Brent…we are keeping track with all these commitments. It’s been a wild week and a wild Saturday. We are getting ready to go into a dead period but there should be some potential news for TN the next 7 to 10 days. June is the new January.
Obviously DL position is key but when you are able to get a Bama legacy that’s big (Bennett)? Credit to the way they recruited him. They didn’t recruit his as Cornelias Bennett’s son. They got ties to his HS. Martinez has recruited there for a long time. Azzani has ties there. Cornelia Bennett publically was quiet about it but personally did his own research. He knew some people around Butch Jones. TN did well getting a 4 star DT that his dad played at a Rival school. Question is how much did Bama want him. We can debate that all we want to. Bama offered. This is a young man that TN is very excited about. Big body that can play inside in a year that they can take a half a dozen big bodies if they can get them.
What about the haul over the weekend? Butch likes to make a splash? Did he want them all release simultaneously? A think it was a little bit of both. Going into the day we thought there would be 3 to 4. We kind of pre-wrote some things. Some guys jumped in the boat that you didn’t see coming. The Tucker kid. The RB from LA. We were pretty confident about Taylor from the mid-state. Was not sure about Theo Jackson. Felt comfortable about Fant.. Lawson and Henderson were surprised. TN felt good about Henderson but didn’t expect it so quickly.
With Gray on board how much is it helping in getting other kids to look harder at the program? No question it helps. Right now the perception of TN is good and the momentum is good. OC day was a success. You had Hansard who was here that drove from New Jersey. Drove 11 hours with his family that was important to get that 4 star in town. 5 star Willis was impressed. Cam Akers was with his family. Tee Higgins back. Wasn’t just about who they got to commit but who was here and left with an favorable impression. Give Butch and his staff credit. This date was really close to the dead period. Kind of got the last big push for news. TN has got to one of the hottest teams recruiting now up to #5 Nationally in the rankings,
What about Butch’s ability with Orange Carpet day and events like that? It’s one of the keys to what makes Butch Jones good at what he does. You got to coach and win games and do the X’s and O’s but so much in what you do is how you create buzz. Nobody is really duplicating the OC day. OC day is unique. There is a golf facility on campus and they go over and have a putting contest. Play corn hole. Video games. It’s not a camp but a family day. Coaches wives are there and it’s a family deal. Look at the last 3 years the benefit they get out if it great. The current team buys in as well. Had about 75% of the team hanging out. Drives relationships.
Jimmy CheeK? What does that mean for athletics? It will be interesting to see what direction they go. Dr. Noland’s name has been thrown out there. He is the President of ETSU and I don’t know if he wants to step back and be a Chancellor. Don’t know their timeline. Around the Spring of 2017. If you got Dereck Dooley on the phone he would not have a lot of good things to say about Cheek. Dooley felt like Cheek wasn’t supportive for athletics. It was a constant fight. Once Dooley was removed Dave Hart got with Cheek and things changed. Athletic department stopped giving back money. They started building up the reserve. Cheek seemed to become much more open to athletics. What happens moving forward the University wants somebody who sees athletics as a front porch. Want somebody who handles themselves better. The Xmas party fiasco drew a lot of national attention that the board was not comfortable with. The pronoun thing. Interesting to see going forward. The want someone who is aggressive in growing the University but with a better understanding of handling things. Interesting to see who the nest guy is and what that means for Dave Hart. Dave Hart does not have a contract extension at this point. Is that all on the chancellor, the president or the board of trustees. Remember this too, July 1 there is some new legislature that gives the BOT a little bit more power. More checks and balances when it comes to personal for the University.
What does the financial situation look like for TN athletics? The SEC Network has been huge. They have had record breaking fundraising. No longer give 6 to 7 million dollars to academics every year. Been fiscal sound in some of the things they have done to help build the reserve. They have had more stability which means no coaches buy outs. Their reserve is no were near a Texas or Bama but it is moving toward a positive direction. This is something that Dave Hart deserves a lot of credit for because that reserve was next to nothing. ( break out the Pred signal… I kid Pred
).
That’s all folks! Go Vols!!!
Obviously DL position is key but when you are able to get a Bama legacy that’s big (Bennett)? Credit to the way they recruited him. They didn’t recruit his as Cornelias Bennett’s son. They got ties to his HS. Martinez has recruited there for a long time. Azzani has ties there. Cornelia Bennett publically was quiet about it but personally did his own research. He knew some people around Butch Jones. TN did well getting a 4 star DT that his dad played at a Rival school. Question is how much did Bama want him. We can debate that all we want to. Bama offered. This is a young man that TN is very excited about. Big body that can play inside in a year that they can take a half a dozen big bodies if they can get them.
What about the haul over the weekend? Butch likes to make a splash? Did he want them all release simultaneously? A think it was a little bit of both. Going into the day we thought there would be 3 to 4. We kind of pre-wrote some things. Some guys jumped in the boat that you didn’t see coming. The Tucker kid. The RB from LA. We were pretty confident about Taylor from the mid-state. Was not sure about Theo Jackson. Felt comfortable about Fant.. Lawson and Henderson were surprised. TN felt good about Henderson but didn’t expect it so quickly.
With Gray on board how much is it helping in getting other kids to look harder at the program? No question it helps. Right now the perception of TN is good and the momentum is good. OC day was a success. You had Hansard who was here that drove from New Jersey. Drove 11 hours with his family that was important to get that 4 star in town. 5 star Willis was impressed. Cam Akers was with his family. Tee Higgins back. Wasn’t just about who they got to commit but who was here and left with an favorable impression. Give Butch and his staff credit. This date was really close to the dead period. Kind of got the last big push for news. TN has got to one of the hottest teams recruiting now up to #5 Nationally in the rankings,
What about Butch’s ability with Orange Carpet day and events like that? It’s one of the keys to what makes Butch Jones good at what he does. You got to coach and win games and do the X’s and O’s but so much in what you do is how you create buzz. Nobody is really duplicating the OC day. OC day is unique. There is a golf facility on campus and they go over and have a putting contest. Play corn hole. Video games. It’s not a camp but a family day. Coaches wives are there and it’s a family deal. Look at the last 3 years the benefit they get out if it great. The current team buys in as well. Had about 75% of the team hanging out. Drives relationships.
Jimmy CheeK? What does that mean for athletics? It will be interesting to see what direction they go. Dr. Noland’s name has been thrown out there. He is the President of ETSU and I don’t know if he wants to step back and be a Chancellor. Don’t know their timeline. Around the Spring of 2017. If you got Dereck Dooley on the phone he would not have a lot of good things to say about Cheek. Dooley felt like Cheek wasn’t supportive for athletics. It was a constant fight. Once Dooley was removed Dave Hart got with Cheek and things changed. Athletic department stopped giving back money. They started building up the reserve. Cheek seemed to become much more open to athletics. What happens moving forward the University wants somebody who sees athletics as a front porch. Want somebody who handles themselves better. The Xmas party fiasco drew a lot of national attention that the board was not comfortable with. The pronoun thing. Interesting to see going forward. The want someone who is aggressive in growing the University but with a better understanding of handling things. Interesting to see who the nest guy is and what that means for Dave Hart. Dave Hart does not have a contract extension at this point. Is that all on the chancellor, the president or the board of trustees. Remember this too, July 1 there is some new legislature that gives the BOT a little bit more power. More checks and balances when it comes to personal for the University.
What does the financial situation look like for TN athletics? The SEC Network has been huge. They have had record breaking fundraising. No longer give 6 to 7 million dollars to academics every year. Been fiscal sound in some of the things they have done to help build the reserve. They have had more stability which means no coaches buy outs. Their reserve is no were near a Texas or Bama but it is moving toward a positive direction. This is something that Dave Hart deserves a lot of credit for because that reserve was next to nothing. ( break out the Pred signal… I kid Pred
). That’s all folks! Go Vols!!!
