Swain not impressed with Wells hire.

[81Orange]

So, we have the following hires by our fearless leader Butch Jones.

Walt Wells: 20 years plus in coaching who has never coached at a major school and was relegated to taking a back burner role after leaving Eastern KY this past season.

Mike Canales: couldn't land the HC job at North Texas or even the OC job at his alma mater of Utah State. Another long time coach that topped out in the mid majors basically. His claim to fame is developing the passing motion of Phillip Rivers.

Brady Hoke: has managed to flame out in rather spectacular fashion at Michigan and put a worse defense on the field for Oregon last season than the Vols.

Charlton Warren: snagged an up and comer from NC after forcing everyone to suffer through 4 years of Martinez.

Rock Gullickson: snagged him from one of the absolute worst teams in the NFL in the form of the Rams after getting into it with his former long time S&C guy Dave Lawson.

Moved Stripling into a perfunctory football development role to keep him around.


Much like Jones' record at TN, it looks like another round of barely being above average.

Hoke and Warren should be upgrades in coaching and recruiting.

Canales and Wells seem put in place to provide absolutely no challenge to Jones authority or to provide any semblance of a fresh perspective for the offense.

Gullickson ostensibly cant be any worse than what they had last season but who really knows how a long time NFL guy will mesh with college players.

Swain isn't the only one not impressed.

Not a fair assessment.

You act as if we are AL with an unlimited budget. We are not, so Butch has to find some coaches that provide bang for the buck. In these hires you can see he went for people he knows. He has also hired coaches to use their strengths.

Hoke had some failures but not in coaching the DLine. DLine is his strength. He will be great.

Same with Canales. Failures at OC/HC but strength in coaching QB. Compare Canales resume to other QB coaches in the SEC and you will see he is not so bad. It is hard to produce a hismen winner in the lower level programs.

Only negas have said anything bad about Gullickson. I like this hire. His NFL experience has to be a plus in recruiting. He has a track record of sucess, not failure as you suggest.

I am a bit underwhelmed at the Wells hire but I believe he was hired in the QC role as a backup for Mahoney. I really like him on the recruiting side. He did well this cycle. We got some decent linemen when we haven't utilized what we have very well. If he is even an average position coach it is an upgrade. He's been here long enough for Butch to assess him. I got to believe in his QC role he has identified our problems.

Defense has cause the Vol nation problems since Butch arrived. You can see that is where Butch put the $. Quit complaining about the offense when D is the problem.

Read the resumes of the staff at other SEC programs and you'll see we match up well with all but AL.

 

[utvolpj]

Fans and Butch keep using that as way of defending Debord but those numbers are skewed because of the numbers we put up the last 4 games against Vandy,UK,Mizzou and TN Tech. 4 horrid defense's. We had 5 games this year we didn't even get 400 yards and 6 we didn't get over 404 total yards. With 4 of those we got less that 330 total yards.The first games we were 5-3,averaged 29 pts and 381 total yards..but add in those last 4 games again horrible defense's and they bumped our average from 29 to 36 pts a game and 381 to 437 yards game. We were never consistent under Debord.

Nothing is skewed as there have always been vandy, UK, Mizzou/ole Miss/USCe and a few cupcakes. Those teams were even worse in years past

 

[VAVolsFan2009]

There were numerous reports that the OL was overweight and out of shape during last preseason. Once games started, the issues were there for all to see. It's obvious that the preseason S&C program was not getting it done. The "player lead team" was failing. Enter Gullickson. I'm venturing a guess that the life of the entire team will get significantly more intense this preseason. Having an OL coach who is known and respected by the OL will help everyone adapt to the transition and raise their game. I'm sure Wells knows the game and can teach OL techniques. Once games start, we will see if the Gullickson/ Wells combination will be successful. I actually think that we will see improvement.

 

[jasonvol18]

I wouldn't say I'm "impressed" by it either. The data we have to rely on is at smaller schools and he was most recently in a QC role.

I'd say much like Scott, he's all we could get. Doesn't mean he'll be bad, but it's not like we stole Ohio State's O line coach.

Critical season for Butch, I'm hoping for the best.

It definitely wasn't all we could get. Was something Butch was comfortable with and settled on. But every hire was atleast an upgrade although it wouldn't have been hard to upgrade those position coach's.

 

[jasonvol18]

You mean the offensive coordinator that just led the Tennessee offense to the most total yards and most touchdowns in school history. Is that the one you are talking about here?:good!:

You need to look further into those numbers.As I posted earlier we had 5 games we didn't get over 357 total yards and 6 we had 404 yards or less.Just sayn..

 

[BaldBiker]

(name withheld) served as linebacker coach and defensive coordinator for the Vols freshman team in 1973 before moving to Wichita State University the following season. He spent five years at Wichita State, where he coached the offensive line in 1974 and 1977–1978 and served as linebacker coach in 1975–1976. He followed those years with a one-season stint at Vanderbilt, serving as an aide to Commodores head coach George MacIntyre.

Beginning in 1980, (name withheld) served 13 years as a Vols assistant coach, initially as the offensive line coach, and then as the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach.

If you weren't able to figure out who this is by name, what would you think of this resume prior to 1980? What would you think of the fact that this man had NO big time O-line coaching experience prior to 1980. No OC experience at all and no HC experience at all prior to when he actually did it at TN.

Prior to coming to UT, he was the aide to a Vandy HC.

Reserve judgement until you see for yourself what Wells can do with the opportunity that has been given to him.

 

[jakez4ut]

I don't disagree. I think the real issue is lack of experience. It, like several of the off season hires, seem like "taking what we can get". Understandable after coming up short in what should have been a year that saw us in Atlanta.

This guy may be great. I hope he is. No way to know based on his history however. He should not be judged solely on the QC position however.

eh, he has experience, just not top level, power 5 type experience. WKU o line coach for, what, 10 years or so? that just is what it is, not trying to make it more than that.

as for the taking what we can get, i dunno. i've never believed, especially on the offensive side of the ball, that CBJ strays too far away from "home". so i don't necessarily buy in to the notion that he was shooting for the stars, only to have been turned away at each step forcing him to settle for Scott, Canales, and Wells.

i think he got what HE wanted, ultimately.

 

['Boro-vol]

eh, he has experience, just not top level, power 5 type experience. WKU o line coach for, what, 10 years or so? that just is what it is, not trying to make it more than that.

as for the taking what we can get, i dunno. i've never believed, especially on the offensive side of the ball, that CBJ strays too far away from "home". so i don't necessarily buy in to the notion that he was shooting for the stars, only to have been turned away at each step forcing him to settle for Scott, Canales, and Wells.

i think he got what HE wanted, ultimately.

No doubt on the last point. He may have considered somebody else if he could have gotten them, but he's likely more comfortable with this choice for his own reasons.

 

[jakez4ut]

No doubt on the last point. He may have considered somebody else if he could have gotten them, but he's likely more comfortable with this choice for his own reasons.

i think he could have hired Chris Weinke over Canales.

i don't think the OC job ever got too awfully serious with anyone else, though it does appear that there was more effort put in to interviewing potential candidates.

no clue what was done as far as the O line is concerned....never heard a real peep about potential candidates, interviews etc....my gut says it was just a 'wait til after NSD, we have the guy already here'...but that's just me speculating.

or maybe that's just what i want to believe. i mean, really, do i wanna know if we talked to a bunch of other candidates and they all said no thanks? been down that road before, it's not fun.

ignorance is bliss and all.......

 

['Boro-vol]

i think he could have hired Chris Weinke over Canales.

i don't think the OC job ever got too awfully serious with anyone else, though it does appear that there was more effort put in to interviewing potential candidates.

no clue what was done as far as the O line is concerned....never heard a real peep about potential candidates, interviews etc....my gut says it was just a 'wait til after NSD, we have the guy already here'...but that's just me speculating.

or maybe that's just what i want to believe. i mean, really, do i wanna know if we talked to a bunch of other candidates and they all said no thanks? been down that road before, it's not fun.

ignorance is bliss and all.......

Got a little "inside baseball" on Weinke. They wanted him, and he apparently wanted to be here. There was a number of central Florida High Schools that said he'd never be able to recruit their kids. He's not liked down there due to some IMG issues.

 

[chargervol]

Fans and Butch keep using that as way of defending Debord but those numbers are skewed because of the numbers we put up the last 4 games against Vandy,UK,Mizzou and TN Tech. 4 horrid defense's. We had 5 games this year we didn't even get 400 yards and 6 we didn't get over 404 total yards. With 4 of those we got less that 330 total yards.The first games we were 5-3,averaged 29 pts and 381 total yards..but add in those last 4 games again horrible defense's and they bumped our average from 29 to 36 pts a game and 381 to 437 yards game. We were never consistent under Debord.

Oh, so we don't always play Vandy, Kentucky and non P5 schools?

If I was going to make an argument, I would say that we run more plays now. But pointing out that we gained more yards against softer teams?, well that's what we've always done along with every other school in the country.

 

[UTwick]

Said that Wells was one of 3 OL Coaches last year with Mahoney and Debord.
Swain says if all 3 put out a bad product last year, how will now just one of them coaching alone put out a better product.

Hope through continuity with coaching. 3 becomes 1.

 

[jbr82]

There are about a dozen or so posters on here who are never impressed with anything about Tennessee sports. Ignore them and move on. Swain really tries to stir the pot because that is the only thing he does well. Of all the bad sports show hosts, he is close the the bottom, just ahead of Will West.

More than a dozen. If you only want flowers and rainbows....then you need to find a safe space imo. Swain likes the OC hire. But God forbid he doesn't like the OL hire.

 

[volfannbama]

The comment is ridiculous. And I explained why. Acting as if he was a lesser O-line coach than Mahoney and Debord because Butch didn't give him a bigger role as the season rolled on has a video game feel to it. It was Wells first year at UT and he was hired as a quality control coach. No head coach is going to make that move midseason.

I know nothing about the guy, my point is its reasonable not to be very excited about a guy that has been on staff under someone as we watch the oline struggle. The guy may end up being the greatest oline coach ever, but in my opinion, acting like we just hired the savior of oline coaches is nothing more than an attempt to convince ourselves that we will be better next year. But then again, as vols fans, thats what we have become accustom to, kings of the off season.

 

[Skullbone]

Being no one knows a dang thing about how it will play out I prefer to remain optimistic. Is there anyone among us who believes Wells will be worse than Mahoney? I don't. So that leaves us with an equal to or better than OL coach while simultaneously boosting critical instate recruiting all at a discount price. It's a win, win, win situation. I have a feeling we'll have a better line this year and everyone will be glad we didn't waste another half million on a big name with similar or even possibly worse results.

 

[Spaz35]

Guys, Coaching ball is coaching ball. There are not new schemes that have not been seen before. Here is what I know from following Wells is entire career. He got more production from lesser talent than any coach (in any sport) that I have seen. Obviously, this is my opinion from being close to his career. So, he has seen every scheme possible from the defensive side. He now will have better players to attack with. If you look at his offensive line production from the day he started coaching until now you will notice he has been extremely productive. I have no skin in the game with any of this, but I can almost guarantee that you will be extremely, extremely pleased with the offensive production this fall. In my opinion, Tennessee could not have done any better on offensive line coach. Big names sometimes just had big breaks but doesn't mean they can get their guys to perform. On recruiting, watch what happens....he will own middle Tennessee. Alabama, Georgia and whomever will have a tough time taking kids from Middle Tennessee. This guy is loved by high school coaches. Good luck to the Vols this year but I really believe people are going to be very pleased with the oline.

 

[butchna]

More than a dozen. If you only want flowers and rainbows....then you need to find a safe space imo. Swain likes the OC hire. But God forbid he doesn't like the OL hire.

Flowers-check
Rainbows-check
Safe space-check
God forbid-check

Just missing- sheep,worshipping Butch and inferior fans embracing mediocrity. :compute:

 

[VOLINVONORE]

Guys, Coaching ball is coaching ball. There are not new schemes that have not been seen before. Here is what I know from following Wells is entire career. He got more production from lesser talent than any coach (in any sport) that I have seen. Obviously, this is my opinion from being close to his career. So, he has seen every scheme possible from the defensive side. He now will have better players to attack with. If you look at his offensive line production from the day he started coaching until now you will notice he has been extremely productive. I have no skin in the game with any of this, but I can almost guarantee that you will be extremely, extremely pleased with the offensive production this fall. In my opinion, Tennessee could not have done any better on offensive line coach. Big names sometimes just had big breaks but doesn't mean they can get their guys to perform. On recruiting, watch what happens....he will own middle Tennessee. Alabama, Georgia and whomever will have a tough time taking kids from Middle Tennessee. This guy is loved by high school coaches. Good luck to the Vols this year but I really believe people are going to be very pleased with the oline.

Welcome to the board. Thanks for your insight on Coach Wells. I also believe he will be a good coach and recruiter.

 

[MADISONGAVOL]

Article on volquest has highschool coaches in Tennessee and some in roadsome in Kentucky gushing over this guy.....great to hear...says he's hard nosed very detailed person should expect very physical line

 

[Volunteer forever]

I don't really care what Swain says. I just want to know if Turkey man approves of the hire!

 

[Ertel]

Not a fair assessment.

You act as if we are AL with an unlimited budget. We are not, so Butch has to find some coaches that provide bang for the buck. In these hires you can see he went for people he knows. He has also hired coaches to use their strengths.

Hoke had some failures but not in coaching the DLine. DLine is his strength. He will be great.

Same with Canales. Failures at OC/HC but strength in coaching QB. Compare Canales resume to other QB coaches in the SEC and you will see he is not so bad. It is hard to produce a hismen winner in the lower level programs.

Only negas have said anything bad about Gullickson. I like this hire. His NFL experience has to be a plus in recruiting. He has a track record of sucess, not failure as you suggest.

I am a bit underwhelmed at the Wells hire but I believe he was hired in the QC role as a backup for Mahoney. I really like him on the recruiting side. He did well this cycle. We got some decent linemen when we haven't utilized what we have very well. If he is even an average position coach it is an upgrade. He's been here long enough for Butch to assess him. I got to believe in his QC role he has identified our problems.

Defense has cause the Vol nation problems since Butch arrived. You can see that is where Butch put the $. Quit complaining about the offense when D is the problem.

Read the resumes of the staff at other SEC programs and you'll see we match up well with all but AL.

This is waaaay to reasonable for the football forum haha. Agree wholeheartedly with your opinion here. How can someone say anything about Hoke being a bad HC and bad D coordinator when hes not trying to do either of those things here? Its a stupid conclusion to draw from totally different situations. The facts on Hoke are that he was DL coach on a National Championship team where he also recruited and landed that dude that just won his 5th superbowl on Sunday. He also had consistent top 5-8 classes as the HC at Michigan, three of which are Dlinemen who are expected to be drafted in April. Sounds like hes exactly what we need,A DEFENSIVE LINE COACH who can recruit and perform.

 

[nash101]

It definitely wasn't all we could get. Was something Butch was comfortable with and settled on. But every hire was atleast an upgrade although it wouldn't have been hard to upgrade those position coach's.

How can all these hires be upgrades? I thought we had the best coaching staff in America! 😂😂

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

Your first mistake is listening to Swain.

Wells isnt going to step on the toes of the OC or OL coach to tell them they should teach different.

People think any former Vol player is automatically right. Especially when they are critical about something Butch does. I say give Wells a chance. Nobody really knows what kind of job he will do. I for one hope he does a great job. It seems like Swain is just negative toward everything regarding Butch.

 

[sjt18]

Wisdom passed down from on high by another expert with an unbelievable string of success coaching his 8 year olds' flag football team, not to mention his four year career as the waterboy for his HS football team

Which begs the question.... what are YOUR professional bona fides that make you qualified to judge him?

This is a discussion board. Don't like hearing strong opinions from people who aren't professional coaches?... just watch sportscenter. Otherwise, pretty much everyone here is as qualified to state an opinion as you are to condemn them for not having enough expertise to do so.

 

[sjt18]

I can definitely see this line of reasoning. Jones has alluded to having the offense scripted several times before and we know who is penning it.

By risky, it's another hire that probably doesn't bring anything new to the table though.

In spite of the OL and other seemingly obvious weaknesses and inconsistencies... Jones seems to believe his O system is "fine". Statistically, they are. The problem IMO is that Jones thinks this success was more his system than the players... I doubt that's true. OL play has stank every year since his staff started to have a real impact. The O was not good until Dobbs took over and started bailing it out with his running ability.