Why the national media is turning sour on the Tennessee Vols
The national media has officially turned sour on the Tennessee Vols ahead of the 2023 season. And this has nothing to do with expectations for Tennessee in Josh Heupel's third season leading the program. Instead, it has to do with the national media's view of the Volunteers in general. Last weeks news that the NCAA […]
The national media has officially turned sour on the Tennessee Vols ahead of the 2023 season.
And this has nothing to do with expectations for Tennessee in Josh Heupel's third season leading the program.
Instead, it has to do with the national media's view of the Volunteers in general.
Last weeks news that the NCAA is not hitting Tennessee with a postseason ban as part of the penalties handed down for the recruiting violations that occurred under previous head coach Jeremy Pruitt has seemingly angered some folks in the media.
For whatever reason, they think Tennessee is getting off "easy" despite the loss of 28 scholarships, 36 official visits and a fine that's expected to be more than $9 million in total.
Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde, a longtime critic of Tennessee who seemingly has something personal against the program, wrote a scathing column where he seems to take issue with the fact that UT didn't receive a postseason ban.
Forde describes cheating that was "aplenty" during Pruitt's time as the Vols' head coach. The fact that a reporter who has covered college football for decades thinks $60,000 in impermissible benefits is "aplenty" is either completely oblivious and grossly out of touch with the culture of college football over the last several decades, or he's playing the part of a willfully ignorant reporter who has no issue twisting the facts to fit his already-determined narrative.
Either way, it's quite obvious that Forde thinks Tennessee should have received a harsher punishment.
And it's not just Forde that seems to think the Vols got off too easy.
Card Chronicle's Mike Rutherford added his name to the list of college football personalities that aren't fans of Tennessee's "light" punishment.
Other folks around college football, including popular fan-driven social media accounts, share the same sentiment as Rutherford.
It's obvious that the national narrative is going to be that Tennessee got off "easy", but the only reason anyone is saying that is because the Vols are nationally relevant under Josh Heupel. So instead of watching Tennessee languish in mediocrity in the post-Pruitt era, detractors of the Vols have to watch the program thrive under Heupel, making it seem, perhaps, that UT got off "easy". The truth, however, is that Heupel and his staff put in a ridiculous amount of hard work to right the ship while driving through the middle of the NCAA storm created by Pruitt and his staff.
I have a feeling that if the Vols were coming off a lackluster 5-7 season, no one would be saying a word about Tennessee getting off easy. As is usually the case, the negative view of the Vols has more to do with general disdain for the program over "principles".
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Featured image via Jeff Blake-USA TODAY Sports
