Tradingo Blog

Five Quick Names For Tennessee WR Coach
by Scott Felts

The press release hasn’t even been issued yet, but we now know that Charlie Baggett will not coach at Tennessee next season. This means that for the seventh time in nine seasons, and the fifth season in a row, there will be at least one coaching search for the University of Tennessee.

Baggett has been the Vols’ wide receiver coach for the past two seasons. Dooley could move a very versatile Darrin Hinshaw from QB’s to WR’s and allow Chaney to work with the QB’s but in talking to a few people, I don’t believe that is the direction Dooley will go.

Look for Dooley to “go get a guy” and if previous searches with Dooley are any indication, do not expect it to happen overnight. Also, from what I am hearing, there is a “decent possibility that this won’t be the only hire that Derek has to make this offseason”.

These aren’t names that have come to me from within the program, but they are names that I have researched and believe could be in play. As we spend more time searching, there may be more names emerge, but I wanted to get a quick list of guys out to you to be reading over.

In no particular order, here are the Blazer Chronicles Top Five WR Coach Possibilities for Derek Dooley.

Tee Martin- Currently the University of Kentucky WR Coach/Passing Game Coordinator- Martin began his coaching career as the passing game coordinator at Morehouse College in Atlanta during 2006.

Martin was a coach for the Elite 11 Quarterback Camps (2007-08), Nike football training camps (2007-08) and the Nike Combine Tour (2008). He has mentored and evaluated more than 1,000 quarterbacks, including more than 30 Division I signees. He also created the “Dual Threat” Quarterback Camp and Academy in Atlanta in 2008.

Martin joined UK from the University of New Mexico, where he was quarterbacks coach during the 2009 season.

Off the field, Martin made has a huge impact in recruiting and was tabbed as one of the top-25 recruiters in the league by ESPN.com. in 2010.

Obviously he will be on many Vol fans’ short list. Martin would return to Tennessee in a heartbeat, but why would Dooley reach out to him other than to placate the Tennessee fan base? I love what Tee Martin did for this university and will always cherish him as a VFL, but would it be a smart move to go from a WR coach that has coached 10 1,000 yard receivers, has been successful in both college and the professional level and has coached the same number of years that Tee Martin has been alive?

Conroy Hines- Offensive Coordinator at Ryan High School in Denton Texas- Hines coached with Derek Dooley at Louisiana Tech. Dooley has shown that he likes to bring guys in that he has worked with or against. Hines was hired at North Texas in 2010 before new coach Dan McCarney replaced him with a guy he was more familiar with. Prior to North Texas, Hines was at Louisiana Tech where he coached various positions as an offensive assistant from 1992 to 2009. Hines was an offensive graduate assistant in 1992 and 1993, and was promoted to tight ends coach, where he stayed from 1994 to 1998.

In 1998, he moved to wide receivers coach for two years, and was promoted again in 2001 to offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. In 2006, Hines again coached wide receivers for the Bulldogs, where he stayed until leaving shortly before Derek Dooley did.

A native of Monroe, La., Hines graduated from Neville High School and attended Louisiana Tech, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business management in 1989. He also earned two master’s degrees from the school, in business in 1991 and education in 1993.

Here is a link to a video of Hines, mic’d up at North Texas…. http://youtu.be/O26UocuhQd8

Frank Scelfo- Outgoing QB’s coach at Arizona- Scelfo is another guy who coached at Louisiana Tech under Derek Dooley. He was Dooley’s Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2007-09, and was Tulane’s offensive coordinator for eight years before his tenure at Louisiana Tech. He coached tight ends and was recruiting coordinator for the Green Wave for the three years prior.

Before joining the college ranks, he was a noted prep coach in Louisiana and Texas for 14 years including a final year at Houston North Shore in 1995.

His coaching tendencies have emphasized wide-open aerial assaults such as the decade spanning the late 1990s and early 2000s at Tulane, where they enjoyed an undefeated season, Conference USA title and Liberty Bowl championship in 1998.

While Scelfo doesn’t have direct WR position work on his resume in college, he certainly could coach the position and will more than likely be looking for a job with the changes going on at Arizona. Dooley would also have someone on staff that was a successful offensive coordinator in the event Jim Chaney left or needed to be replaced.

Erik Campbell – Current Wide Receivers Coach, University of Iowa- Now, if you want a guy that comes closer to matching up to Baggett’s numbers in 1,000 yard receivers and is well respected in the college game, look no further than Campbell who was selected as the top wide receivers coach in college football by CBS Sports.com in 2008.

An excerpt from that article says, “Do the names Braylon Edwards, Mario Manningham, Adrian Arrington, Amani Toomer, Steve Breaston and David Terrell ring a bell? Those are receivers Campbell coached during his 13 seasons at Michigan. There were more — so many that Michigan (and Campbell) produced a 1,000 receiver eight consecutive seasons from 1998-2005. During that time, Edwards became the first Big 10 player to post three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons.”

Erik Campbell just completed his third season as wide receiver coach at Iowa. He also coached the tight ends in his first two years on the Iowa staff. He joined Iowa after serving as an assistant coach at Michigan for 13 seasons where he also served as assistant head coach for five seasons.

At Michigan, he was responsible for the wide receivers and worked with the team’s punt returners for 13 seasons. Campbell added the title of assistant head coach prior to the start of the 2003 season. In addition to his coaching responsibilities, Campbell coordinated the successful Women’s Football Academy, put on annually by the coaching staff, which helped raise over one million dollars for the University of Michigan Cancer Center.

Campbell served as a student assistant coach at Michigan in 1988 before beginning his full-time coaching career as an assistant coach with the U.S. Naval Academy. He spent two season’s coaching running backs for Navy (1989-90), before accepting a position at Ball State University as the running backs coach (1991-93). Campbell coached one season at Syracuse (1994) before returning to Ann Arbor as the Wolverines’ wide receivers coach.

Campbell earned his bachelor of general studies degree from Michigan in 1988.

Charlie Williams- Currently University of North Carolina Wide Receivers Coach- Williams is another guy who may be looking for a job soon. North Carolina should be looking for a full-time coach to replace Butch Davis, and Williams may be on the way out. He brings a lot of years experience both in college and pros to the discussion, but no ties to Dooley that I can tell.

Williams, has been at North Carolina since 2007, and has served all five seasons as North Carolina’s wide receivers coach. This is his 26th season overall.

Williams came to Carolina after serving as the University of Arizona’s wide receivers coach from 2004-06.

Williams spent six seasons as receivers coach with Tony Dungy and the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1996-2001, tutoring standout performers such as Keyshawn Johnson, Reidel Anthony and Jacquez Green.

Prior to his NFL stint, Williams was wide receivers coach for three seasons at Miami, two under Dennis Erickson and one under Butch Davis.

Williams also coached one season for Lou Holtz at South Carolina in 2003.

A native of Long Beach, Calif., Williams began his coaching career at Long Beach City College in 1984. He worked two years at New Mexico State (1986-87), four seasons at TCU (1988-91) and one year at Minnesota (1992) before joining the Miami program.

SEC Bowl Projections: Urban Liar Edition
by Scott Felts

Really Urban? Really? What was it that healed you? Was it Tebow’s success in the NFL? Was it the fact that once again, he was getting more press than you? Urban doesn’t care about his players. Urban doesn’t care about his teams. Urban sure as hell doesn’t care about his family. He’s a liar and he is as much a cancer in the game of College Football as Lane Kiffin.

Back to the SEC.

Well, Tennessee fans I won’t be including the Vols in my bowl projections, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t care about where other SEC teams are going and who they are playing. Those games and the outcomes of them can affect the Vols’ recruiting, so they should matter to you. After a big weekend for the SEC, let’s look at where the Blazer Chronicles thinks the SEC teams stack up.

Allstate BCS National Championship Game (BCS vs. BCS) – January 9, 2012
Obviously, LSU has to beat Georgia in the SEC CG. The only way Alabama doesn’t make the National Title Game is if Oklahoma State destroys Oklahoma in such a way that voters use that as an excuse to keep two SEC teams out of the title game. I don’t think this can happen, but if people are looking for an excuse, and Oklahoma State wins BIG, some will try it.

LSU vs. Alabama

Allstate Sugar (BCS vs. BCS) – January 3, 2012
Houston vs. Arkansas

If the games were set today, this would be the Sugar Bowl match-up. Houston qualifies because they moved ahead of Boise State, and as the highest ranked non BCS auto-qualifier, the BCS MUST take them. Both teams have a game this week. Boise faces New Mexico in a game they should have NO problem with. Houston faces Southern Miss who is 10-2. If Houston loses, they are out. If Houston struggles and Boise rolls, the Broncos could sneak back ahead and automatically take the Cougars spot. Note though, even if that happens, an undefeated Houston team could make the BCS along with Boise St.

Arkansas WILL drop out of this slot, without even playing. When it comes to selecting at-large teams to fill slots, BCS rules state that the only way three teams from the same conference can play in BCS bowls is if the number one and number two teams in the BCS standings are from the same conference as the third team AND both of those teams are NOT Conference Champions. Obviously either LSU becomes a conference champion and moves into the BCS National Championship, which will drop Arkansas, or LSU loses, and Alabama plays Oklahoma State or Stanford for the title. Either way, the Hogs will not go to a BCS bowl. (This is something I learned this week. I didn’t realize 1 and 2 both had to be non-champions for a third conference team to make it. Now, you have learned something from reading this blog too.)

When this changes, look for Michigan to take on Houston or Boise State in New Orleans.

AT&T Cotton (Big 12 vs. SEC) – January 6, 2012
This is where Arkansas will fall and they will play the team that would have played in the Big Twelve Championship Game against one of the Oklahoma schools, if that conference still played a championship game.

Arkansas vs. Kansas St.

Capital One (Big Ten vs. SEC) – January 2, 2012
This game is generally reserved for the SEC CG loser. This year however, I think that distinction will be hung on the Big Ten representative. Michigan State plays Wisconsin for the Big Ten title. Both of those teams are 10-2 and are low enough in the BCS standings that the loser will drop out of the mandatory top 14 needed to be selected as a BCS at-large.

As for the SEC, if Georgia wins the SEC CG and takes the automatic bid, and Alabama slides to number one and into the National Championship, then the Capital One Bowl will be ALL OVER an LSU team with one loss. I don’t see that happening though. Georgia last played in the Capital One Bowl in 2008. South Carolina has NEVER played in that game. The Capital One committee has some Gator fans on it. Think they might want to see Steve Spurrier? Yea, me too.

South Carolina vs. Michigan State

Outback (Big Ten vs. SEC) – January 2, 2012
The Outback Bowl officials should be very excited about it’s Big Ten selection this season. They will have a chance to have a nationally recognized program in their game that they too have never had the opportunity to select. It’s one of the few positives to the conference re-alignment.

As for the SEC selection, there isn’t much to choose from this year. Only 7 SEC teams that won’t be gobbled up my the BCS are bowl eligible, and for the Outback committee, the decision will be made for them. Bowls can pick teams “out of order” when they have similar records. (Such as Georgia’s predicted 10-3 record vs. South Carolina’s 10-2.) But the Outback Bowl will have whichever of those two teams aren’t selected by the Capital One Bowl because the next best team in the conference is Auburn, who is 7-5. The only way they get a “choice” is if LSU and Arkansas fall to the Capital One/Cotton combination, and then they can choose between South Carolina and Georgia. That won’t happen either though.

Georgia vs. Nebraska

TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl (Big Ten vs. SEC) – January 2, 2012

The Gator Bowl committee is full of Florida Gator supporters. Ohio State just hired Urban Meyer (Who won’t coach in the bowl game), but still. This one picks itself.

Florida vs. Ohio State

Chick-Fil-A Bowl (ACC vs. SEC) – December 31, 2011
Auburn is the next best team in the SEC for the Chik-Fil-A Bowl to select, at 7-5. The ACC Championship game loser usually comes here. That should be Clemson this season. The last two times the Bowl selected these two teams together (after the ’97 and ’07 seasons), these teams played to a 4 point and 3 point overtime contest (Both Auburn wins). The Chik-Fil-A committee loves close games.

Auburn vs. Clemson

Franklin American Mortgage Music City (ACC vs. SEC) – December 30, 2011
The bowl committee is full of people that want fans to travel into the city and spend money. Two SEC teams left to choose from. One is across town, one is in Mississippi. Yeah, this one half picks itself too.

As for the ACC representative, the committee COULD pick the Tar Heels to return to Nashville, OR they could select a team that has NEVER played in their bowl to match up with the SEC team that has NEVER played in their bowl. See a pattern?

Mississippi St. vs. North Carolina St

AutoZone Liberty (C-USA vs. SEC) – December 31, 2011
There is only one SEC team left to pick from, so the Liberty Bowl has it easy there. It will be the bowl’s sixth different SEC team since the bowl tied back in to the SEC. It’s also a team that has NEVER played in the bowl. That should make them happy. Normally the champion of Conference USA plays in this bowl. However, if Houston defeats 10-2 Southern Miss, the Cougars will be in the BCS and Southern Miss would be the second straight 10-3 Conference USA team to play in Memphis. If Southern Miss upsets Houston, I’m not sure if the bowl CAN by-pass the champion to take a 12-1 Houston squad, but if they can, they will. I don’t think they will have to worry about it.

Vanderbilt vs. Southern Mississippi

BBVA Compass Bowl (Big East vs. SEC) – January 6, 2012
Sorry Birmingham…..not enough SEC teams for you. They will select a Sun Belt team to take the SEC slot….ouch.

There ya have it; my SEC Bowl projections as of 9pm on November 28th. This time next week, we will know how right or wrong I am.