Is it time for Tennessee to look for a new head football coach?
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Written by Aaron Torres | 15 October 2012
Derek-DooleyIll admit it: In the waning moments of Tennessees loss to Mississippi State Saturday night, I shouldve been paying closer attention. It was a three point game in the final moments of a key SEC game, one which could eventually propel Mississippi State to their first 10 win season since 1999, and one which could also propel Derek Dooley to Monster.com in search of his next job. Yet I was barely paying attention. Shame on me.
The problem was I didnt really need to pay attention. I already knew how the game was going to end.
When Mississippi State got the ball back with about five and a half minutes to go, I already knew the Bulldogs would find a way to put a final touchdown on the board, and turn a 34-31 nail biter into a double-digit final score. If they didnt, I knew the Vols would find a way to shoot themselves in the foot, and blow their final opportunity. As I say on Twitter every Saturday, Its always something with Tennessee (feel free to use the hashtag #ItsAlwaysSomethingWithTennessee next Saturday), and Saturdays loss was no exception. Mississippi State got the ball back, chewed up the clock and scored in the final seconds to seal the victory.
Its always something with Tennessee.
And really, thats the scary sentiment about Tennessee football right now. At this point you not only expect something to go wrong in the final minutes, youre certain of it. It doesnt matter the opponent, venue, time or score, in a big game, against a quality team, something will go wrong. Its the safest bet in sports right now. Sun rise, sun set.
Its also why as we now pass the midway point of the third year of the Derek Dooley era at Tennessee, Ive come to one simple conclusion: It might be time for Tennessee to begin their search for a new football coach.
Now please understand that those are words I never thought Id say. Im not a Dooley hater or basher, and certainly not someone who rushes to judgment on anything, especially the job security of a football coach. As a matter of fact, up until Saturday I was one of Dooleys biggest fans, and quite possibly his No. 1 apologist. In a lot of ways I still am.
Thats because to this day I still dont think 99 percent of college football fans understand exactly how lousy the situation Dooley walked into was in 2009. It was the absolute perfect storm of crap hitting the fan, a combination of lack of talent, depletion of the roster, trouble-making stars, misevaluated recruits and minimal depth in the upper classes. It was only compounded last year with injuries to Tyler Bray and Justin Hunter, quite possibly the two most indispensable players on the entire roster. Simply put it didnt matter whether Tennessees coach was Vince Lombardi, Vince Dooley or Derek Dooley these last few years, the Vols just werent anywhere near ready to compete with the Alabamas and Georgias of the world.
The thing is, weve now reached a weird tipping point with this program. In defense of Tennessee fans, it doesnt seem like any of them actually expected to compete with the Alabamas or Georgias, and most would probably excuse the Florida loss a few weeks ago based on how the Gators have played this season. In an era where college football fan-bases are comically impatient with their head coaches, Tennessee fans have actually been pretty rational throughout this whole process.
The problem is that at this point, its not just about Dooley losing to Alabama or Florida, but them losing to just about everyone of substance in the sport. Through 31 games Dooley is now sporting a 14-17 overall record, with Saturdays loss at Mississippi State dropping him to 0-13 against ranked teams. And reflecting back, I mean seriously, what would you call the signature win of the Dooley era in Knoxville so far? Is it that NC State game earlier in the year? Sure NC State beat Florida State a few weeks ago, but when your signature win is against a team which barely beat UConn, Im not sure thats anything to hang your hat on.
Maybe even more concerning than that record against ranked opponents is this: Tennessee is just 1-10 in SEC play since the start of the 2011 season.
Read that again. The mighty Tennessee Volunteers, home of Peyton Manning and Arian Foster, Albert Haynesworth and Eric Berry have just one win over their last 11 in SEC. Not just one win against ranked SEC teams, not just one win against the South Carolinas and LSUs, but just one win against everybody in the conference. For comparisons sake, Vanderbilt- the only team UT has beaten in that stretch, and a school which has never been to back-to-back bowl games- has three wins over that timeframe (although, in one more overall league game), and incredibly, Texas A&M has two to their credit as well. And umm, in case you hadnt heard, Texas A&M didnt even join the SEC until this year!
Now again, we do need to give Dooley the benefit of the doubt a bit here, if only because he really was bringing a knife to a gun-fight in some of those losses. You cant blame Dooley for all the injuries last year, attrition the year before, or the fact that Alabama and LSU have often masqueraded as NFL teams in college football uniforms. Those arent Derek Dooley problems. Those are problems that wouldve plagued anyone.
At the same time, you cant use those excuses for every game and every loss. Not when Tyler Bray was healthy last year against Kentucky, had more than enough around him to pull out a victory and he simply didnt. Its also hard to excuse Saturdays performance in Starkville, if only because, well, there are no feasible excuses. On Saturday the Vols didnt have any injuries holding them back. They werent a young team trying to figure things out on the road, and there wasnt a major talent disparity between them and the competition across the field for them. Heck, you cant even use fatigue as an excuse; Tennessee was coming off a bye week. Nope, from the first snap to the last on Saturday, Mississippi State was simply the better prepared and better coached team.
Its a trend thats all too familiar to Tennessee fans and one which was kind of a microcosm of Dooleys time at Tennessee.
Understand my 180-degree turn on Dooley has absolutely nothing to do with this one loss in particular; ultimately, its way bigger than one game, one loss, or even one season. What it is about however is all the little nuances, the ones you might not pick up on if you only watch Tennessee once in a while, but ones which have seemed to continually plague the Vols throughout the Dooley era. With Tennessee under Dooley it never is about the big things, but instead a thousand little ones which add up over the course of 60 minutes. You can get away with one or two here and there. You cant get away with them when they happen quarter by quarter, week by week, and season by season.
And something does happen every week. It happened against Florida when Frankie Hammond took a five-yard screen pass and turned it into a 75-yard touchdown score that broke open a close game. It happened against Georgia when Derrick Broadus missed an extra point for no apparent reason. It happened against Mississippi State when the Vols couldnt make that third down tackle which wouldve given them the ball back with a chance to win Saturday night. And if its not those things, its something else, a muffed punt, a sloppy fumble, an interception at the worst possible time. Again, its always something with Tennessee, yet at this point that something has nothing to do with talent, depth or experience. Its about a lack of focus. A lack of execution. A lack of attention to detail.
Ding, ding, ding! To me, thats the buzz word above all other buzzwords: Details. Theyre the one thing that separates the average and even good coaches from the great ones, which in turn separate the perennial championship contenders from the ones who win eight or nine or 10 games, but cant quite get over the edge. And its the lack of details which continually plague Dooleys football team.
Now please understand I know of which I speak. Thats because while I never had the chance to watch an elite college football head coach up close and personal, I was blessed enough- and I do use the word blessed- to watch Jim Calhoun, one of the greatest coaches in the history of college basketball day-in and day-out throughout my childhood. Say what you want about the guy as a person (and at this point Ive heard it all), but by any tangible measurement, the man is one of the five greatest coaches in the history of college basketball.
And after watching Calhoun for all these years, and talking to guys whove played for him as well as assistant coaches whove worked with him, the one thing undeniable thing about Calhoun is that he had almost a maniacal obsession to detail. When he was coaching, Jim Calhoun could tolerate a simple lack of talent and he could tolerate any physical limitations a guy might have. But what he had absolutely zero patience for were mental mistakes, for those nights where his team themselves more so than the opponent them.
To translate it to football, isnt that the exact same way youd describe Nick Saban? Or Urban Meyer? Heck, arent mental mistakes the only time youll ever see Les Miles raise his voice at one of his players? An attention to detail is something some coaches have and others dont. And for whatever reason, Dooley just doesnt seem to have it.
Its also why Im not totally sure positive that bringing Dooley back for a fourth year in 2013 would serve any sort of purpose. Sure Dooley might win more games, but itd just be the byproduct of having more talent than other teams, not from preparation, execution or mental sharpness.
As a matter of fact, those above mental traits only seem to be getting worse as the years wear on, at a time where Dooley is running out of excuses. I mean honestly, at this point who does Dooley have to blame but himself? These are his recruits, playing for his coaching staff. Most everyone who is on the field has plenty of playing experience at this point. Few have played for any head coach other than him. So if they cant do the little things right at this point, what makes anyone think thatll change next season? Or in three? Or five?
It wont, and because of it, it may be time for Derek Dooley to go.
Its always something with Tennessee.
And at this point the something the Vols might need is a new head football coach.
