Sunseri: Was there a reason?

#26
#26
I am creating my own conspiracy theory and thinking the hitman hart overplayed his likeness for DD and convinced him to hire an inexperienced DC play caller to call plays for a defense that he had never actually called plays before and that UT didnt have the personnel for. This allowed for the easy termination of DD
 
#28
#28
Any link to support this? I personally doubt Dooley and Wilcox had any issues and Wilcox left because he realized Dooley (and by extension whole staff) will be on hot seat the following year and bailed because of that. Remember that only one year earlier Wilcox turned down Texas DC position - so how much could he have hated Dooley if he decided to turn down that lucrative offer?



If you will recall, during bowl prep in 2010, Wilcox and Dooley were at odds. When a Nashville new station asked Wilcox about it, he talked his way out of the subject.

Wilcox stayed for the 2011 season and then left. Friction was heating up as far back as December 2010 between them.
 
#29
#29
He didn't.



Then why did Fulmer put him on his staff?

I remember the guy from Clemson changed his mind after serious talks had began with him.

I also recall that Chavis make it known that he didn't want Fulmer to promote Trooper to O.C.

So, what happened? Fulmer ran out of real options so he made the best of a bad situation and hired Clawson??????
 
#30
#30
I like juicy stories. The Dooley era is over, but it's always fun to bring back the past till game day. I'm hoping this forum has members who can now tell us the real story on things.

Question number 1:

What was the purpose of Sunseri being our DC at that time?

Thanks.

Dooley was attempting to hire a coach as incompetent as he was. It was a tough search but ultimately.... He was successful
 
  • Like
Reactions: 5 people
#31
#31
Sal was a gamble. Pretty much we had to go after a up and comer because no established DC would come here. Just an absolute disaster all the way around and probably a nice ribbon on the Dooley tenure.
 
#33
#33
After Sal called a "cover one" on a third down and 24 it became apparent that he had nary a clue. But he did fit in well with Dooley.
 
#34
#34
Dooley has a law degree and his wife is a OB/GYN. They will never hurt for money and your theory is asinine.



OB/GYN is $250,000 - $350,000 annual income. A lawyer is $250,000 a year. = $600,000 annual income.



U.T. coach is $1,000,000 + OB/GYN $350,000 = $1,350,000 annual income. That is a $750,000 increase per year.....
 
#35
#35
OB/GYN is $250,000 - $350,000 annual income. A lawyer is $250,000 a year. = $600,000 annual income.



U.T. coach is $1,000,000 + OB/GYN $350,000 = $1,350,000 annual income. That is a $750,000 increase per year.....
Except that Dooley wasn't working as an attorney when UT hired him. No doubt he took a pay raise but IDK that it was worth it considering the toll it took on him. Dooley was a broken man when he left UT.
 
#36
#36
My guess is that no other co ordinator or position coach wanted to work for Dooley. Just a guess!

(1) Word gets around in the coaching circles of how he treated the other D.C. before he left for Washington.

(2) Anyone out there could see that 2012 would likely be Dooley's last year at U.T. So, do you want to hitch your wagon to Dooley for a year and then be out of a job at the end of the year, when Dooley is forced to leave?

Yep, dooley turned out to an A-Hole and the ship was sinking.
 
#37
#37
If you will recall, during bowl prep in 2010, Wilcox and Dooley were at odds. When a Nashville new station asked Wilcox about it, he talked his way out of the subject.

Wilcox stayed for the 2011 season and then left. Friction was heating up as far back as December 2010 between them.

That does not make sense - if Wilcox had friction with Dooley what better way to solve that than except lucrative offer from Texas?
 
#38
#38
Dooley didn't factor in 2 huge obstacles with the hire:
1) UT defense wasn't ready to switch to a 3-4. That would take a solid 2-3 years to incorporate.
2) UT didn't have the talent on defense and prototypical players needed to fit the 3-4.

Dooley made a bad decision that cost him his job inevitably.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#39
#39
I know our defenses are bad but the main reason they were bad was bc of the lack of speed!! Ive never seen a slower bunch of corners and safetys. Not knocking the players but you cant coach speed
 
#40
#40
Then why did Fulmer put him on his staff?

At that time, there was pressure for Fulmer to hire someone outside of the "good ole boy" network, and who also didn't have ties to Tennessee.

I feel that Fulmer didn't like it, and plus he didn't want someone coming in to oust him, like he did Majors.

IMO Fulmer did ever thing to make sure Dave failed, and made him a fall guy. Then he could say - "see I tried it your way, and it didn't work."

Clawson did good at Richmond, and made Bowling Green respectable. I am interested in what he can do at Wake Forest. If he does, then then in a few years, he might get hired at a top school.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#41
#41
I like juicy stories. The Dooley era is over, but it's always fun to bring back the past till game day. I'm hoping this forum has members who can now tell us the real story on things.

Question number 1:

What was the purpose of Sunseri being our DC at that time?

Thanks.

Fastest path to $5 million
 
#42
#42
Dooley didn't factor in 2 huge obstacles with the hire:
1) UT defense wasn't ready to switch to a 3-4. That would take a solid 2-3 years to incorporate.
2) UT didn't have the talent on defense and prototypical players needed to fit the 3-4.

Dooley made a bad decision that cost him his job inevitably.

I agree. He probably didn't even care about switch - that was probably dictated by who was going to be the DC. I doubt he would have forced Wilcox to switch if he stayed. Back at that time it even seemed like a reasonable thing to try to go with Sal and trust that with his background/experience this could be made to work (I remember a lot of fans being pretty excited about Sal coming). Obviously this gamble severely backfired on Dooley and cost him his job.
 
#43
#43
Dooley didn't factor in 2 huge obstacles with the hire:
1) UT defense wasn't ready to switch to a 3-4. That would take a solid 2-3 years to incorporate.
2) UT didn't have the talent on defense and prototypical players needed to fit the 3-4.

Dooley made the last in a string of bad decisions that cost him his job inevitably.

That's a more appropriate sentence.

Everything about Dooley's tenure was just laughable at how completely dysfunctional it was.

"We've had a total of 7 LBs commit, make it in and stay at Tennessee since 2009, we should switch to the 3-4! Alabama runs it and it's awesome!"

"Coach, Georgia tried the switch and they looked awf-"

"Trust me, I'm confident about this. Wilcox was a hack, his 4-3 is weak! All the en vogue NFL teams run a 3-4 and so does Alabama. We want to be like Alabama. Except we can't run it. And we pass all the time. And we don't have the depth at LB which will be greatly exacerbated by every 3-pass 3-and-out we get only running 10 seconds off of the clock. But I'm the HMFIC and I say switch."

"Alright, you're the boss. Who is out there that we can get?"


"Sal Sunseri."

"You sure? He is only a position guy and his only DC experience is from 1998 and that was at Alabama.... A&M. Plus, he looks like Fred Flintstone."

"He's the LB guy at Bama. That's who I want. I don't care if he is a career position coach who has been at multiple high-profile programs and was never elevated to DC. I don't care if every other coach in the nation sees him as a career position coach... he's our man for the job."

"Alright, it's a done deal. Anythi-"

"ORANGE DOG. That'll be the cherry on top. I read this in a $2 motivational book I got at Barnes and Noble. You create something to inspire hope. An imported orange dog will be the rallying cry of our team in 2012. We're taking this one to the moon, guys."

"..."
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 4 people
#44
#44
Any link to support this? I personally doubt Dooley and Wilcox had any issues and Wilcox left because he realized Dooley (and by extension whole staff) will be on hot seat the following year and bailed because of that. Remember that only one year earlier Wilcox turned down Texas DC position - so how much could he have hated Dooley if he decided to turn down that lucrative offer?

Dooley and Wilcox had a lot of issues. You can doubt it if you wish, but they did.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 people
#45
#45
Then why did Fulmer put him on his staff?

At that time, there was pressure for Fulmer to hire someone outside of the "good ole boy" network, and who also didn't have ties to Tennessee.

I feel that Fulmer didn't like it, and plus he didn't want someone coming in to oust him, like he did Majors.

IMO Fulmer did ever thing to make sure Dave failed, and made him a fall guy. Then he could say - "see I tried it your way, and it didn't work."

Clawson did good at Richmond, and made Bowling Green respectable. I am interested in what he can do at Wake Forest. If he does, then then in a few years, he might get hired at a top school.

Not really true at all. Fulmer and Hamilton were looking for someone that Fulmer could hand over the program to in 2-3 years. Clawson fit that bill, based on his prior success at Richmond. His system didn't mesh with the talent, Fulmer tried to salvage it with the hybrid system, which ended up making it worse.
 
#46
#46
1 reason Dooley suks up to Nick so much he did what he told him to do he even dressed like Nick with the big floppy hat he should be at bama now shining Nicks shoes instead of Jerry Jones shoes, another thing even as dumb as Dooley is look like he would have new we did not have the talent to run the 3-4 D he done that to get fired he knew he could not coach in this league with the big boys he really might make a decent highschool coach at a private school where the so no thugs rules are even then I would not bet a dime on his team even if the other team had a 50 game losing streak going he was one of the worst coaches I every saw in division 1 in my plus 40 years as a fan.
 
#47
#47
Not really true at all. Fulmer and Hamilton were looking for someone that Fulmer could hand over the program to in 2-3 years. Clawson fit that bill, based on his prior success at Richmond. His system didn't mesh with the talent, Fulmer tried to salvage it with the hybrid system, which ended up making it worse.

Why didn't they go with someone on staff? If I remember right coach Chavis threw his hat in before they went with kiffen.
 
Last edited:
#48
#48
OK, here is my spin on it. When Dooley took the UT job, he actually got it for pretty much the same reason Lane Kiffin keeps getting good jobs; Both being sons of great coaches, they know how to do well in job interviews, but when it comes to following through on the job, they are both seriously flawed in different ways.

Dooley's fault was his arrogance. During his three years at Tennessee, he mostly brought in quality assistant coaches, but did a poor job of retaining, evaluating, and leading them. I think the revolving door was spinning faster and faster, because many of them realized that Dooley was lazy in attracting and evaluating recruits (he thought, "This is Tennessee, and I an Vince Dooley's son, recruits should be begging me to play), and staying was not building a quality resume. He also actually thought that Sunseri would make a great DC, because he was effective with LB at Bama, and deserved a promotion. Actually, Sunseri was in way over his head, but was too dumb to see it.

I think Dooley liked Sunseri because he shared his arrogance. Sunseri was of the opinion he could belittle players into performing. Sunseri's schematic philosophy change just didn't fit the players abilities, and mass confusion ensued during the games because his anger just made matters worse. Dooley just blamed the players, and this led to them getting frustrated. Not a good environment to learn.

When your head coach's priorities are less about building players up, recruiting and building relationships, and more about entertaining press conferences and embarrassing players (remember the shower discipline statement?), his program is not going to thrive. Thank God his sorry butt is gone. And if some AD anywhere ever considers him for a head coaching job in the future, he needs a through psychiatric evaluation.
 
Last edited:
Advertisement



Back
Top