Randy Sanders is still a Tennessee guy. A new job and a new wardrobe won't change that.

He grew up in Morristown, where he became a high school football star. He played quarterback at the University of Tennessee from 1984 through 1988. He coached at UT from 1989 through last season.

Most of his family still lives in the area. That's one of the reasons he took a job at the University of Kentucky. He's not that far from his parents, two sisters and a brother.

His wife, Cathy, and two daughters, Kelly and Kari -- all native Tennesseans -- have moved with him to Lexington.

After a lifetime of Tennessee orange, he's comfortable wearing Kentucky-blue tennis shoes. But adjusting to the expectations of a new season is more difficult than changing shoes.

"It's different not going into the year expecting to be really good," he said in a telephone interview Monday. "Even the down years at Tennessee, we still expected to win 10 games."

He also knows about the downside to those high expectations. He experienced it last year when a UT team that was picked to win the SEC championship finished 5-6.

Sanders, who had served as UT's offensive coordinator since 1999, gave up his play-calling duties after a loss to South Carolina on Oct. 29 but continued coaching until the end of the season.

He took seven weeks off after the season. That was long enough to reinvigorate him and convince him to stay in coaching. He then accepted a job as Kentucky's quarterbacks coach.

He has a new job and a new challenge, but he's still hearing about the old job. And he's still being blamed for an offense that struggled mightily and a promising season that turned out all wrong.

Imagine how Sanders felt when he heard UT football coach Phillip Fulmer's comments about last spring practice. Every time Fulmer praised new offensive coordinator, he buried his former offensive coordinator by implication.

"David has improved the toughness of our team," Fulmer said in the spring. "We're fundamentally better. He has been very demanding of tempo and execution.

"The daily practice habits improved. Not that we were practicing poorly, but not the cross-your-t's-and-dot-your-i's extent that we are now."

It's as though in his departure, Sanders was given power and responsibility he never realized he had as an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

"I have heard (Fulmer's comments)," Sanders said. "I'm not going to get into a debate or discussion over that. There were a few things I would have liked to have done differently that we weren't necessarily allowed to do differently. For this to come out as such does bother me some."

It probably bothers him a lot, but he won't say that publicly. Remember, we're not talking about some journeyman coach who wandered through Big Orange country on his way somewhere else. Sanders was a UT fan, player and coach; he still speaks affectionately of the head coach and program he left behind.

The 40-year-old coach isn't focusing on what happened at UT. He's trying to make the most of a new challenge.

Although the expectations at Kentucky don't compare to those at UT, there's little security in Sanders' new venture. Kentucky coach Rich Brooks is 9-25 after three years and in danger of losing his job.

But the schedule is favorable for improvement, and Brooks' last recruiting class was his best. There's also an opportunity for a quarterbacks coach to make his mark.

Starter Andre Woodson, a 6-foot-5 drop-back passer, didn't play up to expectations last season; the more athletic Curtis Pulley is now challenging for the job. So Sanders finds himself in the familiar position of entering preseason practice with uncertainty at quarterback.

Two years ago at UT, he alternated freshman quarterbacks Erik Ainge and Brent Schaeffer for more than half a season, then relied on Rick Clausen after both Ainge and Schaeffer suffered season-ending injuries. Last year, he alternated Ainge and Clausen, both of whom struggled.

"Both (Woodson and Pulley) have God-given ability to play football," Sanders said. "Andre can really throw the football but he hasn't necessarily played to the level he needs to. The challenge is to get him to produce consistently.

"Curtis has played some at wide receiver and has still got a lot of learning to do at quarterback. He has a chance to be a good player."

Sanders' job is to help both quarterbacks improve. And he's fine with that.

But a lawyer might advise him to check the fine print of his contract, just to make sure he's not responsible for establishing the team's work ethic, setting the tempo for practice and making certain all the t's are crossed and i's are dotted.