He who forgets the past……
I think we all agree that for a multi million dollar contract you should produce a winner and a very competitive team….but to think that you must win a Conference Championship or National Championship every other year is just not realistic. Nice, but not realistic.
Even under Fulmer and Majors, we rarely won the conference and had only one national championship…..but those were pretty good years…and it took Majors a while to right the ship. Here is Majors' record (look at his 5th and 6th year..or his bowl appearances):
1977 Tennessee 4–7 1–5 8th
1978 Tennessee 5–5–1 3–3 T–4th
1979 Tennessee 7–5 3–3 T–5th L Astro-Bluebonnet
1980 Tennessee 5–6 3–3 6th
1981 Tennessee 8–4 3–3 T–4th W Garden State
1982 Tennessee 6–5–1 3–2–1 5th L Peach
1983 Tennessee 9–3 4–2 T–3rd W Citrus
1984 Tennessee 7–4–1 3–3 T–5th L Sun
1985 Tennessee 9–1–2 5–1 1st W Sugar 4 4
1986 Tennessee 7–5 3–3 6th W Liberty
1987 Tennessee 10–2–1 4–1–1 3rd W Peach 13 14
1988 Tennessee 5–6 3–4 T–6th
1989 Tennessee 11–1 6–1 T–1st W Cotton 5 5
1990 Tennessee 9–2–2 5–1–1 1st W Sugar 7 8
1991 Tennessee 9–3 5–2 3rd L Fiesta 15 14
1992 Tennessee 5–3* 3–3* 3rd (East)* *
It was a long time until he had the “9” game winning seasons.
Fulmer built off Majors, but we know what happened to him after a few 5-7’s and/or lousy bowl game losses.
I think Butch needs to show continued movement in the right direction to justify his job and salary. I think he is. And I would point to:
1. Clearly better personnel than under Dooley. He righted the ship
2. We were competitive in every game but one game last year with a bad injury situation (I think he can be faulted most for eeking out the early victories than losing to SC at SC.)
3. He has continually looked for better coaches to improve (Fulmer never made changes)
4. There are no Saban’s sitting on the sidelines wanting for our job. (now if Peyton could be persuaded…)
5. I haven’t forgotten the alternatives to Fulmer. Kiffin was a disaster and even though he recruited top players... they all flunked out or were arrested or both. Dooley…need not say more.
6. I’ve also seen the risks in our B-Ball coaching carousel. No sure things there. Counzo ball was fair, but boring…even if we had the one NCAA run. And look what happened with Tyndall. Changes have more risks than we always think...I think. Can you say Clawfense?
So…..I’d rather be on board building an improving program where we are getting closer…than sending signals to the world and potential recruits that our guy is on the hot seat and we eat our young.
I think the calls for Butch’s head given the improvement are crazy and reflect a fan base that will be our own un-doing.
For those of you ready to make a move all the time…I’m curious what programs other than Bama do you point to that we should model our success or benchmark ourselves against?
GBO!
I think we all agree that for a multi million dollar contract you should produce a winner and a very competitive team….but to think that you must win a Conference Championship or National Championship every other year is just not realistic. Nice, but not realistic.
Even under Fulmer and Majors, we rarely won the conference and had only one national championship…..but those were pretty good years…and it took Majors a while to right the ship. Here is Majors' record (look at his 5th and 6th year..or his bowl appearances):
1977 Tennessee 4–7 1–5 8th
1978 Tennessee 5–5–1 3–3 T–4th
1979 Tennessee 7–5 3–3 T–5th L Astro-Bluebonnet
1980 Tennessee 5–6 3–3 6th
1981 Tennessee 8–4 3–3 T–4th W Garden State
1982 Tennessee 6–5–1 3–2–1 5th L Peach
1983 Tennessee 9–3 4–2 T–3rd W Citrus
1984 Tennessee 7–4–1 3–3 T–5th L Sun
1985 Tennessee 9–1–2 5–1 1st W Sugar 4 4
1986 Tennessee 7–5 3–3 6th W Liberty
1987 Tennessee 10–2–1 4–1–1 3rd W Peach 13 14
1988 Tennessee 5–6 3–4 T–6th
1989 Tennessee 11–1 6–1 T–1st W Cotton 5 5
1990 Tennessee 9–2–2 5–1–1 1st W Sugar 7 8
1991 Tennessee 9–3 5–2 3rd L Fiesta 15 14
1992 Tennessee 5–3* 3–3* 3rd (East)* *
It was a long time until he had the “9” game winning seasons.
Fulmer built off Majors, but we know what happened to him after a few 5-7’s and/or lousy bowl game losses.
I think Butch needs to show continued movement in the right direction to justify his job and salary. I think he is. And I would point to:
1. Clearly better personnel than under Dooley. He righted the ship
2. We were competitive in every game but one game last year with a bad injury situation (I think he can be faulted most for eeking out the early victories than losing to SC at SC.)
3. He has continually looked for better coaches to improve (Fulmer never made changes)
4. There are no Saban’s sitting on the sidelines wanting for our job. (now if Peyton could be persuaded…)
5. I haven’t forgotten the alternatives to Fulmer. Kiffin was a disaster and even though he recruited top players... they all flunked out or were arrested or both. Dooley…need not say more.
6. I’ve also seen the risks in our B-Ball coaching carousel. No sure things there. Counzo ball was fair, but boring…even if we had the one NCAA run. And look what happened with Tyndall. Changes have more risks than we always think...I think. Can you say Clawfense?
So…..I’d rather be on board building an improving program where we are getting closer…than sending signals to the world and potential recruits that our guy is on the hot seat and we eat our young.
I think the calls for Butch’s head given the improvement are crazy and reflect a fan base that will be our own un-doing.
For those of you ready to make a move all the time…I’m curious what programs other than Bama do you point to that we should model our success or benchmark ourselves against?
GBO!
