Doug Mathews

[KBVol]

Like I said earlier, love his show, but I noticed he played football at Vanderbilt and even coached there. I noticed he coached at Tennessee for one or two years, but why is he such a big Tennessee guy? I figured it'd be vice versa.

He coached for 10 full seasons at Tennessee under coach Majors. Was a DB coach, RB coach and Def coordinator. Clearly, his 10 years at Tennessee trumped his two years at Vandy as a player and one year as a cosch. He's been doing his Big Orange Sunday show for 20+ years.

 

[VOLINVONORE]

What are you saying?

He isn't Basilio or Travis?

Thank God he isn't. I have known Doug for about 40 years and he is all VOL and wired to the right people. He is one of only 2-3 people who know what is going on. Basilio and Travis are not on that list.

 

[RockyTop411]

Doug coached at Tennessee for 10 years. He and Phillip Fulmer shared an office almost all of those years.

He only coached one year at Vandy and only because his good friend Watson Brown asked him to coordinate the defense. Brown was fired after that season and Doug retired from coaching.

He played at Vandy two years and led SEC in rushing once year. Cam from junior college. Really has little ties to Vandy other than playing there.

He speaks with someone at Tennessee on a daily basis so he is well informed.

Thank you everyone for the responses. I misread his page and thought he was at Tennessee from '88-'89. My apologies.

Great to know.

 

[VOLINVONORE]

Like I said earlier, love his show, but I noticed he played football at Vanderbilt and even coached there. I noticed he coached at Tennessee for one or two years, but why is he such a big Tennessee guy? I figured it'd be vice versa.

He was one of their best players when he played there, but coached at Tennessee for a number of years.

 

[KingtUT]

Pretty sure Doug gets a lot of his info from Bob Welton and Bob knows.

 

[wildorange]

You can tell a lot of folks are young on here when they don't know how long Matthews was the coach. As for going to the NFL, the natural reaction for most posters is almost always their leaving because of the money. The true process is there is much more involved, like maybe they actually want to get close to their degree or they may improve their stock greatly and also get their degree. Some don't understand how much is involved. GBO!

 

[orangefloyd]

Saw a tweet posted on FB by Kamara that he is coming back. Anyone confirm.

 

[GAVol]

Not yet only one is north who got an agent so he cannot come back even if he is not drafted...

I could be wrong, but I think that only works in the NBA. Once you declare for football, you're done.

 

[BigorangeBoy]

Didn't Doug play at NEO prior to playing at Vandy?

I remember when Majors fired Ken Donahue mid-season and put DM in charge of the defense. They instantly got better, of course he only lasted a few years as was the motto for a lot of JM's assistants

 

[LWSVOL]

Didn't Doug play at NEO prior to playing at Vandy? YES

I remember when Majors fired Ken Donahue mid-season and put DM in charge of the defense. They instantly got better, of course he only lasted a few years as was the motto for a lot of JM's assistants

Doug finished 88 and coached in 89. then left meaning to retire until Watson called. JTM is exactly why he left..

 

[Bms4880]

From the 1989 football guide...

 

[onevol74]

Doug Mathews is smart, informative & ALL VOL! He is factual rather than being a self-serving, sensational clown.:hi:

Really could never figure this out. He is from Oklahoma and played at Vanderbilt. But he is a huge Vol fan. Other than coaching at UT, where did he get his loyalty?

 

[madbamahater]

Matthews is well respected. those that hate are ill informed or just young. Same with Hyams. Guys have seen a lot of football.

There is a major difference between Coach Mathews and Jimmy Hyams. The Coach knows his ****, Jimmy just repeats him.....

Please don't mention Jimmy and Mathews in the same breath....one of them is just basically a sports writer......

 

[tennrich1]

Lots of people (including me) give Doug Mathews a hard time because he's old school, vanilla, and really conservative with his comments. He never wants to ruffle feathers or say too much.

But he's literally the only person I heard saying consistently that our three juniors were returning. The most likely to leave candidates are returning for sure and hopefully a third one soon. On here, the consensus was that Cam, at least, was definitely gone. Not pointing fingers at VN, but I am giving props to Doug.

Gonna start giving him a lot more weight in the prognostication/connected with coaches arena.

Doug is a stand up guy and trust me ..,,his opinion on the Vol program FAR outweighs on what I read here with exception of a couple of folks I'm familiar who actually know what they are talking about.

 

[tennrich1]

Didn't Doug play at NEO prior to playing at Vandy?

I remember when Majors fired Ken Donahue mid-season and put DM in charge of the defense. They instantly got better, of course he only lasted a few years as was the motto for a lot of JM's assistants

Whoa!!! Doug did a fine job but the MAIN REASON our defense "improved" is the strength of our schedule changed DRASTICALLY!!!

 

[coach799]

I listen to Doug every chance I get because most of what he says eventually happens. He has been a big advocate for a QB Coach most of the season. Has anybody heard anything concerning staff changes to make this happen?

GO VOLS!!!

 

[Nashvegas31]

I listen to Doug every chance I get because most of what he says eventually happens. He has been a big advocate for a QB Coach most of the season. Has anybody heard anything concerning staff changes to make this happen?

GO VOLS!!!

Since Butch arrived, Doug is about as good a source on something as there is.

 

[daniel3417]

With regard to Doug's playing and coaching history, I highly encourage confused posters to utilize Google.com.

 

[Guyute]

There is a major difference between Coach Mathews and Jimmy Hyams. The Coach knows his ****, Jimmy just repeats him.....

Please don't mention Jimmy and Mathews in the same breath....one of them is just basically a sports writer......

I have to agree with you, just a little less angrily.

Coach Williams always appears to be a gentleman, which is not that common these days. When he does offer up information it seems like he is sharing the info with other fans and he does it with enough discretion so as not to seem like he's taking advantage of his relationships within the team.

Hyams had said some stood crap recently, served as Hamilton's propaganda mouthpiece in exchange for information and can be really rude and smug on the radio.

 

[Ned Ray McWorkher]

Whoa!!! Doug did a fine job but the MAIN REASON our defense "improved" is the strength of our schedule changed DRASTICALLY!!!

exactly, BECAUSE YOU CERTAINLY DON'T PLAY A TEAM THAT'S RANKED IN THE TOP 10 EVERY WEEK.


And as far as the juniors, I was of the opinion none that none of the three should have left early based on their play and their potential draft position. North hiring an agent and coming out was not even on the radar. Wish him good luck, and good health.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Was it Mathews that got caught by a TV camera throwing big time F-bombs at a UT player coming to the sideline? Might have been the 1990 Cotton Bowl.

 

[KBVol]

I listen to Doug every chance I get because most of what he says eventually happens. He has been a big advocate for a QB Coach most of the season. Has anybody heard anything concerning staff changes to make this happen?

GO VOLS!!!

The hiring of Coach Scott pretty much assured that a dedicated QB coach will not happen this year. Mathews said that Jones was all set to promote Sheridan to the position but when he decided to hire Scott, "a much needed additional recruiter", that his plan changed. Scott now comes in as TE coach, Sheridan moves to a quality control position and we maintain status quo with no QB coach.

 

[Otis07]

The only Vandy guy I ever cared about

 

[volfan4evr]

Another of Coach Matthews "revelations", is that Coach Scott would not coach TE's exclusively. Does that leave the door open for him to help out with the WR's or QB's?

 

[Rudy123]

Lots of people (including me) give Doug Mathews a hard time because he's old school, vanilla, and really conservative with his comments. He never wants to ruffle feathers or say too much.

But he's literally the only person I heard saying consistently that our three juniors were returning. The most likely to leave candidates are returning for sure and hopefully a third one soon. On here, the consensus was that Cam, at least, was definitely gone. Not pointing fingers at VN, but I am giving props to Doug.

Gonna start giving him a lot more weight in the prognostication/connected with coaches arena.

I try to listen to his show on Saturday mornings on the radio. Even though decades seperate him from U.T. I believe he was on the 1985 - 1986 staff. He still has inside information about players and staff members. Hirings, firings, recruiting etc. etc.