What is the story with Bill Battle?

[YankeeVol]

 

[LAVol1]

Believe you mean Cutcliffe. I would like to the think that Coach Cut would not have made the coaching errors that Dooley did. i.e. too many on the field against LSU, the goof-up against UNC in the bowl

The Vol program would have been better under Cut in the post-Fulmer years. He may have kept the ship afloat but would not have fielded championship calibre teams. Remember, with Cut as OC, the Vols were heavily criticized by fans for being too conservative in big games. The buck stopped with Fulmer, but make no mistake about it, Cut ran the offense and he couldn't come close to matching Fulmer in recruiting.

 

[LAVol1]

Saddened to hear that. Bill Battle was a class individual. He may have made a great HC had he had more experience before being thrown into the fire. He was a major contributor to Birmingham Southern College before the college was destroyed by idiot administrators, woke faculty, and a self-serving board of directors.

 

[WillisWG]

RIP, Bill

 

[Brave Volunteer]

What is the story with Bill Battle? I wasn't alive in that era but his records look great. However, he is pointed out as the reason for the downfall. The records were trending down with time so that supports it but a lot of the bad seasons where under Majors who followed him. Sounds like recruiting was the issue.

Won a lot with Doug Dickey's recruits and as time went on and Dickey's players graduated, Battle won less and less with his own players.

 

[OldandStillaVol]

Rest in Peace Coach. In hindsight, he was too young (28) when he was named head coach at Tennessee. Recruiting really suffered over his time. I had a student intern high school teacher who was a football player at UT in the early 70's. I asked him once about Coach Battle and he said he was a good coach and a good person.

 

[WiseOlVol]

The reason this thread is here is Doug Dickie's horrible decision to leave Tennessee for Florida.

He had taken the edge on Bear Bryant and the rest of the SEC.

By 1977 (Dickie was fired in 1978), both Tennessee and Florida were in shambles.

Had Dickie stayed at UT, Johnny Majors gets another NC or two at Pittsburgh (Hugh Green, Dan Marino).

 

[Rushin Orange Collusion]

failure to adapt....we had Bama's number until they began running the wishbone. he and his staff just didn't have a clue on how to defend, few teams did. but losing to Bama became an issue. then a late loss to Vandy in 75 a line was kinda drawn. Win more, he failed.

Not buying the couldn't recruit, look at the 75 team. 5 1st team All-SEC players Marvin, Mauck, McCartney, Seivers and Spiva. 2 2nd team All-SEC in Morgan and West. Also on the team Russ Williams, Jesse Turnbow, Pat Ryan, Randy Wallace, Steve Poole and Craig Colquitt. Recruiting wasn't the issue.

Losing to North Texas State at Homecoming did not help.

 

[WillisWG]

Losing to North Texas State at Homecoming did not help.

yep it didn't..if my memory serves me correct we had 3 fumbles that more or less kept them in the game then gave up a kickoff score.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

yep it didn't..if my memory serves me correct we had 3 fumbles that more or less kept them in the game then gave up a kickoff score.

The unsuccessful fake punt versus Georgia in 1973 turned up the anti-BB narrative.

The loss to Bama the week before North Texas State in 1975 knocked Battle out of the AP top 20 for the last time ever.

Losing the UT HC job was maybe the best thing that ever happened to him. His collegiate licensing business was a near monopoly when it was started.

 

[Volfan1000]

yep it didn't..if my memory serves me correct we had 3 fumbles that more or less kept them in the game then gave up a kickoff score.

The North Texas State loss was the worst loss of Battle's tenure.

 

[WillisWG]

The North Texas State loss was the worst loss of Battle's tenure.

Yep. Ugly game

 

[wmcovol]

What is the story with Bill Battle? I wasn't alive in that era but his records look great. However, he is pointed out as the reason for the downfall. The records were trending down with time so that supports it but a lot of the bad seasons where under Majors who followed him. Sounds like recruiting was the issue.

He took over the program that was top in the SEC even with Bryant at Alabama at the time. Slowly eroded to 6-5 with poor recruiting and poor in game decisions.

Battle was placed in that position entirely too early in his career.

 

[Rushin Orange Collusion]

The unsuccessful fake punt versus Georgia in 1973 turned up the anti-BB narrative.

The loss to Bama the week before North Texas State in 1975 knocked Battle out of the AP top 20 for the last time ever.

Losing the UT HC job was maybe the best thing that ever happened to him. His collegiate licensing business was a near monopoly when it was started.

Thunder,
Was Steve Chancey the player who faked the punt against Georgia?

 

[Frozevol]

And he was unable to recruit good players. He was very religious and would not recruit players who were not perfect gentlemen and now faults. He was actually a very good Xs and Os coach but the talent level dropped quickly with his recruiting.

True and on top of that, many (most?) of his players liked to party and do what players did before drug testing. Battle was naive and took a blind eye to a lot of things. A player at the time told me he wanted to serve them milk and cookies and in those days and the players just thought he was a square.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Thunder,
Was Steve Chancey the player who faked the punt against Georgia?

I would have thought Neil Clabo, but I don’t know for certain. Both Chancey and Clabo were on the 1973 team.

 

[WillisWG]

Thunder,
Was Steve Chancey the player who faked the punt against Georgia?

Chancey.

 

[TartanTurff]

Battle was a class act, Battle was shown the door in 1976, he took his medicine, never coached again, and moved on to other things, Fulmer got tossed in similar circumstances 30 years later, never coached again, pissed and moaned like a spoiled brat, sabotaged the program to get back to the money trough, brought in a classless Bammer, made a bigger mess as AD than what he had created when fired in 2008, Battle was a class act

 

[Volfan1000]

The unsuccessful fake punt versus Georgia in 1973 turned up the anti-BB narrative.

The loss to Bama the week before North Texas State in 1975 knocked Battle out of the AP top 20 for the last time ever.

Losing the UT HC job was maybe the best thing that ever happened to him. His collegiate licensing business was a near monopoly when it was started.

Condredge Holloway was Battle's best recruit.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Condredge Holloway was Battle's best recruit.

Andy Spiva, Jimmy Streater, Larry Seivers, Roland James, Craig Colquit, Mickey Marvin, Ricky Townsend, and Stanley Morgan are some others that arguably were as well.

 

[ThreatLevelOrange]

What is the story with Bill Battle? I wasn't alive in that era but his records look great. However, he is pointed out as the reason for the downfall. The records were trending down with time so that supports it but a lot of the bad seasons where under Majors who followed him. Sounds like recruiting was the issue.

He was on fire the first 3-4 years. Then Dickey’s recruits moved on and we went straight downhill. Battle was the coach that lost to North Texas and someone ordered a U haul sent to his house.

 

[NighthawkVol]

The reason this thread is here is Doug Dickie's horrible decision to leave Tennessee for Florida.

He had taken the edge on Bear Bryant and the rest of the SEC.

By 1977 (Dickie was fired in 1978), both Tennessee and Florida were in shambles.

Had Dickie stayed at UT, Johnny Majors gets another NC or two at Pittsburgh (Hugh Green, Dan Marino).

Yes, to all of this. Then, when Dickey retires, after winning more SEC championships and probably a National Championship or two, Majors comes home around 1982 and takes over an elite program. No rebuilding project. He’s just keep rolling

 

[adam.vol]

He took over the program that was top in the SEC even with Bryant at Alabama at the time. Slowly eroded to 6-5 with poor recruiting and poor in game decisions.

Battle was placed in that position entirely too early in his career.

Athletic director/ GM is far too underrated. Whether you’re just lucky or savvy, any time you make a good hire you’ve pulled off a difficult feat. A bad hire will set things back for years.

 

[MurphyVol]

I'm sure everyone has covered this, I haven't read every post. It's crazy to think about today that he was a 28 year old position coach when he was handed the reins of a thriving program. Kinda nuts when you think about it.

Also, it's shocking to look back and see the long leash Johnny was given. 8 years after being hired he was just a few games over .500.

 

[KTrain]

Your last sentence nails it.

His last year a friend of mine got a scholarship there, he had interest from a few others NC State being the best but no offers from any other D1. I was happy for him but IMO he was a FCS called DII then, player. This was what Majors inherited. I think Battle was 29 youngest HC in the nation, I may be wrong about the youngest but that's young to take over a massive business of any kind.