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    bigorange

  • RockytopATL said...

    Personally, I've enjoyed the discussion, and there was no condescending tone. I prefer professorial, because I'm trying my best to show you something because I've been there and I've seen it.

    As for Belichek and his ilk, you can turn an NFL team around in a year or two. That doesn't work in college. Every now and then there is a lightning strikes moment based around a player like Cam Newton, but to turn around a college program, you need to make up your mind who you want coaching, and then support them to the hilt.

    I hope you're not still trying to compare 1977 to the present. Been there seen that is good except for when a significant change in conditions renders the knowledge mostly useless. Its like knowing how to fix an eight track or cassette tape or as Warren Sapp once said "Al Davis knows football- 1970s football."

    For a variety of reasons, Dooley has to have a fantastic season, not least of which is that he still needs to prove he can win as a head coach. Majors had won at two programs before he got to UT and he was a star coming back home to return the program to glory. Even with all the other differences between 1977 and now, Majors left a school where he had just won a National Championship to come home and save the program. He had alot of rope. Dooley's last game was a loss to Kentucky. Not much rope left. Once again, I believe UT wins big this year so all of this should be moot.

    This post was edited by DCVolunteer on 8/16/2012 at 10:38 PM

    DCVolunteer ●

  • RockytopATL said...

    Yeah, hate that mediocrity. Like that slacker, Nick Saban.

    You don't think Majors in the '70s applies, so let's go all the way back to 1995.

    Nick Saban, the veteran of one year of head coaching at mighty Toledo, is hired by Michigan State University. He goes 6-5-1 that first year. Damn mediocre. Better improve or he's gone. He goes 6-6. That's awful. Better win 8 or he has to go.

    Oh no, he only went 7-5 in year three. You'd fire him, right? Me, I'm a little more patient. I'd give him another year. Something about the guy. Opps, just 6-6 in year four. You can't believe I'm so stupid, right, accepting such mediocrity?

    Being the total dumbass that I am, I still don't fire Saban, and in 1999, the bamboo he has patiently been growing with his own recruiting classes explodes. They go 9-2, beating Notre Dame, Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State. Sadly, I lose him to LSU and he proceeds to win three national championships for two teams in the next 12 years plus taking a bad trip to the NFL along the way.

    The lesson here is that even Nick Saban wasn't a big winner after three years. Not even after four. It takes a while for the bamboo to grow, and when you have a feeling about the bamboo farmer, you stick with him.

    I'm sticking with the bamboo farmer we have until I no longer have the feeling he's the guy. And his win loss record in year three, unless its gawdawful, isn't going to change my mind.

    Michigan State hadn't seen a winning record in five years and had been assessed sanctions for recruiting violations before Saban took the job. His first year at State, Saban beat Michigan. That will buy you some time. Three years before Dooley TN was in the SEC championship game. The year before Dooley TN finished second in the East. UT was in bad shape when Dooley got here, but he had Vandy and Kentucky built into his schedule, along with atleast three other duds. Saban, arguably, didn't have that many duds on his early schedules. I think Dooley will win this year, eventhough, outside of the talent he's collected, I shouldn't be so optimistic, but I am bias and overly optimistic when it comes to the Vols.

    DCVolunteer ●

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