Bucky

I will never forget that look of hope.

He seemed to live with a perpetual look of hope upon his face.

Hope for a walk around the lake. Hope for the freedom to roam at Briones. Hope for a ride in the car. Hope for a swim in the bay. Hope that it was mealtime. Hope for anything that involved him and us.

He just didn’t want to get left behind.

We’re Doin’ Fine, Thanks

National Signing Day was a huge media event nationwide. Schools like Florida and USC stole the headlines. Derrick Dooley quietly went about his business, not making a spectacle of himself or of our football program. So what picture did the San Francisco Chronicle publish in their story about NSD with all the big national stories? This one! Imagine that. Photo by Saul Young.

Armageddon didn’t come to the Tennessee Volunteer football program as some predicted when Lane Kiffin skipped town in his oversized jeans and jacket. Instead, a relatively unknown son-of-a-legend came to town and (1) calmed the restless natives by delivering a spot-on speech and Q&A session; and then (2) stopped talking, hit the road, and got down to the everyday business of hard work—hiring a staff of coaches and recruiting kids in advance of the biggest day in Tennessee before the O&W game: National Signing Day.

A Steady Stream of Coaches Come to Knoxville

On Saturday 16 January 2010—day one of Dooleyworld—Kippy Brown saw the writing on the wall and skipped town for (literally) greener pastures in the Great Northwest. David Reaves and James Cregg found themselves no longer members of UT’s coaching staff. On Sunday, Coach Dooley (sounds good, doesn’t it?) hired Terry Joseph from LaTech and Eric Russell from Texas Tech.

NSD: Have a Nice Holiday

Here we are, Wednesday, February 3, 2010, National Signing Day. A day which should be a national holiday, at least in the American South anyway.

I’ve had my say about what the various player rankings might mean and what they might not mean in terms of actual performance on the field once on campus, and in very specific instances what they have meant and what they have not meant.

But perhaps team rankings are another matter.

Patrick Garvin, one of my favorite bloggers—because he writes about college football from a historical perspective—last week wrote a post titled Are Recruiting Rankings Meaningful? It was the type of article that conjured up Mark Twain’s famous saying about letter-writing. Sort of.

Florida’s Headstart Program

With National Signing Day (NSD) coming on Wednesday, I had a look at Tennessee’s recruiting prospect list published by Scout. It’s the list of high school and JUCO players that have expressed an interest in Tennessee.

The players are listed by Scout’s ranking, from five-star candidates to one-star rankings. The list also indicates the level of interest expressed by the player (low, medium, high if uncommitted) and if an official offer has been made by Tennessee.

Also indicated is if the player has committed to the Vols or to any other school, and if the commitment has been made verbally (which will change beginning Wednesday as players will begin to sign).

Dexter McCluster: Reason to Watch the Senior Bowl

Ole Miss fans will live the rest of their lives wondering what might have been. Why did it take so long to find a superstar in their blue, red, and gray? Who knows. A full season of what happened on November 14, 2009 and Oxford, Mississippi would have been celebrating a Heisman Trophy winner on December 11, 2009 instead of watching their neighbor state do the same.

For me, players like Dexter McCluster are what make college football great. They provide what the pro version of the game rarely does.

The Gators’ Agoraphobia

In Monday’s post, The Table Never Lies, I asked what would Florida do if 11 SEC games were played in a 13-game season, leaving two non-conference games—one for a local rival and one for an intersectional game, knowing full well that the Gator Nation has a phobia of out-of-region clashes.

So, I thought I’d look into their history. You know, facts.

What I found was absolutely astounding. Get this…

The last time Florida played a non-conference opponent, on the road, outside the state of Florida, was 1991. That is nearly 20 years ago!

The Table Never Lies

The Top Dog Proposition

I read Eddie Dzurilla’s article at Bleacher Report, posted January 22, 2010, titled SEC, ACC, Big 12 …Get Rid of Your Playoffs. His thesis is that conference championships should be settled not by championship games, but by all of the conference teams playing each other and letting “the top dog be the champion.”

This of course isn’t a new idea. I most recently heard it presented by none other than James Carville when he was interviewed by Tony Barnhart on CBS this past Fall. Carville is passionately for the idea that the entire season should be nothing other than conference games (Carville is a passionate LSU and SEC football fan). He is opposed to all non-conference games. I especially get a chuckle when Carville would say that LSU should not be playing schools like “Ooo La La.”

Anyway, Dzurilla argues that under the idea: (1) all conference teams play all other teams in their conference; and (2) there would be no conference playoff (championship) games, and in the Big Ten, no floating byes. Thus, in the SEC, ACC, and Big 12, the conferences would not be split into divisions.

Star Gazing with a Grain of Salt

Gazing for the next five-star prospect.

We’re closing in on one of the most exciting days on the college football calandar: National Signing Day. The day all high school players who will graduate this year can sign letters of intent to play for their college of choice. National Signing Day is the first day of an approximate two-month period, this year running from February 3 to April 1, 2010.

Every year, Division I FBS schools can add up to 25 new scholarship players to their rosters so long as the total number of scholarship players does not exceed 85.

We are inundated by stars. Not only by the players themselves, but by the rating system. Scouts, Inc. has their famous grading system, from one-star to five-star players. We’re bombarded by news reports of what team has this five-star player visiting this weekend and what team has three four-star players with verbal commitments, and so on.

Underneath the 17-20

When Dooley’s name hit the wires early afternoon on Friday, the collective Vol eyebrows started to raise in the shape of a giant orange question mark. And the very first thing that folks start to comment about was his record as a head coach at Louisiana Tech: 17 Wins and 20 Losses. Comments about “the record” still abound even into this week, especially from outsiders.

Why Derek Dooley Is A Good Hire for Tennessee

He certainly has credentials. He’s been a positions coach—wide receivers, running backs, tight ends. He’s been a special teams coordinator. He’s been a recruiting coordinator. He’s done most of this under Nick Saban, both in the SEC and in the NFL. He’s been a head coach. And, he’s been an athletic director. And, he has the lineage, being the son of a coaching legend.

But even if you didn’t know this about Derek Dooley before Friday night’s press conference, you likely came away “dooley” impressed. I certainly was.

What impressed me the most was his reference to his personal history of getting out of his “comfort zone.” That is the trait of a successful person, one who continually stretches themselves beyond limits and boundaries.

A Final Look at the Short Road from Kiffin to Dooley

This past week promised to be slow, until Lane Kiffin left for Trojan Town and started a coaching search party with a rock-painting contest and a T-shirt burning party.

Hammy Dusted Off Last Year’s Target List

After Kiffin dropped the bomb that set off the week’s nuclear chain reaction, Mike Hamilton hoped we would have a new coach by the end of Friday, or Saturday, or Sunday, depending on what you were reading. On Friday morning, when Tennessee was 0-for-4 or -5 or -6, again depending on what you were reading, it felt like we might not have a coach until the Orange and White Game, or maybe even an interim situation for a year.

It’s Derek Dooley for the Volunteers

UTSPORTS.com announced this evening that Derek Dooley will be presented as the 22nd head coach in the history of Tennessee Football. A press conference will be held at 9:00 pm EST at the Neyland Stadium Peyton Manning Locker Room Complex.

GO HERE for the live press conference feed.

A lot has already been made about what we don’t know about young (41 year old) Derek. One thing is for sure. He has worked his way up the ranks as an assistant, mostly working and studying under Nick Saban, who we all would admit is one of the very best.

And because this is the Southeastern Conference, note that he served as Saban’s recruiting coordinator for two seasons while at LSU.

Doodles on Dooley

With nothing being confirmed about Mike Hamilton’s __th candidate, and since I don’t know much about him, and don’t want to invest the energy until I hear the confirmation (are you as worn out as I am?), here is a test:

Which Derek Dooley are we interested in hiring?

Derek Dooley #1

Derek Dooley #2

FOR YOUR READING PLEASURE (UPDATES):

Smokey’s OCD

A fitting end to Tennessee’s Thursday.

UPDATE (Friday): And also a fitting picture of the state of Voldom now that the latest coaching candidate has turned down Mike Hamilton’s siren song sung from atop Rocky Top.

Jon pretty much had it right Thursday about sourcing and breaking news in general.

FOR YOUR READING PLEASURE (UPDATES):

It’s Too Cold For A Wet Blanket

New reports this afternoon, coming on the heels of Tennessee apparently being rejected by number-one choice Will Muschamp and number-two choice Troy Calhoun, say Mike Hamilton is turning to a familar, warm blanket to fill the Vol Vacancy.

It’s David Cutcliffe, who has been living in Durham, NC the past two seasons coaching the low-key Duke Blue Devils.

My first reaction is that, if true, this will go over more like a wet blanket than a warm blanket.

NEW COMMENTS FRIDAY ON THE CUTCLIFFE SITUATION:

Cutcliffe Withdraws Name at Tennessee (Chris Low)

Statement from Cutcliffe (Heather Dinich)

FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT (PERIODICALLY UPDATED):

Troy Calhoun The Next Dean Smith?

In 1958, Dean Smith left his Air Force Academy assistant basketball coaching position for Chapel Hill to become a basketball coaching legend. Could the current Air Force football head coach leave Colorado Springs to become a football coaching legend in Knoxville?

Today, the Colorado Springs Gazette has announced that the Air Force head football coach will conduct a meeting with his team at 3:50 pm Mountain Standard Time.

Thanks to rockytop78 for the lead via the story posted at GoVolsXtra.

Watch List

God only knows. God help us.

UT Athletic Director Mike Hamilton let it be known what his working philosophy is:

“Most of you know that I have this feeling that you should always be prepared as an AD for any change that comes about. It is inevitable from time to time and that allowed us to get on the move very quickly and we are down that road. I don’t like to put too many timetables on anything of this nature, but everybody knows that we are about to hit a live recruiting period again and this is an absolutely critical time for our program as it relates to wrapping up recruiting and approaching signing day. We will work very diligently to bring closure to this process as quickly as possible so that we can bring the right head coach here for our student-athletes, for our university and for our fans.”

Feel better? I will when this is all over. I think. Depends, doesn’t it?

So, here’s not what makes sense, necessarily, but what’s being mentioned, as of this evening, by folks who should know (better)…

One Shot at a Long Leash, or Take Ms. Frizzle’s Advice

Last evening as I was about to leave work, I decided to email Eric Angevine, a freelance writer who wrote a very fine piece for ESPN.com back in November 2009 titled Neyland Stadium – The Color Orange. It was so good, in fact, that I posted about it soon afterward. Articles like that usually miss the point. Eric’s hit it spot on. Even though I was quite tardy in thanking him for his piece, he quickly responded, thanking me for taking the time to write.

I noticed that below his signature, he had a quote: “Take chances, make mistakes, get messy. – Ms. Frizzle”

I packed up and headed out of my office. TK, one of our Vols in the Fall, called as I was pulling out of the parking lot. He told me that Kiffin had resigned to take the Southern Cal job. I thought he was kidding. Then I thought of a post that I almost wrote last week. Then I thought of Ms. Frizzle to whom I had just been introduced by Mr. Angevine.

Letter of Prescience

Great expectations.

Less than two months after the University of Tennessee hired Lane Kiffin in November 2008 to replace Phil Fulmer as the head coach of the Vols, the Oakland Raiders’ legal counsel, Jeff Birren sent a letter dated January 22, 2009 to UT president Dr. John D. Petersen and legal counsel Catherine S. Mizelk. The letter was released to the media around the time of Kiffin’s deposition in March 2009 as part of his grievance with the National Football League over the salary he claimed that the Raiders still owed him on the three-year contract after being fired in September 2008.

In light of the entire Vol Nation feeling flayed, betrayed, and pretty much ready to kill the traitorous twerp after Tuesday, one of the most shocking days in the history of Tennessee Football, here are some excerpts from that letter of almost one year ago.

Out to Pasture, or Out Behind the Barn?

This past week I read about Phil Fulmer’s current endeavors. It was like reading about a long, lost friend or relative, because it feels like he coached his last game in about 1988. It’s easy to forget that he coached as recently as November 2008. It’s also easy to forget that he won 152 games as Tennessee’s head coach, second only to Robert Neyland.

In an interview in August 2009, he maintained that he wasn’t afraid of trying new things, presumably like hiring Dave Clawson, and like doing television work as an analyst for CBS.

He looked terribly uncomfortable on the tube this past Fall, and it always appeared as everybody was instructed to steer clear of putting ol’ Phil on the spot when it came to talking about his successor or anything the least bit controversial about the Vols.