Dooley says there is hope for 'second season' for Vols: November to Remember

[jbcarol]

On Friday afternoon, Nov. 13th, 1992, the University of Tennessee parted company with football coach Johnny Majors after 16 seasons. His final game before that ouster was a 24-23 loss at South Carolina.

On Monday afternoon, Nov. 3rd, 2008, UT parted ways with football coach Phillip Fulmer after 16 seasons. Two days earlier, Fulmer's Vols lost 27-6 at South Carolina.

Embattled third-year Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley accompanies his struggling team to South Carolina this Saturday, where the Vols hope to end a three-game losing streak and snap an 0-4 start in the Southeastern Conference.

No one but UT athletic director Dave Hart may know for certain Dooley's coaching fate, and at least for now Hart isn't saying.

But you also can't help but wonder if what he isn't saying is all that needs to be said about the long-term future of the coach he didn't hire.

Is his silence on Dooley's future the loudest statement possible that the coach has none? Or is Hart silent because he believes there is no story here for at least one more autumn?

For instance, has Hart noticed the same thing my good friend Wes Rucker did on Sunday, which is the not so little fact that the Vols have lost four SEC games to date to teams which have lost ONE ... GAME ... TOTAL?

Whatever else any UT backer thinks of Dooley and his mostly retooled staff, you could be a pretty good football team and go 0-4 against BCS No. 2 Florida, at No. 10 Georgia and at No. 11 Mississippi State and against No. 1 Alabama.

Nor does it get any easier against the Gamecocks, who are ranked No. 13 in the latest BCS rankings.

Vols looked awful in home losses to Florida and Alabama.

Hart may not be talking, but he surely saw the 35,000 to 40,000 Alabama fans in the stands on Saturday night and that the UT portion of the crowd exited by the close of the third quarter.

When your athletic department is already swimming in red ink the last thing you want a national television audience to see is your stadium filled with Bama crimson rather than Clorox Orange.

At that point you begin to wonder if replacing your coach is more a matter of "can you afford not to" than the other way around.

But if Dooley needs to correct anything in the days ahead, it may be his own ill-chosen words. You just can't walk into a post-game press conference following a 31-point loss to a bitter rival and say, as Dooley did late Saturday, "I don't know," or "not sure why," four times in five minutes.

You may not want to say why, but you best know why, lest your AD swiftly find someone who does.

[DeltaBoy]

Lane Kiffin screwed things up enough that IMO Dooley should get at least 2 more years.

[jbcarol]

"We didn't really accomplish what we wanted to against these SEC top teams. But we've got to turn the page," Dooley said Sunday. "There's a lot at stake down the stretch. We can still have a really good season.

"We have to view this as a second season ... The only way to claw our way out of hurting is to win the next one."

Tennessee (3-5) plays Troy (4-4) on Saturday (TV: FSTN, noon) at Neyland

Tennessee's five "first season" losses came to opponents with an overall record of 36-5. The "second season" opponents are a combined 13-20. The final three SEC opponents are only 3-13 in the league.

The final four games are likely to be played amid intensified discussion of Dooley's job security. Dooley, in his third season at Tennessee, is 14-19 overall and 4-17 in the SEC. He's 0-15 against ranked opponents, and the South Carolina game was likely his final opportunity to break that streak in 2012.

Will he get another chance in 2013?

[jbcarol]

John Adams: Players may buy in to 'second season,' fans not so much

So the coach has declared this as a "second season," presumably to draw a clear line of demarcation between what has transpired and the possibilities that remain. I don't blame him.

To which, many fans might respond, "So what?"

Longtime fans of this program have experienced too much success to get revved up about a four-game winning streak against the likes of Troy, Missouri, Vanderbilt and Kentucky.

They're more interested in the Jon Gruden rumors...

[jbcarol]

Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley mounted a defense of his defensive coordinator Monday that alternated between diplomacy and candor.

"We aren't going to sit here and defend anything we're doing, because statistically we can't," Dooley said.

Dooley has said before that his coaching expertise is on offense and special teams and so his main contribution to the defense comes in "big picture" guidance rather than X's and O's. But he said he has gotten more involved in the defense each week.

"I think the biggest thing is making sure we're all on the same page within the staff," Dooley said. "We're all in it together. It's not ego-driven. We're here to find solutions to help the players play the best they can."

News conferences aren't the only setting in which Dooley is trying to explain the team's struggles. Dooley said he meets regularly with athletic director Dave Hart.

[jbcarol]

Climer: Dooley should take blame for Vols defense

On face, you can't blame Derek Dooley for not wanting to be closely linked to Tennessee 's lousy defense. It's guilt by association.

But the buck stops with the bucks. When you're getting paid so much ($2 million this year) and have a buyout ($5 million) that guarantees a financial soft landing if you get canned, you should be driving the bus, not throwing people under it.

Dooley's reluctance to take ownership of UT's historically bad defense (the Vols are on pace to set a school record for the most yardage and points allowed) is one of his most glaring flaws as a head coach.

[possumslayer]

RIP Dooley

[jbcarol]

Dooley was asked directly whether he expected to keep his job if the Vols win the final four games of the regular season.

"I really do not think about that," Dooley said. "And I mean that. Any of that stuff is beyond my control. All that's going to do is bring a lot of anxiety to me, the team, all that, which is unnecessary. It's so important that we just maintain our focus on what's next and go 1-0, and that's what we're trying to do here."

[jbcarol]

Last year Franklin said a tape of Tennessee coach Derek Dooley's post-game speech to his players after the Vols' 27-21 overtime win in Knoxville would lead to plenty of talk prior to the rematch Saturday night in Nashville.

"We'll talk about it next year — a lot," Franklin said in 2011. "We'll talk about it as much as you guys want to talk about it."

At his Monday press conference, a more reserved Franklin veered the other direction.

"I've matured dramatically since that day," Franklin said. "As you guys know, we have one of the best hospitals in the United States. So that wound has healed.

"Our focus is on Vanderbilt and getting better. ... If we need any other types of motivation and things like that, then our focus isn't where it needs to be."

Franklin said he would not address or show his Commodores (6-4, 4-3 SEC) any of Dooley's speech in which he said: "The last thing I'm going to remind you ... is that the one thing Tennessee always does is kick the (expletive) out of Vandy."

That served as the lone SEC win for Dooley and the Vols (4-6, 0-6) in the last two seasons.

[Aston Martin 8 dude]

On Friday afternoon, Nov. 13th, 1992, the University of Tennessee parted company with football coach Johnny Majors after 16 seasons. His final game before that ouster was a 24-23 loss at South Carolina.

On Monday afternoon, Nov. 3rd, 2008, UT parted ways with football coach Phillip Fulmer after 16 seasons. Two days earlier, Fulmer's Vols lost 27-6 at South Carolina.

Embattled third-year Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley accompanies his struggling team to South Carolina this Saturday, where the Vols hope to end a three-game losing streak and snap an 0-4 start in the Southeastern Conference.

Another brilliant and truthful quote like "The check's in the mail".