Debunking a misconception the doubters have about Josh Heupel and the Vols
There seems to be a major misconception about the Tennessee Vols football program going around that needs to be debunked. I've noticed a section of the Tennessee fan base — it could be described as a group of "old school fans" — that seems to think UT is more into having fun under head coach […]
There seems to be a major misconception about the Tennessee Vols football program going around that needs to be debunked.
I've noticed a section of the Tennessee fan base — it could be described as a group of "old school fans" — that seems to think UT is more into having fun under head coach Josh Heupel than putting in hard work.
This couldn't be further from the truth.
It's true that Heupel has received a lot of media attention for bringing "fun" back to Tennessee, which has led to players talking about how much they love coming into the facility (to put in work).
Those old-school fans, however, seem to think that fun has no place on the practice field.
I think that's preposterous — the whole point of playing sports is to have fun. Sure, hard work is involved. But if you're not having fun, what's the point???
But just so those fans feel better, we received an example this week, via Vols offensive coordinator Alex Golesh, of how it's not all just fun and games at Tennessee.
Golesh explained this week during a media session with reporters how the team had to spend nearly an entire practice last year doing up-downs because they couldn't get the tempo right.
"A year ago, first day of scout teams, we spent half the period doing up-downs because the tempo of how scout team should look was not what we wanted or what the standard is," explained Golesh. "You're not teaching the standard anymore of how to practice, of the tempo of what we're trying to do, whether we're trying to slow it down or speed it up."
Tennessee might be having fun while playing football, but the coaches are still holding the players to a high standard. Just because things are fun doesn't mean it's a free for all or that there's no discipline. Those things are still present and that's evident by the team having to do up-downs because they couldn't get the tempo right.
Heupel and his staff are holding the players to a high standard. And they're proving that teams that work hard and have high expectations can still have a lot of fun.
Featured image via Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK
