The Forest and the Trees

The Trees

Apparently there were lots of people at Knoxville Bar in the wee hours of Friday last week. There are also lots of stories flying around, with different allegations of who started what and who beat up whom and how. And, there are even conflicting stories regarding who was even present. Earlier, six Vol players had been identified as being present, and potentially involved, in the brawl. A seventh UT player, DT Chase Nelson, was named a possible suspect on Wednesday. Two players have been arrested.

Inspiration Available

The inspiration from Wednesday’s match, available to anyone willing to make use of it, is to never stop trying with everything you’ve got. Never.

Got Time?

I’ve been thinking about the fortunes of the football Vols lately, now that all of the media-storm surrounding the hiring of Derek Dooley, spring practice, and the promotional caravan has died down (it never really dies in Tennessee). I’ve considered what a whirlwind the last two seasons have been – two of the most eventful, for reasons other than winning championships, that I can remember.

Naturally, the big weight hanging around the neck of all thoughts on this subject is what 2010 will bring. The circles of thought bring me ’round again and again to the same thing, a point in time, the 1977 season.

Seniors Don’t Have Tenure

Q: Did you feel like you were owed more by the program since you waited your turn for four years?

A: That was my mindset, yeah.

That was a portion of an interview between GoVolsXtra’s Dave Hooker and Tennessee ex-QB Nick Stephens following the news from earlier on Thursday that Vol senior QB Nick Stephens has decided to leave Tennessee.

The first scrimmage of the spring on April 3 did Nick in. Mr. Stephens could read the writing on the wall after Coach Dooley announced that Junior college transfer Matt Simms and January enrollee Tyler Bray were given nudges up the depth chart before Tuesday’s practice, and rising senior Nick Stephens was bumped down from the starters to the second string.

The Rich Fabric of Tennessee Volunteer Football

On Rocky Top: A Front-Row Seat To The End of an Era. By Clay Travis. ItBooks; 337 pages; $25.99.

It is Monday, September 1, 2008. In the visiting locker room of the Rose Bowl Stadium, Phillip Fulmer, the second most successful coach in Tennessee football history in terms of wins, on his birthday, has just led his warriors in reciting Robert Neyland’s Seven Game Maxims. He then instills in his troops a feeling of timeless tradition before they take the field to open the 2008 season opener against UCLA: “Believe in your brothers all the way back to the twenties that have said these Maxims. Understand what you stand for by putting on that orange shirt and that T on your helmet.”

In less than three months, Coach Fulmer will be fired, and that timeless tradition will be tested by the hiring of a complete outsider, Lane Kiffin, who as we know now, will also be gone a season later.

Clay Travis, a sports columnist, an attorney living in Nashville, the grandson of a Vol who played for General Neyland in the 1930s, and an unabashed Tennessee football junkie who did not attend UT but traces his Vol fandom to watching the 1986 Sugar Bowl victory over Miami as a six-year old, was given access to the locker room and the sideline to write a book about a season that became one of the most memorable in the annals of Volunteer football.

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.

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).

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!

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.

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.

I Think I’m Gonna Hurl

Except for rare circumstances, I pull for SEC schools against non-conference foes. Thursday night’s National Championship game, Alabama vs Texas, played at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, was not a rare circumstance for me.

Usually, what’s good for the SEC is good for Tennessee. It brings continued pride, wealth, and the national spotlight on my conference, and some of that spotlight shines on the Vols, even when we are in the middle of the conference’s pack.