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.
