Waiting for the Fall

[T_man_J]

I have restrained myself from commenting on our new coaching staff in order to gather information to base my views, but the “Depth, inexperience Dooley's challenges” article by Austin Ward (on goVolsXtra ) provided a little more insight into where we are as a program. This article appears to be falling into a trend that has developed this year. This trend places more emphasis on our lack of depth (or talent) and tends to take the accountability away from the coaching staff.

Every coach has to make concessions based on player experience, or lack of talent, so I consider this issue a wash. An SEC legend once said, “I can reach a kid who doesn't have any ability as long as he doesn't know it." The real measure of our staff will come when we face SEC opposition. A quality coaching staff will have to demonstrate the following:

• Opponent Analysis—Determine where to attack the opponent.

• Game Preparation—Align personnel in a manner to exploit the opposition’s weakness. Many coaches have the ability to determine where to attack, but they lack the courage to make the adjustments. An example of an adjustment could be starting a second string QB that throws a better deep ball against an opponent that has a weak defensive secondary. It is much easier to maintain the status quo, and then blame the loss on not having the Jimmys and Joes:clapping:. After all, making a game-prep adjustment and falling short would bring critical scrutiny of the coaching decision.

• Tactical Coaching—This can be called “side-line coaching.” In the SEC, most coaching staffs will make game-time adjustments to counter the success of their opponent. This is like chess; to be successful, you have to be able to anticipate this adjustment, spot the new opportunity, and modify your strategy to exploit the new opportunity, and you can’t wait until half time to do it. Again, this takes courage, because if the adjustment does not work, blame will be laid on the coaching staff.

Like it or not, our former coaching staff excelled in all three of these areas; this was because Tennessee was not where they wanted to be. The K crew was selling a product and they were willing to take chances to get their “dream” job. We are in a different era of Tennessee Football.

I hope that I am wrong, but it appears that CDD is a “go back and look at the tape” kind of guy. He has a pragmatic, strategic (safe) approach that does not lend itself to “chance.” He will not allow his coordinators to take unmitigated chances because, now, all accountability rests with the head coach. An eye opener for me was that this time last year, we were talking about what we were going to do to the opposition, not about our team’s deficiencies.

All I can say for certainty is that our opposition will determine what type of staff we have, but it does appear that the ground work is being laid to point to “team deficiencies” as the main reason for a disappointing season—that is not good.

 

[Reverend Rocky To]

Wow... You gained all of that from only his first full season... O wait he hasn't coached a game yet. Cleo called and wants her job back.

 

[EZE]

• Opponent Analysis—Determine where to attack the opponent.

• Game Preparation—Align personnel in a manner to exploit the opposition’s weakness. Many coaches have the ability to determine where to attack, but they lack the courage to make the adjustments. An example of an adjustment could be starting a second string QB that throws a better deep ball against an opponent that has a weak defensive secondary. It is much easier to maintain the status quo, and then blame the loss on not having the Jimmys and Joes:clapping:. After all, making a game-prep adjustment and falling short would bring critical scrutiny of the coaching decision.

• Tactical Coaching—This can be called “side-line coaching.” In the SEC, most coaching staffs will make game-time adjustments to counter the success of their opponent. This is like chess; to be successful, you have to be able to anticipate this adjustment, spot the new opportunity, and modify your strategy to exploit the new opportunity, and you can’t wait until half time to do it. Again, this takes courage, because if the adjustment does not work, blame will be laid on the coaching staff.

I'm sorry, but I disagree because that previous staff lost nearly half of their games, and there were some real headscratchers in there, including:

UCLA. The play calling on the goal line in the 4th quarter was too predicatable. Everybody knew that the OL was not particularly strong, yet we ran the same play every down. I thought Fulmer was back in control for a minute.

Auburn. Our defense did not have a clue against that offense.

Ole Miss. An utter embarrassment to be in Ole Miss's record books. The entire team simply did not compete.

VaTech. Otherwise known as Ole Miss, Part 2. Another embarrassment.

Florida and Alabama. I'm not out for moral victories, but the clock management and field goal attempt at the end of the game were unacceptable. And then the coach has the audacity to claim that he didn't know the kicker was hurt.

Kentucky and Vandy. Wins, but these were really close games and could have gone either way.

The previous staff was not the collection of world beaters they made everybody believe that they were.

 

[The Frozen Shield]

I suspect a touch of muliebrity from the OP of Waiting for the Fall

 

[T_man_J]

I'm sorry, but I disagree because that previous staff lost nearly half of their games, and there were some real headscratchers in there, including:

UCLA. The play calling on the goal line in the 4th quarter was too predicatable. Everybody knew that the OL was not particularly strong, yet we ran the same play every down. I thought Fulmer was back in control for a minute.

Auburn. Our defense did not have a clue against that offense.

Ole Miss. An utter embarrassment to be in Ole Miss's record books. The entire team simply did not compete.

VaTech. Otherwise known as Ole Miss, Part 2. Another embarrassment.

Florida and Alabama. I'm not out for moral victories, but the clock management and field goal attempt at the end of the game were unacceptable. And then the coach has the audacity to claim that he didn't know the kicker was hurt.

Kentucky and Vandy. Wins, but these were really close games and could have gone either way.

The previous staff was not the collection of world beaters they made everybody believe that they were.

Good points.
I concede the fact that the K crew had irregularities in their approach to the 2009 schedule, but I don’t chalk that up entirely to bad coaching. I believe that UCLA and Auburn occurred because the staff was focusing more on Florida and Georgia. The Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama games demonstrated that they could coach. The K crew knew which games would benefit them more as a staff; those games became the focus of the season.

 

[ihateflorida]

Another Kiffin lover! Please get over it. Acknowledging a few facts about our team doesnt make our coaches any better or worse. I agree that this staff has to get the best out of what they have, but seems to me people have a misconception of what that consists of, therefore no matter what this staff accomplishes, they will be deemed failures because they cant live up to unattainable expectations. So yes, i am going to give this staff a free ride this year as long as we improve throughout the season. And in my opinion, if you still have so much love for the previous staff, you must have been giving them a free ride too, remember they did only go 7-6, and looked horrible in their last game.

 

[ReeceBobby]

Good points.
I concede the fact that the K crew had irregularities in their approach to the 2009 schedule, but I don’t chalk that up entirely to bad coaching. I believe that UCLA and Auburn occurred because the staff was focusing more on Florida and Georgia. The Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama games demonstrated that they could coach. The K crew knew which games would benefit them more as a staff; those games became the focus of the season.

You have to be kidding...that is the most asinine statement I've read on here in a while, and that is saying something.

 

[cardwell]

Good points.
I concede the fact that the K crew had irregularities in their approach to the 2009 schedule, but I don’t chalk that up entirely to bad coaching. I believe that UCLA and Auburn occurred because the staff was focusing more on Florida and Georgia. The Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama games demonstrated that they could coach. The K crew knew which games would benefit them more as a staff; those games became the focus of the season.

How can you say that the Kiffin staff excelled in "opponent analysis," "game preparation," and "tactical coaching," in one breath, and then say they were outcoached in two important games becaused they were not focused?

What's even more curious about your man-crush on Kiffin is that you believe he focused on some games, but not others because "those games would benefit them more as a staff." If I believed that to be true, which I do not, I would think Kiffin is more of a douchebag than I do now.

 

[SmartVolFan]

I suspect a touch of muliebrity from the OP of Waiting for the Fall

I admit that I had to go to the dictionary for the definition of "muliebrity", then I fell out of my chair laughing uncontrollably... lol:lol:lol:

Your choice of words in this situation appears to be perfect! :good!:

 

[EZE]

You have to be kidding...that is the most asinine statement I've read on here in a while, and that is saying something.

I'm with you. So, as long as you focus on coaching four games a year, you're a good coach? What about the other eight games?

 

[EZE]

Another Kiffin lover! Please get over it. Acknowledging a few facts about our team doesnt make our coaches any better or worse. I agree that this staff has to get the best out of what they have, but seems to me people a misconception of what that consists of, therefore no matter what this staff accomplishes, they will be deemed failures because they cant live up too unattainable expectations. So yes, i am going to give this staff a free ride this year as long as we improve throughout the season. And in my opinion, if you still have so much love for the previous staff, you must have been giving them a free ride too, remember they did only go 7-6, and looked horrible in their last game.

Glad to see somebody else shares my view of the previous regime. Good points on all of this.

I just don't get it all of this love for the previous loser. I guess this is what getting dumped does to some folks' psyches.

 

[bigvolfan10]

does anyone not think kiffin would have not face these same prombles this year

 

[g8terh8ter_eric]

does anyone not think kiffin would have not face these same prombles this year

He would have created perceived positive distractions in baseless recruiting news, in order to seperate us from the reality of our suckitude this year, if he was coaching.

 

[VolinDawgland]

I have restrained myself from commenting on our new coaching staff in order to gather information to base my views, but the “Depth, inexperience Dooley's challenges” article by Austin Ward (on goVolsXtra ) provided a little more insight into where we are as a program. This article appears to be falling into a trend that has developed this year. This trend places more emphasis on our lack of depth (or talent) and tends to take the accountability away from the coaching staff.

Every coach has to make concessions based on player experience, or lack of talent, so I consider this issue a wash. An SEC legend once said, “I can reach a kid who doesn't have any ability as long as he doesn't know it." The real measure of our staff will come when we face SEC opposition. A quality coaching staff will have to demonstrate the following:

• Opponent Analysis—Determine where to attack the opponent.

• Game Preparation—Align personnel in a manner to exploit the opposition’s weakness. Many coaches have the ability to determine where to attack, but they lack the courage to make the adjustments. An example of an adjustment could be starting a second string QB that throws a better deep ball against an opponent that has a weak defensive secondary. It is much easier to maintain the status quo, and then blame the loss on not having the Jimmys and Joes:clapping:. After all, making a game-prep adjustment and falling short would bring critical scrutiny of the coaching decision.

• Tactical Coaching—This can be called “side-line coaching.” In the SEC, most coaching staffs will make game-time adjustments to counter the success of their opponent. This is like chess; to be successful, you have to be able to anticipate this adjustment, spot the new opportunity, and modify your strategy to exploit the new opportunity, and you can’t wait until half time to do it. Again, this takes courage, because if the adjustment does not work, blame will be laid on the coaching staff.

Like it or not, our former coaching staff excelled in all three of these areas; this was because Tennessee was not where they wanted to be. The K crew was selling a product and they were willing to take chances to get their “dream” job. We are in a different era of Tennessee Football.

I hope that I am wrong, but it appears that CDD is a “go back and look at the tape” kind of guy. He has a pragmatic, strategic (safe) approach that does not lend itself to “chance.” He will not allow his coordinators to take unmitigated chances because, now, all accountability rests with the head coach. An eye opener for me was that this time last year, we were talking about what we were going to do to the opposition, not about our team’s deficiencies.

All I can say for certainty is that our opposition will determine what type of staff we have, but it does appear that the ground work is being laid to point to “team deficiencies” as the main reason for a disappointing season—that is not good.

The K crew should have won 9 games with this team last year but couldn't beat an over matched UCLA team, pull out the one surprise win over Alabama got embarrassed by Ole Miss and stunk up the field in the bowl game against V Tech.

 

[VolinDawgland]

He would have created perceived positive distractions in baseless recruiting news, in order to seperate us from the reality of our suckitude this year, if he was coaching.

Yep and hoards of posters would be pointing at his career W/L record and cringing at his continued public F ups.

But we'd have Layla in that outrageous orange sun dress to enjoy.