Mattingly: In football, 'they' sometimes become 'us'

In the wide, wide world of college athletics, a player or coach can be a part of "us" one day, and another day, can become a part of "them."

After the 1997 season, Jerry Green attended the NCAA Convention as the basketball coach at Oregon and left several days later as the coach of Tennessee, heading directly to Knoxville. It happened so quickly it made your head spin.

In the heat of the moment of Saturday afternoons, fans often make snap judgments about players on both teams. The players on the Tennessee side, "us," were always the "good guys." The players on opposing teams, "them," were not.

Bobby Dodd was a Tennessee All-America quarterback in 1930, yet when he was coach at Georgia Tech, he took great delight in beating Tennessee. After the Yellow Jackets defeated Tennessee 30-13 in 1949, Dodd said, "My season is a success if I don't win another game."

Ken Donahue was a Tennessee tackle in 1949 and 1950. Before long, he was an assistant coach, working to help beat Tennessee, first at Mississippi State, then at Alabama. He did a pretty good job of it, too.

The story did have a good ending, especially in 1985, when the Donahue-led defense at Tennessee helped the Vols defeat Alabama 16-14 at Legion Field. He was also an integral part of the famous 1986 Sugar Bowl game, where the Vols knocked off a heavily favored Miami team, 35-7.

Consider Nov. 15, 1952, when Doug Dickey was the quarterback at Florida, coached by a former Tennessee player named Bob Woodruff. The Vols won 27-12, and 11 years and a few weeks later he was named head coach at Tennessee, hired by Woodruff, then Tennessee athletic director.

Consider Oct. 15, 1960, and Oct. 20, 1962, on Shields-Watkins Field/Neyland Stadium. Bill Battle was an end at Alabama, who played in a 20-7 loss in 1960 and a 27-7 Alabama win in 1962. Who would have guessed that eight years later, Battle would be head coach at Tennessee, walking those same sidelines?

John Majors coached on the wrong sideline the years he was an assistant at Mississippi State, teaming with Donahue to help defeat the Vols in 1962 and 1963.

You might also consider Nov. 16, 1968, the Tennessee-Ole Miss game in Knoxville, and Nov. 15, 1969, in Jackson. Archie Manning, who endured seven interceptions in a 31-0 loss in 1968, would lead the Rebels flawlessly to a 38-0 win over the No. 3 Vols in 1969.

Twenty-five years later, Archie's son, Peyton, arrived in Knoxville, causing a major stir in the state of Mississippi. Curt Watson was talking to Archie on the phone one day in the middle 1990s and asked Archie point-blank if anybody would have believed any son of Archie Manning would be playing quarterback for the Vols.

Those who were in Jackson that November day in 1969 wouldn't have believed it then. Many of them still don't believe it today.

Consider the 1970 Florida game. The Vols laid a 38-7 whipping on Florida, coached by Dickey and led at quarterback by John Reaves. Who would have known that day that (a) Dickey would be back at Tennessee in 1985 as athletic director, (b) Reaves would have a daughter named Layla married to Lane Kiffin, the football coach at Tennessee, and (c) Reaves would have a son, David, now an assistant at Tennessee? It almost defies explanation.

In 1987, Mark Bradley was an assistant coach at Vanderbilt, the day the Commodores streaked to a 28-3 lead, eventually losing 38-36. He later coached at Tennessee. Someone once asked how hard it was to coach in Neyland Stadium. He said it depended on which side of the field you were on. If you were on the visitor's side, east in those days, he said, it was hard, very hard. If you were on the home side, it was much better.

When Tennessee defeated Ole Miss in 2005 at Neyland Stadium, Ed Orgeron was the Rebels coach. He had made some brash statements about putting a red and blue fence around the city of Memphis and said so in his media conference after the game, comments that did not endear him to the Tennessee faithful. Fast forward four years, when Orgeron was greeted with open arms when he came to Knoxville as an assistant coach under Kiffin, who vowed to build his own fence around Shelby County.

The passage of time is a great equalizer, overcoming whatever might have happened on a particular Saturday afternoon or evening. The player or coach you might be booing as part of "them" in 2009 might come back in a different capacity in 10 or 20 years as part of "us." You just never know.

Tom Mattingly is the author of "The Tennessee Football Vault: The Story of the Tennessee Volunteers, 1891-2006" (2006), available now in second edition at fine bookstores everywhere, and "Tennessee Football: The Peyton Manning Years" (1998). He may be reached at tjmshm@comcast.net. His News Sentinel blog is called "The Vol Historian."

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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