Assistant Coaches Thread

Discussion in 'Vols Football' started by Tar Volon, Dec 8, 2017.

  1. Tar Volon

    Tar Volon Me Blog @RockyTopTalk.com

    Trying to sort out what’s confirmed and what’s just rumored in one place. Feel free to discuss, because I don’t necessarily know a lot about some of these guys. Will try to update as I have time.

    Confirmed:
    Ty Helton (QBs, reportedly also OC)
    Will Friend (OL)
    Terry Fair (DBs)
    Robert Gillespie (RBs)
    Austin Thomas (GM)

    Reported:
    Kevin Sherrer (DC)
    Tracy Rocker (presumably DL)
    Chris Rumph (currently coaching DL at Florida, but has coached other positions before)
    Todd Watson (unclear, probably something in football operations)

    Targeted:
    Bryan McClendon (WRs)
    Chris Weinke
     
    Last edited: Dec 13, 2017
  2. Tar Volon

    Tar Volon Me Blog @RockyTopTalk.com

    Do we know why Georgia fired Rocker? Looking up these guys resumes, that’s the one thing that jumps out as weird to me
     
  3. justingroves

    justingroves supermod

    Gillespie is under contract to Tennessee for next season already. I think he's just staying on
     
  4. justingroves

    justingroves supermod

    I believe it was a mutual parting of ways
     
  5. Tar Volon

    Tar Volon Me Blog @RockyTopTalk.com

    That seems to be the suspicion, but I haven’t seen confirmation of that yet
     
  6. Tar Volon

    Tar Volon Me Blog @RockyTopTalk.com

    Clashed with other staff members? Needed to take a year off?

    His resume indicates that people think he’s a good DL coach, just not totally common to see a guy leave in February
     
  7. JT5

    JT5 Super Moderator

    The no confirmation on Helton as OC has me wondering/hoping if there’s another guy in the works for that spot.
     
    BigOrangeBeech likes this.
  8. justingroves

    justingroves supermod

    I think he and Smart didn't get along. He also had a minor rules violation on the recruiting trail
     
  9. justingroves

    justingroves supermod

    Yeah and if he does get another OC on staff, he'll have three guys that have held an OC title elsewhere. He would at least be attempting to get the best offensive minds he can hire.
     
  10. Tar Volon

    Tar Volon Me Blog @RockyTopTalk.com

    Volquest reported OC, but a lot of others have just said QB coach. But I’m not ready to be too optimistic right yet, because we have two former OCs on the staff already. I would assume either Helton will be the OC or they’ll divide up the pass and run game. It’d be a bit weird to get two OCs (albeit two OCs who didn’t call their own plays) to both take demotions to come work for yet a third OC. But the lack of confirmation does make me wonder.
     
  11. mmmjtx

    mmmjtx Member

    Outside of Gillespie, are any other coaches staying on, or are we going to gave a total house cleaning?
     
  12. Tar Volon

    Tar Volon Me Blog @RockyTopTalk.com

    Not an insider, but I would be shocked if anyone else on the 2017 staff stayed on. Gillespie is the only one where we’ve heard any indication of him staying (as it should be—Gillespie is the one who’s worth a damn)
     
    TDVol1989 likes this.
  13. JT5

    JT5 Super Moderator

    I wouldn't be surprised if he's retained to help bridge the recruiting class through signing day, then replaced in the spring.
     
    justingroves likes this.
  14. Ssmiff

    Ssmiff Went to the White House...Again

    our rbs have looked good running the ball and run hard. They also look good catching passes and I haven't seen too many missed blocks. imo, the strongest position group on the team so keeping them all together is cool with me. Everybody else can gtfo
     
    A-Smith and chavisut like this.
  15. justingroves

    justingroves supermod

    Me either
     
  16. LawVol13

    LawVol13 Chieftain

    Rumph and Rocker are both joining the staff.
     
  17. Tar Volon

    Tar Volon Me Blog @RockyTopTalk.com

    For some reason Florida fans seem to be pretty happy to see Rumph go. I know he has a good reputation, but it definitely concerns me a bit to keep hiring assistants whose former fans/teams seemed to want gone anyways (Helton, Rocker, Rumph)
     
    10SEvols likes this.
  18. justingroves

    justingroves supermod

    If I'm a Florida fan, I want to start completely over.

    UGA fans would miss Rocker but Kirby replaced him well. He and Smart butted heads
     
  19. Tar Volon

    Tar Volon Me Blog @RockyTopTalk.com

    Fair enough on both of those. Some Florida fans seem to think Rumph wasn't a good recruiter. Don't know if there's anything to that or whether it was more a symptom of McElwain struggling to recruit. On Helton, I'm just chalking it up to "the OC is always the most unpopular guy on the staff." I don't see anything to suggest that he isn't a good QB coach, although we'll see on calling plays (if he does that here)
     
  20. justingroves

    justingroves supermod

    Well, the USC offense didn’t do what it should have done. It was erratic. I think there's 4 people to blame for it too.
     

Share This Page