Posts Tagged ‘tennessee’

Les Miles got a contract extension and raise from LSU on Wednesday. In the wake of an SEC championship in 2011 and a 10-2 regular-season in 2012, that LSU decided to reward Miles for a job well done is no surprise. But one can not ignore the timing, just one day after reports surfaced that Arkansas was prepared to offer Miles a five-year, $27 million contract to move one state to the north. It just wouldn't be Les Miles if there wasn't an oddball factor complicanting things.

LSU athletic director Joe Alleva stated that the Arkansas report had nothing to do with Miles' extension although, to his credit, he also said that he knows the media won't believe him. 

"It has been my plan all along to give (Miles) a raise, and that's what we're doing," Alleva said. 

LSU won't win the SEC this season, but Alleva is most pleased with Miles' ability to keep the Tigers in contention year after year. 

"It's not always about winning championships," he said. "It's about being in the hunt to win championships."

Miles, whose 85-20 record makes him the fifth-winningest coach in SEC history, said that he has spoken with Araknsas AD Jeff Long, but not to the extent that was reported. According to Miles, there conversations were preliminary and "fell short of major interests." Miles denied he was offered the five-year, $27 million deal. Miles said he talked with Long to recommend other candidates for the Razorbacks' vacant head coaching position. The two worked together at Michigan where Miles was an assistant coach and Long was an assistant athletics director.

Speaking of recommending other candidates, Miles was asked about LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis' candidacy for the Tennessee head coaching job. 

"John Chavis is a tremendous coach who has a good overview of what a successful program looks like," said Miles. "If Tennessee was looking for a quality candidate, John Chavis should be one."

Miles' extension, which will last seven years, has not disclosed financial terms as, per the press release, they are still being negotiated. The USA Today coaching salary database lists Miles' salary at over $3.85 million.

Miles said that he gets embarrassed discussing money but offered, "I'm fortunate to have an occupation that pays a tremendous market value."

More than anything, he's glad that his family will be in Baton Rouge for the long haul, saying, "I think home is what we call this place."

Following this morning news of the firing of Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley, Tennessee athletic director Dave Hart held a news conference. Here were our takeaways from the 30-minute session. 

- Hiring a head coach with integrity is paramount for Tennessee. In case you missed it, the NCAA recently announced more sanctions for violations committed by Lane Kiffin's staff. The Vols will need a head coach with a clean reputation. Bobby Petrino and Butch Davis need not apply. 

- Hart said that hiring a coach with previous head coaching experience is "critically important". Hart believes Tennessee is an attractive job but is also realistic about the issues the next head coach will inherit. He mentioned multiple times that he's looking for a strong leader, and past head coaching experience figures to be a requirement.

- Hart declined to offer a specific timeline for hiring a new coach, but mentioned the month of December several times when offering his preferred time frame. 

- Hart will spend the next week delegating assignments to offensive coordinator Jim Chaney, the interim head coach, and recruiting coordinator Darin Hinshaw, who will be charged with keeping as much of the Vols' current recruiting class intact as possible. 

- Hart said he had discussed the state of the program with others for several weeks but wanted to give the players every chance possible to make a bowl game, and give Dooley and his staff every available chance to turn the corner. 

Tennessee lost 41-18 to Vanderbilt last night. This morning Derek Dooley has been let go. 

It's not that simple, but it's not much more complicated.

Dooley leaves the program with a 15-21 overall record, 4-19 in the SEC. For the second straight season they will not play in a bowl game...something that hasn't happened to this program in over 30 years. 

There will be a press conference this afternoon at which AD Dave Hart will explain his thinking and his thoughts on the path forward for the program. Multiple reports out of Knoxville say that Dooley will not coach against Kentucky (his decision per reports) and that offensive coordinator Jim Chaney will. 

We'll keep you updated. 

Official announcement from Tennessee:

"We very much appreciate the effort and energy that Derek Dooley and his staff have poured into our football program at the University of Tennessee," said Hart. "Derek and I met early this morning, and I informed him that I believed a change in leadership, despite the positive contributions he has made to the overall health of the program, was in the best long-term interests of Tennessee football. We will immediately begin the search for the best possible candidate to assume this leadership role."

And from Dooley:

"I am sorry we could not generate enough wins to create hope for a brighter future," said Dooley. "Although progress was not reflected in our record, I am proud of the strides we made to strengthen the foundation for future success in all areas of the program.

"During the last 34 months, I've given my all for Tennessee, and our family appreciates all this University and the Knoxville community has given us."

This afternoon we saw the clip below and found it a little odd.  

The audio quality is quite poor for the first few seconds but we believe the initial question from a member of the media is, "Would it be fair to say that coach Sunseri has not been effective in either teaching or communicating the scheme (to the players)?" 

Dooley, after offering "that's a pretty harsh statement" provides what we thought was a decent enough answer.

Shortly after Dooley provided his response to the initial question, another member of the media came back to Dooley with, "You didn't quite answer...is Sal having problems communicating with the players?"

Dooley doesn't duck the questions at all and seems to provide full answers. 

This probably won't shock anyone; but things seem fairly tense right now up in Knoxville. Settle down everyone. Let the man and his staff focus on coaching their team. They, like every other staff in the country, will be evaluated after the season. 

Video is courtesy of knoxnews.com

It's not a secret that there is a lot of pressure on Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley to close the 2012 season in impressive fashion. After a 44-13 loss to Alabama on Saturday, Tennessee is 3-4 overall and 0-4 in SEC play. Dooley is 14-18 (4-14 in the SEC) in two and a half seasons as the head coach of the Volunteers.

This morning a report surfaced that Dooley offered to resign following Tennessee's loss to Kentucky last season. According to the report, Dooley offered his resignation with the condition that Tennessee honor his $5 million buyout. From our staffs knowledge of Dooley, we were highly skeptical of this report.

Dooley vehemently denied the report at his Monday press conference. 

"That's absurd," Dooley said on Monday. "I'd be a real dumbass to do something like that."

"I'm not upset that people are angry and screaming at the coach," Dooley continued. "You haven't been in this business if you don't expect otherwise. That's the way it is."

Watch Dooley talk about this below. He even throws in a good story about his high school coach to boot. (Video courtesy Knoxville News-Sentinel)

Tennessee and defensive coordinator Sal Sunseri face the Alabama this weekend in Knoxville. Sal's son Vinnie starts in the secondary for the Crimson Tide and he also has another son, Tino, who starts at quarterback at Pitt. I think it's safe to say those are some solid genes.

Many of the questions that Coach Sunseri fielded after practice today had to do with how he is approaching this week, and his message was emotionally charged, and clear.

"I didn't imagine it would be this hard." he said.

As one reporter points out, it could be worse. They could be playing Pitt and Coach Sunseri would have to scheme against his son, Tino. After the reporter described what would likely be Sal's worst nightmare as a coach, Sal says, "That's probably the greatest thing is that I don't have to scheme against Vinnie, but that would be extremely, extremely tough, and...I'd have to make a decision on that one."

Good stuff from Sunseri here on the uniqueness of the situation and the bond within their family.