VolQuest had found the crisis inside Tennessee’s 5–1 start: Josh Heupel was winning, and the message board still didn’t have all-access.
RedBeardVFL wanted the Volquest press room to earn its lunch:
“Why doesn’t Heupel get tough questions about the head scratching time management errors, or the lackluster play calling? I want to see him answer a tough question about his coaching decisions!”
A 5–1 coach had taken the audacious position that he could call his own plays. The board wanted him stopped before it became a precedent.
Under Dooley, Jones and Pruitt, Tennessee lost often enough that every man with Wi-Fi could swear his imaginary game plan would have won. Heupel was ruining a thriving industry.
The unpaid coaching staff had lost its influence. Time to blame the reporters.
OakVol wanted to turn Knoxville’s reporters into message-board errand boys.
“It’s the point of ASKING! When you do question something people assume it’s fine. Questioning decisions is healthy! They are just too damn scared. @Mike_Wilson is the only one with the stones to ask.”
To OakVol, asking a question was a sacred duty. Accepting the answer was surrender.
Brent Hubbs, VolQuest’s owner, respected Tennessee reporter, and Vol Network sideline man, made the mistake of answering a football question with football. No one was down with that shit.
“I didn’t think he has a clock management issue Saturday. He actually took a knee to end the game which might have been a first.”
Hubbs named screens, a direct snap and other Arkansas plays the board swore didn’t exist. Hard Data piled on: “His play calling against Arky was outstanding.” Two men had brought football to a feelings message board e-tantrum. The thread would never recover.
Everybody wanted accountability. Nobody wanted the real answers.
OakVol hauled White House press briefings into the thread. Apparently the Founders had overlooked a vital constitutional liberty: a VolQuest subscription entitles the holder to see Tennessee’s Alabama game plan first.
If Hubbs and Austin Price wouldn’t play along, VolQuest needed a microphone that wouldn’t let an answer spoil the grievance.
Enter Russell Smith of The Drive. VolQuest needed a megaphone. Russell needed something to be mad about.
After five quarterback questions at his October 5 press conference, Heupel declined a sixth from Paige Dauer. He apologized afterward. Dauer said she wasn’t offended. That should have ended it. Fortunately for afternoon radio, it did not.
On The Drive, Smith called Heupel the “sovereign citizen head football coach” and a “dick,” while complaining about short press conferences. The reporter wasn’t offended. Russell took offense on her behalf. It’s a full-service business.
Heupel owed the board an answer. Dauer apparently owed Russell an injury report for feelings she hadn’t reported having. Alabama could pick up the quarterback announcement at the service window.
The Drive supplied the loudspeaker. VolQuest supplied the fumes. Kalen DeBoer only needed a subscription.
There was one drawback to all this transparency.
For years, these people warned that rival programs lurked on Tennessee message boards. Now they wanted Heupel to announce his Alabama quarterback before Alabama arrived in Knoxville. Superb counterintelligence: turn the enemy’s scouting report into a subscriber benefit.
Brandon’s mobility and MacIntyre’s passing posed different problems. Why make Kalen DeBoer prepare for both when VolQuest could demand that Heupel do his homework?
Imagine Heupel finally giving the long answer the board demanded:
“Look, I appreciate everybody being here. You can ask who’s starting six different ways. I’m going to give you the same answer six times. We have two quarterbacks who can help us win, and Alabama has to prepare for both.
“And to the left-wing drive-by sports media: I know Russell has a show to fill. But my job isn’t to make his three o’clock hour easier. It’s to make Alabama’s Saturday afternoon harder.
“And to the folks on the boards: buying a Tennessee hat gets you a Tennessee hat. It does not get you the headset. We good?”
Nobody was good.
OakVol still wanted another question. Russell still needed another segment. Heupel had the nerve to go back to preparing for Alabama.
By Thursday, an anonymous source had reportedly told Knox News that MacIntyre would start. Heupel still hadn’t delivered the board’s preferred confession.
VolQuest wanted to be relevant to an SEC game plan.
Unfortunately, it was Alabama’s.
These are real public discussions held by real Tennessee fans.
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