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I am constantly amazed at the Tennessee fan base. Why one might ask?

It’s very simple – the Tennessee fan base is much like those who gathered at the steps of Pilate’s court screaming for the death of Christ while begging Pilate to give them Barabbas.

Not too good of a swap on the part of that crazed crowd that day and the Tennessee fan base today who begged for Jeremy Pruitt’s head knowing whom they were going to get wasn’t going to be that famed savior of Tennessee football that they thought they might get.

Just to clarify, I am not saying that Jesus and Pruitt are anywhere close to the same, I just tend to think of biblical examples sometimes and this was the one that came to mind.

For those who like easier comparisons – one could compare it to the Andy Griffith Show’s episode where the boy got a brand new shiny bike and when Andy and Barney caught the young lad riding on the streets they confiscated his bike.

When the father came to the jail demanding the bicycle be given back to his son and the threat was presented to lock the father up, the boy’s tantrum quickly turned on his father and was willing to see him put in jail to get his bike back.

That’s when the father decided to sell the bike and take advantage of Andy’s woodshed in the back.

Tennessee fans that continue to raise cane expecting to have everything they want need to learn a quick woodshed lesson and that is this program is going to take some major work and there is no big-time coach that would ever consider taking the head coaching position at the university until the problems are fixed and the fans are put back in their place understanding they can’t act like they do and expect that negativity not to rub off on the football team and university they are supposed to be supporting.

I am a Tennessee fan through and through and it has been hard to sit back over the last few years watching a once-proud football program quickly spiral out of control to land where it has now.

It all started when Kiffin was knighted as the savior only to pack up and leave in the middle of the night with Tennessee coaches and players in tow to USC and it hasn’t been the same since.

And a lot of that rests squarely on the Vol Nation fanbase who has acted nothing short of a spoiled brat at times. Well, enough is enough.

Josh Heupel is the new head coach and he is going to make changes that he feels is needed including saying goodbye to some coaches that gave their all as UT players and served on Pruitt’s staff.

Change is never easy for anyone and if the UT fan base wants to see positive results they need to sit back and let Heupel do his job and if he doesn’t then UT Athletic Director Randy White needs to earn his pay and send him packing.

I personally was impressed with some of the numbers that I saw on Heupel and how he has been a great developer of quarterbacks and has one of the highest-scoring teams in the country for the last three seasons at UCF.

With the drawing power of a brand like Tennessee, I can see Heupel flourishing if he can produce those types of numbers at Tennessee.

No one knows what the future holds but how would anyone feel showing up at a job already being portrayed as a loser before he coaches his first game at UT.

With some wins over Florida, Alabama, and Georgia, fans would soon forget about Kiffen, Jones, Dooley, and Pruitt and Heupel would be made deserving of a statue beside the famous rock on campus.

If one thing COVID has taught me this year is this – take the small gains and keep building with hopes that the sky will continue to start shining brightly again.

The same is true of Tennessee football.

It’s not going to happen overnight and there are some ramifications that will have to be dealt with but I think Heupel can get the ship righted and sailing in the right direction if the fan base can keep from burning down the ship’s mast.

I for one say it’s full steam ahead Captain Heupel!