Saturday, January 16, 2010

Derek Dooley looks like a good fit for the Tennessee football program

On Friday, the University of Tennessee hired Derek Dooley as its head football coach, ending a tumultuous week. The Vol Nation went into frenzy when former coach Lane Kiffin unexpectedly quit to take the USC job. However, Dooley looks like a good choice.

A strong case can be made that Dooley has better qualifications than Kiffin when he got the job. Dooley has more head coaching experience than Kiffin and also was athletic director at Louisiana Tech when he was picked by Tennessee. Dooley also has NFL experience (with Nick Saban during his ill-fated tenure with Miami). Plus, he has recruiting and coaching experience at LSU, so he definitely knows his way around the Southeastern Conference.

At this point, Tennessee fans should feel good about his hiring. As for Kiffin, the timing of his departure during recruiting season definitely will cost the Volunteers recruits. However, one can hardly blame him for leaving. USC was his dream job, and most of us would leave one job for another if it helped our family and advanced our career. At least, that is how Kiffin looks at it.

It is time to rally around Dooley and quit whining about Kiffin.

2 comments:

Joltin' Django said...

MTSU's Rick Stockstill is a classy feller, I tell you what (apologies to Hank Hill). He could've taken his winning season/bowl victory and cashed it in for mo' money, but he decided to honor the commitments he made to his players, and to his recruits. And then he went and said this:

"I could not look in the eyes of these recruits and their families and tell them the things I believe in and what I want them to believe in and then leave Middle Tennessee with only two weeks left in the recruiting process."

Again, what a class-act.

Chris Martin said...

Stockstill is an impressive coach both on the field and off. At some point, I'm afraid he will leave for another job, but he has really built the MTSU program into a good one.