Just spend 2+ hours watching these after it was posted in the other thread. As a coach, a history teacher, and a vol fan this was GREAT. Shows me that we will be back. Not many teams are lucky enough to have the great history that we have.
Another thing that stood out to me is that most of our success has came from a former TN player coaching our team. It is amazing how many there were. Makes me wonder if we have someone out there now being groomed to come back some day. Tee Martin sticks out but thats all I really know of being highly regarded right now. I know there are more, please list if so?
You raise an interesting point, one alluding to the coaching tree of General Neyland. I will start digging up info on this, but here is an interesting tidbit for starters:
WILL MUSCHAMP AND THE BOB NEYLAND COACHING TREE
Charlie Shira (Mississippi State 1967-72): Shira played college football for Col. Earl Blaik at Army where he was an All-American tackle and then was an assistant coach for General Bob Neyland at Tennessee in 1951, when Neyland claimed the last of his three national championships. Shira went with former Tennessee player and assistant Murray Warmath to Mississippi State in 1952 where he served on the same staff with future Texas head coach Darrell Royal. After a year in the Canadian Football League coaching at Edmonton, Shira returned to Mississippi State as an assistant to Royal, who became head coach when Warmath moved to Minnesota, where he coached 17 years and won the 1960 national title. Shira was with Royal for two years at Mississippi State (1954-55) and stayed on for one year with Wade Walker after Royal left to become head coach at Washington. When Royal was named head coach at Texas, he hired Shira as his defensive coordinator where he remained for 10 years (1957-66) and helped the Longhorns win the 1963 national championship. Shira returned to Mississippi State in 1967 where he served six years as head coach. In 1973 he hired former Alabama All-American and Baltimore Colts wide receiver Ray Perkins as receivers coach.
Ray Perkins (New York Giants 1979-82; Alabama 1983-86; Tampa Bay Bucs 1987-90; Arkansas State 1992): After Charlie Shira was fired at Mississippi State in 1973, Perkins landed a job on Chuck Fairbanks staff with the New England Patriots where he was exposed to offensive coordinator Ron Erhardt, whose offense lives and thrives today under Bill Bellichick with the New England Patriots. Perkins spent the 1978 season coaching under Tommy Prothro with the San Diego Chargers, then succeeded Bear Bryant as Alabamas head coach in 1983.
Bill Parcells (New York Giants 1983-90; New England Patriots 1993-96; New York Jets 1997-99; Miami Dolphins 2003-06): One of the first things Perkins did as head coach of the Giants was hire Air Force Academy head coach Bill Parcells as his defensive coordinator but Parcells quit before the season started and spent 1979 doing land development in Colorado. He returned in coaching in 1980 under Ron Erhardt and in 1981 became Perkins defensive coordinator for the second time. Parcells, who coached for Bill Peterson at Florida State in 1970 and for Steve Sloan, a former All-American quarterback at Alabama for Bear Bryant, at Vanderbilt in 1973-74, became the head coach of the Giants in 1983 when Perkins left to become head coach at Alabama after the retirement of Bear Bryant. Parcells won two Super Bowls (1986; 1990) with the Giants.
Bill Bellichick (Cleveland Browns 1991-95; New England Patriots 2000-present): Another of the first hires Perkins made for the Giants in 1979 was Bill Bellichick, the son of a U.S. Naval Academy assistant coach. Bellichick was the special teams coach for the Giants then became linebackers coach. Under Parcells, he was promoted to defensive coordinator in 1985. It must be noted that the only two Super Bowls Parcells won was with Bellichick on his staff. Bellichick has won three Super Bowls as coach of the New England Patriots. Bellichick became head coach of the Cleveland Browns in 1991 following the second Super Bowl title with the Giants. One of his first moves was to hire University of Toledo head coach Nick Saban as his defensive coordinator.
Nick Saban (Toledo 1990; Michigan State 1995-99; LSU 2000-04; Miami Dolphins 2005-06; Alabama 2007-present): Saban, whose college coach was Don James, another former Bill Peterson assistant at FSU, worked his way up through the college coaching ranks under Earle Bruce at Ohio State and George Perles at Michigan State. He worked as a defensive backs coach for Jerry Glanville with the Houston Oilers before taking the Toledo job in 1990 and then spent four years with Bellichick before becoming head coach at Michigan State. One year after taking the head coaching job at LSU, Saban hired the defensive coordinator at Valdosta State, Will Muschamp. Muschamp was the defensive coordinator for Saban in 2003 when LSU won the national championship.
Tommy Tuberville (Ole Miss 1995-98; Auburn 1999-08; Texas Tech 2010-present): Tuberville belongs to the Bob Neyland coaching tree through Jimmy Johnson, who played college football for Frank Broyles at Arkansas, and was an assistant coach for Jackie Sherrill, a former Bear Bryant player and Broyles assistant, at Pittsburgh. Broyles is a former Florida assistant, who played college football and coached for former Neyland quarterback and offensive coordinator Bobby Dodd at Georgia Tech. Muschamp served as the defensive coordinator for Tuberville at Auburn in 2006-07 where he was 2-0 against Urban Meyer and Florida" (
Muschamp's coaching bloodlines ).
So, detestable as it may be to think, Nick Saban is a coaching disciple of the General, albeit several generations removed. And, frankly, I can see the fingerprints: stout defense, hardnosed smashmouth running attack, and highly disciplined perfectionist approach to the game.
