This according to reports coming out of ESPN and local Knoxville television statons. As a Vol fan I have to say I know nothing of the guy but Louisiana Tech doesn't exactly scream power house. Dooley was the third guy on Tennessee's list behind Will Muschamp and David Cutcliffe...so maybe a "settle" guy which to be honest is a little embarrassing but hey at least we can make USC look better. Hopefully he is a good coach as I'm sure I'll be reading all about him in the next few days. Link to story from Knoxville: http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=11829003 ESPN: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4829107
They're were interviewing Kippy Brown at 1pm but I think he's the final option. It looks like Dooley's got the job.
No way he was 3rd. Grudon turned them down and Utah Wittingham (sp) might have as well. I am very shocked they did not get a bigger name.
Nah, 12-22 Lane Kiffin was not exactly Johnny Majors jr.. Dooley was an ex Sabanista and even spent some time in Miami when the Nicktator was here.
Strangely enough his news conference had quite a few Dolphins references. It got to the point where Dooley said, "We'll I was only there two years guys." when one reporter said he was a huge Miami fan and another said he wasn't. Dooley also said "We've talked more about the Dolphins than the Vols so far." So for me it was a good interview.
Maybe now the crazies will calm down and doing the things those UT knucklehards are famous for like dumping orange dye into fountains and plastering their cars with UT flags...
Well true it is the south we do get passionate...at least football season gives me a break from seeing cars plastered with "Confederate flags" and "Git-R-Done" stickers both things I find funny and sad. Like I've said before I'm a Vol fan but I'm much more a fan of the academic part of the university that I absolutely love. That combined with me being born in the area and all this kind of sucks but not like the morons out burning beds and cursing over a football coach leaving...the university has much greater problems students should be rioting for.
UT has a simply great Library. I doubt the UT faithful will forget Kiffen anytime soon, they may even send the Davy Crockett dude out looking for him... I thought LaTech ran the spread?
The library is great. Also you're asking the wrong guy about LA Tech...I've never seen the play and don't know much about them.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjvODj6O3dM&feature=related"]YouTube- Louisiana Tech Football Coach Slaps His Own Player[/ame]
I've watched Lousiana Tech a couple times and they had a strong front four, which I liked. I don't recall much else to be honest because I was focused on the front four. I doubt this guy is going to be General Robert Neyland here but he could be pretty good. Should be interesting.
Hard to tell how he can coach when he has that kind of talent even tho I would have liked to seen more wins from a coach before I hired him to a high profile school.
I hope Dooley gets this team set straight. They need to put their off field drama behind them. Vols are due to getting back to being an SEC Powerhouse from the late 90's.
Its hard to be due anything in the SEC. Vols will face Gators (Meyer), Bulldogs (Richt), and Gamecocks (Spurrier) every year! Thats not even mentioning possible matchups with Bama (Saban), LSU (Miles), and more!!! Tennessee also got destroyed in recruiting cause this happened so late. I doubt they rebound with a good class.
Agreed about recruiting but outside of Meyer and Saban most SEC coaches don't scare me. I mean if Dooley is awful, which he may be, then there could be a problem but LSU is a once every couple years opponent and Georgia and South Carolina I feel are beatable every year. Let me say right now Tennessee should be considered a lower class SEC team due to all this mess and true Georgia, South Carolina, UF, LSU, and Bama should all beat us. However in the long run South Carolina and Georgia just don't scare me. Also according to what Meyer decides to do long term that might play into Tennessee coming back. My thing is that if Dooley is a good coach and recruiter that Tennessee can be competing for the SEC East in 2-3 years and the SEC in 3-5. Its going to be a process and UT fans better not think 1 or 2 years will do it, if they do then the process may not get corrected for a long time.
Still, I'd love to see the Vols get back to how they were in the late '90's. Back to back SEC Championships and a National Championship was a pretty good run for them. They haven't done much since then.
Of course, my point was that it would make the Conference that much more interesting. To me, the SEC is the most exciting conference of football to watch. Another team of dominance would make it that much better.
Out of all the Nick Saban assistants, who would have thought that Derek Dooley would be the first to get a major job? Well, I guess I shouldn't say first. Mark Dantonio is a Saban guy, and he's at Michigan State. The Big Ten is not the SEC though. I would have thought that Will Muschamp would have been the first Saban guy to get an SEC job. I think if he's given time, Derek Dooley will be a good coach for Tennessee. The problem will be that Tennessee wants a great coach. What's about to happen is this. Tennessee's AD is about to get canned, and it is being rumored that Phil Fulmer will replace Mike Hamilton as the AD. I think this is why Hamilton wasted no time in offering and ultimately hiring a new head coach. When Fulmer takes over, he won't immediately dump Dooley. He will give him a chance, but over the next two years, Fulmer will be networking to find UT's next head coach.
