What is the story with Bill Battle?

#28
#28
VOLINVONORE said:
And he was unable to recruit good players. He was very religious and would not recruit players who were not perfect gentlemen and now faults. He was actually a very good Xs and Os coach but the talent level dropped quickly with his recruiting.
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Battle came by our frat house for the annual HC visit and announced he really didn't like to recruit.

Jaws dropped. Little Sisters fainted. Doom enveloped the room.
 
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#29
#29
He became CEO of the company that does licensing of ALL college logo products (those little NCAA tags on hats, t-shirts, etc.) He retired a $multi-millionaire. Then he was AD at Bammer for several years. He once remarked that getting fired by Tennessee was the best thing that ever happened to him.
 
#32
#32
VolTull said:
Battle came by our frat house for the annual HC visit and announced he really didn't like to recruit.

Jaws dropped. Little Sisters fainted. Doom enveloped the room.
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I knew Bill pretty well and he didn't like to recruit. I guess that is why he had poor results. Last time I saw Bill was at Andy Spiva’s funeral in Atlanta. Bill was an outstanding gentleman and fortunately, was a huge success in businesses after coaching.
 
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#34
#34
VOLINVONORE said:
And he was unable to recruit good players. He was very religious and would not recruit players who were not perfect gentlemen and now faults. He was actually a very good Xs and Os coach but the talent level dropped quickly with his recruiting.
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I don't know about the perfect gentlemen recruits but I used to see the OL go into the Maltese Falcon on Thursday nights before games and leave stumbling pretty good...LOL
 
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#35
#35
Reposted from another thread. Majors walked into the worst program in the SEC - Battle never coached another day after leaving UT and "retired" as a coach at age 34. It was the extreme "reach hire" that had no chance of long term success. Battle took a program that was at the top of the SEC following Dickey and torched it. If Majors had been hired to follow Dickey as he should have - there would have been no drop off. Battle is a nice man who simply could not recruit consistently or evaluate SEC talent. He was signing players not highly ranked by ETSU according to a friend who coached at ETSU. It took Majors years to win 9 games but climbing from the bottom to the top - can be a difficult journey. Heupel has done a terrific job but at no point in the post-Fulmer era was the program as low as it was in 1977. All coaches following Fulmer were legitimate head coaches or had serious SEC experience like Pruitt when hired by Tennessee except Bill Battle. Hiring Battle was like elevating the TE Coach at TN now Abeln (?) to head coach. Everyone knew Battle had doomed the program to a massive rebuild - and he might have gone winless in 1977 with the squad Majors coached to 4 wins. If Majors had had the transfer portal and could have flipped the roster - that would have been interesting. Majors was a phenomenal recruiter and program builder - but the OVC level squad he inherited certainly tested all patience and resilience to restore Tennessee to a quality SEC talent level. Johnny Majors undoubtedly took over the worst roster of any UT coach following General Neyland. Bill Battle would not put the work in to recruit and basically drew a paycheck until the talent well ran dry and Majors had to clean up the giant mess. Being there at the time - we said future fans may not understand why Battle was let go with what on paper looked like a decent record - well now you know.
 
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#36
#36
Dooley or Battle,Who left rocky top in the worst shape ?I don't like ole Butchy but what he got from Dooley was a dumpster fire. Wasn't around in 77. Just wondering what the old head have to say.
 
#39
#39
volbound1700 said:
What is the story with Bill Battle? I wasn't alive in that era but his records look great. However, he is pointed out as the reason for the downfall. The records were trending down with time so that supports it but a lot of the bad seasons where under Majors who followed him. Sounds like recruiting was the issue.
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Battle was not a very good recruiter.
 
#40
#40
malibuvol said:
I don't know about the perfect gentlemen recruits but I used to see the OL go into the Maltese Falcon on Thursday nights before games and leave stumbling pretty good...LOL
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The fact they kept stumbling thru Saturday is what got BB tossed.
 
#41
#41
TennEddie said:
Dickey leaving when he did was the worst thing to ever happen
to UT football and one of the best for Bama. We were loaded with talent and had our foot firmly
on Bama’s neck. Battle inherited a gold mine but a lack of quality recruiting killed the program.
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Dickey leaving was bad but Bama had used the same basic offensive scheme throughout the 60s. The Bear went 12-10-1 in 69-70 then in 71 came the wishbone and Bama began to whip everyone not just Battle. The 71-75 Bama teams went 54 -5. Dickey had his opportunity at UF to beat Bama but no joy. I don't think he would have fared any better than Battle did if he had stayed.
 
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#42
#42
Dickey left a loaded team in 1970. The ‘71 team was great also but the QB position cost the Auburn game vs Sullivan. The ‘72 team was solid also that lost a heart breaker to Bama. The talent was slowly going down after that.

Battle recruited some great players but Tennessee got very lean on the LOS talent after ‘72.
 
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#44
#44

Larry Coker - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Good points on the resurgence of Alabama in the 1970s. Majors could have kept Tennessee afloat following Dickey due to his work ethic, personality and being a Tennessee hero. Neither Dickey nor Majors would have matched Bear’s record definitely. Some posters have recognized the great Condredge and Stanley Morgan among other outstanding players who played for Coach Battle. There was a thin veneer of skill position talent covering a squad with fewer quality linemen each year and serious lack of strength. They were pushed around by North Texas State and other mid-major programs.

It was sad to watch as Dickey transformed the Vols from single-wing era back to an SEC powerhouse and neither Battle nor any other 28 year old coach in the world should have been handed the keys to that machine. If Majors had truly known how bad the Tennessee squad was - he likely would have not left the powerhouse he built at Pitt. Larry Coker was another coach who inherited a power program and it washed out and for Coker he was in one of the premier recruiting regions in America unlike Tennessee. Tennessee football required a maniacal recruiting work ethic which both Johnny and Fulmer had for 35 years.

My fear when Fulmer was hired was that he played for Battle and was likely too soft for head coach. That proved to be absolutely not the case as Phil and Johnnys old staff proceeded to win a national championship.
 
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#46
#46
papatomany said:
Well, Stanley had Condredge Holloway, so I disagree with your assessment.
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You're both correct, depending on the specific time frame you choose to reference. Take a look at the abject lack of productivity at the quarterback position in the 1971 season: 1971 Tennessee Volunteers Stats | College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Bobby Scott later said that he regretted not taking a redshirt season. If he had done so, he would have been eligible to play and start at QB in '71. That team was absolutely loaded defensively, and he accurately observed that, with competent quarterback play, Tennessee would have been a legitimate national championship contender.
 
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#47
#47
wmcovol said:
Dickey left a loaded team in 1970. The ‘71 team was great also but the QB position cost the Auburn game vs Sullivan. The ‘72 team was solid also that lost a heart breaker to Bama. The talent was slowly going down after that.

Battle recruited some great players but Tennessee got very lean on the LOS talent after ‘72.
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Letting a 4th string punt returner carry one to the house didn’t help
 
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#50
#50
knox73 said:

Larry Coker - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Good points on the resurgence of Alabama in the 1970s. Majors could have kept Tennessee afloat following Dickey due to his work ethic, personality and being a Tennessee hero. Neither Dickey nor Majors would have matched Bear’s record definitely. Some posters have recognized the great Condredge and Stanley Morgan among other outstanding players who played for Coach Battle. There was a thin veneer of skill position talent covering a squad with fewer quality linemen each year and serious lack of strength. They were pushed around by North Texas State and other mid-major programs.

It was sad to watch as Dickey transformed the Vols from single-wing era back to an SEC powerhouse and neither Battle nor any other 28 year old coach in the world should have been handed the keys to that machine. If Majors had truly known how bad the Tennessee squad was - he likely would have not left the powerhouse he built at Pitt. Larry Coker was another coach who inherited a power program and it washed out and for Coker he was in one of the premier recruiting regions in America unlike Tennessee. Tennessee football required a maniacal recruiting work ethic which both Johnny and Fulmer had for 35 years.

My fear when Fulmer was hired was that he played for Battle and was likely too soft for head coach. That proved to be absolutely not the case as Phil and Johnnys old staff proceeded to win a national championship.
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I do agree with most of this, but didn't Fulmer play under Dickey, maybe gone before Battle took over?
 
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