John Adams’ Monday column — Sanders: Fall guy still is Vol guy — has generated a lot of discussion on Rocky Top over the last couple of days. The argument provoking excerpt:

Imagine how Sanders felt when he heard UT football coach Phillip Fulmer’s comments about last spring practice. Every time Fulmer praised new offensive coordinator, he buried his former offensive coordinator by implication.

“David has improved the toughness of our team,” Fulmer said in the spring. “We’re fundamentally better. He has been very demanding of tempo and execution.

“The daily practice habits improved. Not that we were practicing poorly, but not the cross-your-t’s-and-dot-your-i’s extent that we are now.”

It’s as though in his departure, Sanders was given power and responsibility he never realized he had as an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

“I have heard (Fulmer’s comments),” Sanders said. “I’m not going to get into a debate or discussion over that. There were a few things I would have liked to have done differently that we weren’t necessarily allowed to do differently. For this to come out as such does bother me some.”

The talk has centered around whether Fulmer or Sanders is most to blame for the 2005 season. On the one hand, as the offensive coordinator, Sanders was responsible for the offensive woes. Fulmer had delegated this responsibility and Sanders had failed. On the other hand, word is that Fulmer may have delegated the responsibility for the offense to Sanders without actually giving him sufficient authority. In other words, Sanders could only do what Fulmer wanted him to do, and so the onus is on Fulmer.

Me? I think it’s probably a little bit of both and a little bit of neither. A lot of little things were allowed to slide by both Fulmer and Sanders, and by the time they realized the magnitude of the problem, the situation had veered out of control so far that no one could regain traction. Fulmer’s comments about recent practices being better in a multitude of ways has some to do with new OC Cutcliffe, but probably more to do with the attitude adjustment of everyone from the head coach to the water boy resulting from the horribly disappointing season.

What do y’all think?

The Tennessean relays a humorous exchange between UT coach Phillip Fulmer and Vanderbilt coach Bobby Johnson at the Comcast Sports Speaker Series:

Bobby Johnson acted confused.

The Vanderbilt football coach was just asked what life was going to be like without Jay Cutler, the former Commodore quarterback who was picked No. 11 overall in this year’s NFL Draft.

“He’s not coming back?” Johnson asked, feigning ignorance.

“You can’t afford him right now,” quipped Tennessee Coach Phillip Fulmer.

Then, as if on cue, the always quick-witted Johnson responded, “We’d have to use your budget.”

Before we turn the corner into the dark alley on the Re-living the Tennessee Volunteers 2005 Football Season Series (links to: Pre-season Expectations, Alabama-Birmingham, Florida Gators, and LSU and the Rally in the Valley), I thought it would be a good time to establish a little perspective, and Scout.com’s Randy Moore has published a great personal anecdote on UT coach Philip Fulmer that does just that. The story aptly illustrates what a class act Fulmer is, something we’d do well to keep in mind as we take the last critical look at the 2005 season. Here’s the gist:

Back before the 1992 season, Fulmer had been named acting head coach due to then-coach Johnny Majors’ five-bypass heart surgery. The newspaper for which Moore worked had abruptly gone out of business, and Moore found himself unemployed. Still, Moore went to Fulmer’s office to interview him 10 days before the home opener.

After the interview, Fulmer asked Moore how his job search was coming, and Moore told him that he’d had a lead that looked promising. Fulmer wished him luck. And here, I’ll let Moore tell it in his own words:

Ten days later, moments after rallying Tennessee from a sluggish start to a 38-3 drubbing of Southwest Louisiana, Fulmer strode into the interview area with a big grin on his face. Then he did something totally unexpected. Spotting me in a cluster of reporters, he stopped and asked, “Did you get that Maryville job?”

“No,” I answered. “The sports editor rescinded his resignation and got his job back.”

Fulmer frowned, patted me on the shoulder and said, “Hang in there. Things will work out.”

. . . . I’ll never forget that fateful evening nearly 14 years ago … when an up-and-coming coach celebrating his first victory took time to offer a few words of encouragement to a down-on-his-luck sports writer.

I think that speaks volumes about Fulmer’s character, and although media and fan criticism of the head coach of a national power is a fact of life, I hope we remember this upcoming season that whatever happens, coach Fulmer is a noble man. I also happen to think that he’s the right guy to get it turned around and that he will. I’m thinking it will be a bit like James Wilhoit’s missed extra point against Florida two years ago followed up just a few minutes later with the game-winning field goal, just on an extended time frame.

By the way, Randy Moore is one of my favorite Vol sports writers, and if you’re not reading him, you should be. Randy, thanks for keeping at it.

Go Vols!

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.”

“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.

Okay, let’s get this out of the way. Backup backup backup quarterback Jim Bob Cooter embarassed the team this past weekend when he was arrested and charged with driving under the influence.

So how should he be punished? No more and no less than projected starting linebacker Marvin Mitchell, who was arrested for disorderly conduct a little more than a month ago. There is a perception that Coach Fulmer’s discipline is inversely proportionate to a player’s importance to the team.

But Fulmer seems to have a consistent and progressive discipline system — if you screw up once, you get a public tongue-lashing, a suspension, and some other “internal” discipline.” Multiple offenses result in increased punishment up to and including dismissal from the team. That’s why Mitchell was suspended and defensive tackle Raymond Henderson, who had received one or two warnings prior to making an inappropriate comment to an underage girl last month, was sent packing.

Fulmer needs to treat starters and non-starters similarly, and this equity should be applied in both directions. In other words, starters should get the same treatment as non-starters, and non-starters should get the same treatment as starters. So the best thing to do is to give Cooter the same treatment as Mitchell. If instead Fulmer puts his foot up Jim Bob’s rear end and sends him through the uprights, he’ll only reinforce the perception that at Tennessee, discipline is for pine-riders.

GoVolsXtra’s John Adams is riling people up during the off season by predicting, in order, the departure of each SEC football coach. According to Adams, Kentucky’s Rich Brooks will be the first to go (with coach Fulmer on his heels), and Georgia’s Mark Richt will be the last.

John Pennington hates June, but finds something to talk about anyway: the NCAA rule changes (1) intended to speed up the game, and (2) to allow coaches to demand a replay review of a close call, and (3) the rumor circulating that Southern Cal coach Pete Carroll has approached UCLA coach Karl Dorrell to suggest that both teams wear their dark jerseys when they play each other this fall instead of the home team wearing dark and the visiting team wearing white.

My quick thoughts on each: (1) On shortening the games, I’m with Pennington, who points out that there’s only from 36-40 hours of regular-season football for each team. Who wants less? (2) On the coaches’ challenge, okay, fine. Whatever. (3) The anachronistic dark/white rule dates back to the age of black and white television. Who wouldn’t love to see orange and crimson clash on Somewhere Around the Third Saturday of October? Now that’s the color of fall.

All for now.

Coach Phillip Fulmer, hoping to avoid any repeat of last year’s humiliating season, is saying for the first time that he should have made some offensive coaching staff changes “a couple of years” earlier.  He didn’t say which ones.  According to Inside Tennessee’s Randy Moore, though, Greg Amsinger of College Sports TV is predicting more humiliation for the Vols this year starting with its first game against California on September 2, 2006.  More could be on the horizon just two games later if, as It’s a Definite Maybe is satiracally reporting, the Florida Gators’ unveil their new “leave before Chris Leak gets on the bus” wrinkle to the spread offense.  (Hat tip to EDSBS.)

And hearty congratulations to Fanblogs, the Adam of the college football blogosphere, which is joining the Rivals.com network.  Friends forever.  Don’t ever change.  I’ll write every day, etc., etc., etc.

Pretty quiet over the last several days.  On the blogging front, don’t miss EDSBS’ excellent piece on why we love football.  Orson has way.  Also, have a look at DawgSports‘ link-rich, exhaustive post on the matter of blogger disclosure.

College Football News completed its series on the Top 100 Heisman contenders.  Not only is UT tailback Arian Foster on the list, so is Reanimation Project Erik Ainge (at No. 36), who in the words of Inside Tennessee’s Randy Moore “had the mother of all sophomore jinxes in 2005.”  Uh, yeah.  Like he said.

VolQuest.com takes a closer look at incoming safety Justin Garrett. Unlike most junior college transfers, Garrett wasn’t on campus for spring practice, and he won’t arrive until this fall.  Fortunately, the Vols’ secondary is supposedly one of the strongest on the team, so Garrett will have time to acclimate.  An interesting bit in one of his answers to the interview question is this: <blockquote> “I was already expecting to like [his visit to Tennessee] a lot because of the way the coaches at the other schools were acting about me going up there.  None of them wanted me to take that visit, they were all kind of badmouthing the trip or whatever.  They were all so worried about me going up there that really, they got my expectations up and made my decision for me almost.”</blockquote>  It’s nice to know (1) that opposing coaches are still worried about Tennessee’s ability to recruit, and (2) that badmouthing UT sometimes has the opposite effect of that intended.

SportsAnimal99.com interviewed UT receivers coach Trooper Taylor.  Taylor’s a great interview.  You almost want to chest bump him after some of his responses.

Finally, Sports Illustrated compiled a list of the Top 15 Plays in College Football History.  Prothro’s catch is my favorite.  Hope to see him back in full form this season.  Hat Tip to Heisman Pundit.

Pete Fiutak’s front page feature on College Football News yesterday examined the 2006 Tennessee Volunteer football team.  Loaded with information, the gist of it was that 2005 really wasn’t as bad as it may have seemed.  Fiutak acknowledged the poor results but said that (1) losses to Florida, Georgia, and Notre Dame were nothing to be ashamed of; (2) losses to Alabama and South Carolina came down to a few “fluky” plays, and (3) the loss to Vanderbilt, while inexcusable, was collateral damage of the season-long flame out.

Sounds an awful lot like Fulmer saying “we were only a couple of plays of beating the tar out of the Longhorns for the national championship” or whatever he said at the end of last year.  Funny thing is, Fiutak may actually be right.  Don’t expect a VFRT recap of last season until later this summer, but I have thrown everything into a pot and turned up the heat to let it simmer, and everytime I peek in there, it’s looking like the theme will be that a lot of little things combined into a negative tipping point, a total mess at the conclusion of a high-stakes game of Don’t-Spill-the-Beans.  If the coaches and players and fans can do a lot of little things different this year, and they’re ceretainly trying, a positive tipping point is not inconceivable.

Elsewhere, a fan and poster on VolNation’s message board has some thoughts on offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe’s recent comments at an alumni event in West Palm Beach, Florida.  Also, there are conflicting reports on the reason for Major Wingate’s indefinite suspension from the basketball team.  GoVolsXtra reported that it was for failing to show up for a scheduled drug test, while Scout.com and the Tennessean reported that Wingate actually tested positive for marijuana.  Dope.

Finally, Rivals.com continues its series on getting to know the newcomers to the football team by featuring LaMarcus Thompson and reports on a fictional encounter between Dr. Custom, Mr. Fleeting, and Mr. Middle arguing about their respective expectations for the upcoming football season.

The Volunteer basketball team had its annual pat each other on the back postseason awards banquet last night, and the following awards were presented:

• JaJuan Smith and Major Wingate were named the most-improved players.  (Okay, I’ll play along with that one.)
• Dane Bradshaw took home the Team Before Self Award and the John Stucky Lifter of the Year Award.  (Good, good, good.
• The Burchfield-Moss Most Courageous Award went to Jordan Howell.  (Hmmm.  Not sure what this is about.  Any ideas?)

Basketball head coach Bruce Pearl is still trying to fill his assistant coaching vacancy.

Offensive Coordinator David Cutcliffe took quarterbacks Jonathan Crompton and Bo Hardegree with him to a graduation ceremony at the Morgan County Correctional Facility where coach Cut addressed prisoners who were receiving their GED or a vocational trade certificate.  That ought to give EDSBS something to play with.