"Aside from 5 less wins, 2 more losses, an SEC championship, two East titles, and a national championship game appearance...same-same" Vol: I would like to remind all the worrying and Debby downers of Tennessee football that Kirby Smart widely considered the king of college football right now was 32 and 10 in his first 3 years at Georgia. He inherited a much more favorable condition than JH by far but rose to the occasion. JH is now 26 and 12 in his first 3 years and will be 27 and 12 if we win the Citrus bowl. I keep hearing about how poor the offense was this year - ranked 17th in the nation is not too shabby. I keep hearing about can JH recruit but has consistently been a top 15 recruiting class. For all those who continue to really want Tennessee to win and win big - STOP WITH ALL THE POSTED NEGATIVE ISSUES - You are only hurting the Tennessee football team.
Opportunity is NOW-HERE Vol:
I agree that the future is bright with Heupel.
Sobriety Vol, a few months off the moonshine:
I'm not down on Josh, but comparing him to Kirby is apples and oranges.
Year 2 Kirby signed the #3 class, year 3 #1 class, year 4 #2 class etc....
That's why they are where they are now.
Josh Mullen Vol: Kirby's first 4 classes at UGA were all top 5 including a #1 class. The Hype has only cracked the top 10 once and even getting in the top 15 this year is going to be close.
"It's the NCAA's fault" Vol: Pretty amazing he cracked the top 20 with the looming sanctions he faced. I agree he has to recruit better to compete with the elite but up until this point he has been handcuffed with the unknown of sanctions.
Josh Heupel's Sherpa: Not entirely. Kirby took over an outstanding program that was tired of going 9-3 and 10-2 under Mark Richt. Heupel followed dumpster fire after dumpster fire . The mountain Heupel has to climb is much steeper.
Never looked at the UGA roster Vol: It’s much easier to recruit to UGA. Georgia is loaded with in state talent. Tennessee isn’t.
"I don't really follow recruiting closely" Vol: Georgia had several advantages built in. Kirby inherited a full cupboard. He could just recruit the state of Georgia and likely build a contender every year. Tennessee has to regional recruit. Heupel has done a good job so far; he has to do better though. Idk that he can get that done unless he starts recruiting coaches outside just internal promotions.
"Cherish your REVIVOLS book. boys and girls" Vol: I consider Heupel to be more of a Mark Richt level coach. That is still, very much, a compliment. When the stars aligned, we will compete with the ELITE but it won't be every year.
Debbie Downer Vol:
Have we covered them all....dumpster fire, looming sanctions, geographical disadvantage....feels like we're missing one.
Based on what I'm hearing we'll likely never compete for the SEC again. I'll have to admit, after a quarter of a century it certainly is starting to feel that way.
"Once Saban is gone, the conference is ours. The only thing standing in our way." Vol: They are disadvantages but they don't keep us from necessarily competing again. The biggest factor is probably Saban. I get the Vibe that Tennessee's program is going to take a shot of adrenaline once he steps away from Alabama. This happened with Bryant. Only 2 years after Bryant retired, Tennessee won the SEC (1985).
Comedian Vol: Would be interesting if GT ever got seriously interested in football and would give Georgia some in-state recruiting competition.
Direct descendant of Robert Neyland Vol: how many years does it take for you all to run out of excuses and start expecting high level football? Going into year 4 and some are already making excuses. Are you guys going to be satisfied with 8 wins again?
GT and UT have standards Vol: GT isn’t going to loosen academic standards. UGA pretends to care about academics but they’ll let anyone play football who can walk and chew gum.
David Duke Vol: Going to ruffle some feathers but it’s probably past time to start being more realistic about expectations. We’ve won one legitimate national title since black players were allowed in the SEC. The chances of UT ever having a dynastic run like Bama/UGA are pretty much zero. It’s a lot harder to recruit here than those two places because of the vast difference in in-state talent. Winning a national title here is just an aspiration. It isn’t the standard.
Likely holding Kirby's beer in the future Vol:
What people should prepare for is a world where no one has dynastic runs. Good Lord, look at Florida's schedule next year. Miami, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida State, LSU, and Texas. And that's everyone's problem in the SEC now, either one year or the next. There's no escaping the heavyweights. That's what adding teams like Texas and Oklahoma does to a conference that was already THE BEST IN THE NATION. The mantra of the future is gonna be "10-2 will have to do," because nobody's gonna pull an Alabama or a UGA in this Frakenstein of a conference.
Seriously. Ain't nobody gonna be Alabama in the future. Not even Alabama will be Alabama.
Tennessee Vols- America's Team: I have to disagree with the prevailing sentiment in this thread. I concur with the OP. However I think that the key will be the Neyland Entertainment District. When that is completed,we will have a trump card nobody else has in the NCAA. Moreover our revenue is going to skyrocket. What do you lads believe the effect is going to be? We are going to have shekels a plenty for NIL,we are going to have publicity on par with the Cowboys or Yankees, and the recruits are going to be brawling one another to be the first to sign. I am having a hard time believing that we are just going to be mediocre for the foreseeable future. I am very sad the referees costed the team 2-3 wins this year. Now people are going cuckoo for cocoa puffs against our brilliant coach and AD. CALM THE FLIP DOWN!! WE FIXING TO WHIPP ALL THEIR DANG AZZZES! GO BIG ORANGE!!!
"Kirby's had about three prom queens already" Vol: Sanctions/ dumpster fire etc. Thats all fine but if we’re going to keep using those excuses then we should stop comparing their records. You are what your Record is. Sean Connery had a pretty famous quote about winners and losers. Kirby has 4 rings as a coordinator, one as an assistant and two as a head coach. Starting a thread comparing he and JH is silly at this point.
"Kirby doesn't have to play Georgia, just Tennessee and that's not fair" Vol: Probably also worth noting that 5 of those 12 losses came against Bama and UGA. Both have coaches that had built dynasties with top tier talent in place before Heupel got to UT. Kirby didn't have to play two teams on that level every year. Heupel needed time to build he roster up from the terrible state after several failed coaches while under sanctions and threats of much worse. I think he's done an exceptional job considering everything.
"Can't buy me love" Vol: Our big NIL $$$ Hasn't changed anything for use unfortunately
Opportunity is NOW-HERE Vol:
I agree that the future is bright with Heupel.
Sobriety Vol, a few months off the moonshine:
I'm not down on Josh, but comparing him to Kirby is apples and oranges.
Year 2 Kirby signed the #3 class, year 3 #1 class, year 4 #2 class etc....
That's why they are where they are now.
Josh Mullen Vol: Kirby's first 4 classes at UGA were all top 5 including a #1 class. The Hype has only cracked the top 10 once and even getting in the top 15 this year is going to be close.
"It's the NCAA's fault" Vol: Pretty amazing he cracked the top 20 with the looming sanctions he faced. I agree he has to recruit better to compete with the elite but up until this point he has been handcuffed with the unknown of sanctions.
Josh Heupel's Sherpa: Not entirely. Kirby took over an outstanding program that was tired of going 9-3 and 10-2 under Mark Richt. Heupel followed dumpster fire after dumpster fire . The mountain Heupel has to climb is much steeper.
Never looked at the UGA roster Vol: It’s much easier to recruit to UGA. Georgia is loaded with in state talent. Tennessee isn’t.
"I don't really follow recruiting closely" Vol: Georgia had several advantages built in. Kirby inherited a full cupboard. He could just recruit the state of Georgia and likely build a contender every year. Tennessee has to regional recruit. Heupel has done a good job so far; he has to do better though. Idk that he can get that done unless he starts recruiting coaches outside just internal promotions.
"Cherish your REVIVOLS book. boys and girls" Vol: I consider Heupel to be more of a Mark Richt level coach. That is still, very much, a compliment. When the stars aligned, we will compete with the ELITE but it won't be every year.
Debbie Downer Vol:
Have we covered them all....dumpster fire, looming sanctions, geographical disadvantage....feels like we're missing one.
Based on what I'm hearing we'll likely never compete for the SEC again. I'll have to admit, after a quarter of a century it certainly is starting to feel that way.
"Once Saban is gone, the conference is ours. The only thing standing in our way." Vol: They are disadvantages but they don't keep us from necessarily competing again. The biggest factor is probably Saban. I get the Vibe that Tennessee's program is going to take a shot of adrenaline once he steps away from Alabama. This happened with Bryant. Only 2 years after Bryant retired, Tennessee won the SEC (1985).
Comedian Vol: Would be interesting if GT ever got seriously interested in football and would give Georgia some in-state recruiting competition.
Direct descendant of Robert Neyland Vol: how many years does it take for you all to run out of excuses and start expecting high level football? Going into year 4 and some are already making excuses. Are you guys going to be satisfied with 8 wins again?
GT and UT have standards Vol: GT isn’t going to loosen academic standards. UGA pretends to care about academics but they’ll let anyone play football who can walk and chew gum.
David Duke Vol: Going to ruffle some feathers but it’s probably past time to start being more realistic about expectations. We’ve won one legitimate national title since black players were allowed in the SEC. The chances of UT ever having a dynastic run like Bama/UGA are pretty much zero. It’s a lot harder to recruit here than those two places because of the vast difference in in-state talent. Winning a national title here is just an aspiration. It isn’t the standard.
Likely holding Kirby's beer in the future Vol:
What people should prepare for is a world where no one has dynastic runs. Good Lord, look at Florida's schedule next year. Miami, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida State, LSU, and Texas. And that's everyone's problem in the SEC now, either one year or the next. There's no escaping the heavyweights. That's what adding teams like Texas and Oklahoma does to a conference that was already THE BEST IN THE NATION. The mantra of the future is gonna be "10-2 will have to do," because nobody's gonna pull an Alabama or a UGA in this Frakenstein of a conference.
Seriously. Ain't nobody gonna be Alabama in the future. Not even Alabama will be Alabama.
Tennessee Vols- America's Team: I have to disagree with the prevailing sentiment in this thread. I concur with the OP. However I think that the key will be the Neyland Entertainment District. When that is completed,we will have a trump card nobody else has in the NCAA. Moreover our revenue is going to skyrocket. What do you lads believe the effect is going to be? We are going to have shekels a plenty for NIL,we are going to have publicity on par with the Cowboys or Yankees, and the recruits are going to be brawling one another to be the first to sign. I am having a hard time believing that we are just going to be mediocre for the foreseeable future. I am very sad the referees costed the team 2-3 wins this year. Now people are going cuckoo for cocoa puffs against our brilliant coach and AD. CALM THE FLIP DOWN!! WE FIXING TO WHIPP ALL THEIR DANG AZZZES! GO BIG ORANGE!!!
"Kirby's had about three prom queens already" Vol: Sanctions/ dumpster fire etc. Thats all fine but if we’re going to keep using those excuses then we should stop comparing their records. You are what your Record is. Sean Connery had a pretty famous quote about winners and losers. Kirby has 4 rings as a coordinator, one as an assistant and two as a head coach. Starting a thread comparing he and JH is silly at this point.
"Kirby doesn't have to play Georgia, just Tennessee and that's not fair" Vol: Probably also worth noting that 5 of those 12 losses came against Bama and UGA. Both have coaches that had built dynasties with top tier talent in place before Heupel got to UT. Kirby didn't have to play two teams on that level every year. Heupel needed time to build he roster up from the terrible state after several failed coaches while under sanctions and threats of much worse. I think he's done an exceptional job considering everything.
"Can't buy me love" Vol: Our big NIL $$$ Hasn't changed anything for use unfortunately
