Chaney:
Humble. Exceptionally well-organized. Can talk to anyone anywhere in any setting. Stealthy smart. Not too proud to think he can't learn something at any time from any one. Willing to fill any role needed. Incredibly loyal. Imaginative, but also can be repetitive with play calling. In other words, if he sees the D is lining up 10 yards off the line and the 5-10 yard in or out are 'gimmes', he's not afraid to chuck to a kid with good hands, treating it like an extended hand-off, 4-6 times in a row, or however long it takes the D to start guarding it. Really can't argue with that...kinda the old 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' rule.
Jim played DT for NW Missouri State and was all-league...he was not gifted with a ton of athleticism, so he had to work his butt off.
Tireless recruiter. Remember that he's had to recruit kids to such places as Western Michigan, Wyoming (ugh...talk about desolate), and Purdue....all places that had little natural recruiting advantages if any at all, with much smaller fan bases and support. To recruit to Tennessee will be a dream come true for Chaney, imo. I mean, my gosh, Purdue is lucky to get any more than 2-3 4* recruits per year, and you guys already have 8 four-star recruits...almost HALF...and barely have a coaching staff!.
I do remember when he left that Tiller and all the other coaches commented that they were going to miss his organizational skills when it came to recruiting and how it allowed them to be much more thorough and efficient.
Also, don't be surprised to see him get Lane to bring in Scott Olson as the QB coach. They coached together at Purdue and St. Louis. Olson is a great talker, and knows his position. However, I'm not as big a fan of his as I am of Chaney. Olson came into Purdue and, imo, walked into Drew Brees coming into his Soph. year, making him look a lot better than maybe he deserved, imo. He got offered by Mariucci in SF to come out and coach Garcia and was Garcia's coach during Garcia's break-out year, so he got a ton more credit, then a year later Mariucci is fired, so Olson comes limping back to Purdue and Tiller believes him when he says he'll stay for longer this time (Olson's wife at the time was the Purdue track coach, so they did a long-distance thing). Tiller let his other asst.s, including Chaney, talk him into taking him back as TE's coach. Olson took it, then bolted after a year to be the Bears QB coach for Jaraun...going back on his word, and screwing over Chaney. Olson (this is all my opinion, mind you), returned the favor when he was hired by Scott Linehan in St. Louis to be 'Asst. OC' along with Linehan, and got Chaney a job as an asst. o-line coach when the natives where growing restless with Chaney here at Purdue. IMO, he took way too much heat at Purdue, though nothing I'm sure, as compared to how it will be at Tenn. if he doesn't produce.
However, he's always wanted to see what he'd be able to do with 'athletes like those' and now he's going to get his chance.
Personally, I hope he succeeds like hell. He's worked his ass off every where he's been and he's always been loyal.
