Maybe Tommy will take the D. C. Job
He did well with Ripp's recruits, so well he was named H.C. after one season
Ripp played a tough OOC SCHEDULE and was landing decent recruits and after he left
The CUPCAKES a staple on the menu, because we needed to go to meaningless bowl games
And we actually lost money

It’s gonna be ok guys. Things are so much better than they were 7 years ago. We were Hoping just to get a win. Now we’ve been to 5 straight bowl games. Have a young up and coming coach. We have for the most part an exciting football team that scores lots of points. We have a great recruiting class coming in. And we only lose about 10 players.

It wasn’t that long ago we would have killed to have a season like this.

(12-24-2018 09:36 AM)uskjtc02 Wrote:  It’s gonna be ok guys. Things are so much better than they were 7 years ago. We were Hoping just to get a win. Now we’ve been to 5 straight bowl games. Have a young up and coming coach. We have for the most part an exciting football team that scores lots of points. We have a great recruiting class coming in. And we only lose about 10 players.

It wasn’t that long ago we would have killed to have a season like this.

Not so long ago many would have died for a season like this. I really don't think it is a bad thing to be disappointed in this season's results. It is cowardly to give up after five winning seasons in a row. We all want to win them all but so many Tiger fans can't see the good for the bad, even when there is so much more good.

(12-24-2018 02:31 PM)Keeper Wrote:  

(12-24-2018 09:36 AM)uskjtc02 Wrote:  It’s gonna be ok guys. Things are so much better than they were 7 years ago. We were Hoping just to get a win. Now we’ve been to 5 straight bowl games. Have a young up and coming coach. We have for the most part an exciting football team that scores lots of points. We have a great recruiting class coming in. And we only lose about 10 players.

It wasn’t that long ago we would have killed to have a season like this.

Not so long ago many would have died for a season like this. I really don't think it is a bad thing to be disappointed in this season's results. It is cowardly to give up after five winning seasons in a row. We all want to win them all but so many Tiger fans can't see the good for the bad, even when there is so much more good.

Funny thing is, I would have that exact attitude... if we were in the SEC or the BigXII or the ACC. But we haven't made it out of the hood yet. Winning at an extremely high level is crucial over the next 5 years.

I was really disappointed walking out of Legion Field. But, in retrospect, let's compare where we are in football to a couple of neighboring schools in the SEC.

Auld Mess - NCAA sanctions, head coach fired in a scandal, 3 years with no bowl,

2018 5-7
2017 6-6
2016 5-7

UTay - changing head coaches like others change shoes. Two years with no bowl.

2018 5-7
2017 4-8

These are SEC teams with athletic budgets several times ours, huge fan bases, a long tradition of good football, P5 money, etc.

Now, if I were a fan of one of these schools, I would really have something to gripe about. These schools are the doormats of their sides of the SEC, while we are winning our side of our conference. Let's all have a good laugh about their situation and be happy about our football program.

(12-25-2018 08:18 PM)covingtontiger Wrote:  I was really disappointed walking out of Legion Field. But, in retrospect, let's compare where we are in football to a couple of neighboring schools in the SEC.

Auld Mess - NCAA sanctions, head coach fired in a scandal, 3 years with no bowl,

2018 5-7
2017 6-6
2016 5-7

UTay - changing head coaches like others change shoes. Two years with no bowl.

2018 5-7
2017 4-8

These are SEC teams with athletic budgets several times ours, huge fan bases, a long tradition of good football, P5 money, etc.

Now, if I were a fan of one of these schools, I would really have something to gripe about. These schools are the doormats of their sides of the SEC, while we are winning our side of our conference. Let's all have a good laugh about their situation and be happy about our football program.

The problem is, UT is like that fat stupid kid that sucks at everything, but has an uber rich family. What's the saying was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple? That's UT. The money they now receive as part of the P5 insures they will always be just one move away from a top 25 team. The money they have, you can't really ever fail. You just go buy somebody else's success. The laughable part is, their fans are too stupid to acknowledge this.

They think it's our fault we aren't gifted by virtue of our family too.

Sounds familiar, huh?

(12-23-2018 10:20 AM)memphisike Wrote:  Ditching the CUPCAKES will add a couple of losses, but eventually we will add better recruits and if we play
Wake, Nebraska, Minnesota, Indiana, Illinois Rutgers Maryland, all teams we could of certainly hung with
This yr I think it only helps in recruiting and hopefully puts fans in the seats.
As I recall we had a great crowd for ucla last yr, plus 11.00 a.m. game with temps in the 90's
BTW, we won that game and found ourselves in the Liberty bowl. I wonder if there was a attempt to
Schedule Iowa state after that thriller.
I doubt it

We had the best recruiting class in our history and best in G5. You statement has absolutely no basis in fact. It's an opinion with nothing really to back it up.

Last year we had great crowds against SIU and ECU as well. Crowds deal more with our wins than anything else. We also play two G5s (although one was cancelled) and a FCS last year as well... oh wait, the same format as this season.

As far as Iowa State, since their coach was the only one that didn't give Memphis a vote in the poll after Championship week and remarked that he didn't even know who we were, I could care less about playing them.

(12-23-2018 10:28 AM)memphisike Wrote:  Maybe Tommy will take the D. C. Job
He did well with Ripp's recruits, so well he was named H.C. after one season
Ripp played a tough OOC SCHEDULE and was landing decent recruits and after he left
The CUPCAKES a staple on the menu, because we needed to go to meaningless bowl games
And we actually lost money

You also forgot that Rip was fired because he never had a single winning season and Coach West took us to a bowl game for the first time in three decades.

We might've lost money as far as the specific bowl, but the overall program benefited, even though our administration didn't really care that much about football.

(12-23-2018 12:48 AM)AlonsoWDC Wrote:  Life sucks then you die

Get over it.

If you are true Tiger blue, you roll with the punches.

True. And you also look at recruiting. Best non P5 class in football and what may end up being the same in basketball. Really, recruiting in both sports looks exceptional for a medium sized enrollment university surrounded by SEC schools coming at it from all directions that also have strong alumni bases in your home town. Is your glass half full or half empty? The future looks very bright.

I was lucky enough to attend the New Orleans bowl that year. It was a great night and maybe it was the beer that helped, but I am not sure a national championship could feel much better. I did business with a former Tiger player & saw him as we were leaving our seats. We said a few words & he was pretty emotional. You could tell it meant a lot to him too.

After the game, I walked from the Superdome to the Marriott on Canal. The wind was gusting fairly hard and the temp had dropped considerably but it didn't bother me and the crowd of Tiger fans that were walking back towards Bourbon Street.

That night was an emotional exorcism for having to put up with a lot of bad football over the years.

Hard to explain, but I got that same feeling in the 4th quarter of the Houston game this year. Damn, the stadium was electric.

#GTG It is great time to be a Tiger

I liked TW but I never tagged him as a hero for his parting speech. The program was turning and his personal life was also. He had the same opp as the coaches that came before him and up until recently. Never enough but it was reality from the day he was hired.

(12-26-2018 11:00 PM)Tigerx3 Wrote:  I liked TW but I never tagged him as a hero for his parting speech. The program was turning and his personal life was also. He had the same opp as the coaches that came before him and up until recently. Never enough but it was reality from the day he was hired.

I'm the same. No, we weren't doing enough for football. But everyone knew it and his speech struck me as excuses and sour grapes. That speech did not contribute to turning the tide for football. A realization of being left behind in the expansion race (with the money lost), and some aggressive booster involvement did - as well as the departures of Raines, RC, and Cal.

I liked TW too. I was also at that New Orleans Bowl and count it as one of the best Tigers experiences I've ever had. And I know it was frustrating the way the department was being run. But he quit trying and just started cashing checks.

(12-27-2018 10:09 AM)Tiger87 Wrote:  

(12-26-2018 11:00 PM)Tigerx3 Wrote:  I liked TW but I never tagged him as a hero for his parting speech. The program was turning and his personal life was also. He had the same opp as the coaches that came before him and up until recently. Never enough but it was reality from the day he was hired.

I'm the same. No, we weren't doing enough for football. But everyone knew it and his speech struck me as excuses and sour grapes. That speech did not contribute to turning the tide for football. A realization of being left behind in the expansion race (with the money lost), and some aggressive booster involvement did - as well as the departures of Raines, RC, and Cal.

I liked TW too. I was also at that New Orleans Bowl and count it as one of the best Tigers experiences I've ever had. And I know it was frustrating the way the department was being run. But he quit trying and just started cashing checks.

That's flat-out wrong. I agree with your other points, but that speech was the watershed moment for the turn-around. To say that it did not contribute is grossly inaccurate. Tommy said what many fans felt. That speech was picked up by national media. The folks on Normal still fumbled around (Larry Porter), but that speech was the tipping point for the changes ahead.

(12-27-2018 10:28 AM)tcountytigerfan Wrote:  

(12-27-2018 10:09 AM)Tiger87 Wrote:  

(12-26-2018 11:00 PM)Tigerx3 Wrote:  I liked TW but I never tagged him as a hero for his parting speech. The program was turning and his personal life was also. He had the same opp as the coaches that came before him and up until recently. Never enough but it was reality from the day he was hired.

I'm the same. No, we weren't doing enough for football. But everyone knew it and his speech struck me as excuses and sour grapes. That speech did not contribute to turning the tide for football. A realization of being left behind in the expansion race (with the money lost), and some aggressive booster involvement did - as well as the departures of Raines, RC, and Cal.

I liked TW too. I was also at that New Orleans Bowl and count it as one of the best Tigers experiences I've ever had. And I know it was frustrating the way the department was being run. But he quit trying and just started cashing checks.

That's flat-out wrong. I agree with your other points, but that speech was the watershed moment for the turn-around. To say that it did not contribute is grossly inaccurate. Tommy said what many fans felt. That speech was picked up by national media. The folks on Normal still fumbled around (Larry Porter), but that speech was the tipping point for the changes ahead.

It needed to be said and it opened many eyes to the situation. I'm not sure if it specifically changed the course of the program, but it definitely helped

(12-27-2018 11:02 AM)ksigtigerdood Wrote:  

(12-27-2018 10:28 AM)tcountytigerfan Wrote:  

(12-27-2018 10:09 AM)Tiger87 Wrote:  

(12-26-2018 11:00 PM)Tigerx3 Wrote:  I liked TW but I never tagged him as a hero for his parting speech. The program was turning and his personal life was also. He had the same opp as the coaches that came before him and up until recently. Never enough but it was reality from the day he was hired.

I'm the same. No, we weren't doing enough for football. But everyone knew it and his speech struck me as excuses and sour grapes. That speech did not contribute to turning the tide for football. A realization of being left behind in the expansion race (with the money lost), and some aggressive booster involvement did - as well as the departures of Raines, RC, and Cal.

I liked TW too. I was also at that New Orleans Bowl and count it as one of the best Tigers experiences I've ever had. And I know it was frustrating the way the department was being run. But he quit trying and just started cashing checks.

That's flat-out wrong. I agree with your other points, but that speech was the watershed moment for the turn-around. To say that it did not contribute is grossly inaccurate. Tommy said what many fans felt. That speech was picked up by national media. The folks on Normal still fumbled around (Larry Porter), but that speech was the tipping point for the changes ahead.

It needed to be said and it opened many eyes to the situation. I'm not sure if it specifically changed the course of the program, but it definitely helped

If anyone travels back in time DO NOT CHANGE the speech. Did it hurt? NO. Did it help? Almost definitely. Every board room in America is looking for "the problem" preventing success. Tommy's speech highlighted it and posted it on the Big Board for all to see.

it was a great tirade and I still can't believe RC or whomever let him have that pulpit

good point

Lol I'm still amazed we let him give that tirade.

He wasn't wrong. Just not the time or place.

(12-27-2018 10:28 AM)tcountytigerfan Wrote:  

(12-27-2018 10:09 AM)Tiger87 Wrote:  

(12-26-2018 11:00 PM)Tigerx3 Wrote:  I liked TW but I never tagged him as a hero for his parting speech. The program was turning and his personal life was also. He had the same opp as the coaches that came before him and up until recently. Never enough but it was reality from the day he was hired.

I'm the same. No, we weren't doing enough for football. But everyone knew it and his speech struck me as excuses and sour grapes. That speech did not contribute to turning the tide for football. A realization of being left behind in the expansion race (with the money lost), and some aggressive booster involvement did - as well as the departures of Raines, RC, and Cal.

I liked TW too. I was also at that New Orleans Bowl and count it as one of the best Tigers experiences I've ever had. And I know it was frustrating the way the department was being run. But he quit trying and just started cashing checks.

That's flat-out wrong. I agree with your other points, but that speech was the watershed moment for the turn-around. To say that it did not contribute is grossly inaccurate. Tommy said what many fans felt. That speech was picked up by national media. The folks on Normal still fumbled around (Larry Porter), but that speech was the tipping point for the changes ahead.

You don’t follow watershed momements by hiring Larry Porter. That was a no confidence, zero commitment hire.

Letting TW have a mic was a no leadership screwup.

TW with the mic was emotional diarrhea not an attempt to bolster support for the program. He hurt the program that and before then lost the momentum he benefited from with Rips players. TW needed to look inward before he embarrassed the university on a national stage.

Just because TW said some things that rang close to true, things that were well known to the average fan, doesn’t mean he gets credit for some positive things a few years later.

In his last five years he had 2 seasons above .500, barely, and two seasons that were 2-10 for a overall record of 24-38. Losing record at UT-Chat, 31-28 at Clemson, losing record at Memphis, losing record overall as a head coach. 15 years of history in three different leagues is a good sampling to confirm TW was no better than an average coach regardless of resources.