Article on TNs problems.
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OrangeDolphin
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All I can say is that this guy is telling nothing but the truth. It seems as if our team doesn't have that spark that they used to. Is it just me or is our team always YOUNG??? Each year we are considered a young team with young talent. When is this young talent going to turn into mature, organized, and respectable talent???? :wacko:
Low Country Vol
Old School Vol
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This team is in a lull. IT is human nature to get complacent over time if you are doing the same thing year in and year out. This program needs something refreshing. Members of the staff would be better starting over elsewhere as would the university starting fresh with new faces with a new plan and outlook.
ChestBumper
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Low Country Vol
Old School Vol
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ChestBumper
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I've NEVER seen a Spurrier quote regarding Phil's weight.
They are friends. He was the first person to call Phil and congradulate him on the National Championship.
If One comment about Tennessee's underachiving and the Citrus Bowl, will make you no longer follow Tennessee Football, we'll I'm sure if I gave my opinion on what I thought of that, I'd be banned.
They are friends. He was the first person to call Phil and congradulate him on the National Championship.
If One comment about Tennessee's underachiving and the Citrus Bowl, will make you no longer follow Tennessee Football, we'll I'm sure if I gave my opinion on what I thought of that, I'd be banned.
donsargegolf
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Chingchongchang
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Biggest disappointment
"Easy winner here. Tennessee's offensive roster is dotted with high school All-Americans. Yet the Vols have been embarrassingly bad on offense. How bad? They're ranked 100th nationally in rushing offense (just ahead of Temple) and tied for 96th in scoring offense (just ahead of Ball State). And believe it or not, the Vols are even worse on special teams. Keep in mind, too, that this is the same team that started the season ranked No. 3 nationally. But outside of the dramatic comeback at LSU, they've been just plain rank. "
:focus: :focus: :focus: :focus: :focus: :focus: :focus:
"Easy winner here. Tennessee's offensive roster is dotted with high school All-Americans. Yet the Vols have been embarrassingly bad on offense. How bad? They're ranked 100th nationally in rushing offense (just ahead of Temple) and tied for 96th in scoring offense (just ahead of Ball State). And believe it or not, the Vols are even worse on special teams. Keep in mind, too, that this is the same team that started the season ranked No. 3 nationally. But outside of the dramatic comeback at LSU, they've been just plain rank. "
:focus: :focus: :focus: :focus: :focus: :focus: :focus:
ChestBumper
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ChestBumper
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By John Mark Hancock
Oct. 13, 2005
Copyrighted All Rights Reserved
Sadly for all its fans, it is still true that the Tennessee Volunteers have not yet beaten the Georgia Bulldogs in Knoxville in this century. The last UT victory in the series was in 1999. There will be no championship again for Tennessee for the seventh straight year. Head Coach Phillip Fulmer's career appears to have peaked with the national championship and back-to-back SEC championships in 1997 and 1998. It has been all downhill ever since then.
In the wake of what may be the worst home offensive performance in Fulmers tenure, many are debating whether Erik Ainge should have been given a shot at quarterback in the third quarter of Saturdays game at the very least. Now the Vols season is essentially over. There is no championship to play for. The only thing left to decide is whether they play on New Year's Day or in some other less significant bowl. Since Rick Clausen will be gone next year, they need to be getting Ainge some valuable experience so that if Jonathan Crompton doesn't pan out, Ainge will have had more reps in practice and game knowledge going into 2006. They must now look to the future.
The Vols appeared lackluster, undisciplined, unprepared, and generally lacking in intensity, enthusiasm, and mental toughness. All of these can be traced back to poor coaching and a lack of leadership. Penalties were far too common on both sides of the ball, but especially on offense. Perhaps this is a carryover effect from the off-field problems that have plagued the team this summer, as there is no question that this might be the most talented bunch Fulmer has ever had at UT.
Most UT faithful were all for Fulmer replacing Johnny Majors, despite the circumstances under which it occurred. However, Majors left a team that was loaded with talent. He had finally gotten UT back to national prominence. While Fulmer is a great recruiter for sure, Majors was also good at it, too, with Fulmer's & others' help.
Majors had a revolving door of assistants because he was very demanding and very hard on them. However, he hired the best & the brightest. He held them accountable for the positions they coached on the team. Many of them have benefited from that and gone on to be head coaches and coordinators in the NFL.
Fulmer just hasn't kept the coaching talent level up on a par with the player talent level. That is the reason the Vols haven't won any championships since 1998 are unlikely otherwise to do so again during his tenure. Until and if he jettisons the dead weight on his staff and brings in brighter, fresher minds, UT will continue to be adrift despite ample athletic talent.
Tennessee hasn't won a big game at home in ages. They simply haven't protected their home turf. This wears on the home crowd. They will have tons of empty seats for the remaining three home games against South Carolina, Memphis, and Vanderbilt. The Capital One Bowl in Orlando against a Big 10 team that is probably better than the Big Orange is the very best they can hope for now. Many are suggesting this team may lose two or three more games and be relegated for the first time to the Music City Bowl in Nashville.
For the second straight big SEC East game in a row, Florida and Georgia, Tennessee got beat in the kicking game. Georgia had better punting, better coverage, better returns, and everything about their special teams were better than the Vols were. Credit UTs defense for hanging in there, but their other hallmark down thru the ages has been the kicking game. They simply must get someone else on their staff that knows how to coach special teams. General Neyland must be spinning in his grave. Surely Bobby Bowden or Frank Beamer, the two closest Neyland disciples in the nation, have someone on their staffs that Fulmer can hire that can do a better job than Steve Caldwell is doing.
Saturdays game marked three wins in a row for Georgia at Neyland Stadium for first time in the entire history of the series, dating back to 1899. That is the sad commentary on Saturday's game for those the donors and alumni who pump money into the Big Orange program and must be counted upon to fund the massive stadium improvements that Athletics Director Mike Hamilton has in mind for the next several years.
When your wide receivers coach can't even coach the talent we have at wideout to go down the field the needed yardage for a first down, and they run a 2 yards and out route instead of the 6 yards and out route that was needed to make the critical late first down on the first series of downs on what could have been the winning 99-yard drive, they simply must fire Pat Washington. His inept coaching is inexcusable at this level of football. None of UTs receivers can get open enough to catch the ball, nor can they get open enough to do anything with it when they do catch it. That is coaching, pure & simple, teaching them how to properly run routes and get open. The Vols haven't had anyone open on slants, curls, hooks, or in the flat all year to speak of.
UT didn't have to run either Brent Schaeffer or James Banks off the campus. Schaeffer's offenses were no worse than some of the others on the team. They could have worked with him and gotten him tutored and eligible with the required number of hours this past summer. Banks begged to come back. He should have been given at one last chance. Both may have learned their lessons.
On top of that, Schaeffer may come back to bite UT running Urban Meyer's option offense at Florida soon. The lack of the availability of the talents of both these guys are a big loss to the team, but the All-America wideouts the Vols have that arent being coached properly is a mystery. Many of them will play in the NFL but are underachieving due to poor coaching in college. Also inexplicable is the lack of utilization of the UT tight end, who would provide a mismatch in every secondary they have faced.
The home crowd was into the Georgia game from the get-go Saturday. No way the home fans can be blamed for this loss. They were loud & proud. The team and most especially the coaches simply let them down. The crowd got back into and behind them in the second half comeback, too.
For the second straight big SEC East game in a row, Florida and now Georgia, the Vol offense was totally shut down. UTs schemes are far too predictable. Their formations are dead giveaways to everyone now. They desperately need new blood in the Tennessee offense. Sadly, the most it appears anyone can hope for is to bring David Cutcliffe back, as Fulmer won't fire anyone on the offensive coaching staff.
Tennessee hasn't gotten a decent rush on a punter all season. On top of that, they rarely field punts well. They got pinned deep several times in the Georgia game. Precious field position was lost by soft special teams play. That alone could very well have cost UT the game.
Fulmer is at a similar crossroads to Tommy Tuberville when he pulled the trigger, fired a lot of his staff, including both coordinators, and brought it fresh coaching talent. If Fulmer survives, he simply must do the same. This should have been done years ago. He should have been replacing at least a couple of his staff already at a minimum. Now it will require wholesale changes. This season is shot. The Vols could easily slide to 7-4 or 6-5 from being #2 in the nation. They could be the biggest bust of 2005. They have to beat Alabama in order to make the season even respectable in the SEC, which will be one tall order in Tuscaloosa, as they will be smelling blood in several ways. Beating both Bama and Notre Dame now seems to be an impossible dream after the Georgia performance. Still, unless they make massive changes in this coaching staff, things will never get any better for UT football. If Fulmer won't make them, he will have to go, too.
Tennessee and Auburn are barely hanging around in the Top 20 nationally as the third best teams in their respective divisions in the Southeastern Conference, behind Georgia and Florida, respectively, in the East, and Alabama and LSU in the West. Unfortunately for the Vols, they have to face what may be the best team in the West on their home field in Tuscaloosa in two weeks, and then have to go play Notre Dame, a team in the Top 10 nationally, on foreign soil as well in South Bend. That makes the South Carolina game at home in between those two a dangerous one, as UT may be the only quality team that Steve Spurrier, the Ole Ball Coach, can beat in his first year as the head man in Columbia. You can bet the Gamecocks will be sky-high coming into Neyland to face a wounded and demoralized Volunteer team. Watch out for Tommy Wests Memphis squad and a rejuvenated Vanderbilt in the final two home games as well. None of them will be easy now.
With Steve Caldwell and Pat Washington in charge of special teams primarily, there is no wonder why our kicking game is so screwed up. Special teams are coached by a committee of Caldwell, Washington, Trooper Taylor, and John Chavis. However, Caldwell has always been primarily in charge and was assisted by Shane Beamer (Virginia Techs Frank Beamers son) when he was a grad assistant there.
Since Majors was replaced, special teams have been an afterthought at UT, instead of the primary focus the kicking game should be according the General Neyland's maxims. Majors was a triple-threat single wing tailback when he played for Bowden Wyatt, the Generals handpicked successor, in the 1950's. He ran, passed, and was the punter, too. We haven't had anyone holding our kicking game accountable since he was fired.
The head coach is responsible for our abysmal special teams play. We simply must have Phillip get personally involved in that area and find someone else to be in charge of it. Steve Caldwell has no clue how to coach special teams or much of anything else for that matter. I'm beginning to doubt whether Trooper can coach special teams, either. The kickers, kick returners, and kick coverers are not being developed.
Much of the criticism of Randy Sanders focuses on his role as Offensive Coordinator. However, he is only carrying out what Fulmer wants. His postgame comments on Fulmer's own TV show this indicate he would do things differently if he were in charge, but is hampered by what Fulmer requires him to do.
However, it is highly questionable whether Sanders, a former backup quarterback himself, knows how to develop QB's. We haven't had a QB that has improved since Cutcliffe left. Cut knew how to develop QB's. That is a special skill. QB is the key position in the offense that Fulmer wants to run. UT won't be able to keep recruiting top QB's without a coach to develop them.
Take a look at what Mack Brown has done to rebuild the Texas program. When he took over, the "other" UT was at a low ebb. He is considered a snake oil salesman by some, but he is obviously a good recruiter, talked his team into a BCS bowl berth last season, and he has surrounded himself with a better staff than Fulmer has.
Brown is a Tennessee native, grew up in Cookeville, and would be highly motivated to succeed in Knoxville, as he still has the fire in his belly to prove something. He may win a national championship this year at Texas, which would be the prime time to go out on top and move elsewhere.
For that matter, is it out of the realm of possibilities that Spurrier might come back to East Tennessee? Certainly he would find the going a lot easier to win the SEC championship at the Tennessee helm than at South Carolina. The rumor mill will start in earnest soon, so stay tuned.
As everyone knows, Jimmy Ray Stephens was only hired by Spurrier to get Danny Wuerrfel to sign with UF. The only other places Stephens has coached other than UT and UF are Vanguard High, Union County High, Buchholz High, Gonzales Tate High, Williston High, and Fort Walton Beach High, where he coached Danny, all in Florida.
One of the weakest resumes of anyone on the UT staff is Steve Caldwell, a protégé of Larry Lacewell, who has been in charge of our "special" teams for years. Other than UT for 11 years now, and a year at Ole Miss, the only other places he's coached have been Arkansas State, Northwest Mississippi Community College, Pacific, and Nevada.
Still, Pat Washington, who has been at Auburn, Louisiana-Lafayette, TCU, & Baylor before the 11 years he has spent at UT, is the worst coach on our staff. He is the primary backup to Caldwell in "coaching" special teams. Who else in bigtime college football would hire any of these three guys? The answer is no one.
At the very minimum, these three coaches need to be replaced by Fulmer if UT is ever get better. The only coaches he should hang on to for sure are Chavis and Dan Brooks. As for Taylor and Greg Adkins, they appear to be hard-working recruiters but their coaching ability is unclear. That leaves Larry Slade and Sanders. I don't care for the style in which Slade coaches. A more fiery coach is needed for our DB's.
As for Sanders, he may be a good RB or WR coach. He has coached both positions in the past. As an OC, he is simply carrying out what Fulmer wants. The only way the Vols are going to get better on offense is for Fulmer to either bring back Cutcliffe (unlikely, as Cut will most likely take the UK head job in 2006) or get some new blood with fresh ideas that knows how to utilize all of our talented skill players, also unlikely but a better choice to make. Sanders has proven he can't develop QB's but he might be worth keeping as RB or WR coach to reward his loyalty to Fulmer.
All in all, at least half the staff should be replaced, and not necessarily on just the offensive side of the ball. If Fulmer is bold enough to do that after turning in one of the worst flops of the year in 2005 for someone making over $2 million annually, he will see vast improvement of this team over night next spring. Otherwise, he will most likely never win another SEC championship the rest of whatever career he has left at UT.
The bottom line is that Tennessee is a big-time program with a huge budget, top talent, plenty of donors who pour large amounts of cash into it, and facilities to rival anyone. The fans deserve a far better product on the field than they are getting. They consistently recruit talent that is the best or nearly the best in the nation. That talent deserves the best and brightest coaching minds to develop it, but the coaching they receive is no better than average at best. Until and if Fulmer realizes that, busts like last Saturday will continue to happen with regular frequency year after year. How long will that continue to be tolerated?
Oct. 13, 2005
Copyrighted All Rights Reserved
Sadly for all its fans, it is still true that the Tennessee Volunteers have not yet beaten the Georgia Bulldogs in Knoxville in this century. The last UT victory in the series was in 1999. There will be no championship again for Tennessee for the seventh straight year. Head Coach Phillip Fulmer's career appears to have peaked with the national championship and back-to-back SEC championships in 1997 and 1998. It has been all downhill ever since then.
In the wake of what may be the worst home offensive performance in Fulmers tenure, many are debating whether Erik Ainge should have been given a shot at quarterback in the third quarter of Saturdays game at the very least. Now the Vols season is essentially over. There is no championship to play for. The only thing left to decide is whether they play on New Year's Day or in some other less significant bowl. Since Rick Clausen will be gone next year, they need to be getting Ainge some valuable experience so that if Jonathan Crompton doesn't pan out, Ainge will have had more reps in practice and game knowledge going into 2006. They must now look to the future.
The Vols appeared lackluster, undisciplined, unprepared, and generally lacking in intensity, enthusiasm, and mental toughness. All of these can be traced back to poor coaching and a lack of leadership. Penalties were far too common on both sides of the ball, but especially on offense. Perhaps this is a carryover effect from the off-field problems that have plagued the team this summer, as there is no question that this might be the most talented bunch Fulmer has ever had at UT.
Most UT faithful were all for Fulmer replacing Johnny Majors, despite the circumstances under which it occurred. However, Majors left a team that was loaded with talent. He had finally gotten UT back to national prominence. While Fulmer is a great recruiter for sure, Majors was also good at it, too, with Fulmer's & others' help.
Majors had a revolving door of assistants because he was very demanding and very hard on them. However, he hired the best & the brightest. He held them accountable for the positions they coached on the team. Many of them have benefited from that and gone on to be head coaches and coordinators in the NFL.
Fulmer just hasn't kept the coaching talent level up on a par with the player talent level. That is the reason the Vols haven't won any championships since 1998 are unlikely otherwise to do so again during his tenure. Until and if he jettisons the dead weight on his staff and brings in brighter, fresher minds, UT will continue to be adrift despite ample athletic talent.
Tennessee hasn't won a big game at home in ages. They simply haven't protected their home turf. This wears on the home crowd. They will have tons of empty seats for the remaining three home games against South Carolina, Memphis, and Vanderbilt. The Capital One Bowl in Orlando against a Big 10 team that is probably better than the Big Orange is the very best they can hope for now. Many are suggesting this team may lose two or three more games and be relegated for the first time to the Music City Bowl in Nashville.
For the second straight big SEC East game in a row, Florida and Georgia, Tennessee got beat in the kicking game. Georgia had better punting, better coverage, better returns, and everything about their special teams were better than the Vols were. Credit UTs defense for hanging in there, but their other hallmark down thru the ages has been the kicking game. They simply must get someone else on their staff that knows how to coach special teams. General Neyland must be spinning in his grave. Surely Bobby Bowden or Frank Beamer, the two closest Neyland disciples in the nation, have someone on their staffs that Fulmer can hire that can do a better job than Steve Caldwell is doing.
Saturdays game marked three wins in a row for Georgia at Neyland Stadium for first time in the entire history of the series, dating back to 1899. That is the sad commentary on Saturday's game for those the donors and alumni who pump money into the Big Orange program and must be counted upon to fund the massive stadium improvements that Athletics Director Mike Hamilton has in mind for the next several years.
When your wide receivers coach can't even coach the talent we have at wideout to go down the field the needed yardage for a first down, and they run a 2 yards and out route instead of the 6 yards and out route that was needed to make the critical late first down on the first series of downs on what could have been the winning 99-yard drive, they simply must fire Pat Washington. His inept coaching is inexcusable at this level of football. None of UTs receivers can get open enough to catch the ball, nor can they get open enough to do anything with it when they do catch it. That is coaching, pure & simple, teaching them how to properly run routes and get open. The Vols haven't had anyone open on slants, curls, hooks, or in the flat all year to speak of.
UT didn't have to run either Brent Schaeffer or James Banks off the campus. Schaeffer's offenses were no worse than some of the others on the team. They could have worked with him and gotten him tutored and eligible with the required number of hours this past summer. Banks begged to come back. He should have been given at one last chance. Both may have learned their lessons.
On top of that, Schaeffer may come back to bite UT running Urban Meyer's option offense at Florida soon. The lack of the availability of the talents of both these guys are a big loss to the team, but the All-America wideouts the Vols have that arent being coached properly is a mystery. Many of them will play in the NFL but are underachieving due to poor coaching in college. Also inexplicable is the lack of utilization of the UT tight end, who would provide a mismatch in every secondary they have faced.
The home crowd was into the Georgia game from the get-go Saturday. No way the home fans can be blamed for this loss. They were loud & proud. The team and most especially the coaches simply let them down. The crowd got back into and behind them in the second half comeback, too.
For the second straight big SEC East game in a row, Florida and now Georgia, the Vol offense was totally shut down. UTs schemes are far too predictable. Their formations are dead giveaways to everyone now. They desperately need new blood in the Tennessee offense. Sadly, the most it appears anyone can hope for is to bring David Cutcliffe back, as Fulmer won't fire anyone on the offensive coaching staff.
Tennessee hasn't gotten a decent rush on a punter all season. On top of that, they rarely field punts well. They got pinned deep several times in the Georgia game. Precious field position was lost by soft special teams play. That alone could very well have cost UT the game.
Fulmer is at a similar crossroads to Tommy Tuberville when he pulled the trigger, fired a lot of his staff, including both coordinators, and brought it fresh coaching talent. If Fulmer survives, he simply must do the same. This should have been done years ago. He should have been replacing at least a couple of his staff already at a minimum. Now it will require wholesale changes. This season is shot. The Vols could easily slide to 7-4 or 6-5 from being #2 in the nation. They could be the biggest bust of 2005. They have to beat Alabama in order to make the season even respectable in the SEC, which will be one tall order in Tuscaloosa, as they will be smelling blood in several ways. Beating both Bama and Notre Dame now seems to be an impossible dream after the Georgia performance. Still, unless they make massive changes in this coaching staff, things will never get any better for UT football. If Fulmer won't make them, he will have to go, too.
Tennessee and Auburn are barely hanging around in the Top 20 nationally as the third best teams in their respective divisions in the Southeastern Conference, behind Georgia and Florida, respectively, in the East, and Alabama and LSU in the West. Unfortunately for the Vols, they have to face what may be the best team in the West on their home field in Tuscaloosa in two weeks, and then have to go play Notre Dame, a team in the Top 10 nationally, on foreign soil as well in South Bend. That makes the South Carolina game at home in between those two a dangerous one, as UT may be the only quality team that Steve Spurrier, the Ole Ball Coach, can beat in his first year as the head man in Columbia. You can bet the Gamecocks will be sky-high coming into Neyland to face a wounded and demoralized Volunteer team. Watch out for Tommy Wests Memphis squad and a rejuvenated Vanderbilt in the final two home games as well. None of them will be easy now.
With Steve Caldwell and Pat Washington in charge of special teams primarily, there is no wonder why our kicking game is so screwed up. Special teams are coached by a committee of Caldwell, Washington, Trooper Taylor, and John Chavis. However, Caldwell has always been primarily in charge and was assisted by Shane Beamer (Virginia Techs Frank Beamers son) when he was a grad assistant there.
Since Majors was replaced, special teams have been an afterthought at UT, instead of the primary focus the kicking game should be according the General Neyland's maxims. Majors was a triple-threat single wing tailback when he played for Bowden Wyatt, the Generals handpicked successor, in the 1950's. He ran, passed, and was the punter, too. We haven't had anyone holding our kicking game accountable since he was fired.
The head coach is responsible for our abysmal special teams play. We simply must have Phillip get personally involved in that area and find someone else to be in charge of it. Steve Caldwell has no clue how to coach special teams or much of anything else for that matter. I'm beginning to doubt whether Trooper can coach special teams, either. The kickers, kick returners, and kick coverers are not being developed.
Much of the criticism of Randy Sanders focuses on his role as Offensive Coordinator. However, he is only carrying out what Fulmer wants. His postgame comments on Fulmer's own TV show this indicate he would do things differently if he were in charge, but is hampered by what Fulmer requires him to do.
However, it is highly questionable whether Sanders, a former backup quarterback himself, knows how to develop QB's. We haven't had a QB that has improved since Cutcliffe left. Cut knew how to develop QB's. That is a special skill. QB is the key position in the offense that Fulmer wants to run. UT won't be able to keep recruiting top QB's without a coach to develop them.
Take a look at what Mack Brown has done to rebuild the Texas program. When he took over, the "other" UT was at a low ebb. He is considered a snake oil salesman by some, but he is obviously a good recruiter, talked his team into a BCS bowl berth last season, and he has surrounded himself with a better staff than Fulmer has.
Brown is a Tennessee native, grew up in Cookeville, and would be highly motivated to succeed in Knoxville, as he still has the fire in his belly to prove something. He may win a national championship this year at Texas, which would be the prime time to go out on top and move elsewhere.
For that matter, is it out of the realm of possibilities that Spurrier might come back to East Tennessee? Certainly he would find the going a lot easier to win the SEC championship at the Tennessee helm than at South Carolina. The rumor mill will start in earnest soon, so stay tuned.
As everyone knows, Jimmy Ray Stephens was only hired by Spurrier to get Danny Wuerrfel to sign with UF. The only other places Stephens has coached other than UT and UF are Vanguard High, Union County High, Buchholz High, Gonzales Tate High, Williston High, and Fort Walton Beach High, where he coached Danny, all in Florida.
One of the weakest resumes of anyone on the UT staff is Steve Caldwell, a protégé of Larry Lacewell, who has been in charge of our "special" teams for years. Other than UT for 11 years now, and a year at Ole Miss, the only other places he's coached have been Arkansas State, Northwest Mississippi Community College, Pacific, and Nevada.
Still, Pat Washington, who has been at Auburn, Louisiana-Lafayette, TCU, & Baylor before the 11 years he has spent at UT, is the worst coach on our staff. He is the primary backup to Caldwell in "coaching" special teams. Who else in bigtime college football would hire any of these three guys? The answer is no one.
At the very minimum, these three coaches need to be replaced by Fulmer if UT is ever get better. The only coaches he should hang on to for sure are Chavis and Dan Brooks. As for Taylor and Greg Adkins, they appear to be hard-working recruiters but their coaching ability is unclear. That leaves Larry Slade and Sanders. I don't care for the style in which Slade coaches. A more fiery coach is needed for our DB's.
As for Sanders, he may be a good RB or WR coach. He has coached both positions in the past. As an OC, he is simply carrying out what Fulmer wants. The only way the Vols are going to get better on offense is for Fulmer to either bring back Cutcliffe (unlikely, as Cut will most likely take the UK head job in 2006) or get some new blood with fresh ideas that knows how to utilize all of our talented skill players, also unlikely but a better choice to make. Sanders has proven he can't develop QB's but he might be worth keeping as RB or WR coach to reward his loyalty to Fulmer.
All in all, at least half the staff should be replaced, and not necessarily on just the offensive side of the ball. If Fulmer is bold enough to do that after turning in one of the worst flops of the year in 2005 for someone making over $2 million annually, he will see vast improvement of this team over night next spring. Otherwise, he will most likely never win another SEC championship the rest of whatever career he has left at UT.
The bottom line is that Tennessee is a big-time program with a huge budget, top talent, plenty of donors who pour large amounts of cash into it, and facilities to rival anyone. The fans deserve a far better product on the field than they are getting. They consistently recruit talent that is the best or nearly the best in the nation. That talent deserves the best and brightest coaching minds to develop it, but the coaching they receive is no better than average at best. Until and if Fulmer realizes that, busts like last Saturday will continue to happen with regular frequency year after year. How long will that continue to be tolerated?
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