Tennessee has lost its offensive coordinator. It hasn't lost its offensive system.
Coaches come and go. UT's system is forever. Or so it seems.
That's why no one should have been shocked to hear that NFL assistant coach Kippy Brown might be a candidate for the offensive coordinator's job David Cutcliffe exchanged for a head-coaching job at Duke.
Brown has a solid coaching resume. More importantly, he has a history with UT's offensive system - the one that Johnny Majors coached; the one to which Phillip Fulmer has remained devoted in his 15 years as head coach.
I'm not sure who else is on Fulmer's shopping list. But my best guess is the list includes coaches on the current staff as well as former assistant coaches on the UT staff.
That's how the system works. It's familiar. It's comfortable. It's Tennessee.
Two years ago, when offensive coordinator Randy Sanders resigned, there was no debating whom Fulmer would hire. Cutcliffe was in town and out of work. So he returned to the same job he last held in 1998 before becoming the head coach at Ole Miss.
No one can argue that Cutcliffe is a good coordinator and an exceptional quarterbacks coach. But before he re-upped with the Vols, I tried to make a case for going in a different direction for a couple of reasons.
First, I thought it was an opportunity to bring in a creative new coach with innovative ideas. Second, I wondered how long Cutcliffe would stay, since he made no secret of his ambition to become a head coach again.
In retrospect, Cutcliffe probably saved Fulmer's job. He improved the offense over a disastrous 2005 season and worked wonders with quarterback Erik Ainge, who needed a strong-willed, detail-oriented position coach. In fact, Cutcliffe seemed to bring much-needed discipline to the entire offense over which he obviously had more control than his successor.
Nonetheless, I wonder what would have happened if Fulmer had hired a hotshot coordinator "outside the family" and given him the leeway to run his offense, whatever that might have been.
I'm not saying UT's system is broken. I'm just saying it's not nearly as efficient as other systems.
If you have the best players, you can make any system work. UT had the best players in the mid to late 1990s. It doesn't now.
And it certainly doesn't have the best system.
UT hasn't led the SEC in total offense since 1997. It hasn't led the SEC in rushing since 1999.
In Sanders' last two years as offensive coordinator, UT ranked fourth and eighth in the SEC in total offense. In Cutcliffe's two years as offensive coordinator, it has ranked sixth and fifth.
You can't measure Cutcliffe's contributions solely in yards. He's a recruiting magnet for quarterbacks.
Terrelle Pryor of Jeannette, Pa., is regarded as the top quarterback prospect in the country this year. Most of his favored schools run some version of the spread option, which he runs in high school. UT also was on his short list because of Cutcliffe, who coached both Peyton and Eli Manning in college.
Oregon is one of the schools on Pryor's list. And maybe its coordinator, Chip Kelly, should be on UT's list. Kelly, 43, was a longtime coordinator at the University of New Hampshire before taking charge of the spread option offense at Oregon, which was just about unstoppable until quarterback Dennis Dixon was injured.
If I were in the market for a coordinator, I would take a long look at Georgia Southern head coach Chris Hatcher and Tulsa offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn.
Hatcher, 34, won a Division II national championship and 86.4 percent of his games at his alma mater, Valdosta State, before taking over at Georgia Southern this season. The Eagles improved from 3-8 last season to 7-4 this year under Hatcher, who is well versed in the spread option but also has been exposed to other systems. He was a quarterbacks coach under Hal Mumme at Kentucky and was a quarterbacks coach at UCF when Daunte Culpepper was the quarterback.
Hatcher already is drawing attention as a head-coaching candidate at bigger schools, so maybe he wouldn't be interested in a coordinator's job. But he's worth calling, just in case.
So is the 42-year-old Malzahn, who wrote a book on his fast-paced no-huddle offense while he was still a high school coach in Springdale, Ark. In a turbulent 2006 season as Arkansas' offensive coordinator, Malzahn made improvements despite the resistance of then-head coach Houston Nutt. This year, as Tulsa's offensive coordinator, Malzahn's team leads the nation in total offense.
None of those coaches has a UT connection. They don't know the system.
But they know offense.
Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knews.com.
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Comments » 98
southernACmavs writes:
Thank you MR. Adams, you are right on. Tennessee s day old bread offence should be put behind a glass case somewhere.Beside the Eastern Division Championships and the recruiting National title. Would be good..Please tell phill ITS TIME TO CHANGE..
TommyJack writes:
The article is on the money. But it will not play well with the blinders wearing faithful.
dlns#209394 writes:
Well said
waterskier3#226480 writes:
john are you crazy suggesting to the fulmer that he quit inbreeding and go get someone that might show him up???? you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.... fulmer will just look at all the new offenses scoring on him and say "stay the course" pound the rock and get the charts out.... lol... fulmer change.... that's like asking the vol nation to expect more than 8 wins.... :)
man I wish he would bring someone new outside of ut for once........
drcmac#206767 writes:
Totally on target. It's time the Vols moved into a 21st century offense. Michigan did it today with their hire. The last of the dinosaurs needs to evolve.
pmidude56#259103 writes:
John:
You are preaching to the choir. Unfortunately Coach Fulmer isn't in the congregation. He's going to do what his superiors (not Mike Hamilton but Jim Haslam and his buddies) tell him to do and that's KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY.
Thanks for trying though!
indianacurly writes:
someone should go by phil's office and pin this on the door. anybody got a badge to get in the football offices?
abrown#232236 writes:
I'd like to at least have them investigate that, or open to it. I hate to think that we have blinders on on the issue. More at issue to me is our offensive tendency to "play to avoid losing" as opposed to trying to light it up. I think that the number of points it takes to win games is higher than in past years. This year's LSU team is alot like our '98 Championship team -- keyed by defense, won a lot of slobber knockers, and the offense goes quiet for long stretches. Point being that, even with their AWESOME personnel, they needed alot of luck from the football Gods to get into the NC. I do believe that we are at a point where offenses have evolved to counter the speed and schemes that defenses have produced. I am not saying our system is antiquated, but it may be. Our program should not be opposed to investigating new schemes.
murrayvol writes:
"If you have the best players, you can make any system work. UT had the best players in the mid to late 1990s. It doesn't now." To some that may seem a harsh assessment but to me it sounds like the truth.
While I have no clue who Fulmer will select as OC, he'd better be a good one whose schemes will keep opposing DCs up all night.
FWBVol writes:
This hire is more important than the Cutcliffe hire was two years ago. If Brown is the next OC, I hope he is given the leeway to run whatever system he wants.
I am a Fulmer supporter, but he must get out of his comfort zone with this hire if he is serious about playing for another NC as he has said he is.
tndrum#214683 writes:
Am I the only one out there that is more interested in getting better at STOPPING the spread option than running it? If we could defensively dominate those who do run it, our "day old bread" offense might win a game in which we score 28 to 30. Mix some of the spread in? Sure. Change completely? I think that's short sighted. Defenses in this league will catch up sooner than later.
Rebelsfball2008 writes:
i totally agree the offense had another average season this year..but i really do wish we could get a coridnator who will throw the ball further than ten yards down the field...true that d-fense wins championships..but championships aren't won on field goals either.......
geojeff writes:
I wouldn't mind getting a coach that knows the "flavor of the month" SPREAD offense and Tennessee dedicate 100% BUT ... Does anybody else think that a smart defensive mind will find a scheme that stops the SPREAD in it's tracks? I think it is a matter of time. Every-time I watch a team with the SPREAD....it just looks ugly...like high school...I say, find an innovative defensive coach and give him one task....stop the SPREAD. So, instead of joining the crowd, lets learn how to stop the crowd. Call me a homer, but if we can't recruit quality players from the state of Tennessee, let's at least have Tennessean's and better yet, Vols coaching them.
oasis3#214380 writes:
What we need is a coordinator with imagination. The system is not as important as the play calling within the the system being used. That is where we have gotten stale. Good column Adams.
99gator writes:
someone has said this before....
any system can work if you have the right talent and teach it well.
you want to stop the spread....it's like any other offense. whip them upfront.
the reason the spread seems special is the skill players on some of the teams who run it. but, if you want to stop it, beat 'em up front.
there's not a mystery here. if you're playing florida or west virgina and you don't win up front...then guys like white, slaton, devine or tebow, harvin, etc... have a field day.
it was the same as stopping spurrier's fun 'n gun. people focused too much on the qb and wr's. at the college level, it was hard to stop receivers and a qb who knows what he is doing. you have to hit the qb. hit the qb and the fun 'n gun becomes the chuck and duck
gohawks1 writes:
All this talk about our inbreeding hiring practices reminds me of that banjo-playing kid on the movie Deliverance. It's not as bad as all that, is it?
However, I would like to see some fresh blood come in and get us back near the top in the offensive production rankings.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Mr. Adams, that shoe fits.
burntorangeVOLffle writes:
Changing completely over to the spread is not the answer. Incorporating some elements of it into our system is not out of the question. Phil has even said as much.
It takes a freak of nature like Tim Tebow to make the spread run like a well oiled machine. See FL 05 & 06 stats. Otherwise its as stoppable as anyother system.
chrisw2967 writes:
I dont see Fulmer giving who ever the next OC is, 100% control.
Thats what his problem is now , he wants to run the ball ever chance he gets , even when its not working.
The off. we have been watching for the past 20 years it seems like , is outdated and no longer works. I think Fulmer better do the right thing cause this could be the starting of the end for him.
invisiblekid writes:
Oustanding points 99gator, I agree 100%. I doubt Tebow and company would have steamrolled a Henderson or Haynesworth as they did Mapu and Bolden.
Fulmer had his chance two years ago to make a change in philosophy and he chose to go the safe route and bring Cutcliffe back. Between that and statements like "stay the course", which we were all so fond of, I am already resolved to it being a case of the more things change, the more they stay the same at the end of the day. The more immediate concern in my mind is minimizing the impact on recruiting, especially if Taylor goes as well.
estillspgsvol writes:
Did Florida win a second National Championship with the Spread? No, they won the one last year with tough defense and a QB that was more a pocket passer than anything else! Did West Virginia win a National Championship, or did I miss something? General Neyland ran the Spread, it was called the single-wing, Gentlemen, football has not been re-invented. Running the football and playing solid defense wins championships. When dust settles in New Orleans, tell me which team wins a championship. It will be the one that runs the football most effectively, and does not turn it over!
creepykev#228270 writes:
That kid on the porch could play a mean banjo. I think we need to look to find someone that can dream up an offense that will be the next big thing that everyone will try to emulate. People will figure out how to stop this spread offense soon and another fad will take it's place. Who knows if Fulmer plays stubborn long enough his offense might come back into style.
tennisvol writes:
I think a lot of fans agree with you, but I don't think Fulmer will be one of those. He will do where he feels the most comfortable and that will probably be in-house. Same ole offense and same ole, same ole.
oldsarge writes:
What about Mike DeBord? He is the current OC at Michigan. He will be unemployed after 1 January. Michigan runs the I Pro Multiple offense.* Coach DeBord was the OC during Michigan's National Championship season. He left to become a head coach and then returned in 2006. He is credited with modernizing the offense and re-installing discipline and toughness. (This sounds familiar)
*New Michigan Coach Rich Rodriguez doesn't run the I Pro Multiple.
MillisaAnn writes:
Right On Mr. Adams!!!
FLVol writes:
I think TN should consider George Quarles, Maryville High School Coach.
reedt#304042 writes:
John, This is the best summary of the stagnate situation at UT that I have read. Unfortunately, I think that it will take a wholesale management change (from Fulmer down)in order to institute meaningful changes in how we execute on the field. We see that in other businesses; big time football is no different.
jeremy writes:
Insane: the prosess of doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. No new blood will come to UT untill fulmer is gone. So, expect the insanity to continue.
jeremy writes:
By going "outside" michigan just beat ohio state for the next 5 years.
MANVOL writes:
"Coaches come and go. UT's system is forever. Or so it seems." Enuff said.
waterskier3#226480 writes:
well.....well.......sounds like a lot of distractions for the bowl game but that's ok they always lose the game anyway and then they yell..... wait til spring pratice, then in spring we look like championship contenders/pretenders and then in the fall we get beat by 20 or 30 points and then they say stay the course and we need to get back to tn football.... haven't we heard these quotes a lot over fulmers career...
oh but we have one NC and 2 true sec championsships so we're a traditional powerhouse with fulmer running the show... Michigan finally said enough and getting rid of old school.... when will tn do the same.
BigVolinCarolina writes:
tndrum and burntorangeVol--both of you are correct. We don't need to convert to a spread offense as much as we need to learn to STOP the spread!
John Adams' article is an excellent piece; however, if we can't stop teams from averaging 28 points per game (which was our average this year), then scoring a bunch of points doesn't help the situation. This hire may well determine how long Coach Fulmer keeps his job.
I'd love to see Coach Fulmer go "outside the family". Why? For the sole reason of finding someone who isn't predictable offensively. We don't need "tricker-ation"; instead, we just need to stop being predictable offensively and learn how to stop teams defensively.
gohawks1 writes:
Good analysis, BigVolinCarolina, but I doubt anyone who matters is listening. Are you a coach? Get your application in now, son!
BigVolinCarolina writes:
IPO Orange--I wish I were a football coach, but basketball is my primary sport.
I love my wife dearly but when she can accurately predict our plays [run left, middle, right, or pass] TWO-THIRDS of the time, then I know we have a problem! (And, honestly, I'm not kidding about her prediction %, either).
surfmaster writes:
I agree with 99gator, whip'em up front and the spread will fold. Personally, I don't give a flip whether the spread is better than traditional offense, etc etc. All I know is that the blue-chip recruits are demanding it (see Terrell Pryor), and we need to at least say we have it in the aresenal to get them. You have to put the good stuff up front if you want to get the kids in the candy store.
west_tn_volfan writes:
What we need is a creative O.C. That could be the spread or it could be something else. The point is if your creative, you run whatever gives you an edge with the talent you have. The problem I have with the spread is that quarterbacks don't seem to last long. Oregon was great until their QB got hurt, WVa was great until their Qb got hurt, same with Fla. When Tebow got hurt they lost a few games. A creative O.C. will come up with an exciting unpredictable scheme that may change numerous times over his tenure and that would be a breath of fresh air.
utchris writes:
Hatcher would not be the right fit. He is from the same mold as Mumme and we all know how that turned out. He won at Valdosta because he was able to land the D1 talent that left schools like LSU, Florida St, etc after they encountered legal troubles or fell behind the depth chart after injuries. Then you have Malzhan who is only two years removed from High school.
Tennessee is not a school where you run a OC tryout. They will bring someone in who is ready to go day 1 rather than someone who still needs training wheels!
firefulmer (Inactive) writes:
As long as we have that pathetic excuse for a coach, nothing will change at UT. 8-4 or 9-3 seasons will be the norm, and occasionally Florida will mess up and open the door for GA or TN to play in the SEC Title game. Does 2007 sound familiar?
ONUV writes:
thank you Mr. Adams! you're the first journalists/media member that has mentioned Malzahn. it would be a great hire for the program.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
tngeoff -welcome slowly back to reality. It is a hard journey. I know, I have made it. From Fulmerite in 2004 to a cold and clear look at this program and its results.
You can only fool yourself so long. Set a standard. Mine was a top ten finish. With what Tenn provides to a coach, the journey should be makeable. Look at the results for the last 5-7 years calmly and tell me what you see. Merry Christmas.
jonathan012 writes:
SPREAD OPTION! IT'S TIME TO MOVE TO THE NEW GENERATION OF FOOTBALL! EVENTUALLY WE WILL... EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT... WHY NOT GET A HEAD START!!!
Colliervol writes:
Rather than taking the eternally negative view that some folks have, I'd view this as a golden opportunity for Fulmer to revamp the entire staff and pump some new blood in there. Now it's up to him whether he does it or not but he certainly has the opportunity. Could be exciting if he makes the right moves.
Haven't had a chance to read anything in several days. Has there been any news on Slade?
eefor10c writes:
John Adams for offensive coordinator. He is certainly offensive enough.It's amazing how much you know and how much you pander to the hate Fulmer crowd. You do not care anything about the Tennessee football program. All you want to do is try to stir up dissension in the fan base.
jlange#632002 writes:
If the spread option is so dynamite, why isn't every NFL team running it? In the NFL, if you intentionally put your QB in harm's way, the probability he's gonna get hurt rises dramatically. The nearest thing in football to the NFL is the SEC. By the time, FL played GA, Tebow was beat up and GA just pounded the 3rd place gaters. It's intriguing, but if you commit to the spread, you better have 3 quality QB's.
imw8n4u writes:
How long will it be before the NFL starts complaining about its farm system, a.k.a., Div. I college football, not developing enough pro-style QB's. Look at who's starting at QB in the NFL these days and tell me there isn't a talent shortage already. No NFL team is going to run this spread option game because defenses are too fast and QB's would get killed, they'd have to have 5 roster spots for QB's. This is a fad and I do not support jumping on the spread option band-wagon. As someone posted earlier, we should be looking at building a defense to stop it and the rest will take care of itself.
vscebail#247785 writes:
If you really want to win, you need to go with a throw-back offense -- not the spread! Remember Nebraska's triple option offense of the 90's... at one point they were like 62-3 over a five year period. It may not be the flashiest thing out there, but it wins a hell-uva lot of games. Let's go old-school: Hire Frank Solich!!!
rbhobbs73#226545 writes:
Guys,
My suggestion is to quit worrying about recruiting.
I have said this many times...but here it is again...
One bad recruiting class might set you back a season...one bad coaching hire can set you back a decade.
I don't give a rats a$$ about this recruiting class. I do care about Fulmer hiring the right personnel as it looks like we are going to have 4 openings on the offensive side of the ball to replace Cutcliffe, Taylor, Roper and Luke.
Phil, just get the coaching hires right. All the rest will take care of itself. We have plenty of young talent and our need in this class is not QB, RB or WR...which is how they rank recruiting classes. We need OL and DL and we still have those coaches who are good at recuiting them.
So..in summary...hire the RIGHT coaches and go get some big uglies and UT will be fine.
I also agree that our offense isn't as stale as our tendencies and play calling. This offense is multiple and has every formation and play under the sun in it. Just because we only run 10 formations and 20 plays out of it, doesn't mean the offense itself is bad.
asleep#212036 writes:
gator99's unique perspective is right on! Football is, and always will be, about winning the battle up front. Our D-line from 1997-2001 would have made the spread much more diffucult to run because the QB would have been hit sooner, harder, and more often and the receivers would have had much less time to find the open spots in the zone or get separation against man coverage. Defenses will adapt-they always have and they always will.
I love this article because it sums up not only UT's relatively stagnant offense (although yardage numbers don't matter and Cut's scoring offense was clearly superior to Sanders), but Fulmer's and Hamilton's hurdles in getting the person they want to run it. Just like every other big-time athletic program, if you write big checks, you get big influence, most of the time to the point of hindering the process. I would love to see an up-and-coming outsider with experience asked to come in a shake things up. I agree that a wholesale sellout to the spread might be premature but the current playbook is at least as old as Cutcliffe's first year as OC, maybe older. It is predictable and has too many sets with too few options out of any given set. After 17 years of seeing these plays, every DC in the league knows what's coming and thus our offense struggles unless we have perfect execution. Once the NFL talent on our team decreased, we suddenly were unable to score points. We need new plays and a new guy to run the show. Unfortunately, although Fulmer and Hamilton may see the need, I doubt the money guys will go for it. Go Vols!!!
agentorange writes:
This year's "old offense" included no fullback, a three wr bunch formation and (late in the game) the spread option using Gerald Jones. Oh yeah, it was also no huddle and pass first for the most part. Same ol offense, though. What a joke of an article.
scvols writes:
Agentorange - I agree, when we had 5 WRs on the field against Vandy, I guess that was the same old offense. Please.... To be successful at the spread offense you have to have a mobile/speedy QB that can make the needed throws.
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