Seeing was believing for Tennessee offensive tackle Arron Sears.

"I'd heard two or three people say Coach (Randy) Sanders was resigning, and I was like, nahh, that's wrong,'' Sears said. "I didn't believe it because Coach Sanders doesn't deserve this. He didn't fumble, he didn't miss a block or drop a pass.''

The news was so shocking that receiver Bret Smith broke his three-year self-imposed media silence Monday night.

"I was surprised; I didn't understand why he did it,'' Smith said. "We were disappointed. There's nothing we can do about it now ... hopefully something good can come out of all this.''

A few more wins would have come out of the offense if not for mistakes, according to Sears.

"If we don't put the ball on the field three times,'' Sears said, "we've still got our offensive coordinator.''

Instead, UT coach Phillip Fulmer will be searching for a new quarterbacks coach and play caller.

Sanders announced Monday he's resigning from his offensive coordinator duties effective the end of this season.

A year ago at this time, it would have been hard to imagine someone doing a better job than Sanders. He took two true freshmen quarterbacks, Brent Schaeffer and Erik Ainge, split the repetitions and got the Vols off to a 7-1 start.

When Schaeffer was injured against South Carolina and Ainge went out in a loss to Notre Dame, Sanders took Rick Clausen, a quarterback who had been cast off from LSU and walked on at UT, and turned him into the Cotton Bowl's most valuable offensive player.

"Last year Randy did one of the most remarkable jobs in all of college football, getting us into the SEC championship game'' said Fulmer, who rewarded Sanders with a $17,277 raise -- the biggest of his career -- to bring his total salary to $162,813. "This year we're just a few plays away from 7-0, 6-1 or 5-2 ... something more reasonable.''

A former Vol quarterback himself, Sanders worked his way up through the ranks at UT, from graduate assistant, to receivers coach, to running backs coach and recruiting coordinator and finally as the offensive coordinator.

Sanders also served as an effective recruiter. Jim Clausen, Doug Ainge and David Crompton -- the fathers of the three most prominent UT QBs -- said their sons chose the Vols in large part because of Sanders.

"I'm surprised by the news; I'm disappointed because my son likes Randy so much and one of the reasons he came to UT was to play for Randy,'' Doug Ainge said. "There's no way Erik is leaving, though. We've told him what doesn't kill him makes him stronger.''

Jim Clausen, father of former Vol quarterback Casey Clausen and current QB Rick Clausen, said Sanders is taking too much of the blame for the team's woes.

"This is a player's issue, not a play-calling issue,'' Jim Clausen said. "But if you're looking for a scapegoat, you can find one. It just isn't Coach Sanders or Coach (Pat) Washington or Coach (Jimmy Ray) Stephens.

"Has Randy always made the right calls? No. But the last two games, guys just aren't executing. My son (Rick) needed to complete a couple of balls that were simple balls and he didn't do it, and the receivers needed to make a couple of more catches. I'm not into the blame game.''

Jim Clausen said Southern Cal and Notre Dame lead the battle for his coveted third son, high school junior quarterback Jimmy Clausen. Losing Sanders might have ended UT's chances for getting him.

"I'm sure they'll come at us with (David) Cutcliffe, if they get him, and say he's all the things Randy wasn't,'' Clausen said. "But you look at how some things have been handled. Really, what will be different for Jimmy?''

David Crompton, whose son, Jonathan, is expected to compete with Ainge for the starting job next spring, said his son has no plans to transfer.

"(Jonathan) is not going anywhere,'' Crompton said. "But it's still a dark day for us.''

Crompton, a freshman, had shoulder surgery and is redshirting.

Mississippi State offensive coordinator Woody McCorvey, who was relieved of his offensive coordinator duties at Alabama in 1997 before moving on to coach running backs at UT for five years, said play-calling isn't the Vols' biggest problem.

"You look around this conference this year, and you can have an injury or two, and it totally decimates the system,'' McCorvey said. "People say you can overcome it, but it's tough to do.''

So tough that Sanders will be walking away from UT after dedicating the past 22 years of his life to the university.

Sears and most others in the Tennessee football family had to see it to believe it.