After yesterday’s post, which speculated on whether UGA is at a crossroads of the Mark Richt Era, I thought it would be a good idea to look at the program which that basis was mirrored upon… in other words… can Derek Dooley be successful as the head coach in Knoxville?
We’ve done numerous posts here about the downfall on Rocky Top, but up until this point, have not offered any prognosis on what is needed to be done for the program to recover.
The coaching problems the Vols have faced are well documented, but the major issue facing Coach Dooley is depth. Dave Hooker outlines this problem quite nicely in this article.
Example #1:
Five players from the 2006 class left the program, didn’t qualify academically or were dismissed. Four have been lost from the 2008 class. From those two classes, UT lost four offensive linemen, a glaring weakness for 2010.
Example #2:
UT’s 2007 class is another matter entirely. It was highly ranked, but has since been one of the most disappointing signing classes in recent memory… 17 of those signees didn’t complete their eligibility. They either never made it to campus because of academic issues, were dismissed after they arrived or left the program.
Example #3:
Then there’s the attrition that one would expect from two coaching changes in little more than a year.
All that has resulted in 30 UT signees failing to complete their eligibility.
Then, there are 19 one-time UT commitments who went elsewhere after a coaching change was announced.
A dozen left in the Fulmer-Kiffin transition. Another seven left in the Kiffin-Dooley transition.
For any program, this is the key when having to replace a head football coach. In the BCS era, where success and championships still rely on numerous sets of college football power rankings and ratings systems, program stability is still the key to sustaining that tradition. The are many examples of top programs who have suffered after the departure of a coach who has been the selling point of a program for over a decade.
The fan base and the team lose that comfort zone and the stability which the program had come to rely upon, and in many cases, it takes the administration a couple of tries before they find the right ingredients for that stability again. Traditional powerhouses such as Alabama, Michigan, Notre Dame, Florida and Nebraska have all experienced this at some point in the last decade or so, and only the Crimson Tide and the Gators have fully recovered from this transitional period.
Alabama’s situation may be the most similar, considering the length of coaches tenure between Gene Stallings and Nick Saban. For all the success the Tide has achieved under Nick Saban, the fans had to endure the painful realities of irrelevance during the eras of Mike DuBose, Dennis Franchione, and Mike Shula, while conviently trying to purge the Mike Price era from their memories.
With every coaching change comes a large exodus of players and recruits who were either loyal to the former staff, or don’t fit the philosophy of the new one. Three coaching changes in as many years can cripple a program for many seasons before they are able to regain their footing. For any program to sustain their position among college football power ratings, there must be stability within that program.
Between Tom Osbourne and Bo Pelini were Frank Solich and Bill Callahan. Notre Dame has yet to find their former success as Lou Holtz was succeeded by Bob Davie, Tyrone Willingham, and Charlie Weiss; and that doesn’t bring into account the Alabama-esque debacle they faced with George O’Leary. There are major doubts about whether or not Rich Rodriguez is the right man to bring the program back to the level of Lloyd Carr’s prominent run in the late 1990’s. Between Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer, Ron Zook was the head coach at the University of Florida.
When it comes to continuing a tradition of excellence within a major football powerhouse, quick fixes are rarely the best answer.
Is Derek Dooley another quick fix, or will he last longer than his immediate predecessor?
We’ll look at this question in Part 2…
Tags: College Football, College Football Power Rankings, Derek Dooley, NCAA, Recruiting, Southeastern Conference, University of Alabama, University of Georgia, University of Tennessee, coaching carousel, transfer by Tommy
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