In my limited interaction with B.J. Coleman, I was struck, more than anything, by his intensity. A guy on a mission. Serious as an FBI agent at an airport security check.
That same intensity burned through loud and clear Friday as I listened to audio of Coleman's interview with his hometown Chattanooga newspaper concerning his exit from the University of Tennessee football team.
Coleman's gone and I will neither criticize nor vindicate his parting shots.
Plenty have been willing to criticize, though, and Coleman, for sure, did leave with some bitter commentary.
I'm not piling on, for two reasons:
One, by all appearances he carried himself well in his two years at UT. Two, it's a crushing blow to feel you've given your best shot and been denied the reward when a lifelong dream is in the balance.
The latter is his perception, of course. It's not necessarily shared by the coaching staff, fan base or the media.
Maybe some of the fans. Maybe some of the media. Maybe even some of the team.
The division of opinion underscores UT's quarterback dilemma that is more than a calendar year old: No one has done enough to separate himself from the others.
In this case, that's not a good thing. This isn't Joe Montana vs. Steve Young. It isn't even freshman Peyton Manning vs. Branndon Stewart.
Last year and through the just-completed spring practice it was Jonathan Crompton, Nick Stephens and Coleman. Each had his backers and his detractors among the fan base.
Even the media covering the team on a regular basis reached no private consensus on who should be the man.
Now, we turn to the 2009 season with just Crompton and Stephens. Coleman took his ball and went home (even though there's little evidence to suggest Crompton or Stephens will seize the job for a full season).
Coleman felt his spring performance had been superior to the others but that new head coach Lane Kiffin was ignoring the obvious.
Again, Coleman's perception.
Coleman theorizes that Kiffin doesn't want a sophomore to win the starting job because it would potentially scare off quarterback recruits who want to play early.
Safer to let senior Crompton play it out for better or worse in 2009 and let a new hotshot take over in 2010.
I can't read Kiffin's mind, and certainly the coach is more qualified to assess practice and scrimmage performances, but Coleman might not be totally off base there.
It's the nature of transition and that just might be the bottom line in this scenario.
When a new coaching staff takes over, it's literally a new ball game.
Coleman is the ninth scholarship player to leave the program since Kiffin arrived with no ties whatsoever to Tennessee, not counting several commitments whom were cut loose. And more may yet follow out the door.
It doesn't take a coaching change to clean out a locker. Perhaps Coleman would have reached the same conclusion if UT's buck still stopped at Phillip Fulmer's desk. I doubt it, though.
But when the landscape is shifting, players are often the pawns in a high-stakes game.
Sometimes the pawns initiate the move. Look what happened to Memphis' basketball recruiting class when John Calipari left for Kentucky. Would-be Tigers will instead be playing at Kentucky, Kansas and Baylor next year. Their choice, not Memphis'.
More often, management controls the board. Tennessee's current football attrition is nothing compared to 1994, when Kevin O'Neill replaced Wade Houston as basketball coach.
We're talking scorched earth. Seven of 11 returning players were gone before the new season tipped off and two more didn't see it end.
The program comes first, and that is as it should be. Tennessee has played and will continue to play football long before and long after Coleman or Kiffin.
The objectives of the new coaching staff come next, and that, too, is as it should be. Kiffin has to set the culture the way he wants it - with the players he wants.
The players he inherits should have the opportunity to get on board. If they're not going to, better they exit early.
Whether Coleman got a fair shake or not can be debated. But he, just like Lennon Creer, Demetrice Morley or any of the other new ex-Vols, is, at the end of the day, a predictable statistic of upheaval.
Mike Strange may be reached at strangem@knoxnews.com or 865-342-6276.
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Comments » 69
kjneel#238751 writes:
Cream rises.
TommyJack writes:
Hard to imagine CLK would willingly start a QB of lesser talent. Harder, still, to think that a blue chipper would let a sophomore QB stand in their way of signing here. Who knows? Selah.
the10sevol writes:
In other words, stuff happens. 2009 will be what it will be, and 2010 will better. Let's get some updates from the recruiting season that's underway. GBO
VAvolfanRON writes:
aw....this is all a prank....BJ is joking......he'll be back...
someone wake me up...i'm having a nightmare!!!...
BJ, i hope you know what you are doing......good luck
dvhill100 writes:
NONE of the quarterbacks have really separated themselves from each other according to the coaches. NONE of them are so good as to scare away a top recruit.
BJ didn't get what he wanted, so he left. Not the first, probably won't be the last. Carry on.
yeavols#228407 writes:
"Coleman theorizes that Kiffin doesn't want a sophomore to win the starting job because it would potentially scare off quarterback recruits who want to play early."
Too bad the writer of this article fell for the old poor poor pitiful me story. How many times have we seen QB's known and unknown rise from nowhere to take over the reigns and lead teams? Who was Tee Martin? Who was Doug Dickey, Jr. who led in his senior year the 1985 VOLS to the Sugar Bowl and win over Miami? That was just some unkowns at UT. What about the other schools? How can a rising sophomore at a major university in the SEC just up and quit because he felt he wasn't getting a fair shake when other QB's arn't that good or on their way out. NO SIR--EEE! Coleman had a little temper trantrum. He should have stayed and competed for the job. WHat if Crompton is our starting QB and gets hurt or even quits? What if Stephens can't get his wrist healed? Mr. Coleman..you go ahead and quit the team and project whatever paranoid feelings you may have because you arn't the premier QB in your sophomore year. I Have a message for you: Other QB's who waited for their Junior and Senior year to play had more success than you will probably have hop-scotching to different schools. I remember one QB who thought they would do the same..Phil Sims who left for Texas and was a complete dud. And that is just one. I am sure we can write hundreds of stories of QB's who left (Brent Shafer, ya remember him) who were never successful. Dude, if it's fame and success you want, maybe you should stay and work on it. I can't think of any other place right now that needs a starting QB.
DennisVols writes:
I stated it before what Coleman wanted was not just a Guarantee that he could be the starter this year but also the the next.
It ain't happenin.
It doesn't matter who the starter is. Kiffin said from day one that every one gets an opportunity to start. We know Kiffin wants a highly rated QB in the next recuriting class.
Add it up. If UT signs the QB Kiffin wants then that guy will get an opportunity to be the starter. So at best Coleman had just this year. He did not want to be one and done.
You have to earn your way on this team. That is the way it should be.
Any Vol fan on here ready to settle for mediocre AGAIN? Who among us will be happy just winning 8 or 9 game and going to any bowl game rather than playing for and winning the SEC title and a BCS berth?
If you want a champion then you have to play like a champion. That means competing on the field in every play during practice, scrimmage, and games. It means you have to be willing to fight for your job every week and every year. BJ obliviously was not willing to do that so he quit.
Keeping it real
Go Vols!!!
teampenny#658108 writes:
Unfortunately for LK his reputation of being less than honest has bit him in the butt with some fans. Usually there is some truth to all reputations. It is time to move on. Should we bring back the single wing for this season-we held on to longer than most anyone else. It has won NC in the past Go Vols
HollySpringsVOL writes:
"Now, we turn to the 2009 season with just Crompton and Stephens. Coleman took his ball and went home (even though there's little evidence to suggest Crompton or Stephens will seize the job for a full season)."
Here is the key statement in the article. BJ was probably going to be 2nd to JC at the start of the season. At some point early in the year, JC will self destruct (history always repeats itself) and he would have had the chance to run the show. What horrible foresight BJ has. He can't look past today and see that his opportunity was coming. Poor boy got his feeling hurt because no one was validating his inflated ego. Cry me a freakin' river, JB.
This phooey about a sophomore hindering recruiting is bull. All of the UT quarterbacks are mediocre and a hot shot freshman, if he is really that good would not have a problem beating them out, like Peyton did. BJ needed to REALLY exceed on the 2nd squad and he didn't do it. He was just a little bit better against a 2nd string defense that is a big step down from the 1st squad. If he had burned it up in spring practice, he would have been the starter and gotten reps with the 1st squad. He didn't produce. Plain and simple.
BJ always seem to me to be politicking for the job with his over the top "ra-ra I'm orange all the way through" sound bites for the media. I think we have seen his true colors come out, and they are not orange and white. If he wanted to quit, that was his prerogative, but to show the immaturity he did with his parting shots, shows he didn't have the maturity and self control to be the leader of the team. That is my take on it.
I wish him best in all that he does. No ill will, but don't spin this any other way except the way it really is. BJ quit on his team mates and the University of Tennessee. When the going got tough, he bailed. No moxie. End of story.
harrierncd#500054 writes:
What he said (why reinvent the wheel when a perfectly good one is lying right there?); ditto.
BillVol writes:
Another great column by Mike Strange, the best sports writer in our state. Maybe the best anywhere.
ArealVolFan writes:
For those that think Al Davis knows anything or can evaluate anyone...today's first two rounds of the NFL draft proved otherwise. Hands downs. Heyward-Bay over Crabtree laughable. A guy projected to not be drafted in the second round...even more so. Al Davis is a moron. No wonder Kiffin wanted to leave and wanted to do everything to get out of there.
NOLAvol writes:
Enough of this foolishness! I was privileged to watch Peyton Manning's high school career in New Orleans, and to know people who knew Peyton well off the field. Everyone now knows his high character, leadership, and incredible work ethic--all of which were highly attested to by those who knew him then.
I was also privileged to watch BJ Coleman's career at McCallie, and have contact with people who knew BJ well off the field, both there and at UT. Nothing about BJ changed after he went to Knoxville.
Let me challenge all the fans who are expressing uninformed opinions about this young gentleman: In terms of character, leadership and work ethic, BJ Coleman IS a Peyton Manning.
The question people SHOULD be asking is: why was BJ's experience with Kiffin so different from Daris Sawtelle's? Sawtelle "...made the decision following a meeting with UT first-year coach Lane Kiffin this week.
'It was very polite and very helpful,' Sawtelle said Thursday. 'It took about three minutes. That changed my life.'
Sawtelle said Kiffin told him that he lacked the explosiveness to play in UT's new offensive system. Kiffin suggested that could be a byproduct of surgery to each of his shoulders last summer." [http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2009/a...]
WHY was Kiffin NOT willing to give BJ a "very polite & very helpful" THREE MINUTES of his time? Believe me--BJ Coleman would have handled it fine if Kiffin had told him a starting role would have hindered their recruitment of some 5-star QB. He wouldn't have liked it; he would have preferred the challenge of competing against that 5-star; but BJ can deal with the business side of "big time" college football--and would have with a lot more grace IF CLK HAD JUST TOLD HIM THE TRUTH TO HIS FACE!
dvhill100 writes:
The down side of delivering parting shots like BJ did is even if you are 100% correct in your comments (and I don't think he is), you still come off looking like a malcontent. The only way to handle it is like Sawtelle did. Any other way makes you look bad, and BJ did and does.
Again, I have no particular insight into what happened, and usually the truth lies somewhere in the middle, but even if BJ was frustrated by missing a couple of meetings with LK, he should have kept his cool, and handled this like an adult. He is a young man and like many at that age, hasn't learned the "Discretion is the better part of valor." rule. I understand his frustration about wanting to play, but there was no urgency on having the decision made right this minute.
If he did demand a promise from LK he would be the starter not only this year but the rest of his time at UT, that was never going to happen. BJ's job is to prepare, compete and play if he is good enough, LK's is to coach, evaluate and win.
I do wish BJ the best success where ever he goes. Too bad things didn't work out for him.
cleVOLand writes:
NOLA you are making the assumption that the situation with Sawtelle and Coleman are the same. Do you know that they are in fact parallel? Second, Coleman didn't Coleman meet with Kiffin and Reaves on Wednesday and then request a second meeting when he did not get the answer he wanted? Perhaps I am mistaken, but I believe that is how it went down.
My read is that Kiffin didn't see Sawtelle contributing, so he gave him a way out; in the case of Coleman, Kiffin did not feel ready to name a starter at QB and Coleman could not accept that. Not the same.
I don't know BJ personally, but by all accounts he is a fine, upstanding young man. In the end, he through a temper tantrum and demonstrated poor character by making a private situation very public.
Even if the coaches thought that BJ was the man they have the right to withold that announcement until after the off-season if they feel it will improve their chances at securing a commitment.
Go Vols.
rootin4volz writes:
Look, this is Coach Kiffin's team now, and I trust that he and his staff know what they are doing. If B.J. didn't like that, it's his perogative. Best of luck to him...Now, let's move on. Sheesh.
82cat writes:
Myabe kiffin would have had a 2 hr meeting with him at some point.Rubbed his back and told him a bed time story ending with Coleman pulling the sword form the rock and making him the #1 QB
He cant now because Coleman QUIT
Vols033 writes:
Good column Strange. I personally don't think Coleman was that good, but he probably wasn't wrong by saying tht Kiffin wants his own people in there. That is just natural. Terrible decision by Coleman though. Would've wished him luck if he would've handled it with a little more maturity. Any comments like that should've been said to the people directly and behind closed doors. With an attitude like that, he would've probably been with the media bashing his receivers or offensive line after a bad game.
smokyredbone writes:
Oh please! Daris approached CLK like a man and asked for an honest evaluation! BJ approached like the spoiled brat that he is demanding explaination and guarantees. Daris will get his law degree and be very successful in life. BJ needs to grow up and realize the world doesn't revolve around his priviledged azz. Parents had him in a boarding school for little rich boys, he never was able to show the last staff how great he was,so demanding guarantees from this new staff was infantile,juvanile and direspectful. Good luck and good riddence! I hope you eventually convince someone other than yourself how great you are little man!
Vols033 writes:
Wow you must have bumped your head. First of all, BJ is absolutely no Peyton. If he were Peyton, he wouldn't have QUIT, and he would have easily been the starter last year also. Second of all, Kiffin is the coach, he will see BJ when he wants too. BJ is a self-righteous brat who obviously thought alot more of himself than anyone else did. And you may have the worst talent evaluation ability of all time. You must have helped the Raiders make their picks yesterday.
Vols033 writes:
Sorry that comment was meant for smokyredbone. Whoops
give_him_6 writes:
I agree. If Kiffin had not steepd in it on numerous occasions already, this issue now wouldn't be that big. But because of Kiffs recent issues himself, this is al we are hearing now. I am one of the Coleman backers. I do not believe he got a fair shot last year with Fulmer being so blind as to how badly Crompton was playing. Fulmer didn't even want to play Stevens, let alone Coleman when Crompton continually tanked. It took outright public criticism to force Fulmer to change. But because he really didn't want to back Stevens or Coleman, it showed the players he really didn't have faith in them. The coaches are put on a pedestal by fans and also the media as people who can do no wrong and who also have all the answers. They are only human though and as such will pick and choose who they want. and in Fulmers case, it was regardless of what he saw with his own eyes aboue the QBs. I think he lost his objectivity years ago and we haev seen it play out for the last few years of his tenure. Coleman was inthe middle of that. And now with Kiffin, it looks to be the same thing playing out..to a point. He wants his own recruits and players. As any coach would. I do think he is after a "great" QB prospect for next season. But if he thinks that playing Crompton, who is a senior and gone next year will guarantee he gets what he wants. He is mistaken. And I don't want to see this season sacrificed for the good of next year. I hope Kiff isn't that short sighted. You can't just take a year off just so Kiffin can prove his point. That is childish and also way to much like what we just fired in Fulmer. I would like to take Kiff at his word, but his actions are going to have to speak for him. His words just aren't that worth much right now. This whole mess is nothing that winning some games won't take of though. And I am tired of this being the only thing that can be found about the football program for KNS to write about. It's gonna be a long summer I'm afraid.
Go Vols
give_him_6 writes:
Nice take on the whole thing. I have been saying about the same thing for the past few days as well. I am hoping we going in the right direction as a team. We need to get behind Kiffin, this is true. But don't just blindly follow and bleive everything he says is the gospel. Almost every did that with Fulmer and see what it got us the last few years? I wish BJ well and and ready for us to move on.
BigOrangeJeff writes:
Very well written, Mr. Strange.
I can't believe all of the mind readers and clairvoyants on the GVX boards. Here are a few of the quotes - from Vol fans, not the 'lopers - that I've read on here since Coleman left:
"BJ was promised the job, and didn't get it. The staff is a bunch of liars."
"BJ's a spoiled brat that demanded to be named starter."
"CLK is in over his head and doesn't know what he's doing."
"We don't need him. CLK has two stud QBs already silently committed for next year."
"CLK has been nothing but a mistake machine and will be out of here within a year."
"There is more to this story. I can't tell you what I know or how I know it. Let's just say that Kiff feels threatened by Coach Cut."
The fact is that none of us know what really transpired, and all of this speculation is just silly.
gohawks1 writes:
Mountain out of a mole hill.....
PaulTheVol writes:
"Coleman theorizes that Kiffin doesn't want a sophomore to win the starting job because it would potentially scare off quarterback recruits who want to play early."
Having seen Mr. Coleman attempt to play quarterback for Tennessee, I strongly doubt that any top-rated recruit would be intimidated by having to compete against him for the starting job. He doesn't lack for confidence, only ability.
David Climer said it best in the Tennessean - two different coaching staffs have watched the Tennessee quarterbacks practice and play and have decided that Mr. Coleman is not good enough to be the starter. I suspect he will transfer to UTC and that will be the last we hear of him outside of Chattanooga.
belayvol writes:
You left out my prognostication. Coach K. has been taken over by the ghost of General Neyland from sleeping on a cot in his office. Macarthur Told him to take no prisoners on his way to the swamp.
BJ's eyes had just a slight slant in the hot sun and he worried he might be a spy for the Imperial SEC Army so he had to let him go with a false set of playbooks to confuse the enemy. Now fix bayonets and follow me boys!
Bigger_Al writes:
Maybe, like Jeremy Bates and CJ Leak, BJ will end up on the Gators' sideline next September trying to steal our signals. Of course, Lane saw that coming, which is why he didn't install the signals yet!
TommyJack writes:
I can take BJ or leave him. Made a bad choice IMO. What I can't take is people bustin his chops about being a "rich kid" or being from "rich parents". Have you mopes gone so far left that you begrudge people being rich? Sheesh.
hueypilot writes:
I understand how the folks that watched BJ as a prep QB have great admiration for him. By all accounts he was a very fine player with great work ethic and good academics, everything you would expect from a kid from a prep school. But in his one moment under the college microscope, against Vanderbilt(not Alabama, Florida or Georgia or even a rebuilding UCLA) team that looked like it was TIRED and wanted to be somewhere else, he was found wanting, threw an int that put a sure win in jeopardy and was obviously instructed not to throw the ball for the remainder of the game. Worksheet: 4-8 for way less than 100 yards, no TD's and a costly int. Against Vanderbilt. BJ might play somewhere but he is not an SEC caliber QB. Crompton probably isn't either, but BJ and CLK have both made decisions they feel like was best for their own interests. I think they're probably both right.
Good luck, BJ at Duke or UTC or Furman or wherever you go. But you won't start at Tennessee, Florida, LSU, Alabama Georgia or any other team that faces SEC defenses.
Colliervol writes:
Good comments huey. I don't believe any of the three are going to be the ones to lead this program back to the top. That guy hasn't been signed as yet but it's coming. And that's probably why BJ didn't want to stick around. He knew it too.
VOLinDAWGland writes:
Ding ding ding...that's the underlying truth to this mess. I imagine the hardest part for Coleman to accept was being told that not only did he not win the job, but that he's not an SEC championship caliber QB and Kiffin wants championship caliber players.
Coleman would have been a nice second QB in a two QB class behind a higher rated one. Coleman was a case of Cut settling for what he could get. We've been doing a lot of that in our recruiting the past several years.
Kiffin and staff is working to kick it up several notches. It's probably a tough cultural change for many of the players that would never have been here if this staff had been recruiting then.
leedsvol2007 writes:
You know this may simply be a case like that of Steve Mathews when Heath Shuler came in. If you remember Mathews ended up at Memphis and parlayed it into a brief NFL career. Its likely he would have never seen the field or gotten an NFL shot with us.
Coleman might be figuring that even if he ascended to the starting QB position during the next season that would be no guarantee of playing time if a 5 star was recruited and he was brushed aside.
From what I hear he is a bright kid who could go to a school like Duke and succeed both as a student and QB. This would give him a big time degree and the opportunity to find out if he has an NFL future.
As a fan I'm disappointed he is leaving because he seemed to have the best upside of any of our current Quarterbacks.
I hope it works out for him wherever he ends up and it will certainly make it easier to find a big time QB recruit this year.
GoVols!
BIGEJ writes:
Much to do about nothing....as newspapers die a slow death, they grasp for the insigificant....the much will be to see what happens this fall....GO VOLs..
WYLOVER writes:
Who was the third string QB in 1998......right, we didn't care then and we should not now.
This guy looked terrible at Vandy and thinks that lighting up JV teams and the 2nd / 3rd D makes you a stud.
marvinVol writes:
I guess you think CLK would talk like you imply, and knowing that he would endup with only two QBs. I don't think so. You are comparing apples with nails when you compared the gentleman with the cry baby!
Go VOLS
volhallathunder writes:
Kiffin did offer to give him some time to meet face to face on Monday. Coleman apparently had too many issues going on this weekend to wait.
"Coleman met briefly Wednesday morning with Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin and quarterbacks coach David Reaves to discuss his future and to ask for an assurance that his spring performance had earned him a chance for more repetitions with the first-team offense. According to Coleman, Kiffin rescheduled the meeting for noon Thursday to allow the coach another day to evaluate video from this spring’s 12 practice sessions and three game-situation scrimmages.
"When Coleman arrived for the Thursday meeting with Kiffin, he was told the meeting would need to be rescheduled for Monday."
Any of that character and leadership went down the tubes with his tantrum on friday.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
As John Ward would have said about your last paragraph-
"Bottom"!!
pdhuff#552644 writes:
What is rich?
TommyJack writes:
According to the left, it's anyone making more than they do.
newyorkvol writes:
It seems everyone is forgetting one thing whenever Kiffen makes a decision: This is his LAST chance as a head coach in a major program. Okay, maybe not last, since he's so young, but it would be a LONG time before anyone gave him the reigns again if he runs UT into the ground. He's making decisions that will benefit his record. I don't think he can let 2009 go and call it a "gimme" and start in 2010...and I don't think he's coaching that way. I think he wants what he feels are the BEST players on the field so as to 1) win games, and 2) show that he can coach.
gulfvol963 writes:
stories down here are that kiffin said something extremely offensive to coleman and his family thats why he left
pdhuff#552644 writes:
So it apparently has nothing to do with how many beagle hounds or labs or snail darters you have access to?
TommyJack writes:
Well, there's always beagle envy.
gohawks1 writes:
In biblical times, a man with many goats was considered very wealthy. Is that still true today?
belayvol writes:
That dog won't hunt.
spvol writes:
I seriously doubt that any freshman QB that we sign is going to be ready to start in the SEC. Even Manning had a rocky road as a freshman.
belayvol writes:
Auburn writer say's Coach K worst hire in SEC history.
And who was it that they hired? Kizik? Frizik?
http://www.bhamweekly.com/2009/04/24/...
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Gotta love the doldrums.
Halls3 writes:
I'm not a big UT fan so I'm sure I'll be called an interloper for my opinion even though being from Knoxville I have every right to be on here but anyways. I believe Coleman has all the talent in the world & Kiffin made a mistake by not giving him the reigns. You may ask why and I simply say David Cutcliffe time & again made statements about BJ's future being bright at UT. Now I don't claim to know much about football but considering some of the QBs Cutcliffe has coached, aka Peyton & Eli Manning, I think his opinion is quite valid and believable. Now maybe Kiffin's right & I'm wrong but I'd trust someone like David Cutcliffe over a 33 year old 5-15 coach with a QB coach who I believe he got from South Carolina if I'm not mistaken someone can correct me if I'm wrong on this. Now do I trust the same QB coach who coached the likes of Peyton & Eli or a QB coach who coached South Carolina's QBs to horrendous lows not seen under Steve Spurrier & a coach dumb enough to kick a 73 yard fg into the wind. Oh and I believe BJ made the right decision by transfering because he'll be with Cutcliffe soon enough & Cutcliffe is one of the best at coaching QBs.
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