Adams: Fans offer plenty of suggested coaches

I received my first recommendation for Tennessee’s next football coach moments after the Vols lost to UCLA in the season opener.

“Norm Chow” the e-mail read.

Obviously, the recommendation was made in the heat of UT’s loss to UCLA and its offensive guru.

Forget Chow. The guy left the West Coast for Tennessee once before (See Titans for details). He won’t do it again.

Another heat-of-the-game recommendation came in the form of a text message while the Vols were stumbling around in the first half of their loss to Florida. The name: Mike Bellotti, whose Oregon team lost to Boise State on the same day that UT lost to Florida.

Bad timing aside, I don’t think Bellotti would be interested. He’s coaching in the Pac-10, and the program’s donors include Nike.

However, if you can convince Phil Knight to move his Nike headquarters to Knoxville, I’ll put Bellotti on my coaching A list.

As UT’s losses have accumulated, concerned fans have sent more recommendations for coach Phillip Fulmer’s successor. The list now includes (in alphabetical order): John Adams, John Chavis, David Cutcliffe, Butch Davis, Randy Edsall, Jon Gruden, Bobby Johnson, Lane Kiffin, Mike Leach, Skip Holtz, Jim Leavitt, Peyton Manning, Johnny Majors, Bronco Mendenhall, Will Muschamp, Bruce Pearl, Someone Like Bruce Pearl, Chris Petersen, Knute Rockne, Nick Saban, Randy Sanders, Pat Summitt, and Tommy Tuberville.

So far, I have been able to contact only one of them.

Let me make this perfectly clear: I would accept the job only if I could have Chow as my offensive coordinator, and Muschamp as my defensive coordinator. And I wouldn’t have a problem with either one or both of them making more money than the head coach.

Unfortunately, Chow wouldn’t leave the West Coast, and Muschamp wants a head-coaching job. So I crossed me off the list.

I’ve also eliminated a few others.

Summitt is close to winning 1,000 games in women’s basketball. There’s no way she would start over at No. 1.

Pearl has way too much energy for a football schedule, which would consist of 14 games at most. Unless college football suddenly adopts a 30-game schedule, we can’t talk seriously about Pearl as a candidate.

You also can discount Someone Like Bruce Pearl. There is no football coach like Bruce Pearl.

Football coaches spend too much time watching video. They don’t have time to market their program, cheer for women’s basketball games, serve as color analysts, fill up reporters’ notebooks and speak to civic clubs, booster groups, hotel workers, waiters, cab drivers, and convenience store loiterers.

Strike Peyton Manning off the list as well. He’s got a day job. I realize he could play quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts and assemble an offense that would be more productive than the one plodding along at UT. But you can’t expect a part-time coach to compete against Florida’s Urban Meyer, Georgia’s Mark Richt and Alabama’s Saban.

You can eliminate the rest of the ex-Vols as well. Chavis and Sanders are proven assistant coaches, and Cutcliffe has attained success as both a head coach and an assistant. But UT wouldn’t replace Fulmer with a Fulmer assistant. It needs a clean break.

As for the rest of the recommendations, I’ll take a closer look at them and get back to you.

But right now, I’ve got videotape to watch.

Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knoxnews.com.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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