Rocky times: Why Tennessee's troubles aren't going away anytime soon
Back on Dec. 19, Tennessee ended its regular season with a 34-13 loss to Texas A&M. At 3-7, it was one of the worst seasons in program history. A trip to the Liberty Bowl was canceled after head coach Jeremy Pruitt and others in the program tested positive for COVID-19.
Since then … Tennessee football has been spiraling out of control.
Vols players are jumping onto the transfer portal like it’s a lifeboat and Tennessee is a sinking ship. Close to 20 players have made their intentions known, and these aren’t just disgruntled student-athletes looking for a place that will offer more playing time.
In the past few days, running back Ty Chandler, the Vols’ 2nd-leading rusher in 2020, announced that he is transferring to North Carolina. Offensive tackle Wayna Morris, a 5-star recruit in the Class of 2019 who has as many as 3 years of eligibility remaining, entered the transfer portal.
In December, quarterbacks Jarrett Guarantano (Washington State) and J.T. Shrout (Colorado) and defensive end Deandre Johnson (Miami) left as well.
Yes, Tennessee did get a transfer in Virginia Tech quarterback Hendon Hooker, but so far, Tennessee’s roster is looking a lot worse … and it wasn’t very good to begin with.
If there were stability in the coaching staff, maybe there wouldn’t have been as many defections. Jeremy Pruitt is squarely on the hot seat. Tennessee hasn’t had a defensive line coach since Pruitt fired Jimmy Brumbaugh after only 4 games. Tennessee has been without an offensive line coach for a few weeks after Will Friend left for South Carolina (and then Auburn).
If there were an offensive line coach on campus, would Morris have been more inclined to stick around?
Tennessee did make a coaching hire. On Jan. 12, UT announced former Auburn defensive coordinator Kevin Steele will serve as a “defensive assistant.” Steele, a Tennessee grad and a 2-time Tennessee assistant, brings nearly 4 decades of coaching experience to Knoxville, and they get him on the cheap since Auburn is paying most of his salary.
The buyout life remains undefeated.
But even this move brings some controversy. This is happening while an internal investigation into possible recruiting violations continues. Fulmer knows Steele very well. They were coaches on Johnny Majors’ staff in the 1980s. And don’t forget, Steele was a finalist for the head coaching job at Tennessee when Fulmer hired Pruitt in 2017.
If Pruitt doesn’t survive the internal inquiry, Fulmer would have one of “his guys” in place to take over. Steele would also bring Power 5 head coaching experience to the job (although his 9-36 record in 4 years at Baylor won’t energize the fan base).
While watching all of this take place, I kept thinking about Tennessee under Derek Dooley. In late November 2011, the Vols lost to Kentucky, snapping a 26-game winning streak over the Wildcats. In the weeks that followed after that game, Tennessee’s recruiting class was devastated with decommits. Dooley saw 7 of his 9 assistant coaches flee for other jobs. And while everything was burning to the ground, Dooley famously went 38 days without making public comment, and only did so when athletics director Dave Hart ordered him to speak with the press.
Dooley was playing his fiddle while Knoxville burned. He was fired the following November.
It’s possible Pruitt stays silent under National Signing Day on Feb. 3, and that’s not a good look for a guy trying to get a 4th year at Tennessee. Things are so toxic that any comments likely would be met with skepticism and anger from many Tennessee fans. But Pruitt is the leader of the program. He’s the guy Fulmer tasked with getting Tennessee back to its place among the SEC elite.
The first step might be Pruitt working to get Tennessee fans back on his side, even if that would be an uphill battle.
Because right now, all is not well on Rocky Top.
Sad to see this ongoing struggle at what used to be a top-rate program. “Fire the Coach” isn’t the issue. Until Tenn fans realize there is a real sickness within the Athletic Dept and culture that has been allowed to grow since well before Pruitt, history will keep repeating. The SEC needs a strong Tennessee program. Until the cause of this cancer is cut out and real, serious people take over, you will continue to see this get worse even though we though it had bottomed out before. Now it seems Tennessee is looking to attain a new low.
Please fix the culture and regain the place you should be. The SEC needs another strong program.
90Dawg…Yes Tennessee needs to right it’s sinking ship fast. “If” the Internal-Investigation is a precursor to firing Pruitt, the timing of it is atrocious. Recruiting ? Staff ? Obviously Jeremy Pruitt was not ever the man to bring the Vols back to relevancy. The Athletic Director position at Tennessee sits on the responsibility for hiring Dooley, Jones & Pruitt…all of whom have run the program into the ground. The Vols 2020 record alone is so bad to warrant a coach-firing in itself. Plus the atmosphere within the Program is toxic. The SEC East needs Tennessee to be relevant again. Lots of luck Vols in getting the program back to being SEC relevant again.
Dooley didn’t have a chance. He’s the equivalent of your Shula brought in after a head coach suddenly departed at the wrong time.
I like how you left Kiffin out of it. I agree. He would have been great had he stayed. I’ve said before I don’t blame him for his choice. A lot of coaches would have done the same.
Kiffin’s now ex-wife, Layla is a California girl and did not like the weather in Knoxville and the job was Southern Cal…so his choice was simple. I believe he could have done well on Rocky Top.
Speak for yourself. This is hilarious.
Bravo!
Right on AFan
Don’t condescend to us. GA hired another Mark Richt and can’t win big games. GA isn’t any better off. You take care of GA and we will take care of Vols. When’s the last time you won a natty?
I’m sorry, but you’re not allowed to say this. Vol fans are allowed to trash talk Vanderbilt and South Carolina fans. You’re not even afforded the courtesy of the Mississippi schools anymore.
Apologize to that man.
Now that’s funny.
LOL!
Spoken like a true delusional Tenn fan. I will take Mark Richt’s record any day over the train wreck Tenn has been the last 15 years. Richt ran a clean program, and Kirby was able to take the team further. Tenn is not relevant and needs to right the ship soon or continue to be a national punch line for failure.
UGA is far better off. What a patently ridiculous thing to say.
You should make some more whine with those sour grapes. We keep knocking on the door, getting closer. Bama has been the impediment, to their credit. Gotta keep pushing.
900 dawg what sickness and culture problem are you referring to exactly. There hasnt been one word of a culture problem. It seems quite obvious it has been lack of good decisions. On both AD’s and coaches. Thats not a culture unless you want to call it a culture of bad decisions. I will give you that. latest word I hear is pruitt has his first meeting with the UT admin and AD today. There will likely be a settlement offer made for him to go away now rather than next season sometime. What happens after that I dont think anyone other than a very select handful of people know. Is steele promoted to interim for the 2021 season or do they try to hire a new coach now. Frankly either of those choices could be really bad unless they hire a homerun coach now and the only one I think that fits the bill that would actually take the job is freeze and IMO napier. I cant imagine they offer freeze with all his baggage if the investigation uncovers anything substantial. But this is UT. They could accidentally do something right. I personally think Napier is a homerun hire but no idea what he would say.
Put steele in as interim and recruiting, as damaged as it already is, would take an even bigger hit since nobody is going to commit to a interim, well except hendon hooker… god bless him. One thing putting a coach in place now does is allow him to build relationships with some recruits through the year. Start in November or december and you are a full year behind. Its a real sh!tshow in knoxville right now. No debate about it. maybe we are nearing the end. Maybe it will get a lot worse or a little bit better. Who knows. I rarely agree with this writer on much but this entire fiasco has set the program back when most thought it couldnt get any worse than when jones left.
stay tuned on “As Rocky Top turns” or burns may be more fitting right now.
Fuzzy, ya’ll gotta fix this. TN has to improve the culture, decisions, coaching, whatever the problem is and return this program to prominence in the SEC. I’ve said it many times on SDS, the East is at it’s best when UGA, TN and UF are battling every year to see who gets to ATL. UF has improved… well at least temporarily until Mullet decides to bail. But this crap in Knoxville is bad. I know I’m preaching to the choir! Some of the best games I’ve witnessed were in Neyland and it is still one of the best atmospheres in CFB.
well sicem I sent them a strongly worded letter threatening to stop my massive donations but they have not responded. Guess $500 dont get ya as much attention as I thought it would.
GA needs to fix its own culture. Can’t win a natty. Fired Richt and spent millions to hire another Richt Lite. Don’t worry about us. Worry about yourselves.
@vol1, very salty I see. My comments in context are supportive of UT and I actually want improvement. I for one enjoy the competitive SEC East when UGA, TN, UF are at their best. No need to get all worked up, but since you went off; Don’t think there’s a whole lot of difference in UGA’s natty timing and TN…heck you probably weren’t born in ’98 and possibly don’t remember the last time UT won the SEC (I think it was the same year). And, I believe “Richt Lite” as you say owns TN (no matter the coach) with a cumulative 166-47 with this year’s 23 pt beat down the closest. BTW, I have conversed with Fuzzy many times on SDS supporting the Vols and true Vol fans…. maybe you aren’t one and just pissed.
And BTW, I am old enough and was there in 1980 at the Sugar Bowl.
Enjoyed and agreed with most of your assessment. I’d argue though the culture problem alluded to is between the administration and the AD and their lack of commitment towards hiring a strong AD to right the ship. The problem, as I see it, that UT has it’s become a soap opera. Who doesn’t love an old coach, particularly one who loves the university and won their last NC for them? That does not necessarily translate into a quality AD. Things started heading south under AD Osborne at Nebraska as well. I keep beating the same drum like a one armed Civil War vet so I’ll stop here.
Is Pruitt part of the problem? Definitely. But you have to look at the history of UT over the last 15 years or so and how it has continued to nosedive. Unless the underlying contributing factors are addressed Knute Rockne and Bear Bryant (both reincarnate) would not be able to fix football at UT. It is the coach, but also much deeper than that. Don’t address it, fine, but honestly ask yourself this — Why would a top tier coach want to go to Tenn and risk a good career with the mess it is in? Your last coaching search was a national laughingstock. Remember, Pruitt took the job knowing the mess the place was in. No one else would take it.
We need UT to get back on track. Just changing coaches will never work. It is deeper than that.
You make som good point here, it the coach is still step 1. Get to a consistent 8-4 and take it from there.
The only transfer that surprised me was Morris. Other than that, all the guys on the list were a near given to hit the portal so may be reading into that too much. Chandler has one more year to play and his time this year was cut with Gray getting more of the bulk. So I don’t blame him. Shrout and G should speak for themselves. They were not part of the future. Yeah, UT is out of control right now for sure, but to say they are “jumping ship” is probably not the best phrase. I could understand players leaving in the near future but the guys so far are just looking to find I place to play. Again, Morris is the only one. Hopefully he doesn’t try to follow Friend because Friend did him no favors.
Question is, is your bench depth affected by those transfers? That’s what I’d be concerned with if the answer is yes.
Yeah that’s true. Losing chandler hurts but him being a senior, we just gotta think of it as him graduating. We have a few young rb’s that hopefully can step in.
And considering how well TN played against Missouri early in the season. One has to wonder about injury resistant training.
I’m not even a Tennessee fan and all this negative press on UT’s got me feeling down. lol Can a decision be made on Pruitt one way or the other and the sunshine pumpers come back? It’s sad to see this going on. With the brand, location, tradition, and athletes they’ve got, Tennessee should be able to become a winner again.
LOL Aub, thanks for feeling our pain. Hopefully things settle down soon. One school cannot screw up every coaching hire forever can they? The odds are with us to get one right by now…arent they?
justafan is pretty much right though I put deandre and pope in with Morris. Two guys who werent great but we will likely miss. Im more concerned with additional departures than the current.
This might sound a little offbeat…but Tennessee needs stability right now. A head coach like Sam Pittman could provide that and get the Vols back to maybe winning six(6) or seven(7)games a year and have some renewed respectability in the SEC East at least. Tennessee needs a stable head coach leading the program now…one who can bring in good assistants & coordinators and improve the Vols program. Having a relevant Tennessee in the SEC East benefits the entire conference.
Gus is available and can get those 6 or 7 wins. Steele might not be too thrilled though.
I believe Gus would fit in at Tennessee nicely…and could win 6-7 games a year, maybe 8 some years. But Vol fans want to win another Natty & that mountain is very, very high right now.
I like Kevin Steele. He seems like the type to lead a team and not interfere with the offense.
Hey remember when Aaron Murray and David Pollack warned everyone about Pruitt and all the Tennessee fans here lost their minds?
Remember when Paul Finebaum attacked Murray personally (but didn’t his nominal ESPN coworker, Pollack) for saying that Pruitt did not have the temperment to be an SEC head coach?
Remember?
Pepperridge Farm remembers.
This is all hilariously karmic.
Yeah, we remember. Most of us don’t find it hilarious, though, because we don’t care one way or the other about what Murray, Pollack, or Finebaum think. lol Well, I shouldn’t speak for most of us. Just I don’t, maybe.
Pollack remembers what Phil and crew did to his senior season and all-American year. He and Greene got exposed and this carried over to their abysmal NFL careers. He got lucky because ESPN gets a tax credit for hiring a mentally impaired guy.
You talking of the one of only two victories the Vawls had against Mark Richt before Richt got Fat Phil fired? LOL.
Hold onto those memories, Vawl. Even though they’re crap, they’re YOUR crap.
Ossie. Pollack had his career cut short by injury you moron
Forget it, he’s rolling.
Corch accusing anyone of trolling, lol. That’s a bigger fail than Pollack and his boyfriend when they got mauled by UT as all-American (underachievers) seniors. Sorry you boys can’t take what you dish out.
And there ya go, Phil is back to save the program.
Oskie, using a game from >15 years ago as the basis of talking trash is weak, especially since Tennessee has been a dormat for virtually the entire time since then.
Once things stabilize at Tennessee, can we please go back to the orange and black Halloween game in late November with the Gamecocks? This significant schedule shuffling has really rubbed me raw.
Yes, Mizzou wants UT at the back end of the season not out front :)
UT’s schedule balance was too front loaded current layout is much better, Florida would never entertain the idea of moving that game to later in the year so everyone else had to adjust to make it more balanced.
UT has had a bad run of hiring lousy ADs who have then hired bad HCs. I have never been a really big fan of Fulmer, but he does know football. I though maybe Pruitt would work out, but my guess is Fulmer only looked at Pruitt’s football knowledge and not his CEO skills. The bottom line is UT needs to open the checkbook (too much tenancy to try to hire on the cheap) and get a top notch HC, not a career assistant or JC HC. Despite the baggage, I would hire Freeze. He has proven he can win at this level, isn’t scared of Saban, and would bring fresh air to the offensive side of the ball. I know he has baggage, but I am a firm believer in second chances. Bring him in, structure the contract to hammer him if any violations occur, and then let him work his magic. This starting over again will guarantee UT remains in the basement for another 3 years at a minimum.
No we just need to retain another garbage coach in over his head for a couple of more years. It’s not his fault or the string of lousy AD’s but the fans. Even if we aren’t paid to run the program, it’s somehow entirely our fault. Just ask SDS and the idiot barrage of trolls in the comment section.
I’m Sorry, So Sorry…
OSKI: they always find a way to blame the ones that have the least of anybody to do with it…
The moment Pruitt opened his mouth to speak and mangled the English language beyond all recognition like only a dumb redneck from Alabama could is the moment Fat Phil should’ve said, “Thanks, but no thanks.”
Did he not see that hilariously sad video where dumb as rocks Pruitt in his late 20’s didn’t know what asparagus was?
@Corch I’m not denying that Pruitt isn’t a great communicator, but I have to seriously doubt your GA creds if you don’t think that many native-born Georgians have the same speech patterns as Pruitt, who was born in an Alabama county that borders GA…
Also, out of curiosity, was Pruitt a “dumb redneck” when he was DC at UGA? Or is this something new? Can “dumb redneck” just happen to someone out of the blue? Should I be worried?
He certainly acted like a dumb redneck. Open mutiny against this boss and the head coach, and getting into fist-fights with other coaches.
Dude is a dumb caveman.
Had Pruitt not acted the way he did while on Richt’s staff, he very well could have been a serious candidate for his replacement. Instead, he was booted and Kirby was told he couldn’t retain Pruitt for his new staff.
To be a successful leader in any business venture or coaching position…the leader must have good skills in communication. Jeremy Pruitt’s grade on that is F-
Maybe that’s whey he deals with assistants & coordinators so poorly ?
I’m not a Freeze fan but I’d hire him. Agree with all of your assessment but I think in addition to Freeze, I’d be hunting down that top notch quality AD. If you don’t get Freeze, your back to your root problem, the AD.
Almost forgot, Fulmer hired Pruitt because by the time he took over, he needed to get the hiring resolved. In Vol football land, weeks seem like years. Not defending him but the process (again) had been botched and for the sanity of Vol nation Pruitt was hired.
true Guinny. I give phil a pass on pruitt because currie offered the job to everyone but me. there were not many options left. However that extension and raise last year was a rookie AD bonehead mistake. Didnt look like it at the time but it wasnt necessary and now looks dumb. Phil has done some good things for UT but not sure if he is the right guy for not. Think I need to see how all this shakes out to make that determination.
Oh look-another quality SDS article and comment section that tells us the most obvious issues and then proceeds to blame the fans instead of the people who are paid to run the program.
No just you Oskie LOL
Nonsensical
UT has a problem it hasn’t been able to solve for 15 years or so, and there is no immediate solution to be seen…
That problem is a relative lack of in-state high school talent and an atmosphere in college football in which the top high school talent is increasingly funneled to the top 8-12 programs.
It’s the same problem that has decimated once-proud programs like Nebraska and Arkansas.
It won’t change until UT finds a coach that can start stealing elite high school talent from Georgia and Florida, as well as nabbing top recruits from across the country.
As the 1990’s demonstrated, what UT needs more than anything is a weak UGA, when Georgia-grown players like Jamal Lewis, Cosey Coleman and Deon Grant.
And unfortunately for the Vols, the demise of UGA is not on the near horizon.
Most Vol fans I’ve met are nice people, loyal fans, and deserve better than the pain they’ve had over the last several seasons.
Tennessee isn’t that weak for high school recruiting
Yes, yes it is.
Compared to Georgia, which has the most blue chips per capita or to Florida, Texas, California, and Louisiana, Tennessee is not great when it comes to in-state talent.
It’s behind Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Maryland, and Alabama.
You can’t win in the SEC when you’re that far behind in in-state recruiting and you don’t have the coaching staff that can go into Atlanta and take what you want. Or who can’t even protect the few blue chippers you do produce, as Clemson is taking a bunch.
GA has almost as many blue chips as Bama and O State and it can’t win big ones.
GA hasn’t won a natty in FORTY years. TWO since football was invented.
GA does the less with the most of any team in the nation.
And always has. And always will.
I partially agree with this. There’s no doubt that the rise of Saban, Smart, and Swinney has severely impacted recruiting in the Southeast. With that being said, Tennessee has a big enough brand to compete in recruiting with the right coach (if Clemson can, Tennessee can). There’s certainly no reason for Tennessee to be having multiple losing seasons. Tennessee’s worst years should mirror Auburn’s (another program that is losing out on many major recruiting battles it used to win).
yeah UT has always had to recruit a lot of out of state players. The state is producing more high caliber talent but nowhere near what georgia, florida… produce and kirby and dabo, even mack brown have made recruiting more difficult than it has been historically. . We had a top 10 class going before the wheels fell off again. I firmly believe had pruitt won 6-7 games and shown he could beat or at least compete with the big 3 on our schedule we wouldnt be having these discussions and the 2021 class would be firmly in the top 10. You can compete for a natty with consistent top 10 classes. but you are correct it takes the right coach.
The “rise” of Smart? WTF has Smart done that Richt didn’t do? What arrogance to put his name with Satan and Dabboo.
Smart hasn’t won anything, much less a natty.
GA blew millions to replace Richt with Richt Lite.
GA does less with more than any other team in America.
Smart is a better recruiter than Richt, which is what I was referring to.
vol1 – Can you honestly say you would not prefer to be in the situation UGA is than the situation Tenn continues to find itself in? When is the last time Tenn even went to a NY6 bowl and was relevant at the national level? When was the last time Tenn ended a season in the top 10? Tenn is a laughingstock at the national level.
The SEC needs Tenn to be strong for everyone’s strength of schedule.
“Smart hasn’t won anything, much less a natty.”
Smart has won three NY6 bowls, a playoff game, and the SECC. So WTF are you even talking about?
You are lost, and grieving. Kirby has us competing for the Natty almost every year. 3 of the last Sec East titles, right? We see what the Gators did when they got their chance…I’ve seen the rise of Clemson, LSU and Bama continued dominance. The SEC is a beast. No easy outs. TN will be back. Won’t kick you while your down…
TN took Harrison Bailey out of GA. I’m hoping that pays off.
The one thing which could turn the program around faster than coaching is hitting on a QB. We keep having nice, smart kids, with big hearts. We haven’t had a QB in a long time.
Sticking with JG is Pruitt’s failure. The team looked noticeably better with Shrout AND Bailey. I think they win 3 more games if we had pulled JG sooner.
IF…Bailey was to hit…that would impact recruiting and help turn things around. Hooker lost his job in the ACC. Salter wasn’t recruited by major programs, but TN writers love to write about him. A QB is the best shot at turning things around quickly.
#FirePruitt
And who would replace him? Pruitt took the job because your first 6-7 choices TURNED YOU DOWN! With the bigger mess that the program is in why would a reputable coach want to destroy their career and take the job?
Look at the overall program and get a plan before you start firing people.
If you were a really perceptive kid, someone in their early 30s might recall the Vols’ last SEC championship in 1998 with any degree of clarity. And that matters because there isn’t a high school kid alive who’s experienced/lived UT being a relevant force in CFB. While down periods for programs can be resuscitated after a few bad years, once you’ve lost an entire generation it can be extraordinarily tough to bring back the magic. There’s simply no street cred with the kids.
Bama was almost at that point in 2007. This perennial national powerhouse had earned just 1 SEC championship in 15 years, and was given up for dead by many in the CFB world. Nick Saban changed that. And I suspect ONLY Nick Saban could have changed that. Tennessee’s suffering has gone on almost a decade longer than Bama’s did, creating even greater damage to it’s reputation and massively complicating a sustained recovery.
While fans can and do take some degree of satisfaction from a rival’s problems, I think we are way past that point with UT. The SEC needs a consistently viable 3rd power in the East. Mizzou, Carolina and Kentucky have had brief runs as serious contenders while UT has been down, but sustaining the challenge has been the trick, and two of those three are still early in their new HC cycle.
I’d like to be able to summon the saltiness to ask if Cade Mays found the grass greener in Knoxville, but I can’t even do that. Rather than living up to the promise that last year’s winning streak offered, it now seems like VolNation is once again in implosion/meltdown mode. This is just a sad, sad situation for the SEC and CFB.
Last time GA won a natty? 1980
Tennessee? 1998
When did you start watching SEC football?
Last year?
What arrogance.
Stupid GA. Spent millions to hire a Richt Lite who can’t win big ones.
Probably been a CFB fan longer than you – since 1970.
What did I say that was incorrect? I know Vol fans don’t like it, but facts are facts.
Do you know of a HS football prospect that’s ever seen anything but struggles at UT in their lifetime? That would be a trick. The last time UT even made a losing appearance in the SECCG was 2007. A HS junior right now would have been 3 years old. But that kid is old enough to remember UT’s last tire-fire of a coaching change, and this meltdown currently underway with the NCAA/Admin/Pruitt will be VERY fresh in their memory come commitment time.
Wow… Vol1 you are delusional. Your players are leaving faster than rats off a sinking ship, you haven’t been relevant in forever, you can’t get and keep the better recruits, you go through coaches one after another and UGA continues to do well. Big talk from a fan who lost THREE IN A ROW to Vanderbilt in recent years.
Uh, when did GA last win a natty?
There are GRANDFATHERS who weren’t alive then.
GA has won TWO nattys since football was invented.
Last one was FORTY years ago.
STFU
That all you got? Has to be, cuz you sure don’t want to discuss UGA vs UT for past 15 years or so.
And just so we’re clear, a single natty in the last century ain’t a whole lot to recommend itself in 2021.
Also, I saw a list yesterday of FBS winning percentage in this century – since 2000. UGA was 6th, if I recall correctly. I had to scroll quite a bit to find UT – well into the 50s, and maybe further – and past some pretty lightly-regarded programs. I seem to recall that UT was right there with P5 powerhouses like Northwestern and Arizona State.
I’ll take our situation any day. You would too, if you were being honest. But that wasn’t the point of my post – you just want to deflect. Whatever works for you.
It’s nothing that having Roy Kramer as SEC comish again couldn’t fix.
GA needs to shut up. First, it doesn’t understand how Butch left UT. Richt handed Smart a natty team and he couldn’t beat his meat. UT had nothing. While every SEC was going up the last 10 years, UT was going down. It will take a few years to build back up IF we get the right coach and it will take even longer IF we didn’t. If UT had had what GA had when Richt left, we’d already won a natty. Sad to see GA can’t get a natty caliber coach. When was your last one? 1980. FORTY YEARS AGO. What the hell is wrong with GA? Why can’t they win? SEC needs a strong GA football team. Come on, GA. Win something.
Win something? What a load of nonsense from an irredeemable homer. Smart has won more at UGA than Tennessee has won this century.
And yet again…
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
This always happens to Tennessee just before a head coach’s final year. Phillip Fulmer lost David Cutcliffe, Kurt Roper, Matt Luke and Trooper Taylor at the end of the 2007 season and was then fired in 2008. Derek Dooley had his staff poached in 2011 and was then fired before the 2012 season ended. Butch Jones had his staff poached in 2016 and was then fired before the 2017 season ended.
With players bouncing….reported current staff coaches trying to talk to other schools…mass staff changes going into the following season is usually a recipe for disaster…and a fired HC.
Fulmer should have hired Steele to start with. Had a bad run years ago at Baylor but has established himself as a great recruiter, great defensive mind, great linebackers coach. He would have assembled a much better staff off of his reputation alone to start with. When it was announced who the final 3 were…I was shocked the fat man went the direction he did.
Nonetheless…we are supposed to learn from our own history. The powers that be are failing us in this concept of rebuilding a winning program.
It is because the Tennessee administration and fans throw a coach under the bus every 2-3 years. The players see the lack of support for the program and go to places that will support the program. Go ahead and fire Pruitt. It looks like Bama may need a DC. Hire Steele and we can all laugh at the Vols further descent into insignificance.
Once upon a time when you saw a Tennessee you’d be reminded of a dumpster fire. These days it’s hard to see a dumpster fire without being reminded of Tennessee.
What a mess! UT should be a sought after CFB coaching job. But with all of the decade plus long dysfunction, what high quality coach is really going to want to wade into this cesspool? Hiring a coach in waiting, while trying to force out the existing coach, is an awful look!!!
Good Luck Vol Nation! The rest of the SEC wants you to get better, because that makes us all better.
Johnson is the only one who would have been a starter next year others were gonna be doin a lot of watching. We just got Kevin home.Life is good in big orange country!
Enjoy it while we r down I don’t want any other states pity. We ain’t been good in 15 yrs and still beat other schools in recruiting. Can’t wait till it’s the other way around but till then we will just watch our bball team beat u down.GBO
W
Nagi and SDS know TN articles give them more posts than any other. It’s clickbait.
TN will win more games next year because Guarantano is in Washington. Part of it is that simple.
Chandler needed to go because he’s talented but was the backup and they have multiple talented RBs coming. He needed a chance. It sounds like Morris wasn’t going to start and needed to move while his HS ranking still meant something.
I don’t think these are big losses. Again, simply changing the QB is going to improve the win total.
Pruitt??? Man…I don’t know. Never been a HC except HS. It might be too big. I’d only want Hugh. In the what have you don’t for me world, I’d take him and start slinging it with Bailey, Grey, and those young wideouts.
Here’s hoping. GBO.
*what have you done for me lately world
Tennessee is more than a small dumpster fire, the entire dump is a blaze. With Foolmer piloting the garbage scow it’s well deserved. He made it his mission in life to bring Alabama down, how’d that work out for him? He might have won a small battle but he’s lost the war as bad as the japs. An A-bomb has been dumped on his cesspool and he’s steered the ship into oblivion. How righteous. Well deserved for that back stabbing cretin. I hope they stick with Pruitt and keep Foolmer in charge for years to come. He’s burnt it down so bad Tennessee has become a directional school. Those diminishing crowds might render the stadiums better use as a waste water treatment facility. Probably smell better too. Good riddance to the orange hoard and that phat fool leading the clown parade.
Tennessee has been writing the book on how to destroy a football program for over 10 years now. If they did everything right for a change, and that is not likely, it will take them 5 years to get back to being a competitive program in the SEC East. As Bill Parcells said “you are who your record says you are” and right now the UT program continues to regress to the bottom of the SEC. I do not think UT has hit their bottom yet.
One of TN’s problems is that they have tunnel vision for hiring coaches. Locally, there was a coached that is solely responsible for putting Maryville HS football on the national radar. He’s solely responsible for Maryville’s state titles over the last few decades. George Quarles whose been at Furman for the last couple of years would be a huge get as a coach on this staff.. This guy never rushed into college football coaching, and only did so after his talent was very developed.
Lots of advice here about improving the culture, curing the sickness blah blah. Its like saying we need to improve our country. What exactly does that mean. Every program has had a rough patch, some longer than others, but we have all been there. The only thing I see is that they might want to give the heave ho to Fulmer. If there is some nebulous culture issue, I would say take a look first at Fulmer.
Never thought I would agree with a Bammer but you are correct.
Fulmer started this fire long ago and threw gasoline on it when he hired this glorified high school assistant coach.
Pruitt did well when he had elite athletes to coach but it’s clear he can’t develop lower grade players. He has to go.
Tennessee needs a young offensive mind with experienced SEC coaches/recruiters on the staff.
But first, Fulmer needs to be fired or allowed to retire. Good riddance.
Like I said before, I’m not sure why any quality coach would want to take a chance at UT anymore..
At this point the Vols are doing as much or more damage to the coaches reputation they hire… There seems to be bigger problems at UT then just the person walking the sideline..
It’s sad to even type this…But Tennessee’s once-proud program currently is about equal to South Carolina’s. But South Carolina has stopped the bleeding and now has a new ambitious/energetic head coach to recruit hard and to bring the program back to some respectability…and Tennessee does not have that positivity.