Talking points: The Papa still searching for an offensive coordinator at Tennessee edition

by Joel Hollingsworth on Jan 9, 2008 6:33 AM EST in Rocky Top Talking Points

Former Volunteer C.J. Watson, who's been flourishing in the NBA Development League this season, has been signed to a 10-day contract with the Golden State Warriors and should play tonight against Portland. He'll be the only Volunteer in the NBA. Check out SB Nation Warrior blog Golden State of Mind to catch up on the team Watson is joining.
The big news, of course, remains The Papa's coaching search. He's hired Florida running backs coach Stan Drayton. (Hat tip to Rusty, who posted it here first.) Jokes about the Gators' running backs (who knew?) aside, he's apparently an excellent replacement for Trooper Taylor on the recruiting front, as Rivals named him one of its Top 25 recruiters for his role in landing Florida's No. 1 class in 2007. Speaking of Taylor, the man just seeps class. He really wanted a promotion to offensive coordinator at Tennessee, but had to settle for an upward climb that routed him elsewhere. Even after taking the Oklahoma State position, Taylor apparently still hoped to remain at UT when the front-runner for the position, Kippy Brown, fell through, but I don't think Fulmer ever even interviewed him. Still, Taylor has nothing but positive things to say about Fulmer:

I think Phillip has a bigger plan and something that he wants to do different. Once he sets his mind, that is what he is going to do. That is what makes him a good coach, because once he sets his mind to doing something and jumps in with both feet he usually gets it done. This is just one of those times that I truly believe he just wanted to go a different route.

So CSTV cites a source in saying that Tennessee could announce that it has hired University of Richmond head coach Dave Clawson -- yesterday. Didn't happen. Instead, former Michigan offensive coordinator Mike DeBord and former Michigan QB coach Scott Loeffler spent last night in Knoxville and are to interview with Fulmer today. Corn from a Jar rolls his eyes and, at this time, anyway, I am inclined to join him. Stay tuned.
Okay, then. Jerod Mayo is expected to announce at 2:00 p.m. today that he is headed to the NFL. Don't blame you, son, but we'll sure miss you. Good luck. No definitive word on Arian Foster yet, but he is apparently leaning toward following Mayo.
Tennessee finished 12th in both the AP and the USA Today Coaches Poll, so lower case woo with a period.
Meanwhile, Eric Berry continues to rack up post-season awards, this time the Football Writers Association of America Freshman All-American team, and five Vols have had surgery: Lennon Creer (knee), Josh Hawkins (foot), Chase Nelson (wrist), Lucas Taylor (shoulder), and Brent Vinson (shoulder).
SEC basketball season gets underway tonight. Expect an open game thread up later.
Around the blogosphere: colleagues at Dawg Sports and Black Shoe Diaries are fussing over their respective conferences, and Best of the SEC Blogs says that LSU has vindicated the SEC and Les Miles' mouth. Also, and hooper, I'm looking at you, Rock M Nation is spearheading the crunching of play-by-play numbers baseball-stat style and . . . coming to conclusions. I think.

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Comments

Once a math geek,

always a math geek.

I took a peek at Connelly's page, and it's an interesting concept. Intuitively, it makes sense; the closer you are to the opponent's end zone, the more valuable each yard is, for two reasons. First, it's a bigger percentage of the remaining yards. Second, the odds of scoring improve with each yard gained. Notice the suddenly increasing upward trend on 3rd down within the opponent's 40 - every yard gained makes a field goal that much easier to obtain. The trend even levels off a bit once the point value gets close to 3 - eventually, there's not a statistical advantage to gaining more yards when attempting field goals, especially with the really wide splits that college uses.

My big question is whether field position is memoryless. (For example, if you start from your own 20 and make it to first down the opponents' 40, do you have the same PPP as if you started with first down from the 40.) The answer may have impact on how valuable special teams are. If it adds value to special teams, could we finally get a special teams coach?

Other than that: woo Berry, woo Drayton, and woo Watson!

by David Hooper on Jan 9, 2008 9:17 AM EST reply actions

Dale Jones

Anyone heard the Dale Jones coachin LB's and special teams rumor?

by Smitty @ Rocky Top Talk on Jan 9, 2008 12:07 PM EST reply actions

Trooper

I had an interesting conversation Re: Trooper not even being interviewed for UT's OC position. The individual that I spoke with was under the impression that Coach Cut may have made an argument against Trooper running the offense. It may not have been anything personal, just that Coach Cut may have felt that Troop wasn't quite ready for the responsiblity. Then again, perhaps Coach Cut and Troop had some "fundamental disagreements" on offensive philosophy. Given the long-standing relationship between Coaches Fulmer and Cutcliffe, I'd say that David's opinion weighed heavilly in Phil's decision making. I'm not saying that this IS the case...just that it's something different (and quite credible) than what I had concluded in my head. Interesting.

Regardless, it's been said before a thousand times...Coach Taylor, you are a class-act and you will be missed!

by Aerobab on Jan 9, 2008 12:59 PM EST reply actions