GoVols247: A Tennessee Volunteers athletics podcast

GoVols247's Wes Rucker (from Fort Rucker Studio) and Grant Ramey (from GoVols247's Blount County Bureau) convened to break down the 21st-ranked Tennessee basketball team's oh-so-close loss to fifth-ranked North Carolina over the weekend and look ahead to another big week for the legit-contender Vols. Tennessee's nine-point, second-half lead over the Tar Heels didn't hold up, just like the Vols' 12-point, second-half lead over top-ranked Villanova didn't hold up, but Rick Barnes' team has put a big scare into the past two national champions and is one good week away from heading into SEC play as a team on everyone's radar. What is keeping this very-good Tennessee team from breaking through and becoming a great team, and can that breakthrough happen this season? How will the Vols respond from the UNC heartbreak in tough games this week against Furman and Wake Forest? Those are the main questions in this week's first GoVols247 Podcast episode. We'll be back Friday with a look at Tennessee football's Early Signing Period under new head coach Jeremy Pruitt.

GoVols247's Wes Rucker, Patrick Brown and Danny Parker head into Fort Rucker Studio to break down new Tennessee football coach Jeremy Pruitt's staff and player recruiting efforts to this point. A Vols recruiting class that was ranked in the top-five nationally is now ranked 46th, but there was always going to be some turnover after a coaching change ushered in a new set of priorities on each side of the ball. Pruitt has been the national recruiter of the year in the past, and he's hired a staff full of impressive recruiters, so things won't stay down for long. What kind of a class can be salvaged at this point, though? And how much different could this class look after a weekend full of official visits? Those questions and others are the topics of this episode.

GoVols247's Wes Rucker and Grant Ramey went into Fort Rucker Studio to break down anything and everything you need to know heading into Sunday's showdown between No. 20 Tennessee and No. 7 North Carolina at Thompson-Boling Arena. The Vols nearly stunned the eventual-national-champion Tar Heels last season in Chapel Hill until a late rally turned the tide. Will a much-improved Tennessee team be able to finish the drill this season in front of a raucous home crowd? There are matchups galore in this game, and we break down as many of them as possible.

GoVols247's Wes Rucker and Patrick Brown went into Fort Rucker Studio to break down the hire of Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt as the 26th head football coach at the University of Tennessee. And it took the Vols nearly 26 days — and two athletic directors — after the firing of Butch Jones to end a wild search with Pruitt, a 43-year-old coach and recruiter with a staggeringly impressive resume. Pruitt, an Alabama native and former Alabama player, has always seen things from the South side of The Third Saturday in October rivalry, but he sure looked happy in orange Thursday night at Neyland Stadium. What does the Pruitt hire mean for Tennessee? How should fans feel about the way this search ended, and what should the expectations be for this staff going forward? And who will be on this staff? There are so many questions, and we tried to tackle all of them in our first of many Jeremy Pruitt podcast episodes in the coming weeks and months.

GoVols247's Wes Rucker, Ryan Callahan and Patrick Brown went into Fort Rucker Studio to break down ... well ... whatever it was that happened this week at Tennessee. The Vols went into the week looking for a new head football coach, and that went so well that the man leading that search — athletic director John Currie — was suspended with pay and replaced by new athletic director Phillip Fulmer. Nine years to the day after Lane Kiffin took his job as Tennessee's head football coach, Fulmer became Tennessee's athletic director by replacing one of the men who fired him nine years ago. Even by Tennessee's standards, this has been a wild week. And the Vols still don't have a head football coach. There's a lot to discuss, and this episode does just that.

GoVols247's Wes Rucker, Grant Ramey and Patrick Brown went into Fort Rucker Studio to breakdown the latest in Tennessee's wild search for a new head football coach. What in the world was Tennessee thinking with the Greg Schiano hire/almost-hire? How did things reach that point? What will be the fallout from that? And where do the Vols go from here? Can they really get in the mix for Oklahoma State Mullet Man Mike Gundy? How much would they have to offer a coach of that caliber to get him away from his alma mater, a place he loves? There's a lot to discuss with Tennessee's search, and that's the sole focus of this episode.

GoVols247's Wes Rucker and Danny Parker went into Fort Rucker Studio to breakdown Tennessee’s season finale against Vanderbilt in a game that feels more like Badlam than Bedlam. The Vols and Commodores are both 0-7 in SEC play, and a Tennessee loss on Saturday would give the Vols eight losses in a single season for the first time in program history as well as their first winless season in SEC play. After a brief discussion on Tennessee basketball’s promising play in this week’s Battle 4 Atlantis down in the Bahamas, this episode of the podcast brings the latest on where things stood in Tennessee’s football coaching search heading into Thanksgiving. Who’s trending up? Who’s trending down? Who’s still in play? Who, if anyone, knows what Tennessee athletic director John Currie is really thinking? Are there any potential wildcard candidates in the mix? Those questions and many others are discussed in this episode.

GoVols247's Wes Rucker (at the Fort Rucker Studio) and Grant Ramey (at GoVols247's Blount County Headquarters in Maryville) go in studio to break down what's going to be a huge week for Tennessee basketball at the Battle 4 Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas. The Vols open Battle 4 Atlantis against 18th-ranked Purdue at 12:30 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday. From there, the Vols will play either No. 3 Villanova or Western Kentucky on Thanksgiving Day and then one of four teams — including potentially No. 2 Arizona — on Friday. The top three teams in Ken Pomeroy's rankings are all in the Bahamas for arguably the best field of any Thanksgiving week tournament in the country, which means Rick Barnes and his Vols have a heck of an opportunity. Will they take advantage of it, though?

GoVols247's Wes Rucker and Patrick Brown head into Fort Rucker Studio to break down Tennessee's ongoing search for a new head football coach — a journey that took a fascinating turn Saturday when an iconic Knoxville restaurant got involved in Grumors in a big and hilarious way. Is Jon Gruden still a possibility for Tennessee? And if he isn't, where would the Vols go from there? There's a lot to break down in this coaching search, and we're here to bring you the latest.

GoVols247's Wes Rucker and Grant Ramey went into the Fort Rucker Studio — or, in Ramey's case, the GoVols247 Blount County Bureau in Maryville — to break down an interesting first week in Tennessee's search for a new head football coach. There's plenty of discussion on everyone's favorite candidate, but this episode doesn't focus only on Jon Gruden. But there's plenty of Jon Gruden info. Jon Gruden Jon Gruden Jon Gruden OMG Jon Gruden. Jon Gruden. Plus we talk some hoops and Tennessee football's upcoming game against No. 20 LSU at Neyland Stadium on Saturday night. Plus Jon Gruden.