3. 2008: Dave Clawson
Before Butch Jones re-wrecked the Tennessee football program, a bad offensive coordinator hire by Phillip Fulmer set in motion all the mismanagement that wrecked it the first time. In 2007, David Cutcliffe was leaving for the second time, this time to become the head coach of the Duke Blue Devils.
Fulmer had with him a loyal staff of great coaches who had studied under Cutcliffe. Two of them have been offensive coordinators or head coaches since then. But one, Trooper Taylor, was the most qualified for the job. He had studied under Cutcliffe and been with the Vols before Cutcliffe got there, showing a track record of success over any position he coached.
Taylor’s wealth of experience made him by far the best person for the job. However, Fulmer waited too long to make the hire, and Taylor left for the Oklahoma State Cowboys. So Fulmer followed that up by finding Richmond Spiders head coach Dave Clawson, who had success at that level but at the same time was going to switch everything up.
Clawson ran more of a mental-based offense and wouldn’t simplify anything. And the system changed. So his players always struggled their first year in it, and that’s exactly what happened in 2008.
The Vols averaged fewer than 400 yards a game on offense and only 17 points a game. Jonathan Crompton did not work out, and the coaches alternated between him, Nick Stephens and eventually B.J. Coleman on the year at quarterback.
It was a disastrous 5-7 season, the second in four years, that ended up getting Fulmer fired. Of course, had everything stayed the same, things would’ve been turned around pretty quickly with Fulmer’s recruitment of quarterbacks like Tajh Boyd and Bryce Petty along with more time to learn Clawson’s system. But it didn’t work out that way, and Clawson and Fulmer were both gone at the end of the year.