Best DC in Tennessee history

#26
#26
Johnnyreb#VFL said:
Well we know statistically, the WORST dc in Tennessee history is Shoop....
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Nope. Sunseri gave up 471 yards per game in 2012, and this season it was 449.

Scoring D was 35.7 points per game in 2012 for 104th in the country, and this season it was 28.8, which was actually only 68th in the country (I thought it was a lot worse myself).

I'll grant you that the Vandy game reminded me of Sunseri and maybe even Kentucky, but there is really no comparing Shoop to Sunseri.

Hell, Donahue was likely worse in 88, although those stats are harder to find.
 
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#27
#27
Was it Bob Keisling that commented about the D finally getting talent to compete with Spurrier in the late 90's?

How many remember the year we were low on recievers because all of the recievers were moved to play cornerbacks?
 
#28
#28
The Dog said:
Although he wasn't here long, Wilcox got more out of less, imo
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Wilcox was very good. He just wasn't here long enough to be in the running. He was smart enough to bail at the right time.
I like chavez. I hope Shoop makes me forget about Chavez.
 
#29
#29
81Orange said:
Wilcox was very good. He just wasn't here long enough to be in the running. He was smart enough to bail at the right time.
I like chavez. I hope Shoop makes me forget about Chavez.[

I liked Wilcox as well. Would like to know what really went on between him and Chuck Smith though. I think Smith would have given us some tough DL had he stayed.
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#33
#33
IknoxvolsI said:
I always remember cringing if the game was close. Especially if he put in the prevent defense. Seemed that defense prevented us from winning a few times. Namely UGA and FLA.

Monty seemed to do well. At first I didn't like Berry being moved up to rover but it seemed to work out well.

Donahue did well till everybody figured out how to play against that D then it was all over.
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Nobody figured out how to play against it, we just quit running it.

The '85 season turned around long about the Florida game (I know, I know...we lost that one) when Majors let Donahue do his thing. For the rest of the season we were marauders, blitzing like mad, chewing up everything in our path. Man, it was beautiful. Majors, who could pull a tie from the jaws of victory better than any coach I've ever seen, did it twice and cost us the National Championship.

Started '86 a little sluggish against New Mexico, but the big moment was in the Mississippi State game, when we blitzed Don Smith late in the game, a couple of guys got tangled up and Smith broke a long one to win the game. You could feel the air go out of the team. Majors, who was always afraid of blitzing, got to do an "I told you so" (despite the '85 season) and the defense quit looking like a Donahue defense from that point on. We became passive, which is NOT what Ken Donahue was known for.
 
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#34
#34
Back to the original question, though. Maybe Neyland, but it was a different era and defense was the norm. For a single year, Donahue in '85 was the best I ever saw. Doug Dickey's defenses were consistently dominant. We won quite a few games with defense alone; I'm not completely sure Dickey knew the forward pass was legal. His DC was a guy named Vince Gibson for the first 3 or 4 years, but I don't know who it was in the late '60's. Whoever it was is who I think was the best.

There was also Battle's first team (1970) that picked off 36 passes. I don't know who that DC was (could have been a holdover from Dickey), but Buddy Bennett was the DB coach and, by all accounts, gets credit for those numbers since his ETSU teams did exactly the same thing.
 
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#35
#35
ajvol01 said:
Ken Donahue only lasted 4 seasons.

2 of which were highly disappointing (86, 88).

Best ever? Hardly
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And his '85 and '87 defensive teams where he got MORE from LESS than any defensive coach I can remember. And he gave us one of the greatest game performances ever in the '86 Sugar Bowl against the convicts of Miami...

Chavis couldn't coach up and adjust to a 2nd team QB in the 2001 Sugar Bowl with the NC game on the line....

Chavis put a LOT of very good defenses on the field--but he had a lot of NFL TALENT to work with, too! However, he always seemed to pull defeat from the jaws of victory by giving up late 4th QTR drives in losses.

Personally--I was NEVER comfortable with him late in games unless we were up at least 2 scores...
 
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#36
#36
BanditVol said:
Nope. Sunseri gave up 471 yards per game in 2012, and this season it was 449.

Scoring D was 35.7 points per game in 2012 for 104th in the country, and this season it was 28.8, which was actually only 68th in the country (I thought it was a lot worse myself).

I'll grant you that the Vandy game reminded me of Sunseri and maybe even Kentucky, but there is really no comparing Shoop to Sunseri.

Hell, Donahue was likely worse in 88, although those stats are harder to find.
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394 yards/gm 26 points/gm

1988 Vol Stats
 
#37
#37
CAVPUT said:
In the "modern" era, I'll go with Ken.
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Donahue closed out games better than Chavis. In a close contest, Chavis and his two minute defense could snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and get the opposing OC into the hall of fame in one night. And that was with some of the most talented defenders Tennessee ever had.

I know Chief is a former Vol and helped win a national title. I respect him for that, but Donahue got the most out of some lesser talented guys. If I am assembling a staff, Donahue is my first hire.
 
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#38
#38
papatomany said:
Back to the original question, though. Maybe Neyland, but it was a different era and defense was the norm. For a single year, Donahue in '85 was the best I ever saw. Doug Dickey's defenses were consistently dominant. We won quite a few games with defense alone; I'm not completely sure Dickey knew the forward pass was legal. His DC was a guy named Vince Gibson for the first 3 or 4 years, but I don't know who it was in the late '60's. Whoever it was is who I think was the best.

There was also Battle's first team (1970) that picked off 36 passes. I don't know who that DC was (could have been a holdover from Dickey), but Buddy Bennett was the DB coach and, by all accounts, gets credit for those numbers since his ETSU teams did exactly the same thing.
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I am not so sure that late 60s DC was such a genius. How smart do you have to be to just let Reynolds do what he did? How the Hell that man played his entire NFL career in California and was not picked up by Al Davis and the Raiders is strange. Throw him into the mix with those lunatics? Holy Hell!
 
#39
#39
MikeVol44 said:
And his '85 and '87 defensive teams where he got MORE from LESS than any defensive coach I can remember. And he gave us one of the greatest game performances ever in the '86 Sugar Bowl against the convicts of Miami...

Chavis couldn't coach up and adjust to a 2nd team QB in the 2001 Sugar Bowl with the NC game on the line....

Chavis put a LOT of very good defenses on the field--but he had a lot of NFL TALENT to work with, too! However, he always seemed to pull defeat from the jaws of victory by giving up late 4th QTR drives in losses.

Personally--I was NEVER comfortable with him late in games unless we were up at least 2 scores...
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in the SEC title games in the dome. That 2001 loss was one of our worst in decades. Great team that choked away a chance to play for the national title.
 
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#43
#43
Remy said:
I'm in the Donahue pool. Chavis, really like him, but Spurrier owned him, no can do for best of all time as UT DC for that reason alone. Shoop is 1-0 against the gators, Chavis was what 1 or 2 to a gazillion? lol
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His defense in the Sugar Bowl against Miami was superior for that one game. He made his name as the DC at Alabama where he was outstanding. I was happy to see him come back and coach where he played. If he had coached here for his entire carrier, I would rate him better than anyone other than Neyland.
 
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#44
#44
papatomany said:
Nobody figured out how to play against it, we just quit running it.

The '85 season turned around long about the Florida game (I know, I know...we lost that one) when Majors let Donahue do his thing. For the rest of the season we were marauders, blitzing like mad, chewing up everything in our path. Man, it was beautiful. Majors, who could pull a tie from the jaws of victory better than any coach I've ever seen, did it twice and cost us the National Championship.

Started '86 a little sluggish against New Mexico, but the big moment was in the Mississippi State game, when we blitzed Don Smith late in the game, a couple of guys got tangled up and Smith broke a long one to win the game. You could feel the air go out of the team. Majors, who was always afraid of blitzing, got to do an "I told you so" (despite the '85 season) and the defense quit looking like a Donahue defense from that point on. We became passive, which is NOT what Ken Donahue was known for.
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"old timer" going back just a little further, I seem to remember some fairly good defenses in the mid to late 50's.(off and on) Never worried about coaches back then, just wins and losses. We had some trouble with ole miss as I can remember (Vaught teams) but overall seemed to play pretty consistent defense. Who was the d coach when we knockoff LSU ( the "chinese bandit " team?).
 
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#45
#45
BanditVol said:
Nope. Sunseri gave up 471 yards per game in 2012, and this season it was 449.

Scoring D was 35.7 points per game in 2012 for 104th in the country, and this season it was 28.8, which was actually only 68th in the country (I thought it was a lot worse myself).

I'll grant you that the Vandy game reminded me of Sunseri and maybe even Kentucky, but there is really no comparing Shoop to Sunseri.

Hell, Donahue was likely worse in 88, although those stats are harder to find.
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Based on these stats, if we swapped this years defense with 2012's defense, that 2012 team wins 10 or 11 games considering how many one possession or close games they lost.

That offense may have been the best in the SEC in a long time considering the number of NFL players it produced. The entire O line alone was good enough to make NFL practice squads at the worst.
 
#46
#46
Biopsyman said:
He also made Ryan Perribloux look like Tom Brady in the SEC championship.
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Ryan Perrilloux was the QB for the 2007 LSU team in the SEC Championship. LSU only won 21-14 (the deciding points came on a pick 6) so it wasn't Perrilloux that won the game for them.

Now Matt Mauck in 2001 is a completely different story...
 
#48
#48
BigOrangeMojo said:
Ryan Perrilloux was the QB for the 2007 LSU team in the SEC Championship. LSU only won 21-14 (the deciding points came on a pick 6) so it wasn't Perrilloux that won the game for them.

Now Matt Mauck in 2001 is a completely different story...
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I thought he came in for Rohan Davey
 
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#49
#49
Whoever was DC when we gave up 0 points all year in late 30's. That may be the best DC of all time in CFB.
 
#50
#50
VOLINVONORE said:
His defense in the Sugar Bowl against Miami was superior for that one game. He made his name as the DC at Alabama where he was outstanding. I was happy to see him come back and coach where he played. If he had coached here for his entire carrier, I would rate him better than anyone other than Neyland.
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TRUE...and '85 Sugar Vols started out as an absolute PATHETIC defense in their performance against UCLA. People forget that they gave up 16 points late in the 4th QTR to force a TIE...

But, Donahue took that terrible performance and coached 'em up to improve! So, by the time #1 Auburn came to K-town with BO JACKSON--they shut them down and held them under control until the game was over...

And there were NOT a lot of NFL all-pros on that defense--or even all SEC guys....somehow, Donahue got the MOST out of that bunch of no names....

There is no doubt that Neyland was one of the greatest of all time....and his name would be way up there if not for his duty and service to the Army interrupted his collegiate coaching career.

But Donahue was truly exceptional--in preparation and game performances. I just can't say that about Chavis--
 
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