I'll admit he wasn't a favorite of mine at first but like I said, i've grown to be proud to call him our coach. Do I want him to stick around? Absolutely. I also feel he's grown as a coach since coming here... i'll admit I was wrong, i'm not too big to admit those things... yeah that UT game was a let down... and while the coach has to take some blame... ultimately though the out come of games is decided on the field through the players... all a coach can do is prepare his team as much as he can. That loss was heartbreaking and had some ill feelings after... but again Miles has made huge strides since and games are just that games... and they can be heart breaking. I'm looking forward to this next season and seeing the changes that he makes... I think this off season will tell us volumes about our coach and i'm confident he'll make the right choices.
Absolutely. Its the reason that no matter what Lee does from this point quite a few will be looking for the flaws in his game and not his strengths. You could also put a mask on Trent Johnson and have him coach out there and after a game fans will point out how certain things look different than last year. And if I pulled that mask off and people found out it was actually John Brady coaching we would have a ten minute coversation about the game with every sentencing starting with, "Yeah, but..."
I was just reading this point brought up by HatcherTiger in another thread: In 2001, we were SEC Champions, and won the Sugar Bowl. Then in 2002, we got blown out by VT 26-8, blown out by Auburn 31-3, blown out by Bama 31-0, blown out by Texas 35-20, lost to Arkansas 21-20, beat Ole Miss 14-13, and it took the Blue Grass Miracle to defeat Kentucky 33-30. We lost 3 of our last 5 games of the regular season, fell out of the Top 25, and then went to play Texas in the Cotton Bowl and the Longhorns beat us down as well.
What about this... and I'm just throwing this out there for the sake of discussion. In the 3 years prior to winning his one and only national championship, Philip Fulmer went 11-1, 10-2, 11-2 and then 13-0 after winning his national championship. Also, in his years at Tenn, he's only won 2 SEC titles, but has appeared in 5 title games. Following the NC, he went 9-3, then 8-4, and shot back up to 11-2. But since his nat'l champ in '98, in these past 10 years, Tennessee has been a perennial runner-up, and lately have just about fallen off the map. Would you be satisfied with the same success at LSU? For example, if Miles' only NC was in '07, and he went 10 more years being "successful" but never getting back to the NC, would you be satisfied? Because, honestly, Fulmer has been pretty dang successful overall, however, he hasn't had any NC's since his last and the recruiting has fallen off too. When was it okay to fire Fulmer? This year? A couple years ago? Should he still be their coach? Again, this is just for discussion purposes. Not trying to be facetious.
Yeah, when I was posting all the above about all the great coaches that had down years and came back, I did get to thinking about Fulmer. Tuberville as well. Compare how Fulmer did at Tenn to how Tuberville did at Auburn: TN might have got a little trigger happy when they fired Fulmer. If their new coach doesn't turn out to be as good, that's going to suck for TN. Look at ND, they haven't been able to get a good coach since Lou Holtz left in the early 90's. Same with Nebraska and many other programs. Fulmer at TN 1993 10–2 #12 1994 8–4 #22 1995 11–1 #3 1996 10–2 #9 1997 11–2 #7 (SEC Champions) 1998 13–0 #1 (National Champions) 1999 9–3 #9 2000 8–4 2001 11–2 #4 (lost SECCG to LSU) 2002 8–5 2003 10–3 #15 2004 10–3 #13 (lost SECCG to Auburn) 2005 5–6 2006 9–4 #25 2007 10–4 #12 (lost SECCG to LSU) 2008 4–7 Tuberville at Auburn 1999 5-6 2000 9-4 #18 (lost SECCG to Florida) 2001 7-5 2002 9-4 #14 2003 8-5 2004 13-0 #2 (SEC Champions) 2005 9-3 #14 2006 11-2 #9 2007 9-4 #15 2008 5-6
Your kidding right? If you understood the dynamics of Fulmers firing you would never question them being trigger happy and it shows all these records dont always tell the real story. You know Tenn record against top 25 teams since 1998? Its bad. You know Tenn record against teams with a simple winning record since 1998? Its bad. You know what his home record is against winning teams since 1998? Its abysmal. You know what his bowl record is since 1998? Its abysmal. You know what has been happening with Tenn attendance the last few years? See 30K Bama fans in stadium this year and still tons of empty seats, its become common place in Neyland. You know how much trouble Tenn players have been in over the years? Its why we have something called the Fulmer Cup. Tenn had no choice in firing Fulmer regardless of his record.
Because some people aren't too bright. Coker did not lose his job due to his record. He won 80% of his games. He lost his job because his team had 2 fights on National Television & team drug problems, part of the wonderful South beach culture. His replacement, Randy Shannon who is 12-11 right now & is about done.
In truth he really didn't. Not even close. "Saban Players" scored 12 points in the NC game of the 38. If you want to continue to believe that, take away these players & their points from 2007: Scott - 7 TDs Wiliams - 7 TDs Bryd - 7 TDs Lafell - 5 TDs Dickson 5 TDs Colt David 1 TD & 147 points And that's only 6 players..
Take away Byrd and you lose the last second TD in the Auburn game and we lose. Now we're 11-3 and not in the NC.
