rational posts. it goes against SDS agenda.

Don't think anyone's saying we're happy w/ 8-4, but you don't get to a higher level by firing the coach every time you have a disappointing season, as vflfromflorida points out accurately below. If unacceptable losses continue, then I'll be there too. BTW, the theory behind bandwagon fans is that a team is winning and people jump on for the ride...last 10 years, not sure we've had a band or a wagon...

God forbid a rational Vol fan posting on here or any other site that says you don't just wave a magic wand and automatically get 10 wins. Our delusional fan base thinks we're still in the 1990's after 10 years of losing, and just because we say UT has "historic relevance and tradition", it's a foregone conclusion that we're the best. The SEC is a different world now, where all teams have invested and improved. For those who don't remember, it took us awhile to get to the 90's. 80's were full of mediocrity and failures along with some successes. In 1988 we went 5-6, didn't fire Majors, then 11-1, 9-2-2, 9-3,9-3, and on to 90's run. We've won 17, maybe 18 games in past two years...it's called rebuilding, and there are certain to be frustrations along the way. Outside of having a Saban, Meyer or Harbaugh, our best chance at success long term is steady build. Unless Gruden's on deck, any other coach change will set us back yet again, lose momentum, players, recruits, and gives us another excuse to complain about another "4 year plan". Take a deep breath...it's college football. Butch has done a lot of good, recruited well, and taken us out of the lower rungs of SEC. If he's not the guy, we'll know soon enough, but throwing the baby out with the bath water isn't the answer at this point, and deserves more time...especially w/ all the decimating injuries we had this year.

Guess I'll be the lone Vol who says it's not OK for some idiot journalist to write a hack job article using un-named sources (gotta love that) to get "clicks" on their website. Outside of Bama, this dumpster fire is only behind LSU and FL by one game in total wins last two years. Not where want to be, but everything not going to hell in a hand basket. Don't blame Butch for responding, but one thing I can say is needs to learn how to deal w/ media better...and obviously not lose to SC and Vandy...though Vandy also beat UGA and Ole Miss. Guess it's OK for UGA, b/c they're on a 3 year "rebuild" from firing a coach that ONLY won 50 game over the previous 5 years...OM goes 5-7 after being in top 10 and sanctions coming...but they're OK too. Give me a break.

How about click bait SDS having a culture problem of searching Internet for garbage that any idiot writes and copying the article contents or anything that pops into someone's head? Brilliant journalism SDS. How about some originality?

OK...so let's say it's a distraction...maybe they only beat Washington by 30. I assure you Saban's already got his replacement tagged, and probably the replacement's replacement.

UT has to depend on other team fans to have reason and rational thought. We had something like 27 recruits and need room for players who aren't questionable academic qualifiers or developmental recruits. Happens to every school...though timing off vandy loss makes it look bad.

Plus one issue I have is we have TE coach for position we pass to a few times a game but don't have a QB coach...puzzling.

Love Dobbs for all he is as an individual and competitor. But will be interesting to see how Debord or OC to be named later develops two probable upgrades in passing department along with all OL returning. This will be defining year for Butch...one way or another...

Then stay in Alabama

I would say that I felt sorry too if the dark cloud that seemed to have moved on from Knoxville hadn't circled back around...misery, of course, loves company, and there's plenty of space for other comfy hot-seats in the room. Embrace the "wait till next year" club.

We're not going to have to wait until bowl season... got a classic coming up in championship game

Good to see you're going with Butch's recommended reading list...maybe you're a closet Butch fan after all???

Dang, it takes Ole Miss fan to be rational. Could use OM as good example also, that every season doesn't go as planned. They've had a good run past few years, and this season didn't turn out like expected, where they went from top ten to even make a bowl game. Don't hear about OM burning mattresses. You'd think Derek Dooley was back on our sidelines.

Meant SEC E...obviously a few in West are in good shape.

Good Lord... haters gonna hate. SDS and others take "champions of life" and blow it totally out of context. Then SDS post this garbage...it's like any random snippet they can peel off an interview gets posted as if it is "true fact". I was at the SC trainwreck game, and I get it that we didn't win the East, but enjoy the ride. We're sitting at 8-3 and have the possibility of being the second highest SEC team in playoff top 25 by season end (no, I didn't say we're the second best team). I can see what he's talking about, but in fairness, he's got thin skin, so instead of coach speak on every question, he should either roll with it, or tell some reporters to kiss his a$$...I'd have more respect. At end of day, if he wins out, we'll be 10-3, and if puts together good season next year, all will be good. Tell me one SEC team that has their act together. You could argue FL, and credit to them for winning SEC E last two years...but Mac is no rain maker. He may win, but he's not sucking all the talent out of FL, like Spurrier or Meyer or Fisher...so, I don't see them being any sort of dominant juggernaut in coming years. UGA is biggest potential w/ either a really good hire or next version of Ray Goff...gonna take a few years to find out, but not off to stellar start.