Volunteer receivers coach Trooper Taylor a barrel full of laughs, wisdom
Receivers coach Trooper Taylor — a character with character — is giving basketball coach Bruce Pearl a run for his money as the best interview on Rocky Top. Speaking with Dave Hooker and the guys from SportsAnimal99.com’s Sports Page last Friday, coach Taylor offered his thoughts on:
- what David Cutcliffe brings to the team;
- whether receiver Robert Meachem will finally live up to expectations of Vol fans this year: Best line: “I told him, ‘Potential’s not a compliment. That means you haven’t done it.’”
- how best to rotate receivers during the course of a game;
- the autonomy of position coaches at UT. Hear Dave Hooker giggle when Taylor admits that “[Coach Fulmer’s] the head coach, if he wants me to peel potatoes in between series, that’s what I’ll do because he’s the head coach.”
- underclassmen receivers Josh Briscoe, Lucas Taylor, Austin Rogers, and . . . Casey Woods, who “may not run out of sight in three days on a curvy road, but he can catch it.”
Coach Taylor’s mother once made her 15 kids clean up a beach they had been visiting before they went home. Nothing special about that except that they didn’t make the mess they had to clean up. Taylor still remembers his mother’s words to the kids when they finished:
“The Taylors always leave a place better than the way they found it.”
Coach Taylor’s been living that lesson since he arrived at Tennessee. The running backs are better than they were when he arrived, and this season he brings his infectious enthusiasm, wit, and wisdom to an underachieving receiver corps.
Here’s to hoping Taylor’s mother’s words ring true this fall.
Oh, almost forgot. Coach Taylor’s son’s little league team is involved in a contest to get their team on ESPN. Help ‘em out by heading over to KFC.com and voting for the Knoxville Fire 10-year-old team.
June 27th, 2006 at 1:13 am
“may not run out of sight in three days on a curvy road, but he can catch it.”
“The Taylors always leave a place better than the way they found it.”
question,
you ever listen to Bill King’s show on 560 wnsr? He does a Rivals.com
show in the morning. Then, from 3pm - 6pm cst he does a general sports
show. Talks mostly about college football. He’s a graduate of UT and has
been on the radio as long as I can remember. I’d recommend listening to it
if you have a chance. He doesnt sugar coat anything like some stations.
http://www.wnsr.com (you can listen from anywhere on your computer)