Now if somebody were to ask you what sets Vol fans apart from the rest, you might point to any number of things, ranging from attire to musical taste to an extreme tolerance for student-athlete hi-jinks. Someone else might suggest it’s about class.
But Butch Jones is here to tell us that’s all wrong.
Tennessee remains a long way from getting to that championship level, but Jones believes he eventually can get the Vols to that point. He believes Tennessee’s fans are patient and passionate enough to understand the program’s short-term challenges and long-term potential.
“I think the thing that separates our fan base from a lot of other fan bases is we’re very knowledgeable,” Jones said.
Why, yes, that’s it. At least if you mean “knowledgeable” in the sense of being consistently disappointed in the direction of the program for the last decade, it is. There really aren’t too many other fan bases who can share Urnge Nation’s depth of experience lately.
Although I suspect that when Jones says knowledgeable, he really means tolerant. Good luck with that, brother.
Get The Picture 
On Higdon’s first visit to Athens with the football team, an 80-yr old woman gave the bus the finger when he pulled up? What yr? Could we try to trace down her name and give her some fan award, posthumously? In SEC Football, that’s the kind of class that I applaud.
If the fingers begin to stiffen from the arthritis attacks, think any doctor could put my left hand in that permanent configuration? That’sthe only thing I’ll be using it for then.
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What are Lulu and Junior’s real names? Do they know they’re famous? Could they claim royalties?
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“I think the thing that separates our fan base from a lot of other fan bases is we’re very knowledgeable,” about synthesizing methamphetamine sequences for high-coverage distribution
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Way to go Johnny
“Higdon fondly recalls a pregame scuffle between UT and Vanderbilt players before the 1991 game at Neyland Stadium.
“There was a big fight in the end zone,” Higdon said. “One of the Vanderbilt coaches – it must have been the defensive coordinator – dropped his game plan.
“Larry Lacewell (UT’s defensive coordinator) picked it up and brought it to the dressing room. Coach Majors said, ‘Get that up in the press box as fast as you can.’
“So our offensive coaches sat up there in the press box with (Vanderbilt’s) defensive game plan. We won the game big.”
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Too bad it wasn’t a set up. Maybe next time.
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Wow … great sportsmanship.
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I would actually agree with that. Tennessee fans are more likely to be third or court generation fans. Whereas Dawg fans are more likely to be transient first or second generation fans. Dawg fans are some of the most delusional. Sorry. I am a third generation Dawg fan. But it’s the truth.
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How does being “third or court generation” make one more knowledgeable?
Is fanQ a genetic characteristic that grows with successive generations of fandom?
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Butch Jones, the next SOD. Three years then fired.
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Is any fan base patient enough to let a guy come in and take a program from shambles to success anymore? Aside from those rare quick success stories, is the future of this sport going to be a bunch of 3 and done’s?
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Saban turned Bama around in one year. Of course, that was Saban and that was Bama. But if it looks like the team is making progress, sure there are schools with fans patient enough to let the coach work through what it takes to do the job long term..UT ain’t one of ’em, though. And Butch Jones ain’t one of those coaches either. A galactically bad hire IMHO.
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Speaking of tolerant, look no further than Dawg fans. One could argue that Dawg fans are the most tolerant amoung the SEC. Lord knows I wanted Richt gone long time a ago.
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Good thing your opinion means less than shit.
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+1
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You may be on to something. We kept Ray Goff for 7 years and Dennis Felton for 6. And now we have Mark Fox getting ready to start his 5th.
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You know, this really isn’t rocket science. All team sports are coach sensitive. You hire a mediocre coach you get a mediocre team. UT hired SOD. He had 1 winning season in 3 at LA Tech (8-5) and a career losing record. What did they expect? SOD has now been a HC in D-IA for 6 years and had 1 winning season and is lifetime 32-41. Playing a lousy coach a bunch of money doesn’t make him a good coach–it just makes him a lousy coach being paid a lot of money. Nothing against Mark Fox but if you want to change things at basketball in Athens you need to go out and get a game-changer as a coach like FU did. Vince did that with Tubby (who had the program turned around) but couldn’t keep him. If we want to win the SEC in basketball we’re going to have to get a HC who is on a par with or above Calipari and Billy Donovan. Same thing with baseball. But that gets back to the cheapness of our Athletics Department. Maybe that will change once Jere Morehead takes over.
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Correct.
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Lived in TN for 12 years recently, and if Jones thinks that is a knowledgeable fanbase he should immediately leave and go back north. They are certainly passionate, and totally blinded by their allegiance to all things Orange. TN fans will excuse any behavior done by players, coaches, and administrators if it protects the Vols. I found they are very myopic and care little about CFB, just their beloved dreamsicke clad teams. That doesn’t qualify them as knowledgeable”, or even average CFB fans…just TN fans.
Truly knowledgeable CFB fans can discuss strengths and weaknesses of all competing teams in the conference and most of the Top 20 nationally. You can be in a sports bar in TN and every single TV will be on the Volunteer game, not just the featured TV or most of them. And the bar will empty at the end even if there is a significant game on after that one, or coming to an exciting conclusion. Also, knowledgeable fans wouldn’t take the short term benefit of excusing bad behavior on the part of their team when it damages the game. Selling your integrity for a short term gain makes you an Auburn fan (although Ohio State has done it successfully for long term gain.)
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UT fans want the same as everybody else…just win and keep on winning…they thought they had the rainmaker hired in Kiffen but he could not resist a return to Southern Cal. The poor ole Vols…they had Lane and his trophy wife and they were hip again. The Kiffster leaves and Hell hath no fury like a jilted Vol. When it rains, it pours as we remember no coach in his right mind would take that job…well, except for the 4th choice, Dooley. I can’t blame Derek as he golden parachuted his way out of that mess.
Fast forward to the latest roll of the dice…I wish Butch Jones and their fan base some luck as Nick Saban, Inc. will put a loss on them for a l-o-n-g time to come. As I understand, Nick asked the NCAA if he could play UT twice per season (to pick up two sure wins).
All kidding aside, the Vol Nation has a lot of pride (don’t we all?) and they’ve had mediocrity and irrelevance stuffed down their throat a little more than they can stand.
later, old Dawg
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How is Kiffen’s Brother-in-law doing? You know, the guy who the next morning asked, “He went where?”. Did he have to fight his way out? Hope he took a job at UCLA and whips Kiffen’s ass every year. They have a good start.
With his Daddy’s D gone, anyone who can’t whip Kiffen’s teams now is lower than a bee turd (GT/Sun Bowl).
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“were hip again”
were hipsters, now homeless
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In the mid 90s, I remember one UT fan being so knowledgeable that he forget where he parked his car at Legion Field.
One nice citizen of the area helped him out by taking him behind a house and robbing him and whooping that tail.
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Is this your confession?
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Haha – no, I’ve never lived around Legion Field.
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Senator, one of the things I enjoy about this blog is that most of your opinions I share. Take the stance on the playoffs. I couldn’t agree with you more and you can articulate the argument much better than I.
Having said that you are wrong here sir. Tennessee fans ARE abundantly more knowledgeable than other fans.
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