Brian Kelly as Head Coach?

by Hooper on Nov 20, 2008 12:30 PM EST in Tennessee Volunteer Football Comment 15 comments

Poll

If Brian Kelly were to be named as the next Tennessee Volunteers head football coach, which option would most closely resemble your response?

Woo-hoo!!!

234 votes

Wait and See

474 votes

When do we fire Hamilton?

279 votes

987 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

I think the wait and see approach

Should have been what we had regarding Clawson as well.

by Getoffmyvols on Nov 20, 2008 3:14 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Yes.

Lesson learned there, and I’m as guilty as anybody on that one.

by Hooper on Nov 20, 2008 3:32 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

agreed

no matter who assumes the helm, if we did not learn a lesson in patience this season, we ’d be best served to practice that lesson next year.

as one who enjoys “reading the signs”, i have to say i like that “half bear, the other half cat” thingy you pointed out. it’s in di cyards! ( hard to do an island accent in type)

whoshotwhointhewhatnow?

by thetennesseethumper on Nov 21, 2008 8:51 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

heh. thank.

once in a while, i manage to come up with one.

by Hooper on Nov 21, 2008 9:49 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

but I’m not yet at graysnail intensity yet? I don’t think our fan base is much of the wait and see types. I wouldn’t be surprised if our next coach ends up being a Jerry Green hire after our top choices respectfully decline. Hope I’m wrong. If it is indeed Coach Davis, I’m all in. Has Haslem or Thunder made any comments lately?

by ChattVol on Nov 20, 2008 3:20 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

The boosters are staying mum.

Given the problems that leaks have given Hamilton so far (hence the affidavits for the staff), the boosters must recognize that now is not the time to be chatty. Obviously, Hamilton couldn’t ask them to sign affidavit, but their interest is in the success of the program and success is most likely to be found in a clean, efficient hiring process.

As for me, there are several coaches I’d be ok with. It’s not like we know how things will turn out with any of them; we can only reasonably speculate. But since Kelly is the current front-runner-according-to-GVX, I was curious to see what everybody thought.

by Hooper on Nov 20, 2008 3:27 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

All very good points.

That’s what I like about RTT! Joel, yourself, and the rest of the funky bunch keep everything in perspective, relevant, and current. Everyone here has relevant points and we all take great strides to keep communication lines open w/o fear of backlash. In all matters Volunteer, I am extemely pleased with every contributor here.

Whoever takes this job is going to have every opportunity for success. Tennessee is a proud tradition with top notch facilities, an enormous recruiting budget, and countless supporters who, for the most part, back their team to no end. No one in contention is out of contention at this point. There are no guarantees, but one. The only guarantee is someone is getting a fat check before next fall.

by ChattVol on Nov 20, 2008 5:41 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I said Davis but I meant Kelly

Freudian/Fulmer-ian slip, I suppose.

by ChattVol on Nov 20, 2008 5:32 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I voted wait and see

and even if we clone Neyland and made him coach it would probably remain the same. At this point there are no known entities. The most obscure coach could be a genius in waiting, and the most admired coach could fall flat on his face here.

by Muhler on Nov 20, 2008 5:36 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Great Catch for Tennessee

Coach Kelly would be great for Tennessee. He has a great offensive mind and confident/head strong personality.

Despite what we may think of the Big East, we should still give credit where it’s due. It is an achievement to be in 1st place, like Cincinatti is. Especially since he’s done that despite not having great recruits and having injury plagued QBs (currently playing his 5th one this year). Just imagine what he would do with Tennessee’s talent, on both sides of the ball. That achievment of winning is because of a high level of coaching.

I think he could also handle the scrutiny that comes with such a high profile job. He’s got the confidence/cockiness that you would want in a head coach of a major athletic program, especially one that is at times run more like a high dollar corporation.

His energy level would be extremely different than that of Coach Fulmer. I hope he’s seriously being considered.

by Gabe The Babe on Nov 20, 2008 6:05 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

That is a point.

I haven’t heard anybody hold the Big East against Kelly yet, but it is true that you can’t really hold the other teams in a conference against a coach. Kelly doesn’t have the luxury of deciding how good Syracuse is, to take the extreme example. Likewise, Meyer didn’t have much choice in the quality of MWC opponents while at Utah.

Extending that just a bit, Kelly can only have the coaching history that his opportunities provide him. He hasn’t been given a shot at a more conventional powerhouse program yet, so he can’t have a track record at one. Leach, for a different example, has had a better opportunity – both at Tech and while at Oklahoma as a coordinator. Leach has built an impressive resume for himself partly by his own merit and partly by his opportunity. So has Kelly. The key is to take both resumes within the context of the opportunities they’ve seen. And both have done remarkable jobs.

I do believe that he’s on the short list. The rumors all point to that, though it’s easy to dispute where he stands on the short list.

Thanks for swinging by!

by Hooper on Nov 20, 2008 6:16 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Is Kelly all that? He is good, but not a huge splash- look at his numbers

I have heard so much about him, I took a look at his numbers from the game notes for the upcoming game against Pitt. He seems like a real good coach- but is he a “great hire”? I think he would be a good hire- but I still think Leach or Kiffin would be a bigger impact (baring Cowher-Kiifin-Steele).
Category No. National Conference
Rushing Offense 121.0 90 7
Passing Offense 253.9 22 1
Total Offense 374.9 48 3
Scoring Offense 26.8 55 3
Rushing Defense 112.0 25 3
Pass Efficiency Def. 112.9 34 3
Total Defense 331.4 42 6
Scoring Defense 20.7 35 4
Net Punting 41.8 1 1
Punt Returns 8.3 70 6
Kickoff Returns 25.5 9 1
Turnover Margin -.40 t-80 4
Pass Defense 219.4 78 7
Passing Efficiency 137.5 30 1
Sacks 2.2 42 4
Tackles For Loss 6.2 39 2
Sacks Allowed 2.2 80 6

by RangerVol on Nov 21, 2008 10:29 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

That's the biggest hesitation people have with Kelly.

Nobody really knows what to point at to call the guy something special. When you look through his coaching history, everything checks out. But you don’t have that one “it” moment that you can extrapolate to a UT domination of all football.

For example, when Saban went to LSU, the Tigers fans could note that Saban turned perennial loser Michigan State into a Wolverine’s worst nightmare. When Meyer went to Florida, Gators fans could hang their hats on the college edition of Alex Smith and Utah’s “1st-ever-non-BCS-to-win-a-BCS-game” status. In Michigan, the MGoBonkers could point to the success of Slaton, White, etc. at West Virginia. Even Tressel at OSU had championship runs at Youngstown State and enormous OSU / state of Ohio tie-ins.

That’s also why Leach is so much fun to fantasize over. Even before this year, that Tech offense has been an absolute nightmare for d-coordinators. Add in the “insert-leage-leading-passer-here” offensive style, the quirks, and the national title aspirations, and Leach is a very easy guy to get worked up over.

Kelly has a lot of success, and the turnarounds at Central Michigan and Cincy are very impressive. They’re just not sexy in that ESPN-man-lust form that the other coaching hires had.

In any case, no matter who we hire, we’ll have to wait and see. Even if UT ends up with someone who’ll put the Vols atop the SEC mountain, the team will take a couple of years to develop. There will be growing pains and we’ll have to understand that.

by Hooper on Nov 21, 2008 11:25 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs