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Fullmer stepping down at Tennessee


The Hitter
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Betcha a nickel Mike Leach is the next coach. He will destroy the SEC.

All my friends who are Vols fans and I all agree that we really, really hope they go out of "the family". Mike Leach would be a great hire.

 

Frankly, I think it's going to be a hard job to sell. Because of the proximity, the fact that Fulmer being fired or stepping down is about the worst kept secret in college football, and the fact that many here in Chapel Hill are concerned that Butch Davis is just using UNC as a stepping stone, his name has come up plenty.

 

However, many have argued that it wouldn't be all that great a move, at least for Butch. If he can win 7-8 games per year at UNC, he'll be revered. The problem is, there's not enough wins to go around for all the high profile, "savior" level coaches in the SEC. I mean, you can't have 6 conference champs. However, you've got Urban Meyer, Spurrier, Saben, Patrino, Houston Nutt, and dipchit from LSU who have all been brought in somewhat recently to produce winners. Meanwhile UK, Vandy, and MIss St aren't the easy outs they used to be. That leaves Auburn and UT as teams that expect themselves to be among the elite in that conference both looking for answers. Answers that aren't going to be easy to come by.

 

Now, what's being shown is that 7-8-9 wins isn't even something that UT can take for granted, so they're going to need to find someone good just to pull that off. I just hope that's enough for the fan base considering the level of competition. I actually think it will be. If they can win 1 of 3 from both FL and UGA, split with Bama and go to a Jan 1 bowl more often than not, whomever comes in will be fine. Now, that's not going to be easy, but it is something they were doing as recently as a few years ago.

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The problem is, there's not enough wins to go around for all the high profile, "savior" level coaches in the SEC. I mean, you can't have 6 conference champs. However, you've got Urban Meyer, Spurrier, Saben, Patrino, Houston Nutt, and dipchit from LSU who have all been brought in somewhat recently to produce winners.

Hey what's with the dippoopy comment? :wacko:

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Betcha a nickel Mike Leach is the next coach. He will destroy the SEC.

 

At this point in time, there is no coach who will "destroy" the SEC. God himself could coach Tennessee and if his players had an off game against just about any other team in the SEC, he would lose.

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All my friends who are Vols fans and I all agree that we really, really hope they go out of "the family". Mike Leach would be a great hire.

 

Frankly, I think it's going to be a hard job to sell. Because of the proximity, the fact that Fulmer being fired or stepping down is about the worst kept secret in college football, and the fact that many here in Chapel Hill are concerned that Butch Davis is just using UNC as a stepping stone, his name has come up plenty.

 

However, many have argued that it wouldn't be all that great a move, at least for Butch. If he can win 7-8 games per year at UNC, he'll be revered. The problem is, there's not enough wins to go around for all the high profile, "savior" level coaches in the SEC. I mean, you can't have 6 conference champs. However, you've got Urban Meyer, Spurrier, Saben, Patrino, Houston Nutt, and dipchit from LSU who have all been brought in somewhat recently to produce winners. Meanwhile UK, Vandy, and MIss St aren't the easy outs they used to be. That leaves Auburn and UT as teams that expect themselves to be among the elite in that conference both looking for answers. Answers that aren't going to be easy to come by.

 

Now, what's being shown is that 7-8-9 wins isn't even something that UT can take for granted, so they're going to need to find someone good just to pull that off. I just hope that's enough for the fan base considering the level of competition. I actually think it will be. If they can win 1 of 3 from both FL and UGA, split with Bama and go to a Jan 1 bowl more often than not, whomever comes in will be fine. Now, that's not going to be easy, but it is something they were doing as recently as a few years ago.

Agreed. Another problem is in recruiting. Tennessee is just not a hot bed for high school talent. Fulmer use to steal talent away from neighboring states and also had to look across the country for talent. The downward slide that UT has had can be seen in correlation to Richt's arrival at UGA and his clamping down the lost in-state talent to UT. Same can be said for Bama and S.Carolina.

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At this point in time, there is no coach who will "destroy" the SEC. God himself could coach Tennessee and if his players had an off game against just about any other team in the SEC, he would lose.

 

You sir should watch more itt football. The SEC hasn't had a coach like Leach since Bear Bryant.

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Leach has built a great squad using zero talent, Bryant did the same

Well there you have it...the reincarnation... sorry, I don't mean to come of harsh but you need some more splainin' to do than that, cause that doesn't even put him in the same ballpark as, say, Bobby Bowden who did that. Not to mention keeping it up over a long period of time.

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You sir should watch more itt football. The SEC hasn't had a coach like Leach since Bear Bryant.

 

 

Leach has built a great squad using zero talent, Bryant did the same

 

I welcome Leach or any other coach to Tenn. If he makes tenn a power again, that's good for the SEC. I assert that if he has "zero" talent, he will have to get used to losing. Florida, LSU, Georgia, Alabama, to name a few, recruit boatloads of talent.

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Not sure how you can say ZERO talent, when you're in the middle of one of if not the best recruiting hotbed in the country. Leach is a fine coach, and I would love to see him at a place like Tennessee, however I think he gets overrated a tad here on this forum. His lack of big time wins, while in a BCS conference is pretty telling. It's one thing if you're coming from Bowling Green and Utah like Urban Meyer and you don't have a lot of marquee wins on your resume, but when you're actually in a BCS conference, and still don't have very many, that says something to me.

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I hear that Fulmer is being booted, not willingly going. What am I missing, ie why after a bad year or 2 in the last handful is being whacked? Does he suddenly not know how to coach? GB Penn St not having that mindset.

If you followed the program closely, you'd understand. It has been frustrating for a while.

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Agreed. Another problem is in recruiting. Tennessee is just not a hot bed for high school talent. Fulmer use to steal talent away from neighboring states and also had to look across the country for talent. The downward slide that UT has had can be seen in correlation to Richt's arrival at UGA and his clamping down the lost in-state talent to UT. Same can be said for Bama and S.Carolina.

Do you honestly think the Vols don't have talent? Two top five recruiting classes!

 

Rival Recruiting Tennessee Team ranking

 

2009 #8

2008 #35

2007 #3

2006 #23

2005 #4

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If you followed the program closely, you'd understand. It has been frustrating for a while.

If you say so. But even the best of teams/coaches have off times, esp nowdays. Have to wonder what he's done so poorly that merits the boot and if the school/fans aren't screwing up by making him a scapegoat.

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Do you honestly think the Vols don't have talent? Two top five recruiting classes!

 

Rival Recruiting Tennessee Team ranking

 

2009 #8

2008 #35

2007 #3

2006 #23

2005 #4

 

:wacko: A HS player being ranked high doesn't mean he will or CAN be that good in college. Some guys just can't cut it at the next level, no matter how good the coaching is. Ron Powlus anyone?

Edited by BeeR
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:wacko: A HS player being ranked high doesn't mean he will or CAN be that good in college. Some guys just can't cut it at the next level, no matter how good the coaching is. Ron Powlus anyone?

You're right... there are no guarantees that good recruiting means success.

 

However I remember Coach Saban saying that 75% of being a good college football coach is being a good recruiter. Don't have the stats in front of me, but I recall reading somewhere that if you look at the top 5 teams at season's end and did your research you'll also find out they also had highly ranked recruiting classes the years leading up to that season.

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You're right, simply having a good recruiting class doesn't equate to success. But it does mean you have talent. Now the development of that talent is even more cruicial. Florida is a prime example of that. Ron Zook recruited wonderfully, but couldn't develop. Urban Meyer steps in, and clearly has proven that he can develop talent.

 

The problem with these kids, and this is from NFL scouts and coaches, is the spread offense. Not only are most colleges running it, but a lot of high schools are running it too. They get to the NFL, and some of these Quarterbacks have never even taken a snap under center. Running Backs have never seen the Quarterbacks ass. Offensive linemen have never blocked with there fist on the ground. You ask any NFL coach, and they say that is easily the biggest change between the game now, and the game 10-15 years ago. More development at the NFL level is needed now than ever before.

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:wacko: A HS player being ranked high doesn't mean he will or CAN be that good in college. Some guys just can't cut it at the next level, no matter how good the coaching is. Ron Powlus anyone?

Everyone loves to point to the highly touted guys who fail and the guys that nobody liked who emerged as stars. Now equate that to FF. We can bring up all the Chris Johnsons and Roddy Whites we want and compare them to the 1st and 2nd round busts but does that mean you're prepared to give up your 1st 3 picks in the draft for an extra pick in the 6,7,and 8th rounds?

 

The overall data confirms that, more often than not, the guys who are supposed to be good, are good. This, btw, also goes for less high profile positions. We hear about the top 2 or 3 O-lineman in the college game because they go in the 1st round of the draft. What we don't hear about are highly touted O-linemen recruits who end up being very solid contributors to elite college teams but just don't end up being among the 60 best offensive tackles on the planet. So, they get drafted in the 7th round and end up as journeymen or long snappers. This doesn't take away from the fact that they made big holes for guys like Ronnie Brown when he was at Auburn or something.

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My friend from Tennessee who follows this more than I do was talking about the dude from Cinci today. If he's talking about him must mean he read somewhere that he's on the list. Seems like it could be a nice hire. Going to a lower tier school sure paid off in their recent b-ball hire, that's for sure. Mind you, UC is a bit higher profile than where ever they grabbed Bruce Pearl from.

 

None the less...

 

He also mentioned that Butch Davis' name has still been getting a lot of mention but, based on a number of things, I would be hugely surprised. He's done a very good job of squashing the talk around here. In addition, he's had something happen within the last year or so that could likely put things in perspective He had to go through chemo and friends that know his family say they're extremely happy here. I would imagine those combined could keep a guy from getting too carried away with ambition and just settle down in a comfortable place that he likes.

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Like I said, about time they ditched Fulmer.

 

Seriously glad to concede y'all see more of TEN than me, but they just came off a few very good years and I don't recall anyone calling for his head then. If he had like 2-3+ bad years in a row I could see it.

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