If you heard a deep sigh of relief this week, it was probably due to the fact that Cyclone Nation was able to breathe a little easier after Dobyns-Bennett elected to go with veteran assistant coach Joey Christian as their new head coach.

Many had feared that Elizabethton head coach Shawn Witten may have been a zoned-in target to possibly land the head coaching job in Kingsport, with many going as far as saying the long-time Cyclone mentor had his office packed and cleared.

Now, unless there is another suitor that comes calling on Witten before the start of the new football season, Cyclone fans can rest a little easier.

However, one has to realize that the day may come when Witten will be won over to another school as the young coach has proven an uncanny ability to get his teams in position to challenge for a trip to the state playoffs season after season.

For right now, all Cyclone supporters better sit back and count their blessings and make plans to show up in full force during the upcoming season.

There is nothing more frustrating for a head coach than to look up and not see the stands running over each home game played at Citizens Bank Stadium.

Witten has earned the respect of schools statewide and beyond the borders, and it is on the shoulders of Cyclone Nation to do everything possible to support the coach and his assistants.

It’s another skin-of-your-teeth escape for Cyclone supporters in keeping a quality head coach, but those escapes can’t go on forever.

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Tennessee’s Pruitt has the right to be frustrated with fan turnout for Spring Game

There have been many Tennessee Volunteer fans crying the blues that new head coach Jeremy Pruitt called them out for not filling Neyland Stadium for the 2018 Spring Orange and White game.

Yet, Pruitt is trying to educate the fans as well as the players on how things are supposed to be done.

Fans all the time want to scream about this and that when it comes to their collegiate team, but when you have a coach that has the resume as Pruitt, you have to understand that what he is asking for is what he has seen year after year at Alabama, Georgia, and Florida State where winning National Championships occur year after year.

The bottom line is that the new Vol coach wants to teach his players and fans alike that to be true champions, you have to act like champions and not be a bunch of babies.

I like the direction that Tennessee football is taking and if Vol Nation will respond and stand behind Pruitt, Tennessee football will once again be a top-tier program.

Yes, he is being tough on his program, but one has to think about raising kids.

If a kid has been allowed to do his or her own thing without consequences growth will not happen. Sound familiar?

The past few years there wasn’t solid standards in place to make the players accountable and now there are standards.

Things are moving on an upward swing in K-Town and now it’s time for fans to put on their big-boy pants and quit their crying.

They wanted a winner and now they have one.