the #Virginia Cavaliers would like to offer Dr. Robert Anae to the Vols. you know he's good because he's a Doctor.
Yes Yes on part 2, part 1 is up for debate. His offenses looked a lot better when he had NFL talent at every position at Bama or a future 1st rd pick at QB with Grier.
1st hotboard from Volquest, no swamp donkey Spoiler CHIP LINDSEY Auburn’s current offensive coordinator is a name that’s going to be thrown around because of his ties to Pruitt going back to the year they spent on staff together at Hoover High School. Like Pruitt, Lindsey has steadily worked his way up through the coaching ranks. He got his first big break when he was hired as an assistant at Auburn in 2013 and parlayed that into the offensive coordinator job at Southern Miss, where he spent two years as part of a new staff that engineered a turnaround in the Golden Eagles’ program. From there, Lindsey went to Arizona State for one season before Guz Malzahn brought Lindsey back as his offensive coordinator prior to the 2017 season. Lindsey is obviously a proponent and product of Malzahn’s system, which is spread oriented and up-tempo, but emphasizes the running game. HUGH FREEZE This is going to be a controversial name given how Freeze exited the Ole Miss program in scandal, both personally and professionally. His credentials as an offensive mind are undeniable though. Freeze put together some high flying offenses at Ole Miss and had more on field, head-to-head success against Nick Saban and the Alabama juggernaut than anyone else has in this league in the last decade. It’s no secret that Freeze would like to get back into coaching and it makes sense that he would like to do so in familiar territory in the SEC. He would be an attractive offensive coordinator for anyone with a vacancy based on his on field track record, but what about the baggage he would bring? There’s no question that his hiring would be controversial in some quarters and there’s some speculation that the SEC office has already discouraged other programs from bringing him on board. Freeze's name is going to come up for all kinds of openings in the coming months, but there are real questions as to whether anyone will be willing to pull the trigger and deal with the public relations fallout. DAN ENOS Currently the quarterbacks coach and associate head coach at Alabama, Enos has a solid reputation in coaching circles. He’s been around, to say the least, working as a coordinator and head coach at all levels. Ironically, he was Butch Jones’ replacement at Central Michigan, serving as the head coach there from 2010-14. After leaving Central Michigan, he served as Arkansas’ offensive coordinator for three seasons before spending this past fall in Tuscaloosa helping to direct Alabama’s explosive offensive attack. Enos has a strong track record for developing quarterbacks and as a position coach, that’s where he’s spent most of his career. He’s served as quarterbacks coach at Alabama, Arkansas, Michigan State, Cincinnati, Western Michigan and North Dakota State on his way up the coaching ladder. Enos spent the 2017 season as a quality control coach at Alabama before being promoted to an on field assistant role in 2018, so he and Pruitt have worked together. It would stand to reason that the two years Enos spent working under Nick Saban would be a point in his favor given Pruitt’s ties to that program and the role Saban played in his own development as a coach. BRYAN McCLENDON McClendon’s name was thrown around a great deal last winter as Pruitt was assembling his staff. At the time he was South Carolina’s co-offensive coordinator, but received a promotion to head offensive coordinator which took his name out of the pool of candidates. Would he be interested in moving on after just one year calling the offensive shots in Columbia? South Carolina’s offense showed improvement in 2018 and it would seem McClendon is in a safe spot with a roster full of guys he’s had a hand in recruiting. He and Pruitt spent two years working together on staff at Georgia, so it’s safe to say that there’s a working knowledge between the two of how they like to go about things. Pruitt spoke glowingly of McClendon prior to the Vols’ facing South Carolina this fall. Would Pruitt be interested in making another run at him? And just as importantly would McClendon be interested in moving on at this point? FREDDIE KITCHENS This is a speculative name to throw out there based on the obvious Alabama ties between Pruitt and the former Tide quarterback currently serving as the Brown’s offensive coordinator. The downside to pursuing Kitchens is that he’s going to be tied up with his current job for another month. It’s also fair to wonder if he’d be interested in moving on from working with promising rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield? However, with Cleveland currently working under an interim head coach, it’s also fair to wonder if Kitchens will be retained next season after what one presumes will be a staff shake up. He’s enhanced his professional reputation with Mayfield’s play this season and not many coaches leave the NFL for the same job at the college level if given the choice. Kitchens hasn't coached at the collegiate level since 2005 either. At this stage it’s at least an intriguing name. JIM BOB COOTER Anytime the Vols have an offensive coordinator opening, the former walk-on quarterback and fan favorite’s name is going to come up. Cooter has been viewed as a rising star in NFL circles based on his work as the Detroit Lion’s offensive coordinator, a job he’s held for the past four seasons. Cooter hasn’t worked in the college ranks since spending two seasons as a graduate assistant under Phillip Fulmer in 2007-08. He hooked up as an offensive assistant with Indianapolis in 2009 and has been in the NFL ever since, steadily moving up the ranks. Even if first-year head coach Matt Patricia looks to make some staff changes after his initial season in Detroit it seems likely that, given his reputation, Cooter would have no problem finding work with another NFL team. As with Kitchens, this is someone you’d have to wait more than a month on, and the same question exist, would he be interested in moving back down to the college level? WILL FRIEND Pruitt and Friend’s history goes all the way back to their time as college roommates. The two also worked on the same staff together at Georgia before Friend left with Mike Bobo to be Colorado State’s offensive coordinator. Friend had a heavy-hand in Tennessee’s offensive game planning this fall by all accounts and there would obviously be some familiarity and continuity that came along with that hire. It’s safe to assume that Pruitt and Friend have some similar thoughts on what they want to get done offensively. Would promoting someone from within after the way the Vols struggled on offense this fall be viewed as a good hire though? That might be a tough sell, but I wouldn’t look for Pruitt to make this hire based on public sentiment. It seems unlikely that Friend is the top candidate at this time but it’s probably safe to keep him in mind as a potential replacement for Helton.
I was a fan of them promoting him to start with. Took them from like 111th in total offense and 97th in scoring offense to 38th and 37th. And he's averaging 500+ ypg and 40+ ppg in the last four games (Ole Miss, Florida, UTC, Clemson).
No, he was a mushchamp recruit, which is allegedly part of the reason he pushed Grier out because he “wanted one of his guys” at qb.
Does #Tennessee Volunteers return most of their team next year and will look halfway decent? Or be starting a bunch of freshman....?
There will first be a purge. Could be 5-10 players leave or more. They lose a lot in their front 7 on defense and don’t have a ton of talent behind them that’s ready. Their secondary is young but talented and probably got better more than any other unit as the year progressed. Their OL are basically 5 turnstiles. Trey Smith who is not a turnstile wasn’t the same this year with the blood clotting and is an unknown moving forward. JG is better than average but it won’t matter due to the OL issues. Their RBs are young and pretty talented but no true standout. They have a pretty good TE and their team strength is probably at WR as long as neither Jennings or Calloway leave. In an ideal world they grab 3-4 OL in the JUCO ranks and some DL too but they need to develop young talent for the long haul and not continue to bandaid everything. Sources: I live in Tennessee and work with and know both level headed and absolutely out of their mind unrealistic with expectations UT fans. My take is somehow in the middle of both.
Some do. Some of us think he was vastly overrated--we won a lot of games back then in spite of our offense. Though, he never had a great QB to work with either.
Mac called two of my most memorable Saban era games to almost perfection—2009 Florida SECCG, and 2011 LSU Part Deux BCSNCG. He had a perfect combination and balance of run, pass, and misdirection in the former, and his decision to come out against LSU in the spread to start the game and get the offense in an early rhythm and confident in the latter were huge. He also couldn’t recruit, didn’t like working long hours, and couldn’t get a head coach gig quickly because he sucked at interviewing.
Tennessee’s athletics director saw a couple of offensive linemen who he thought needed coaching during a drill last fall. So Fulmer, the former Vols coach, jumped in and coached them up. That’s an NCAA violation. Fulmer’s mistake was among eight NCAA violations that Tennessee reported during the last six months of 2018. UT released a report detailing the violations to USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee in response to a public records request