Indeed.
Good times.
It’s always exciting to witness the birth of a new college football tradition, so I’m pleased to bring you the latest thing from the program that brought us such greats as proper shower hygiene and inspirational trash cans.
Opportunity is nowhere. Especially when you can’t see it.
Filed under Because Nothing Sucks Like A Big Orange
Who would have thought the key to the restoration of greatness for Tennessee football would run through Mark Richt’s former Georgia staff?
Tennessee plans to fill its final assistant coach opening with a versatile coach who has experience coaching special teams and defense.
The Vols are finalizing a deal to hire North Texas special teams coordinator Mike Ekeler, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to Knox News.
… His first on-field SEC job was at Georgia, where he coached inside linebackers and was co-special teams coordinator in 2014-15 under coach Mark Richt. Former Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt was Georgia’s defensive coordinator during those two seasons.
Ekeler couldn’t stand the sight of Pruitt, so I’m sure he’s thrilled for the opportunity. Meanwhile, that makes thirty percent of Heupel’s assistants who once coached under Richt, for better or worse. The Vols are back, baby!
Filed under Because Nothing Sucks Like A Big Orange
I’d sure love to know what UT Chancellor Donde Plowman means when she said this:
Tennessee athletics expects to incur an operating loss of more than $28 million during the 2021 fiscal year, and it will rely on financial support from the university and the SEC to cover the deficit.
The projected loss is primarily tied to a steep reduction in ticket revenue because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
…
The university has committed $12.5 million in institutional support from financial reserves to help cover the deficit, Plowman said. That support is not funded by tuition dollars, she said. Additionally, the SEC will provide financial relief, Plowman said.
“I can’t go into all the details about what that conference package is going to look like, but what I can tell you is, that (operating deficit) will be covered,” Plowman said. “It will be close, but we’re going to make it.”
Is Greg Sankey bailing out UT athletics with a loan? An outright grant? An advance on TV money? That opens up an enormously potential conflict of interest. For example, how motivated will the conference be to support NCAA sanctions if it impacts the school’s ability to meet future financial obligations?
There’s no indication anyone’s asked the SEC office about this, but I’d sure love to hear the details.
Jeremy Pruitt, gone but not forgotten.
Vols, man.
Filed under Because Nothing Sucks Like A Big Orange
It’s pretty obvious they haven’t reached bottom on the Tennessee football program yet.
But given all the talent that’s already moved on — running back Eric Gray, linebacker Henry To’o To’o, linebacker Quavaris Crouch, lineman Jahmir Johnson, lineman Wanya Morris, defensive back Key Lawrence and kicker Brent Cimaglia, to name but seven — it’s hard to see any way for Tennessee to win more than four to five games a year over the next two seasons at the very least.
Not exactly the recruiting pitch Heupel needs to attract the best and the brightest wanting to compete for championships from the get-go, is it?
Maybe all this was necessary. Maybe the violations are bad enough that the only way to save the football program in the longterm was to all but destroy it short-term. Maybe, also, Heupel is a miracle worker who can create an offense capable of eating up both enough yardage and clock to protect a suspect defense and steal a win or three between now and when things eventually return to normal.
Yes, that’s a lot of maybes there.
So, question for you: what’s a realistic time frame for Tennessee football to be… well, if not back, at least relevant?
Filed under Because Nothing Sucks Like A Big Orange
Fair was on Pruitt’s staff in 2017. Jeremy didn’t make a good impression.
- “Everything that went on with that program, to me it was was not a surprise what happened. [That was] one of the huge reasons that I made the decision not to stay on board, probably one of the best decisions I made.”
- “I thought coming home was going to be the right thing, but in hindsight, it ended up being the worst thing.”
- “Probably the best decision I made was to leave here and get out from under that Pruitt era because I was miserable as a coach.”
- “I probably did more as a quality control [coach] when I was at UT under Butch Jones and Willie Martinez in my responsibilities and what I was allowed to do than when I came back, which was very disappointing.”
- “There were a lot of great coaches on that staff. If you allow coaches to do what they have to do to be successful you’re going to get the development from players you’re looking for. I think the reason you haven’t seen many players develop (at Tennessee) is because those coaches hadn’t been really able to take players under their wing and do the things they were brought here to do.”
- “You (Pruitt) haven’t allowed me to be myself since I’ve been here whether it’s coaching or on the recruiting trail.”
I guess the only coach Pruitt gave room to operate was Phil Fulmer.
Filed under Because Nothing Sucks Like A Big Orange
Vol fans were so cute last spring, crowing about Pruitt’s recruiting prowess. Let’s check in on that now.
You hate to see it.
Filed under Because Nothing Sucks Like A Big Orange, Recruiting
Honestly, I don’t know why programs still pull this petty sort of bullshit. We know how this will likely wind up — media gets ahold of it and after a ton of unnecessary negative publicity, the school relents. What’s the point of the exercise, other than to piss off people?
Remember, too, that comes on top of this genius move. Way to go, fellas.
So, in stumbling across this piece mentioning that UT gave one of its few four-star signees from the ’21 class permission to jump ship, I discovered this ambiguous quote from Heupel that seems quite timely, given the Vols welcoming Willie Martinez back into the fold:
“It’s a great group of men who will do a tremendous job of instilling confidence, energy and passion,” Heupel said. “We’re going to play with tempo. We’re going to play in space. We’re going to apply pressure to the defense consistently…”
Notice he doesn’t say which defense.
Pruitt’s D finished eighth in the conference in defensive yards per play last season. What’s your prediction for where the Vols finish in that regard in 2021?
Filed under Because Nothing Sucks Like A Big Orange
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