Tennessee's new strength coach Mark Smith said he will start work about Jan. 5.
His last day as South Carolina's strength coach was Monday, ending a long relationship with coach Steve Spurrier that dated back to 1998 at Florida.
"He's been good to me and my family," Smith told the Post and Courier. "This is an opportunity I feel like I couldn't pass up."
Speculation was that Smith would continue to work with South Carolina through the Outback Bowl on Jan. 1, but Smith told the newspaper he was "done now."
Smith accepted the offer last Friday, but was allowed to hang around through the weekend to help the Gamecocks complete their Columbia-based preparations for the bowl game.
Smith will receive $200,000 to join the Vols. His salary at South Carolina was $140,000.
He becomes the second member of Spurrier's staff hired by new coach Lane Kiffin, joining former recruiting coordinator David Reaves, Kiffin's brother-in-law.
UT's new $45 million football…
Images from Larry Murphy's book on…
Smokey undergoes physical therapy at UT
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 44
volfan1967 writes:
This is a great hire welcome 2 ROCKY TOP.
cainclifton23 writes:
Yea Im glad to have this guy.
Eric Berry is going to be like a hellchild now to opposing teams
samjrr writes:
Eric Berry is already like a hellchild. Maybe now he'll be super duper hellchild.Go Vols!!
jsm67vol writes:
Smith obviously sees a lot of potential for growth in UT football players. Its good to know that some highly respected coaches see this Kiffin hire as a good move for the Vols and want to come onboard with this staff coming together.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Welcome aboard, Brother Smith.
gohawks1 writes:
Welcome aboard, coach Smith. Get 'em bulked up and ready to go for '09.
wildberry14 writes:
since when was he not a hellchild
TopperVol75 writes:
Welcome Coach Smith...the O line and the D line should be your first priorities. It starts up front with the "big uglies" and the rest all falls into place. Provided our "bulked up" receivers can catch one hoppers! Sorry, didn't mean to go hatin' on Christmas!
Merry Christmas to all my fellow Vol fans...I hope your day was full of goodwill.
khelton657 writes:
Hopefully this means we will no longer be an offensive line that gets pushed all over the field..Welcome Coach Smith and thanks Coach Kiffin
gohawks1 writes:
Have no fear - Kiffin is gonna make Jon work out with a medicine ball.
rclarkvols#224537 writes:
Does any one have good tickets to Monday nights basketball game they want to get rid of. I need 2. Planning to take my son
cainclifton23 writes:
Heck I thought this was GOVOLSXTRA... not a florida website..
lowman4vols writes:
florida fans are scared so they have to check up on our progress lol
volsoutwest writes:
Well gosh darn it, you must really be bored.
NoogaVol55 writes:
Agreed, but I am pretty sure the $60,000 pay raise had something to do with it!!
cainclifton23 writes:
Thats weird cause im watching the previous two Auburn v.s. UF game.. and a teaser for the Ole Miss & FL game...
gohawks1 writes:
Heh heh. That'll leave a mark.
cainclifton23 writes:
haha just for you orange
tdtnsee writes:
Good luck toughen these guys up
newtonrail writes:
The guy may be a great S and C Coach, but all this money we are slinging around all of sudden has everything to do with it. We are fast reaching a point we won't be able to pay position coaches competitive wage. That's assuming Hammy promised $3 Million for Assistants, as has been bandied around, versus $1.9 Million for Fulmer's. I hope Haslam will keep ponying up past the $50Million we know about, because with the Wall St. crash, this is fast about to price me out.
newtonrail writes:
Oh yeah, whoever wanted tickets to La-Lafayette game, there are plenty of people selling them outside. Student are out, so game may not be sold out.
tnvolgrad00 writes:
We are the richest athletic program in the country, we can afford anything, except a mediocre coach that can't win more than five games with all the resources we gave him. I like everything we have done from canning Foolmer to our new hires. Welcome coach, now go fetch us some championships.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Well said.
HtownVol writes:
PLEASE COME TO UT MARLON BROWN. WE NEED YOU!!!
Waldorf writes:
Wow.
200K versus 140K?
I thought Foolmore took care of his assistants? Sounds like it was possible for him to take a little bit better care of them if he had pushed the envelope. Then again, I guess that money might have come out of his unwarranted salary.
Go4Two writes:
Unwarranted salary??? Fulmer was the 7th highest paid coach in the SEC. 152-52. Coach PF has moved on it's now time to get behind our new coach.
SomeGuy writes:
Why? Did Kiffin fire the guy in charge of washing the uniforms? Because that's about all that the washed-up, cheating, Gator-boy might be able to do adequately although my guess is that he would try to cheat on that job as well by putting dirty uniforms back in the lockers and claiming that he washed them.
iowavol writes:
I don't get it - your post and the other ones up to this point. What makes this such a good hire? I don't anything about this guy or anything he has done at SC? Has SC all of a sudden become the strength school in the SEC? If so, I wasn't aware of it. I do see that we are paying him 35% more than he made last year, which is one heck of an increase. A little help from some of you guys claiming this is one of the best hires? Why?
FWBVol writes:
OK, isn't there an obvious question out there? Did UT have to fork over $200,000 to get this guy. He was making $140,000 so would it have been possible to get him for say 160,000 or 175,000?
The Phillip Fulmer era is past, but I have to wonder if Hamilton (power donors) were willing to open the checkbook for these kind of salaries for Fulmer's staff.
And with the salaries of the coaching staff taking off like a cheap bottle rocket I would guess it's only a matter of time before the ticket prices follow.
Timed_vol (Inactive) writes:
Eric Berry...one thing I've noticed about him is that his speed is maybe average for his position...I agree he's a heckuva hitter and smart ball-player. Both he and Gerald JOnes seem to be about average in that department.
wonder how the pros really rank Berry???
gohawks1 writes:
You serious?
gohawks1 writes:
75 percent of the earth is covered by water.
The rest is covered by Eric Berry.
Greyback_Vol writes:
Berry seems a little faster than average, but doesn't have blistering speed. There's a reason he's a safety and not a corner.
He does so many other things well that he doesn't need 4.2 speed.
Jones is quicker than what you think. He hasn't really had a chance to show it. D. Moore is UT's best deep threat.
Waldorf writes:
People have probably heard of loser Fulmorons like yourself and don't want to come here.
cainclifton23 writes:
Youre name explains it all..
If you cant get behind a coach simply because of his NFL record then you are hopeless.
he is already making aplash.
Look at the Coaches who couldnt cut it in the Nfl, Saban,Spurrier,Carrol.. just to name a few.. they are okay
cainclifton23 writes:
Eric Berry will Run in the 4.42 range.
And you dont have to a blazer to play safety.
All about angles and awareness.
Timed_vol (Inactive) writes:
Thanks all for the good response on Eric Berry. I liked his Dad as a player, and of course we all enjoy watching Eric pop people. Reminds me of that Tatum fella.
yeavols#228407 writes:
Spurrier must be feeling a little "spurred" with the recent personnel hires and quip pro quo's flying in his face. He'll learn to shut his mouth some day..
cainclifton23 writes:
This has to be hiresanders.
Please since your already bad mouthing.
Dont try to be a vol fan when we start winning.
kman29 writes:
<<<<<I don't get it - your post and the other ones up to this point. What makes this such a good hire? I don't anything about this guy or anything he has done at SC? Has SC all of a sudden become the strength school in the SEC? If so, I wasn't aware of it. I do see that we are paying him 35% more than he made last year, which is one heck of an increase. A little help from some of you guys claiming this is one of the best hires? Why?>>>>>
Its a good hire because this is what happens when a program hires a new coach. Most often so many blind fans think that every move is just the perfect move. Fact of the matter is, your right, who is this guy and what difference did he truely make with South Carolina? Obviously they werent in shape enough to beat Vanderbilt. Florida's smaller defensive line pushed the south carolina offensive line around every where. The mark of a true great strength coach is having consistant teams who are playing great at the end of games. Show me a south carolina game where that happened against a quality opponent.
tennesseebee writes:
This is the quote of the month! LOL! (insert fist-pound here).
iowavol writes:
Kman, your comments make sense and I tend to agree with them. Don't get me wrong, I am 100% behind Kiffin because he is our coach - he was not my choice but he is my coach so let's go. But some of these Fulmer haters that were so quick to accuse non-Fulmer haters of drinking the coolaid sure have fixed up a big batch for themselves.
I suppose another theory on why the big increase could be in Coach Kiffin himself. Knoxville and Tennessee still have top tier marketability for any up and comer coach. But there remain questions about Kiffin that could increase the risk quotient quite a bit thus justifying the need for 200k vs the 140k he was making.
heatcoach3030 writes:
what a bunch of idiot's on this site. you all think he's going to win championship after championship, it's not gonna happen. i'm not saying i hope he does bad but you need to look at this without your rose colored glasses. i do think he can get us competitive again but no body is gonna start a dynasty in today's day and time. also i hear everyone saying get over fulmer yet you and people like you continue to bring his name up. i thought we were moving on or are you running out of anything relivant to say so let's jump on him some more.
idahovolfan#230277 writes:
USCgamecock : Maybe your comments would be taken more seriously if you were knowledgeable enough about the situation to at least use the man's correct name. His name is Lane KIFFIN. It is NOT "kippen". If you don't know the man's name, then why should we believe that you know anything else about him?
Share your thoughts
Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.