Seriously though, was having a conversation with a guy this past weekend wondering what the hell happened to them? Sure you will have the "They ran off Phil" crowd but come on!!! That was how long ago? Seriously how is it that a school like that can't find the right guy? Or Nebraska for that matter? I get the stigma that can come with being greedy and firing a winning coach but something else has to be at play at both of those schools don't you think?
People are scared after they saw the shit that took place when Kiffen left in the dark of night. There were riots.
Those two places don't produce alot of CFB talent and it's getting harder to get kids to come to BFT or BFN. I suspect LSU would be in same boat if it didn't produce it's own instate talent.
It’s not really fate or bad luck. Look at the hires since Fat Phil: Kiffin- he was /IS?? a low life. At same time I’d leave Knoxville for usc too without even changing my drawers. Then Dooley? Captain Orange Pants? His dad prob called in some favors. He was ready for big time SEC about as much as I’m ready to rodeo. Then Trash Can Butch. All around crappy hire. Nothing but gimmick and no substance. Word is he recruited great which makes him look even worse in X/O dept. Soooooo moral of the story: you hire crap you get crap . It ain’t Rocket Surgery.
Bad hires. It makes me wonder though. Where did Tennessee poach all those great players from? Tennessee couldn't have been that good as long as they were on mostly Tennessee talent. I know Memphis and other areas have top notch talent but Tennessee on the whole I would think to really be successful would have to poach the shit out of a bunch of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina kids, especially Georgia and Florida though, so maybe that dried up too, not being able to get top notch national talent from the surrounding states
Is that the case though? I am pretty sure Neb is or was the only D1 school in the state for a while. Their lines should be stocked with grade A talent. Tenn, ok might take some work but still a tradition rich school. Surprising they have been down for so long. I can see 1 or 2. Should UT have hung on to Dooley? Neb has made some odd decisions for sure but damn, we hired a coonass with an IQ that might not be larger than his shoe size and at least look to be surviving. Hard to believe those 2 schools are in such a slump.
That's why I brought up that recruiting thing. I honestly don't know if those bad ass Tennessee teams had a bunch of out of state people though. You make a good point though because it's not like the SEC East has been very good over the last 10 years. I mean you a few decent Georgia teams and 3 really good UF teams, the East has been ripe for the picking.
I read a number of years ago (don't ask because I can't remember) that at that time Tennessee had the largest recruiting budget in college football. The reason given was (as is being discussed in this thread) that high school football in the state does not produce enough of the talent required to compete in the SEC so they had to do a lot of traveling.
Yep... As of 2015, Tennessee spends 36% more than any other major college program on recruiting. That is insane! Here is the link: https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...g-signing-day-sec-power-conferences/22813887/
