Tennessee: Trouble Hiring a Football Coach at 3-4 Million a Year. Obtain Dooley

With over 100 thousand orange and white clad fans, screaming, praying and rooting for their beloved football team to enter the orange and white painted end zones and seize victory away from their foes on the gridiron, the tradition rich Tennessee Volunteer football program, with six national titles is among the elite in all time rankings. Finding a big time coach, however, has become an echo of rejection.

 

Tennessee is ninth on the list of all-time winningest major college programs as well as second on the list of winningest SEC programs, just behind Alabama Crimson Tide. The Volunteers have the third most bowl appearances and are fourth in bowl game victories. Their last National championship was in 1998.

 

Big name coaches are turning down Tennesee’s lucrative offer to become the schools new football head coach. Candidates are being offered $3-4 million to coach the Voluenteers.

Turning down the coaching job are notable winning coaches, such as, Jon Gruden, formerly the head football coach of the Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Bucaneers of the NFL. Gruden won a Super Bowl with the Bucs. Will Muschamp defensive coordinator of Texas, Michigan coach Rick Rodriguez, Roy Calhoun of the Air Force, David Cutcliffe of Duke, and Kyle Whittingham of Utah to name some of the coaches that have gave a resounding no to Tennesee football.

The natures of the replies are a brilliant way to say no. Most often quoted, the reply is stated as, “I am happy where I am at and looking forward to building a tradition at my current school.”

It is my contention that there are deeper underlying problems that keep these competitive men from accepting the honor-and millions to coach Tennessee. The Southeastern Conference is the best, team for team, conference in college football. The other conferences of college football have some outstanding teams, but none can match the quality or depth of the SEC.

St. Nick doesn’t like Tennesee. I am not referring to Santa Claus, but none other than Nick Saban, of the Alabama Crimson Tide. Nick has built a powerhouse at Alabama. With his recruiting skills, and Alabama’s traditions, don’t expect Alabama to be out of the top 20 for years.

Gators- Even if Urban Meyer doesn’t resume full head coaching duties, still expect the Gators to rule the swamp. The Florida Gators are loaded with great athletes and five star recruits. Alabama and Florida games will usually be for the SEC Championship. If Urban does step down, Florida will not have the same problem as Tennesee in luring a coach to Gainesville.

Auburn coach Gene Chizik has put together two top ten recruiting classes. Expect the Tigers to begin to ascend in the tough SEC.

The Georgia Bulldogs lost to Tennesee this past year. Georgia teams are usually rich in talent. If the ‘Dawgs’ don’t start trending up in the win column expect the Bulldogs to rethink their coaching proposition in the next few years. Mark Richt currently owns a .769 winning percentage, however, somehow he has fell short of expectations. Georgia also received plenty of rejection looking for a defensive coordinator. Todd Grantham, who coaches defensive linemen for the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, agreed to a three-year contract worth $750,000 annually.

The other teams in the SEC on any given year could potentially explode onto the national scene. South Carolina, Arkansas, LSU and Mississippi, all have the potential to fill the missing pieces and make a run at the SEC championship.

A well respected and successful coach, with millions of dollars at stake has to consider the fact, is it worth the risk to try and rebuild Tennesee football in college footballs toughest conference. The answer for many has been its better to stay where they are at. The odds are much better at having a winning season than a mediocre season.

Derek Dooley, son of Georgia legendary coach, Vince Dooley, has agreed to become the head coach at Tennesee. Dooley resigned from Louisiana Tech to tackle the coaching duties at Tennesee. He has promised to bring class integrity back to Knoxville.

He went 17-20 in three seasons at Louisiana Tech and was the only coach in major college football to also serve as the athletic director. He holds a law degree and previously worked for several years under Nick Saban at LSU and with the Miami Dolphins.

Tennesee finally got to the “bottom of the barrel” and found their man. Dooley may be more ambitious than the situation warrants; if he pulls Tennesee out of their recent doldrums a new legend will be born. The odds are against him. Perhaps the other coaches that turned down the job didn’t need a law degree to understand that the SEC is America’s toughest college football conference. But then again, from Louisiana Tech to Tennesee Volunteer football, is one giant step from obscurity to the summit of college footballs ninth most successful team.

 

 

The Vols play at historic Neyland Staduim, where Tennessee has an all-time winning record of 422 games, the second-highest home-field total in college football history for any school in the nation at its current home venue. Only Georgia Tech (Bobby Dodd Stadium), which opened in 1913, eight years before the 1921 opening of Neyland, has hosted more victories (428) for its team. Additionally, the Stadium is currently the third biggest in the United States and the largest in the South, after a total of 16 expansion projects raised Neyland’s official capacity to 104, 079 seats currently.

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