2024 Men's College World Series Schedule/Scores/Discussion

Tread lightly, my ass. Many of those on here have never met Steve much less Jeri, neither have they spent any time with him, nor were they even around during his prime. I have, multiple times between 1991 and 2010, one-on-one, and I was here for his prime years. He is the ultimate Bull Gator and it pains me to even make a slight comparison to anyone in puke orange. Nevertheless, I do so. Some on here know Steve far better than I do and may have a beef with me. I acknowledge others will differ.

 

I said it, tongue-in-cheek. I should have used green font.

 

I'm curious why you think your opinion of SOS relative to his coaching persona, social disposition, and media methods make your opinion any more valid than any of us not having had one-on-one time with him or weren't on campus during his prime, which I assume you mean his coach tenure. I graduated from UF in 87, so I was not on campus during his tenure. There are aspects of SOS that I respect, and others, well... not so much.

Back to the original point. Tony Vitello reminds me of Steve! Oh, I'm sure you've had some rather interesting conversations with the Ole Ball Coach. One of my frat brothers is one of his very best friends and fellow staff colleague. That's the closest connection I have to him.

To close, I try to speak my opinion respectfully, and sometimes, others flame me for doing so.
I've found my dual allegiance to UF and UT to have isolated me. Gators faithful hate on me for the Volunteer connection, and likewise, the opposite. I was banned from VolNation for speaking (not that I really cared) facts, none of which the vast majority of Vols fans have the character to admit.

I'm overwhelmingly a Gator! I've never cheered for UT to beat or better UF in any game or way.

 

Dude is a good coach. Kids really like playing for him. That energy resonates.

 

Shane Matthews, Buddy Martin, and I agree with you about Vitello reminding of Spurrier.

 

Volun...the "my ass" wasn't a swipe at you. I've never 'tread lightly' anywhere I've been. That doesn't make me a boor, or indifferent to the thoughts of others.

Fans can get pretty myopic about their teams - seeing only the good and seeing the opponent as only bad. In my old profession, that sort of approach gets you killed, or worse, others in your charge killed. I hate Communism, and was ready to go to war against the 8th Guards army of the GSFG. I hated my enemy with a depth few could comprehend, but I was FORCED to reckon with their capability in order to defeat them.

I acknowledge I have emotions bordering on, even crossing into, "hate" regarding opposing schools. Georgia and FSU, during my time at UF (1978-1982), became the only 2 schools where my sports hatred is rock-hard, because in eight football games against those two, we only won once. (Now THAT was a particularly sweet day in November 1981 when we thrashed FSU to close the year. But I digress...)

Living in Knoxville for 30 years, I was here for the Spurrier-Fulmer days, when the battle became intense to a degree that is hard to grasp if you didn't live here in The Belly of the Beast. I lived with a population that simultaneously detested my HBC, and yet (grudgingly) gave him respect as well. The people up here feared him, and his capacity to beat the Vols, hell - anyone - even when the odds belied that hope. But usually their hatred of SOS clouded their judgment, caused them to belittle him, to exaggerate themselves to the point of "Vols-heimers". They, unlike me as a young 2LT facing the Red Army, could not balance respect with hate. Like you, BTW, I would often wish Steve would have spoken differently back then, would have been less of an ass at times. But I ain't him, and you take the good with the not-as-good with all people. It sounds like you do have a grasp of him through your contacts, and I defer to your own assessment there.

So I do not like UT (they are NOT a "rival" to me, just a good opponent) even though 2 of my 3 have degrees from there. I don't like the way Vitello's teams behave (though they were less dick-ish this year) but I have deep respect for what he has accomplished in his time here. I think he is true believer in supporting whomever is his employer. He goes to EVERY sport, men and women, and roots for them. He engages with students often and not only when a camera is aimed at him. He avoids scandals, and seems to run a program within the rules. In those respects, he is a lot like SOS. Steve wouldn't sign Gator gear while he was at USC. Steve cared about ALL Gator sports because he IS a Gator. When my daughter was being recruited by USC he gave her a 20 minute impromptu pitch for why she should be a Gamecock. When I reminded him where we had met, he acknowledged my Gator status, then went right back to pitching USC. That is a loyalty that is character trait I respect deeply.

So, I see a lot of Spurrier-esque qualities in Vitello, as much as that fact bodes ill for Gator baseball dominance in the SEC. We have a capable opponent on our hands. Gators better get over their dislike and start figuring out how to beat him.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

 

Well said @gatorranger7.

 

Vitello has no doubt done great things for the Vols but he needs to develop a sense of humor before I would even consider putting him in the Spurrier coaching category. JMO.

 

Do still live in Knoxville?

Where you by chance in Mogadishu (1993)?

Now that the questions are out of the way. It took me years to embrace UT on any level. I, too, lived in Knoxville during the first half seven years of the SOS era. Being a Gator living in Knoxville was tough, even though we won the majority years. I was, by the way, in Lexington for the "Doering's got a touchdown" game. Despite UT's rule of only getting six tickets together, I was able to sweet talk a girl at the ticket office for 20 seats together for the 1990 (45-3) game. I had people come in from Key West, Palm Beach, Miami, Gainesville, Chicago, and Memphis. Living in Ktown after this game was brutal. 1992 was rough AF, too. Watching Mose Philips run loose for a 68-yard TD in knee-deep water from the 20-yard line hurt BAD! That looming cloud over Neyland that opened a river of rain at least cooled the afternoon. Of course, my life was made worse being friends with numerous football players. Having taught and knowing some of the football players gave me direct insight into the cheating system that Majors and Fuller operated until exposed by a female facility. The so-called tutoring clinic that is. How do you think UT was able to admit Travis Henry? The dude ran for over 4K his senior year at Frostproof, but none of the Big 3 in Florida recruited him. He was dumb as a box of rocks.

While teaching at Tennessee I hung an autographed poster of the basketball team directly above my desk. Mad Max and Moten used to eat at Joe's Deli frequently. Vernon brought to me one day. Big "D" Schintzius was a freshman and not on the poster but he signed his name with a $ in place of the S. Still have it. All though my graduate years I carried all my texts in a Gators book bag. Of course, I had the Gators logo on my back windshield and the house flag prominently displayed.

Like you, I've never been known for treading lightly. However, I have softened and come to acknowledge that other opinions exist, albeit usually wrong, IMO. I rarely argue the point anymore.

As for Tony Vitello, everything about him reminds me of SOS. Interestingly, during an interview recently he admitted that he purposely created the "Attitude" of his first four or five teams. He said he needed something to separate UT identity-wise from the Miss States, LSUs, Vandy, UF, Arkansas and others that had history to build on, and an established team persona. He's purposely reigning it in, acknowledging that the 2022 team was overboard.

 

Very nice TED Talk with several Vitello comments I agree with. If he is purposely adopting Spuurier's approach to loyalty, personal kindness and making college sports fun, then he will be much more likeable to me, but so far, he hasn't earned a significant comparison to Steve. In 22 years since graduating from Mizzou, he has made a series of assitant stops, mostly with good programs, and has had five seasons at TN with increasing success. Nice resume, but beyond good personal characteristics you mentioned, the major accomplishment he shares with Spurrier is a NC- that's a pretty good accomplishment. He had an opportunity last year to repeat a Spurrier action, but chose not to return to his alma mater to lead that program to greatness.

Here are a few Spurrier actions that make me love him, that Vitello has not copied. When he was recruited to UF, he saw 1963 Gainesville, he saw spring weather in GVL and he saw the Donald Ross designed UF golf course and decided it was the place to spend his life. When he graduated and had a long NFL career, he continued to live in GVL in the off-season. When his pro career ended in '77, he attended Gator football games. Sitting in the stands, watching poor Doug Dickey's attempt to combine a wishbone offense with a passing offense, he realized, "I can call better plays than that." What he couldn't do was save Dickey from himself and the whole staff was fired in '78. His loyalty to UF helped him accept Cheating Charlie's assertion that he- Pell- had to be the center of attention. He joined Pepper Rodgers- his former OC, more loyalty- at GaTech. When that staff was fired, he moved to Duke and developed their QB into a star. Unlike his reaction to Pell at UF, he was bitter at Bill Curry's refusal to consider keeping him at GT and repaid it with 70 point games between UF and Curry's KY. The first Duke tenure got him the Tampa HC job for the spring-season pro USFL. Sadly, an incompetent rich clown convinced the other minor league USFL to compete directly with the NFL and the league foklded in an instant. Steve then had the opportunity to return to Duke as HC and he turned them into winners, including an ACC championship. He still has warm ties to Duke.

During that period, Steve continued to live in GVL and completed his UF degree and walked across the commencement stage with the other graduates- no fanfare or headlines, he simply graduated from his college. After he was hired at UF, he quoted Bear Bryant's response about why he left a good aTm job to take over a poor bama team, "When your momma's on the back porch calling you, you go home." My favorite story that did make the GVL Sun when he got the Gator HC job was when a reporter called Steve's mom in Palatka to ask her reaction. She said she hoped she and Dad Spurrier now would be able to get better season tix for Gator games. Steve did leave to take a crummy NFL job, a move he has acknowledged was a sincere effort, but a mistake. One of the few things he hated at UF that helped him go pro was the entitlement of rich booster types who demended that he be available at all times to kiss up. I really like your anecdote of SOS helping recruit your daughter, typical example of his personal style and another thing to which Vitello should aspire..

The point of my screed is to assert Vitello- in spite of his early success- will need at least ten more years- or 20- before he can earn a serious comparison to Spurrier. Winning so quickly and having some "Spurrier-esque qualities" are very much in his favor, but fall FAR short of Spurrier-esque accomplishments. I actually have liked a lot of Gator opponent coaches in a variety of sports, but Vitello still is too much of a newcomer for that.

 

Seven

 

Oooops! Reinforces my point. Even less like Spurrier. Steve always won from the beginning as HC.