6 • The Daily Beacon
SPORTS
UT practices get physical in bye week Matt Dixon Sports Editor Following an embarrassing 41-14 loss at Georgia on Oct. 9, the Tennessee football team returned to the practice field this week during the team’s only bye of the season. Coach Derek Dooley wanted the week of practice to be very physical and very competitive, while working on fundamentals and refusing to game plan for the team’s next opponent, one of the luxuries the bye week allows the Vols. “(We had) two good days of work, got a lot accomplished and got a little better as a team,” the first-year coach said after Wednesday’s practice. “I don’t know how much, but we got a little better, and that’s what our objective was. I think every player got a little better in some fashion, and tomorrow Matt Dixon • The Daily Beacon (Thursday) we’ll turn our attention to our next The Vols walk off the field after being defeated 41-14 against Georgia opponent and start working on them a little bit.” on Oct. 9. This week coach Derek Dooley wanted to focus on One area the Vols were hoping to utilize during fundamentals before game planning for the Alabama game on Oct. the two-week break was integrating more freshmen 23. into the playing rotation. During one drive in the fourth quarter against the Bulldogs, UT had as many as seven body else is. We aren’t here to win the (SEC) championship, true freshmen on the field on offense. Dooley refuted criticism we are here to win the next game. We aren’t here to try and lay that getting younger players more playing time was preparing the foundation. We are here to win the next game. “Now, we are laying a foundation by the values we are for the future and not necessary about winning games this instilling. That’s what we are doing, but our objective is to win year. “We are going to try and go out and win the next game,” the next game. That’s what we are going to keep doing weekDooley said. “I’m not into this big-picture thinking that every- to-week and at the end of the year, we look back and see how were we. That’s all you can do.” Laying that foundation still includes the team’s seniors, many of whom have been through three head coaches during their careers at UT. Defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox said he has the utmost respect for college athletes that can make it through a multi-year span and still come to practice every day taking to coaching and wanting to get better. “I don’t know what the class number, but if you look at the seniors who are here from that original class, the number’s very small I would assume,” Wilcox said of the team’s 2007 recruiting class, which was ranked No. 3 in the nation by Rivals.com. “It takes a special guy, even if there is no coaching turnover, to make it through and have success through that four- or five-year span. To go through what they’ve gone through, it’s kind of one of those deals, I’m definitely impressed by the way those guys have handled themselves, but when you meet them and see what type of kids they are, it doesn’t surprise you. I have empathy but not sympathy for them, and that’s how we treat them.” Senior outside linebacker LaMarcus Thompson is one senior on the team who has faced a that adversity. Thompson is glad the Vols get a bye week before playing Alabama, especially after the former No. 1 team in the country suffered its first loss in 19 games last Saturday at South Carolina. “They are going to be very hungry coming off a loss, because a loss hurts,” Thompson said. “Especially when you’re a team that’s winning and winning, and all of a sudden, wow, you get hit with a loss. It kind of brings you back down to earth. They are going to come with it and come hard, because they are a good Alabama football team and of course they want to get back to that winning streak.” Had the Vols played this weekend, they would have likely been down three starters. Defensive tackles Montori Hughes (ankle), left tackle Dallas Thomas (ankle) and kicker Daniel Lincoln (quad) were all held out of practice this week and will be reevaluated on Monday. The Vols will play Alabama on Oct. 23 in Neyland Stadium at 7 p.m. and will be televised on the ESPN network.
Friday, October 15, 2010
College coaches must win to keep jobs Beware: Thin ice! Trudge Ahead Cautiously. If there only were a sign such as this outside of every college football sports facility, the younger ones would be warned. In college football today, no position is as highly decorated, criticized and publically critiqued more than the head-coaching job. What has turned Assistant Sports Editor into a seven-digit business has quickly become more inflated than ever. Coaches handle more issues within the program today than their predecessors, and the seemingly high risks of NCAA infractions because of agents and infringements within the program keep them on their toes around the clock. But beyond the daily grind, past all of the day-to-day business and amidst the press conferences and TV commercials, what sits in the back of the mind of every coach today is the pressure to win. This seems simple and a given, until you grasp the fact that college coaches these days are put on the hot seat faster than any other coaching position in sports. Take Mark Richt for example, a man with his britches on fire. Boasting the longest tenure of any coach in the SEC (currently in his 10th season), the University of Georgia head coach has compiled six 10-win seasons, a nine-win season and two eight-win seasons. Simply put, the man has done nothing but win and win often. Any coach with a nine-year tenure like this would surely be destined for a library on campus named after him and long-term benefits in sight, right? Very wrong. Since Matthew Stafford’s departure after the 2008 season, Georgia’s offense has sputtered and often come up short in big games, putting pressure on Richt. Knowshon Moreno left for the NFL in the same season, and the emerging face of the Bulldogs on the field seemed to be that of young A.J. Green. Recently, Green’s off-the-field troubles, which include selling a game-worn jersey for $1,000 to an individual deemed as a sports agent, has dug the hole deeper for the coach in red and black. After starting the season 1-0 with a redshirt freshman at quarterback, the Bulldogs lost their next four games before dismantling a young Tennessee squad. Sure, this type of record is not acceptable for any school with the tradition and success known in Athens, Ga., but what other wrong has this man done to the school? His team is coming off an eight-win season and a Dec. 28, 2009, Independence Bowl victory over Texas A&M in 2009. What further helps his case is the quality of recruiting he is bringing in, coming in at No. 7 in national recruiting rankings for the incoming 2011 class according to Scout.com. What’s most important about a coach in college football is his integrity, track record and fatherly support of his team to do well in the classroom, and according to college football analysts and fellow peers, he is a class act and one of the best in the business. So what’s driving this man out of his job so quickly? It’s the competitiveness of college football programs today in general, and the money involved driving schools to mold and shape their teams into perennial powerhouses, into dynasties. Bobby Bowden was pushed out of Florida State for not continuing his winning dominance over a couple seasons, and the school made a change. Phillip Fulmer was already aging and not recruiting the marquee players Tennessee had once brought in to compete for the SEC East crown, so Big Orange made a change. Lane Kiffin, the next man in line and notorious traitor to Knoxville, took money and a high-profile job out at USC the next year. Through sanctions and infractions, his team can no longer be ranked in the Coaches Poll and lost scholarships. This competitiveness in college football today is driving coaches everywhere to up their own game and have the best possible chance for success to save their own rear end. Whether it be within the guidelines set by the NCAA or not, the fact remains that coaches must win in this business in order keep their jobs. From extra practice time to under-the-table recruiting phone calls, it is no secret too that they have to keep some sort of edge in order to keep their program among the best. What should hold true is the fact that the most important impact a coach has in a program is the one on their players’ lives, the same promise they made to a recruit’s parents while sitting on a living room couch, going over the kid’s future. This fatherly influence includes the classroom, maturing off the field and growing into upstanding student-athletes with a future that is very likely in something other than sports.
Colin Skinner