Tennesse has fired HC Jeremy Pruitt for cause. Apparently there were some serious recruiting violations discovered by an ongoing investigation.
Tennesse has fired HC Jeremy Pruitt for cause. Apparently there were some serious recruiting violations discovered by an ongoing investigation.
Fulmer gone too.Originally Posted by striker42
Out with the rubbish.
Ivermectin Man
Fulmer is being allowed to retire apparently. I think the school wants to let him keep his dignity.
I'm waiting to see what happens to the Tennessee program. They've struggled in recent years and severe penalties will be competing any time soon very difficult.
They had to beg people to take that job last go round.
Ivermectin Man
Rumors for awhile have been that UGA might be investigated over Mims as well.
If you're talking about the Schlabach rumor, I believe it's that Mims recruitment at Tennessee is being investigated by Tennessee. Now that could potentially impact his eligibility at Georgia but I doubt the NCAA takes that action. Though the NCAA has jobbed Georgia players in the past so who knows.
I also remember something on twitter about UGA's compliance department saying they have no ongoing investigations into this.
I was referring to the Dan Patrick rumor
https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/te...omiTw7_Dms-GTQ
‘Tennessee got sloppy, Georgia has gotten sloppy’ but there’s been no word on the NCAA looking at Georgia.”
Gotcha. We'll see. I don't think Dan Patrick really has great sources in the SEC. FWIW, I don't buy the McDonalds bag stuff.
I'd wager on Doug Marrone or Bill O'Brien being the next UT coach. TN wants someone squeaky clean but also someone with a good amount of experience.
People clamoring for Freeze, but I can imagine they'll touch him after this mess. The optics would be pretty bad.
Stole this from the Athletic
Two months ago, the guy I thought would be the obvious choice was Liberty’s Hugh Freeze, who dreamed of the Vols head coaching job before he’d ever coached a college game. But he might be a tough sell optically given that he was fired from Ole Miss in the wake of an NCAA investigation. Would SEC commissioner Greg Sankey even allow Tennessee to touch Freeze? Probably not.
If Tennessee hired Freeze, I’m convinced he would win there. He’s wasted little time elevating Liberty, 10-1 this season, into a Top 25 program with a roster largely built on FCS recruits. He is a terrific offensive coach and play-caller who did beat Nick Saban and Alabama back-to-back seasons. That seems almost impossible in the SEC these days.
Louisiana’s Billy Napier, a 41-year-old Tennessee native, has done a terrific job in the Sun Belt. He’s gone 21-4 in the past two seasons at Louisiana, developing a winning culture for the Ragin’ Cajuns and has learned well from his time under Nick Saban at Alabama. Napier has plucked a bunch of well-regarded assistants and given them the tools and atmosphere to thrive in. They kicked off the 2020 season by beating an eventual top-10 Iowa State team by 17 points in Ames. It’s easy to see why the Vols would want Napier, but he has turned down some other opportunities in the SEC that probably weren’t as messy as this one is now.
Another Sun Belt coach whose stock has really risen this year is Coastal Carolina’s Jamey Chadwell, a Tennessee native. He’s taken the Chanticleers from 3-9 in his debut season to 5-7 last year to 11-1. Chadwell is beloved by folks who have been around him, who see him as a family-oriented, second-generation coach. He’s won everywhere he’s been and has strong ties throughout the region.
The Vols have struggled on offense for a while, and Chadwell would have that part covered. He has a unique system, basing a lot of plays out of 20 and 21 personnel groupings, as opposed to most teams relying on 11 and 10 personnel, and pairing them with all sorts of option and RPO concepts. Chadwell has never worked at a Power 5 program in any capacity, but he’s proven to be an excellent gameday coach and would seem like a good fit for the Vols.
Buffalo’s Lance Leipold has no ties to the region, but he wins everywhere he goes. He won six Division III national titles at Wisconsin-Whitewater. He left for Buffalo, one of the toughest places to win in college football, and he has kept on winning. By his fourth season, UB was 10-4. The Bulls are 24-10 the past three years, and he keeps finding and developing big-time players.
The Vanderbilt brass really liked Leipold but ultimately couldn’t pass up Nashville native and former Commodores player Clark Lea. Would the fact that Vandy didn’t go for Leipold deter the Vols? Maybe. I’m not sure folks around Tennessee would see this as a great fit, but they’ve gambled on much lesser coaches with whom they felt more comfort, and it’s gotten them nowhere.
Another Group of 5 coach who may end up on the Vols’ radar is Charlotte’s Will Healy. The 35-year-old Chattanooga native won the Eddie Robinson Award and the Ohio Valley Conference coach of the year award for his amazing work in-state at Austin Peay. He parlayed that into the job at Charlotte, where he’s 9-10 in two seasons at a place that had won just 12 games in the previous four seasons. Whether Healy is ready for this job at this point in his career is a question, but this coaching search could get pretty unwieldy.
One Power 5 possibility would be Louisville’s Scott Satterfield, who had a big first season with the Cardinals but struggled in Year 2, going 4-7. I’m not sure Satterfield would be tempted by the Vols job considering the shape it’s in right now and the strong resources at Louisville. That said, the former Appalachian State head coach does have a rocky situation with Cards brass in the wake of his dialogue with South Carolina when that job was open.
There is one non-head coach we think Tennessee might consider: Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott is one of the top assistant coaches in college football. He’s won a Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant, and you could see how much the Tigers missed him against Ohio State last week when he was unable to coach in the game due to COVID-19. Elliott was someone South Carolina wanted to talk to for its coaching search, but he declined interest in the Tigers’ arch-rival. Would he listen if Tennessee reached out to him? We’re not sure at this point.
One wild card option for the Vols could be former Texans and Penn State head coach Bill O’Brien, who sources have told The Athletic is in line to become the new offensive coordinator at Alabama. The 51-year-old Massachusetts native went 15-9 in his two seasons with the Nittany Lions, taking over a program that had been rocked by the Jerry Sandusky scandal and hammered by NCAA sanctions. O’Brien had a winning record in the NFL, going 52-48 in seven seasons. We hear that some very influential Tennessee people are interested in O’Brien.
Last edited by Krgrecw; 01-19-2021 at 04:43 PM.
Napier, Satterfield, Freeze and Chadwell are all ex Sun Belt coaches and would likely do well with even more resources than they did in the belt.
I'd have to think they'd give Tom Herman or Bill O Brien a shot first as an established don't rock the boat candidate.
They may end up pleading to someone to take the job.
Ivermectin Man
They should have enough money for it not to matter. Ultimately, money talks. You get a chance to nearly double your current salary at a program in the best conference in CFB, you don't typically turn that down
Napier has reportedly done so twice.
Satterfield isn’t one to bounce around and would probably be considered for a job better than
UT at the moment.
Freeze says he’s happy and turned down offers this season. Liberty literally saved his life, so there’s something there too.
I could see Chadwell, but IMO he won’t get considered
Ivermectin Man
Bill O'Brien is now Alabama's OC and quarterback coach and Doug Marrone is the new O-Line coach. Two new entries into the Nick Saban Coaching Rehab Program
Chopping With The Braves And Rolling With The Tide
Josh Heupel. Not bad considering the circumstances. Should be some fun offenses to watch at the very least.
Go Rebels.
FFF - BB, BB, 2B, HR, 2B, HR, 1B, BB, BB, 1B, BB, BB, HR
Georgia looks as good as I've ever seen them. That defense is just scary. Right now Alabama and Georgia are far and away the best teams in the country. Ole Miss and Arkansas are very good teams and Bama and Georgia manhandled them.
Ole Miss and Arky are imposters. Not saying they are bad teams, but they have beat mostly bad teams to get their high rankings.
. Texas A&M was supposed to be Arky's signature win, but they just lost to MS State. Ole Miss has beaten literally no one of note. I'm sure they have a good offense, but they were never a top 10 caliber team.
I'm quite sure UGA and Bama are great like usual. But let's pump the brakes on them putting beat downs on top ranked teams. The teams they are beating simply don't seem to be as good as their rankings.
Having said that, no one else seems to be very good this year. So while I don't think Bama and UGA are amazing teams compared to year's past, no one else seems like they're even close at the moment. ND just got beat by Cincy. Oregon got beat by Stanford. USC sucks. Ohio State had looked better the last 3 weeks, but you got to consider the competition. UGA and Bama certainly seem like they are a step above everyone else in what seems like a fairly lackluster year across the board.
This is largely fair. I agree there aren't a ton of terrific teams this year. I think you'll see more of a revolving door than usual in the top 10 this year as teams struggle with consistency.
I think that's definitely part of why Georgia and Bama look to have pulled away from the pack. The pack has fallen further behind.
I think Arkansas and Ole Miss are about what you'll see from teams at the fringes of the top 10 this year. They're not imposters as much as teams on the fringes of the top 10 this year aren't what teams there were a couple years ago.
Georgia is as good as I've ever seen them. They could have hung 100 on Vandy and they beat a good Arkansas team by 35 with a backup QB under center. Are they an unbeatable juggernaut like Bama has fielded at times? No, but they're still better than any team not named Bama.
It'll be interesting to see if any teams put it together and join the elite group or if Georgia or Bama stumble.
Florida isn't elite, but they should give you guys a game. They obviously gave Bama all they could handle.
LSU is an enigma. They have elite talent, but they keep underperforming to that talent.
A&M has zero offense this year.
Oklahoma is Oklahoma. Good enough to get in to the playoffs, but likely to get rolled by whoever they play.
I thought Oregon would make some noise, but now it looks like they have an uphill battle to make a playoff berth. Win out and they're likely in, but I have doubts they will do that.
Maybe Penn State?
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