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| Change In Direction Of UT Program Needed | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Feb 7 2013, 09:39 AM (433 Views) | |
| *TennesseeTuxedo | Feb 7 2013, 09:39 AM Post #1 |
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Looking back at the past 2 months, since Butch Jones was hired makes me realize that there are a lot of changes in direction of the program that need to be made. First, it is important that recruiting the best talent must be this staff's goal. If they recruit for a,system, we will be be weakened for the long haul and our program will be even worse down the line. You do not beat the best teams on a consitant basis by fooling the or finessing them. Good coaches figure things out ando make adjustments. We do not want to have a OL like Missouri's. They recruited OLmen to fit their system and now have the smallest and weakest OL in the SEC. Second, this staff must develop pipelines in the major metro areas in Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, the Carolinas, Virginia, and even Alabama. It was out traditional recruiting base for years and has been forgotten over the past 10 years. We must own Nashville. UT coaches have done a poor job of recruiting middle Tennessee since I was a kid. There are a lot more talented kids there than there are at CAK. UT coaches like recruiting Knoxville and should take the best players from there if they are better than kids from other places, but stop the recruiting of inferior places just to impress the local coach. Nashville is loaded. Memphis is another city that we have to do a better job recruiting from. It is time to repair relationships and solidify the pipelines. Thirdly, the new staff, IMO, is very friendly and positive. Nothing wrong there. However, from judging things from my perspective, the staff did not close well. That is pure salesmanship. Ask for the sale and be a bulldog. We heard how all of these kids were going to come to UT and bring other top players with them. The staff wanted positive PR and got it, but they did not follow through. As I learned from year in sales, don't get caught up in feel goodism until the sale is closed and consumated. Until then, you are only friends and not partners. Friends are not going to win games for us if they are playing for Auburn. Close the deal. Yes it requires pushing people outside their comfort zone. Coaches do it on the practice field, they should also do it in recruiting. Trust me, Nick Saban does it. Fourthly, we got our butts handed to us in recruiting on the line on both sides of the ball. We will lose 6 of our top 7 offensive linemen after this next season. We threw two of them away because they did not fit BJs model. We can not afford to have smaller and weaker offensive linemen in the SEC. That may work in the Big East, but BJ is not in Kansas anymore. On the defensive line, we lose every defensive tackle but one after this next season. New signees Jason Carr and Jaylon Miller may bulk up and become and become DTs, but that is down the line. They have been edge players and moving down inside and becoming effective will take time. BJ turned away a Graduate Assistant who held the fortunes of several JUCO DTs and DEs in them. That could hurt this program down the line. Lastly, I hope that BJ is able to to,take his loyalty blinders off and realize that he is not wading in the kiddie pool of the MAC or Big East. He can not afford to keep his best buddies on his staff while Auburns staff of recruiting sharks eats him alive on the recruiting trail. SEC recruiting experience is not gained overnight. His buddies will get their asses handed to them several times by seasoned SEC assistant coaches who have developed relationships with the top high schools and coaches. If some school offers Tommy Thigpen a better deal or if Thigpen perceives that BJs vision is not working, he will bolt for greener pastures. Remember that happened to Fulmer. He never recovered from losing Rodney Garner. The bottomline is that our recruiting day should not be higlighted by news that we stole a QB recruit from Arizona State. That is not to say that he is not a good player. However, we should be flipping players from Georgia and Alabama. |
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| runner | Feb 7 2013, 10:45 AM Post #2 |
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The positive change of direction in our program was made when Dooley was fired. Though some of what you mention is true, you're overreacting somewhat with negative sensationalism on how well our new staff performed in recruiting. Butch Jones knows what he's up against, though he may not have realized how far Dooley had sunk our program when he accepted the job. Read Patrick Brown's article http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2013/feb/07/vols-pick-some-recruiting-gems-late/ You defended Dooley long after it was obvious he couldn't get it done, so hold you judgement on Butch until he has a year under his belt. |
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| BJVOL III | Feb 7 2013, 11:13 AM Post #3 |
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Awesome
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Runner is right. You keep saying that Jones is not in the "kiddie pool" of the Big East. He knows it and the fact that he got some of the best prospects interested is a very good sign. It takes time to develop relations so he can close well. Frankly, you're focus is way off, considering the short amount of time Jones had to get the class. No other first year coach did it except at Auburn where he had already had relations as a former coach. Your inability to see what the impact of Dooley on recruiting voids most of your irrational comments above on recruiting. |
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| douggoss | Feb 7 2013, 11:28 AM Post #4 |
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Butch has not passed his first two hurdles in my book: filling out a staff and closing out recruiting. As Tux points out, this is NOT a stellar staff in terms of recruiting (and damned sure not the "BEST" staff in America at least from what we have seen so far, recruiting). Ainge pointed out this morning that Trooper is available after the staff was let go at Auburn. If I am Hart and have half an ounce of sense (which is questionable) I pull Butch in and give him the choice of how to open up a position but make no mistake, TT will be on our staff next year. The dumb ass (Hart) had the chance to do this when he hired Butch by not giving him 100% free reign on who his assistant staff would be comprised of. He should have handed him a list and told him to pick 2-3 from it and make it happen to get them on the staff. Think BJ would not have STILL jumped at the opportunity to GREATLY fatten his bank account (life changing money) and would have said "ok Dave, whatever you say" and done it? But the weak leader that Hart is, did not do this. One of two things, either he is completely naive about the state of football (and the other sports it drives) at UT or is too damned arrogant to pull these type of triggers. While I am on BJ, I also agree with Tux about not recruiting to a MAC system and having it work in the SEC. I heard Butch at halftime of the hoops game (another sport at UT which I have lost interest in since the dismissal of BP due to the hiring of who we did at coach. Great person, not ready as a coach) and he said they would play to the strength of the team, which is why he names them like he does (this year is team 117, next year will be team 118 and have different strengths and weaknesses...). That is great but he has also said multiple times (including the intro presser) that he staff has a system that will not fail. THAT is the opposite of what he said last night (and it is also naive and arrogant. NO coach ever has had a s system that did not fail at some point at some time when others caught on to it. On a positive note I DO think BJ is a hard worker (unlike DD) and will inspire loyalty in his teams. I also think his teams will play hard for him. I have no idea on the prowess of his assistants or how they will fare in the SEC. On a final note, AV could not be more right in that we need to change our recruiting tactics. I am not suggesting we hand out bags of moo-la but take Ole Miss for example. Ainge pointed out that they got a lot of their recruits by adding a friend or relative to the deal - a 2 for 1. We have done that before and should have done it again. Not like we don't have some room on the rooster. BJ also needs to find some churches to fund, like Saban. This is not illegal and no way in hell will the NCAA start investigating black churches. Already proven. I, for one (apologies to Gutfield last night on The Five) plan to vote with my cash. For YEARS my donations were in the thousands annually. For the past few years it has been $100 due to my job (or lack there-of initially or starting a business recently) and UT has agreed to take this reduced amount and still sell me my season tickets. I plan to make this my "New" Annual "Donation" until I see changes made to make UT relevant again. In fact I may even lower it to $10. They can take it or leave it in terms of selling me season tickets I have held for almost 20 years now. And while I am bitching, I am really over the name callers on various boards. You know, the "negger" types. As I mentioned, I have held season tickets for years and missed about a dozen games, home or away, during that period. THAT makes me pretty damned loyal to this university and team especially the past 7 years or so. As mentioned above, financially things have been tenuous at best due to my employment situation the past several years but I have STILL managed to have my ass (and the wife's) in section G row 55 every week AND multiply road trips to follow the team. Can you name callers say the same????? And don't use the lack of money excuse. Do you know how cheap tickets have been the past several years. Do you know how easy they have been to get. I was at the Florida game when Justin Hunter went down 2 years ago ON THE DAMNED 45 yard line 3 rows off the field in the middle of the players relatives. This after YEARS of sitting at about 2000 feet with an oxygen mask at that dump called the swamp (and other venues as well). Our demand has been so weak that I magically am sitting in some of the best seats in the house and whooping it up with friends and relatives of the players. SO what does all that mean? To anyone who will lam-bast this post because of some "less than positive" observations I made you can kiss my ass. Yes, in fact my name IS on the damned chair and I do have some ownership in this program. GBO. |
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| runner | Feb 7 2013, 11:35 AM Post #5 |
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Master
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The last thing needed is Hart "telling" Butch who to hire, etc. Questioning Hart for hiring Butch is one thing, but saying that Hart needs to dictate who will be on staff is laughable. No coach of any caliber would have accepted the Tennessee job under those conditions. BTW, in my book, Trooper Taylor can stay away from Neyland forever, and we're better off for it. |
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| douggoss | Feb 7 2013, 11:41 AM Post #6 |
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Really? Offer me LIFE CHANGING MONEY for a 4-5 year gig and I'll ask you who's ass you want me to wipe every day. Now, I don't have any confidence in Hart's abilty to either see this OR identify a list of top flight recruiters. Edited by douggoss, Feb 7 2013, 11:44 AM.
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| runner | Feb 7 2013, 12:05 PM Post #7 |
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Master
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I don't want another coach like Dooley who just took the job for the money, and I don't think Butch is cut that way. Just the little things he's already done shows me that he wants to be here to rebuild Tennessee to compete on the national stage, regardless on the dollars. Even though I disagreed with some of Dooley's hires, I always felt that a head coach should make those decisions since their butt is the one on the line. Once again, I feel there is too much overreaction to Butch's ability based on how we finished in recruiting. Truth be told, we're fortunate we finished as high as we did in recruiting considering everything Butch was up against. I think I'll wait until what I see how our team competes on the field and how well we recruit in 2014 before I determine that Butch was a good hire or not. By the way, I've had six season tickets for 20 years. |
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| *OrangeRev | Feb 7 2013, 12:18 PM Post #8 |
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Tree hug'n, bleed'n heart, lazy luv'n, global warm'n token liberal
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Trooper Taylor will not be on this staff ... ever. The NCAA is so hot after him that Auburn had to pull him off recruiting - his hands are incredibly dirty, and the last thing UT needs is another investigation while we are on probation. |
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| runner | Feb 7 2013, 12:26 PM Post #9 |
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Master
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Correct, Orange Rev. Trooper caused a lot of internal problems when he was here before, and we came very close to getting in trouble for a recruiting violation he did which almost cost him to be fired. |
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| *Zippy | Feb 7 2013, 12:38 PM Post #10 |
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Burning Man, 2009 FOREVER
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I'm going with option b: I learned my lesson with Dooley. |
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| BJVOL III | Feb 7 2013, 01:20 PM Post #11 |
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Awesome
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Thank God that Rev and Runner see what Trooper would do if he were hired. The NCAA would kill us! Plus he is a poor coach and immature guy. We don't need him. |
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| *Zippy | Feb 7 2013, 01:34 PM Post #12 |
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Burning Man, 2009 FOREVER
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Trooper is not a poor coach. He's just a liability |
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| *TennesseeTuxedo | Feb 7 2013, 01:37 PM Post #13 |
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I was never enamored with his coaching. He recruited well for us for one season and stopped recruiting for us at all his final season with us because he knew he was not going to be kept. |
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| *Zippy | Feb 7 2013, 01:54 PM Post #14 |
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Burning Man, 2009 FOREVER
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The difference in the WRs and RBs when Trooper was coaching them vs. PW and/or Cutcliffe's gimp coaching them was night and day. Say all you want about Trooper's antics, his 'me first' stuff, his recruiting bag-man baggage...whatever. He deserves that criticism. But the guy is a good position coach, and the kids he coaches play pretty hard....and that's been true everywhere he's been. |
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| *TennesseeTuxedo | Feb 7 2013, 03:28 PM Post #15 |
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The state of Tennessee is growing population-wise and with that more elite athletes ar growing up in Tennessee. In Nashville, there are going to be sons and daughters of former professional football players moving into middle and high schools in Nashville. We need to be the team to beat for them instead of Vandy-right now we are not in the local media. All of the oldtime sports broadcasters are retiring and the new guys are getting treated like royalty by Franklin. |
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3:28 AM Jul 11