At Tennessee, raises for everybody!

Old habits die hard in Knoxville…

Tennessee has signed AD Danny White to a new, rolling 6-yr contract paying him $2.2M a year, sources tell @SINow.

White is believed to be the highest paid SEC AD & top-8 nationally. He’s overseen a department that’s won 6 SEC titles in 2 yrs & had record fundraising in 2021-22.

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) January 25, 2023

Better keep at that record fundraising, Vols.

TFW you’ve got more money then sense

Damn, Tennessee.  You’re back at it again.

Tennessee's Josh Heupel receives $9 million/year contract extension thru January 2029

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) January 24, 2023

In going to $9 million per year, @coachjoshheupel now ranks in the upper tier of SEC head football coaches after two seasons at @Vol_Football. Only Nick Saban, Kirby Smart, Jimbo Fisher and Brian Kelly make more. Heupel was hired at $4 million and bumped to $5 million last year.

— Chris Low (@ClowESPN) January 24, 2023

Of course, Heupel does have that 2017 mythical national title on his resume.  None of those other coaches can make that claim.  Although I’m pretty sure none of them coached teams that gave up 63 points to South Carolina, either.

Get thee to a bookmaker…

… and bet the ranch.

I think Vols beat Georgia this year in Neyland. Not worried about college football. With Heupel I think Tennessee will be consistent top ten over next five years or so. Way more optimistic on Vols than Titans. https://t.co/LEffUq8Arh

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) January 23, 2023

And then bet your momma’s ranch.

“Maybe”

Welp, this article didn’t go where I thought it was going.  I was prepared to unload a massive amount of snark on the suggestion that the Vols were the only real obstacle to keeping Georgia out of the ’23 CFP, but all Toppmeyer wound up with was this:

Supreme talent usually rules the day, though, and few, if any, teams will match Georgia’s 2023 assembly.

Tennessee won’t match that assemblage, but scheme and a rabid crowd can be a bit of an equalizer.

More likely, the Vols become a taller hurdle than most but a hurdle that Georgia nonetheless clears in prolonging its rule.

Or to put it another way,

Age is just a number.

Everybody with that “Stetson Bennett’s 25!  Unfair!” whine — have y’all forgotten something?

“They’re legit,” an SEC coordinator said. “Their defense is more talented than people give them credit for. And that offense, it’s a beast. I don’t know if they’ll be as talented because the Hyatt kid was super special and Hendon Hooker was 25 years old. He should have been a Heisman finalist. What you saw they did in the bowl game with a lot of their backups, they kicked Clemson’s ass.”  [Emphasis added.]

If having an older quarterback in college was all it took for CFP success, the Vols would be even more full of themselves than they already are.

False bravado in Urnge

Tennessee should play this in the practice facility on a loop for the next 12 months pic.twitter.com/pQm2MBQ0PB

— zach ragan (@zachtnt) January 13, 2023

And then?

It’s a damn conspiracy, PAWWWWLLL!!!

SMDH.

Now we know which coaches kept Tennessee out of top 5 in coaches poll.

It was Nick Saban, Butch Jones, Greg Schiano and others.

Here are the coaches' ballots. https://t.co/UqN8VUmS4t

— Adam Sparks (@AdamSparks) January 11, 2023

In this day and age, it’s absolutely precious that anyone still cares about the Coaches Poll.

I suspect we’re about to find out if the Vols have an inexhaustible supply of butthurt to deploy this offseason.

Today, in added bonuses

Georgia passes Tennessee in all time wins with a win on Monday. https://t.co/tE0OGz3LkH

— Dawg Stats (@DawgStats) January 7, 2023

Feel free to have at “UT being garbage the last 15 years” in the comments.

Thanks, Phil.

My gratitude to Mr. Fulmer for the inept job he did after he pulled his power play at UT to be named the AD there just increased with this news:

Todd Monken only ever left college football because he had a “once in a lifetime opportunity” to become the Tampa Bay Bucs offensive coordinator, but a chance to coach the Tennessee Vols could take Monken from the NFL to the SEC.

That’s according to an email Monken’s agent, Patrick Strong of Balch Sports, sent to John Currie in November 2017.

I’d venture to say life in both Knoxville and Athens would be different now if UT had managed to hire Monken instead of Jeremy Pruitt.  So, again, gracias!  Next time you’re in town, I’ll treat you to a doughnut.

Today, in point to the scoreboard

I have way too much respect and appreciation for the game Ohio State played Saturday night to mock their fans, even the few that felt the need to shit post.  But Tennessee fans?  Fuck that noise.

This is UGA. It’s what they do. They even the playing field by hurting players that are costing them the game. They also usually don’t even get a penalty for it https://t.co/A4gOwUJZOJ

— The Volgoose (@VolGoose) January 1, 2023

Man, them sour grapes must be awfully tasty to keep swallowing them like that.