The CheckerBoard

Yeah, you're definitely going to regret posting this topic. It's irrational to say UT is never going to be back based off of 1 prospect who chose one of the only programs who can rival UT in history and tradition, not to mention being in a better overall situation than UT is.

If you haven't seen rays of hope coming from this coaching staff, I'm not sure you're looking hard enough. Just you wait until NSD. Coach Jones will definitely have the nation talking. CBJ has injected some much needed hope and excitement into this program that you just haven't received yet. I'm sure it'll only be a matter of time until you believe though.

I am going to give u a plus 1 because a lot of people are going to down vote you for just speaking your concern.

Lets see how it plays out Hickey. We may not do too bad in the next couple of weeks. Green was lean Michigan the entire time and this current staff only had a few weeks to take a run at him. With all that said I understand your concern. +1

Edit: I quoted the wrong poster. My apologies.

Here comes some wisdom, brace yourself.

LWS is right. The last 4 yrs have put our program in a bad place. You don't recover from that over night. It takes time. The question for me is, are we on the right track? What is the right track? Personally, I think we need to put ourselves in position to win 7 or 8 g/yr consistently. From there, our tradition and facilities will be enough to pull in elite recruits. We can win 7 or 8 g/yr without elite talent. Look at MSU and Vandy. What do they have that we don't? Stability. They have an established system on both sides of the ball and that familiarity is why they are where they are. Are we on the road to stability? Yes. Our staff has great chemistry, and the core has been together for a while. I don't expect that to change. Not only that, the system they are installing is proven on both sides of the ball. In yr 3, UT will be a shoe-in 8 wins, maybe more, depending on recruiting. Our tradition and facilities will take over from there. Keep your head up.

+1 just because you'll get griped at for not pumping 100% sunshine.
I posed the thought that UT was not as appealing as it was during the 90's during the coaching search. That was met with just a tad of animosity. Don't hesitate to post your thoughts. Your concern is legit.

Patience is not one of my virtues. Fortunately, optimism is. And I'm counting on that to help me get through these lean times until the good times roll back around. I'm certainly not ready to proclaim Butch as the second coming of the General. But I do think, based on what I've seen thus far, that he and this coaching staff are a breath of fresh air in Knoxville. Time will tell and I sincerely hope that riseToTheTop becomes reality. GO VOLS!

I know that ultimately the product Butch puts on the field will determine his success. But since his arrival, virtually everything he's done has revived interest in the program. +1 Rockytop GO VOLS!

wow dude must be really tall or very long arms!
Sign him up

I think what volfan is saying is 7-8 games per year consistently. I think we can win at least 7 games year one, 8 or so year 2 and at the very least 8 by year 3. That will get us to bowl games, and if we can win a couple of those, we will be set. Just look what winning some games has done for Vandy. Just the fact that we are in the top 3 with these elite guys is really an accomplishment. If you were an elite recruit, would you go to a team with a losing record 3 years in a row? Especially, when other top tier programs that are winning are begging you to come there? Even if we miss on all the other elite targets, we have enough talent to get to bowl games. Once we do that, things will really start to improve. And we may actually be able to close the deal on one or two of these guys on NSD. If that happens, it's just icing on the cake.

stability is a huge key to generating some interest. its easy for rival coaches to point out the instability at Tennessee and easy for recruits to question in their minds, will Jones be here in 4 years? they are getting that constantly in my opinion. it is valid point...

the next two years are going to be tough on the field, very tough. Can the adminstration and the fans be patient?