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Tennessee football: 4 OC changes that didn’t work out for Vols

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 29: A general view of Neyland Stadium during the South Carolina Gamecocks game against the Tennessee Volunteers on October 29, 2011 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 29: A general view of Neyland Stadium during the South Carolina Gamecocks game against the Tennessee Volunteers on October 29, 2011 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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2. 1999: Randy Sanders

Randy Sanders had a successful tenure as Tennessee football’s offensive coordinator for a little while. But it’s still safe to say the hire didn’t work out in the long term. The current ETSU Bucs head coach is actually a great play-caller. His problem is he doesn’t develop talent as well as other coaches do.

Most notable to Vols fans was his inability to find a go-to wide receiver in the four years after Donte Stallworth and Kelley Washington departed in 2001. But it was also true that quarterbacks wouldn’t develop.

Casey Clausen never learned to handle a rush well, and Erik Ainge regressed in the worst way ever in 2005. The signs should have been there early, though. Sanders took over in the national championship game and won it with Tee Martin.

But in 1999, his first full year, the offense went from averaging over 33 points to just over 30. And Tee Martin scored five fewer touchdowns as a senior while throwing three more interceptions at the same time.

The Vols’ only Top 10 finishes under Sanders were 1999, with leftovers from Cutcliffe’s incredible talent, and 2001, when they had the best rush defense in NFL history. By the time he was developing guys over a four-year period, however, the program faltered.

It all collapsed in 2005. An offense that averaged right at 400 yards and 29 points a game with two freshmen quarterbacks and a redshirt transfer junior all getting different starts that year en route to a 10-3 record and SEC East Championship regressed to averaging only 326 yards a game and under 19 points en route to a 5-6 record in 2005, the program’s first losing season since 1988.

The worst part was that the offense returned every single starter. So there was absolutely no reason for it to get that bad, but Sanders could not manage the quarterback controversy of Ainge and Rick Clausen. He was gone after that year, and the offense took back off under David Cutcliffe. So while Sanders had a seven-year run on Rocky Top, it’s safe to say he didn’t work out.

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